Toy Stunt Bike (3DS eShop) Review

Trials games are still being released and are still getting a lot of attention, for the simple fact that they’re a lot of fun and there is still room for improvement no matter how much work has been put into the newer installments. Last year saw the very fun Urban Freestyle Trials get a release on 3DS, a title I still recommend for most players. So when this title came along, it already had competition on the same platform and one that can be directly compared too.

The story : You are a toy bike – End of story. There are no menu’s or options to speak of, you merely press Start and then you start progressing through each level that you are presented with. Each level is simply a selection of different courses that are made out of various house hold items to create either obstacles or terrain. Anyone that was a fan of the under appreciated but fantastic title Toy Commander on the Dreamcast will have some good flashbacks to the level design here.

There are 50 courses to work your way through attempting to get a gold rating on each by meeting all of the three criteria. By completing the course in the allotted time, collecting three flags hidden through out the level or getting a high enough score based on the stunts performed. It is all simple enough but don’t let that put you off, there is some challenge to be seen here due to the complex nature of the courses combined with trying to achieve all three requirements at the same time. It can be fairly difficult to achieve a gold on most courses but at least progressing to additional levels is not such a hard achievement. If that is not enough then there is also the online ranking for every level which is a very nice added touch.

Control is handled by controlling the angle of the rider and getting the correct acceleration relative to the situations that are presented, this is the usual controls on any trails game and this one executes it fairly competently, I would not say that it is perfectly balanced but it could be so much worse. I’m looking at you Stephen Hawking rolls with Style 2013 ™, I could be confusing reality with dreams again.

Presentation is very simple, the menus are basically just pictures of the environment and the medals you have on each course – that covers all the back end. The graphics are simplistic with very basic models and texture work. Nothing looks bad, it is just simple. To up side to that is that it runs butter smooth at all times. When in 2D you get a good dose of anti-aliasing and even with the 3D effect in full swing it always smooth and buttery like a bath tub made out of butter on a mountain of custard, it is a nice touch to see. As for audio, there is the sound of the bike and collision sounds. Music is nothing amazing, simple in execution and functional at worst it could be improved but it does not distract that is all ti really needs to be on a game like this.

This is a game very much by the numbers, it is simple in scope but it is all done fairly competently. It does come from a very small developer and as such it does not over reach in what it tries to do, if it wasn’t for other games doing so much more already then I might have a little nicer on the final score but let be perfectly frank – this is not an amazing title by any degree.

The problem is that 3DS already has a great Trials-esque game in the form of Urban Freestyle Trials and it is so much deeper in every area you care to mention and that is what makes this such a lesser release than it could have been. The level design is simpler, the control is not as precise and the overall feel and style present is a little lacking by comparison. The visuals are lesser, controls not as tight and the lack of multiplayer modes combined with any kind of additional complexity to be found just detracts from the whole experience. It’s an unfortunate shame since the folk who made this should be proud of what they have on show.

This is a game that feels a little underdone, a great concept with some very well executed ideas but simply not enough is achieved in terms of functionality. If you have already played Urban free Style and are feeling like you need a new hit in the genre then I would at least recommend you take a look at this simply to give yourself another hit of Moto aerobatics but beyond that I don’t see why many people would pick Toy Racer over Urban freestyle. I do hope the developers continue to try and improve this concept because they are on the right track to making something very cool, this game should not be thrown into the toilet like so many bikes will be done in this game.