Another week has passed in April and we have another puzzle game, SURPRISE! Trials Evolution also starts off Microsoft’s Arcade Next event this week and what a strong opening it is. Be prepared to get aggravated and frustrated, in a good way.
Trials Evolution does what it did previously in Trials HD, dirt bike riding, physics-based platforming over tracks that present obstacles in your path. At first glance, you may say Trials Evolution is just a minor update to Trials HD. Once you start the game, however, you will see just how minor those changes are really bigger than you think. Taking to the outdoors, Trials Evolution has brought a more traditional feel to the dirt bike atmosphere. At times, I caught myself starting too much at all the action in the background of some levels that I would crash repeatedly in the same spot. Just wait until the Limbo inspired level, You will smile at how amazing it looks.
Everything is still broken down to difficulty levels of tracks and the license tests, which serve as a tutorial on how to deal with the upcoming obstacles in the next set of tracks. I didn’t face that much hardship until I reached the B class license tracks. The one thing you cannot have that will doom me until I know better is a lead foot. Sure, early on you can go full throttle non-stop. Later on you will need to develop a skill of knowing when to throttle and when not to. I found the controls for leaning and balancing on the dirt bike a little too loose at times causing me to over correct my angle and crash on my head, which is bad in case you were wondering. Spending a little time in the early tracks learning the nuances of the controls will help you in the later tracks, trust me.
Besides being outdoors, multiplayer has been added, much to my joy. The chaotic jumble of four players racing is something I thought would never work in Trials Evolution. I was very wrong. Getting the best out of multiplayer would be getting four friends together for some local play so you can do all sorts of devious things to ruin their run while you try to come in first. Online play is still fun if you can’t pull four people together at your domicile. It is a little tricky to see what lane you are in at the beginning of each race so I found it easier to customize my rider in a way that stands out to me. Matches were found pretty fast for me so I don’t see anyone really having an issue with load times.
RedLynx really outdid themselves with their track editor. Now, I am terrible at design so I will never have a track made and uploaded ever. Not that I need to make one since there are already a decent amount of amazing user created tracks out. There’s even an FPS shooter track! Pretty insane what you can do with the editor. There are two editors for making tracks, Lite and Pro, with the main difference between the two being Pro gets more options such as parts and small items, example groups and trigger events. Sharing your creations is easier since everyone can see them instead of only being able to send them to people on your friends list like Trials HD did.
Trials Evolution may be the best XBLA title to come out this year and might end up on a lot of top 10 lists come December. Grab your helmet, gas up the bike and come hangout with me and break a couple track records, along with some bones. Maybe we can get this guy to rap about our broken bones in the hospital.
http://youtu.be/2NnKjSAUpNc