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Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

Game Review | April 24, 2012 4:06 am

By AJ

Trials Evolution started off in the right direction by being the first ever XBLA game to gross over 100,000 sales on the day of its release. Check out this article for the full story.

Probably my most wanted game of all time. Most of you may know that I have well over 5,000 hours on Trials HD, so when I heard there was a sequel I nearly wet myself in anticipation. I started Trials HD on 10/14/2010... And two days later completed it. But that's only where the story begins.

When I first started Trials HD, I could barely complete the medium tracks, but once I started getting the hang of different techniques to shave off time, my ranks slowly got closer and closer to 1. I don't remember the exact date of my first world record, but I was in a party with A Silent Circus at the time, I'm sure he'll tell you I was pretty excited. Shortly after that the world records just kept coming, I finished up my Trials HD career ranked 6th overall and had 20 world records to my name. Not to shabby for someone who couldn't pass medium tracks.

Then came the announcement for Trials Evolution, along with the announcement a short 3 second gameplay video. Not much to see except that it takes place outdoors. Since Trials HD was set in a dark, gloomy warehouse, an outdoor setting is bound to be awesome! The days went by slowly waiting for Evolution, with no solid release date set the only thing I could do was keep playing HD.

Months later the release date was finally set and the game has since released. It's only been out for 4 days and I feel as though I know every track inside and out. The physics of the game are fairly the same as Trials HD. However, the average player won't be able to tell the difference between the handling in HD and Evolution so don't let this spook you. So, time to begin the in depth review.

Overview

Just like Trials HD, Trials Evolution is a simple speed-running game. Simply put, do your best to get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time possible. The controls of the game are very simple, use the left analog stick to position the rider, right trigger for gas and left trigger for brake. Sounds simple enough, right?

The game is set on a large island full of different terrain, weather and obstacles. The in game tracks are all set on this island so in the track editor, a skilled creator could make any track already in the game. Personally, I never was too handy with the HD editor and just opening the editor in this game overwhelmed me to the point that I just created one track with 3 checkpoints to net the achievement and called it quits. The possibilities of the editor, however, are endless. If you like to build stuff (and afterwards drive a motorcycle over/through/around), it's definitely a game you'll want to check out.

Gameplay

Compared to Trials HD, Evolution has a few minor differences and problems that I'd like to mention. The most apparent problem/physics issue is that the front tire of the bikes in Evolution are very, very inconsistent. If you come off a jump and land with your front tire first, this will most likely result in your tire grabbing the ground very violently and cause you to spin out of control and crash. This was not in HD so it does take a while to get used to if you're a veteran player.

The second issue is that all the bikes have received different upgrades. The bike used for top end gets an added 200cc's to its engine making it much faster and the technical bike gets added maneuverability and seems to be able to predict what you're going to do before you actually know. The game seems leaps and bounds easier than HD and I've heard this from just about everyone I know that's played both. I think the developers wanted to make this game easier to accommodate a wider variety of players. The hard difficulty tracks in Evolution seem like a tame version of medium tracks in HD, but the extreme tracks in Evolution are just as daunting as HD's.

The rider/bike customization is awesome. There are many different unlockables obtained from earning medals, ranking up in multiplayer or by simply playing through the game. You can create your own color, select a pattern and different clothing for your rider. Definitely a lot more in depth than HD. It also gives everyone a way to separate themselves from the masses, unlike in HD where players only had a certain number of colors to choose from.

If you're familiar with Trials HD you'll most likely remember my least favorite aspect of the Trials games, skill games. The skill games in Evolution are completely changed from HD. Some of them don't even include a motorcycle! Only one is required to play for an achievement, so if you're not a fan of them like myself, don't worry.

What?! Multiplayer?!

Trials Evolution has one feature that no one would have thought a possibility. MULTIPLAYER! The addition of multiplayer had most players wondering what the hell it could be like. To be honest, I was worried as soon as I heard about it. Usually games that add multiplayer to a single player concept do it horribly wrong (I'm looking at you BioShock).

There are a few different ways you can play multiplayer.

Supercross (online): A 4 player side by side race on a track with 4 lanes. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins, for every fault you'll get one point taken away from a top score of 10 points per track.

Supercross (local): In local, supercross is a bit different. Since there's only one screen available for 4 players the player in the lead gets the best camera angle. If that player gets too far ahead the other players will spawn at the next checkpoint and be able to race as soon as the player in the lead crosses said checkpoint. This can be very annoying because if a player in last place gets a good run from the last checkpoint to the finish, they'll win.

Hardcore: By far my favorite game mode. All players race on a single drive-line as ghosts on an in-game track. It's very similar to Doritos: Crash Course if you've ever played that game and its multiplayer. The race ends when someone crosses the line. I'm not sure if faults penalize you because I usually never fault and come in first. But I'd imagine they do something, you'll have to figure that out on your own.

Skill Games: I'm not sure, but I have seen videos of 4 player skill games (local only, I think). I don't care for skill games at all, so I would never even touch this mode.

Curved Driving Lines?!

The second biggest addition to Evolution is the addition of curved driving lines. Unlike HD, Evolution features driving lines that can take you around corners, around slow bending roads or take you winding through mountain scenery just as smoothly as HD took you on a completely straight path from start to finish. A good example of this can be seen in my world record on the Hard track - Home Run. Set entirely on a baseball diamond. The rider makes his way from home base around bases and back to home.

I have since improved this by over .300 but don't have a recent video

Achievements

Most of you are probably wondering about the achievements. This is officially the first arcade game with a core value of 400 gamerscore. 300/400 gamerscore is what the average Trials rider should be able to get without many problems. With a bit of practice, even the casual gamer (Minioger) should be able to complete it. There are no particularly hard achievements in the game since the harder ones all require a different approach.

Bugs/Issues

Almost every game that comes out with leaderboards has some sort of issues. But with Trials HD and Evolution one very giant issue has always been prevalent. Glitchers will almost always play a roll in every game, anything to get to the top right? However, in Trials, due to so many players trying to post scores on day 1 the servers were unable to keep up and were giving players score towards their global rank for the same track multiple times. This means that everyone playing the game day 1, including myself, has an excess of points that should not be there. Some players have millions of points they shouldn't have and as of right now the global leaderboards are completely worthless. I'm currently sitting at rank 16, but I should be around 3. Redlynx has always taken care of glitchers and problems with the leaderboards, so the leaderboards are only worthless for the time being. Expect to see everything up and running without fault very soon.

Overall

Overall I'd give this game a generous 8.5 out of 10, only because it's not what I expected in terms of physics and bike handling. Having to completely forget everything I learned in Trials HD and start new in Evolution is no easy task. In fact, there are moments of panic during gameplay when my muscle memory reverts back to anything and everything I learned in HD to keep myself from crashing, which never works in Evolution due to the new physics. But overall, I'm satisfied with the levels, the new environment and the addition of multiplayer.

The biggest disappointment to me was the leaderboard issue, this takes a whole point off the overall score I gave the game. The developer has said they will be taking care of it shortly but I think it's something that should not have happened to begin with. The other half a point I took away is because of the physics changes. Not that big of a deal, but I don't care for the feel of the front tires on most of the bikes.

For 1200 Microsoft Points, this game is definitely something I would recommend to someone who doesn't even like racing games. There's so many different things players can do in the game besides race that there's definitely something for everyone to enjoy. And with that, I'll leave you with a couple more world record videos, of the 13 I've gotten so far, these are probably the best representation of what Trials Evolution has to offer. Thanks for reading, hope you get a chance to pick the game up and enjoy it as much as I have and will continue to enjoy.

This track is called Pier Pressure

This track is called The Ascent and as you can see I took this by quite the margin

(Source: One of the baddest Trials riders, ever AND http://gamerant.com/trials-evolution-sales-record-tao-144978/)

Rating: 8.5 of 10

Reviewed: Trials Evolution

Keywords: Trials Evolution, Trials, Game Review; review

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/24/12 4:30 am | #2

Yes I remember you being very excited when you got that first record, I remember very loud screaming and some bleeding resulting in my ears from it :rofl:

Even a casual gamer like Mini could get 300, I think that may be pushing it

Disappoint :yes:

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/24/12 4:45 am | #3

Ok, I may have been pushing it a bit, he could probably get 150.

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/24/12 6:02 am | #4

Nice write up AJ. I plan on picking this up at the end of the week. I played the demo and really enjoyed it. Though it was kinda funny always watching your name always go flying past me at the top of the screen.

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/24/12 4:09 pm | #5

bought it last night, i'm still as bad as i was at trials hd.

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/24/12 5:05 pm | #6

That's ok though, this one is easier.

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 11:08 am | #7

So I downloaded the demo yesterday and popped it on last night. I started having a really good time and found the game to be quite entertaining. There were quite a few LOL moments. Here on Friday, I do believe I will be plopping down twenty bucks and download this one.

I do have one question in regards to this game that I couldn't figure out in the hour or so that I was playing it. What's the brake for?

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 1:28 pm | #8

More technical runs. I use the brakes just as much as the gas on every track usually.

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Re: Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 1:32 pm | #9

Quote by AJ:

More technical runs. I use the brakes just as much as the gas on every track usually.

thats probably why Im not doing so good. I just hammer the gas till the track is over :laugh:

Not really hammering it... I let off but I never really press the brakes

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Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 1:34 pm | #10

Bastage. Find me a free code and I'll 400 it

...oh and nice review I suppose.

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Re: Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 1:38 pm | #11

Quote by Minioger:

Bastage. Find me a free code and I'll 400 it

...oh and nice review I suppose.

I'll 400 it eventually, just like I 200'd Trials HD.

AJ can vouch, he was there for a huge part of my completing HD.

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Re: Re: Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 3:56 pm | #12

Quote by Detroit:

Quote by AJ:

More technical runs. I use the brakes just as much as the gas on every track usually.

thats probably why Im not doing so good. I just hammer the gas till the track is over :laugh:

Not really hammering it... I let off but I never really press the brakes

Hell yeah, that's what I had did all last night. Balls out on that throttle. Not to mention how fun it is to see what kind of punishment you can unleash on your rider by holding that throttle down.

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Re: Re: Re: Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

04/25/12 5:04 pm | #13

Quote by PureEvil x21:

Quote by Minioger:

Bastage. Find me a free code and I'll 400 it

...oh and nice review I suppose.

I'll 400 it eventually, just like I 200'd Trials HD.

AJ can vouch, he was there for a huge part of my completing HD.

L.O.L.

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Trials Evolution - It Does Not Disappoint

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