Trials Evolution Review (XBLA)

Trials Evolution is the first game in Microsoft’s “Arcade NEXT” Season, and also one of the first XBLA games to benefit from the increased achievement cap of 400G, but can this game live up to the highly successful Trials HD?

Trials HD was known for being a very fun but difficult motocross game as you try to tackle a series of “Trials” as quick as you can while at the same time not crashing. It was a very good game but the environments were bleak and depressing as you were riding in abandoned factories and derelict buildings.

Trials Evolution improves greatly on this. The environments are now far nicer and more colourful along with levels taking part in different times of the day. They are not perfect but are far more appealing to drive around compared to a derelict building, one level also gives a nod to Playdeads “Limbo”

In single player, you work across the tracks earning medals to unlock licence events that gives you better bikes and unlocks the next series of tracks. You will begin with them being very simple and easy to manage but as the game progresses through the difficulties you will find yourself being challenged and having to use all the different techniques that you learn in the licence tests. I find once you get to the latter part of the normal into the hard tracks Trials Evolution really shines as you will be constantly challenged and being able to complete the course without faulting will test your driving skills to the limit. Once you complete the Trials Cup, you can go back to all the previous tracks to try to earn the platinum medal. This will be appealing for the hardcore but might turn away some who had enough trouble trying to get the gold.

Along with this you get tournament and skill challenges. The tournaments are nothing special and is simply a series of tracks bunched together while you try to get all the tracks completed as fast as possible meanwhile the skill challenges I found especially fun. You will be given a series of wacky challenges from trying to fly as far as possible by mashing the X and Y buttons to flap your arms, to trying to survive as long as possible with your accelerator and breaks being jammed. Each challenge can be fun to play but the novelty wears off rather quick.

Part of what made Trials HD so addictive was its competitive aspect and is this game thankfully expands on the competitive aspect. If you play this with friends who also have this game, you will enjoy it that much more! You will find yourself doing the same track 10 times over just so you can take over your mate in the leaderboard’s only to find they have taken over you on another track. To add to this there is now a new mutiplayer mode that lets your race up to 3 other friends in a motocross race. I found there was connectivity issues when I was playing in terms of finding a game, but when you do have a game going, it can be very fun and very challenging as you try to keep your nerves under control as you race for the finish.

To top it all off there is a track creator that lets you edit, share and download your own tracks. You can choose between a simple and complex editor but both will take time to get used to and master, but once you get the hang of it you can create some seriously amazing tracks! And example I saw was someone making essentially, a Trials version of Angry Birds. I found the creator aspect great as it gives the community the chance to use the same tools RedLynx used to make the tracks seen in the main game.

Overall RedLynx has taken everything that made Trials HD so good and make it even better while also adding in some great new features. With an addictive single player, competitive multiplayer and genius track maker all for 1200MP this is more than worth your money. If you didn’t get Trials HD the first time round, get Trials Evolution, plenty of fun and mayhem awaits…

9/10