Review: Trials Evolution

Back in 2009 I had just moved out of home at 17 and enrolled into classes at a local education facility. Just like most students, I was on a frugal budget and paying $15 for a digital game on the Xbox LIVE Arcade seemed like a risky move.

Well, 75 hours later and Trials HD served to become one of my favorite Arcade titles of all time. And it appeared that way for many other gamers too, selling over two million copies and recieving the Xbox LIVE community’s vote as the Arcade Game of 2009.

Fast forward a few years, and Trials Evolution has arrived. It has already set records and entered itself into the annals of video game history, becoming the highest grossing Xbox LIVE Arcade title, ever.

For those of you who haven’t played either games, here’s a quick rundown. You ride a motorcycle from the beginning to the end of a number of tracks, each littered with increasingly difficult obstacles to navigate, and you attempt to do it in the fastest time possible. The idea is simple, and despite my hatred of the word, addictive.

The game was menacingly difficult and that’s something I loved about it. No matter how much I played, the game was still able to put up a challenge which I would happily defeat.  Trials Evolution starts of easy, too easy in fact. Red Lynx has put a large amount of emphasis on making the game more accessible to newer fans, adding in tutorials and “license tests” to show skills you’ll need to navigate the new obstacles.

Each set of stages in the single-player career is grouped into numerous tiers, each featuring increasing difficulty and new environments to ride across. You unlock newer tiers by collecting more medals, with a Gold on a track giving you three, while a Bronze gives you one. It’s an ingenious system, and thanks to the enjoyment of going faster and faster, the tracks always feel fun to play.

In addition to the new medal system, you’re now awarded money to customise your rider and numerous motorcycles. Different liveries and equipment can be outfitted to your bikes, however none introduce effects other than visual, so there’s no reward for doing so. It’s a catch-22, because the feature could’ve been implemented better, and because it wasn’t it falls flat.

Once you get bored of the linear single-player, you also have access to the returning Skill Games from Trials HD, and thankfully this time they aren’t just copy and pasted modes. They’re fun, refreshing, challenging, and incredibly competitive which is a nice change of pace from the easier aforementioned portion.

Level design has also been reinvigorated, with a lot of the environments now being outdoors as opposed to the indoor heavy feel that Trials HD presented. With that being said though, the first 60% of the levels were boring and uninspired, requiring nothing more than holding the accelerator and going as fast as possible. The skill Trials HD required even at Medium level has since been replaced by large jumps and explosions from the over occupied backgrounds.

Towards the end of the single-player experience the difficulty does ramp up, however I found myself bored and losing interest in the game before it got to the content I actively wanted to pursue and engage myself with. Thankfully the same tools developers Red Lynx used to engineer and create the levels in Trials Evolution have been bundled in, so once the community learns them we will no doubt see some amazing pieces of created content.

To further progress the already impressive replay factor, Red Lynx has included a fully robust multiplayer mode allowing players to compete both online and locally via split screen. User created levels can also be imported to multiplayer, and thanks to the online “Track Central” database of levels, players can access highly popular levels and submit theirs for user rating too.

Trials Evolution is an incredible game in its own merit, however when compared to Trials HD it feels like a whole new entity. The lack of skill required has evaporated, instead left with a hollow shell designed for new players to fill. The inclusion of multiplayer and a robust editor makes it a “no-brainer” purchase, and I look forward to playing this game until the next one inevitably comes out.