Those who’ve heard me rant about gameplay know that I get bored quickly with games these days. That’s one reason I’m so attracted to “casual games”.

As wise men have said in the past, a quality game relies on a small number of gameplay ‘hooks’ that are repeated through the experience. The problem is that very few hooks are good enough to keep my interest for so long. BUT… a casual game doesn’t have such lofty goals. It doesn’t try to pretend that it’s something it’s not. Usually, the type of stuff you find on XBOX Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and, I guess, Nintendo’s WiiWare delivery system (whatever they call it) has one good idea and no one expects anything different. With that sort of expectation, the developers can really polish their idea without trying to stretch it well beyond its means.

A fine example of this is Trials HD, a game I played (and loved) at E3 earlier this year. It’s very simple, of course, but it’s fun and polished. You just race a motorcycle from point A to point B, all the while trying not to blow up. You know, cuz there’s stuff that’ll blow you up. The control is managed completely through the analog sticks, which I enjoy [Update: Either my memory is horrible, or they changed the controls since E3... you can use either the triggers or the A/X buttons for gas/brake.]. You control the speed and tilt of the bike, and that’s it. Extra points are racked up by pulling off tricks and by not getting blowed up [OK, it's definitely my memory. Now that I've been able to play the game again, I realize that it's all about the time for track completion, as the name of the game suggests. Even though there's no 'score', tricks can still be rewarding as they can increase your hangtime which can help with speed.]. Take yourself a look at these clips of the game and the level editor, and go grab the XBOX Live Arcade demo. When you decide it’s awesome, go ahead and buy the real thing for 1200 MS Points ($15).