Years ago, I played a game called Elastomania, where you controlled a motorcycle with funky physics, and while you could only go forward, brake, and lean left or right, I spent hours upon hours fooling around. The bike bounced, flipped, flew, and it was endless fun trying to land more and more crazy jumps. There was a level which was painted to mimic an obstacle course of sorts, and I wished there was a game which simulated such environments with Elastomania’s physics. RedLynx Trials 2 gets pretty close to that wish of mine, and even though the first edition slipped under my radar somehow, this sequel is another game on the list which proves physics-based games will never cease to be fun.

 

Like Elastomania, the controls are simple, and you are actually shown all four of them during the splash screen; forward and back, lean back and lean forward. These four actions, however, thanks to the physics-based nature of the game, provide all the control you need to maneuver the bike around and perform stunts of all kinds. Physics games work because they become intuitive, and players can predict what will happen next. The bike in RedLynx has inertia and momentum, and once you get the hang of its design after a few runs, you then begin to anticipate its moves and become more proficient at landing jumps and keeping the bike on its wheels. 

 

The lean buttons are not only used to rotate the bike when it is in the air, but to also counter the spin, lift either end to hang onto a ledge, and make all kinds of inventive flips and twirls. Each of the four buttons affects the motion and position of the bike, and, depending on how fast, at what angle, and on which wheel you land on, you can do some outrageous jumps. The great thing is that you can reset instantly and try over as many times as you wish, and you get a feeling of accomplishment even after doing the simplest maneuvers, let alone after a series of cool jumps.  

 

Even though this is an arcade game, it sometimes feels like a simulator because of the believable behavior of the bike and all the bouncing around obstacles. It will take a bit of racing for you to be able to time the jumps and make minute corrections to the motion of the bike, and once you’ve got that precise control, the game gets even better. Although it’s nice crashing around and attempting ridiculous stunts, the real fun is actually in landing them properly and getting through a challenge with a minimum amount of spills. 

 

There are three difficulty modes, and they not only vary the overall difficulty but offer vastly different experiences. On the Easy difficulty, you can go ahead landing jump after jump and having a good time. If you choose Hard, prepare for a slow crawl through what at first seems impossible terrain. You won’t go far if you blindly charge ahead, and you need to time and practice each step, unless of course you intimately know the track and are trying to set a record; but you also need to intimately know your bike or else prepare for a lot of restarts.  On this setting, frustration may set for the first time in the game, as the developers were not kidding when they wrote Hard. In addition, you get a few other game modes like the Wheelie maps where you strive to do a one-wheeled trek for as long as you can. Then there are the Dynamic levels, which utilize the game’s physics engine to its fullest. Instead of rigid constructions, you get to go over barrels and boards which are not stamped down to the ground, but move around freely. This is a great mode, as the terrain literally changes as you move through it and offers a very “dynamic” obstacle course indeed. I think it was a very smart idea to implement such a mode, because it requires another set of skills, and you need to be able to react quickly in order to get through the changing landscape. 

 

What is an arcade game without high scores, statistics, and records?  RedLynx not only records all of these, but features achievements, such as being able to get through a track without changing your stance, or the kazillion bones broken in a single jump award, which is the only one I have at the moment. Further, you can see the top records set by players around the world, and what’s more, view each one as a replay or set it as a ghost to race against. This is a fantastic feature as you get to enjoy some amazing moves or sulk over your incompetence; either way, you get motivated to push for a better time. 

 

Visually the game offers all the modern bells and whistles, from blur to depth of field and dynamic shadows. In order to enjoy all of it at more than fifteen frames per second, you need a modern PC. For those like me that don’t have this luxury, there is a Normal graphics mode, which looks pretty decent and runs much faster. Everything in the game is modeled well, but because it is an indoor only environment, it looks drab and industrial; thanks, however, to all the lightning effects and fireworks, it manages to avoid looking too depressing. A very big plus is that all the loading is done at launch and from there on each track starts instantly without a pause. You will not see loading screens after you get to the menu, and surprisingly the initial loading takes only seconds.

 

This is a superb trials game using the same great principle as Elastomania, a bouncy motorcycle governed by a good physics engine. It’s one of those games which hooks you immediately, and even after you get sick of playing, it remains permanently on your hard drive to be revisited every once in a while. It’s simple, well made, and uses the great allure of physics to keep you coming back for more. Give it a whirl. You won’t regret it.