Trials Evolution (XBLA)

RedLynx/Microsoft announced that they are releasing a sequel to one of the most surprising (and best) games of 2009, Trials HD. The original game has sold over two million copies to date, which goes to show that (thankfully) you do not need to make the game a cakewalk to have any chance of selling millions of units.

Everyone is going to have this since this part of the E3 news dump, but here's a link to an article from Eurogamer announcing it anyway. Two big takeaways: the first one is that they are adding a central level distribution hub called Track Central. This now means that you are no longer limited to just downloading levels made by your friends, thank God. The other one is that the game now has simultaneous multiplayer, which means you can embarrass yourself online in real time as opposed to just on the leaderboards. The production values to look to be sharply improved upon as well (they did a hell of a job varying up the warehouses the game took place in, but seriously...).

The game is scheduled for release sometime this year. Needless to say, barring a total catastrophe this is going straight on the buy list. The previous game was one of my favorite games of recent memory and this looks to be more of the same -- which is exactly what I want.

I'm not going to bother linking the trailer, as it's one of the biggest jokes I've seen this side of the trailer for Duke Nukem Trilogy.

The track sharing thing takes most of the sting out of dropping the PC platform, awesome! Microsoft tends to discourage real level sharing systems.

Awesome news! I'll be there day 1.

Hard to believe that Trials sold over 2 million on XBLA.

Day 1. Loved Trials HD. Can't wait.

I loved the crap out of Trials HD even if I couldn't get past most of the hard levels, will pick this one up without a second thought.

Fuck, I still need to do that one last achievement for a no miss tournament. They nerfed the crap out of it and I still didn't get it.

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

I loved the crap out of Trials HD even if I couldn't get past most of the hard levels, will pick this one up without a second thought.

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Why buy a sequel when you haven't even beaten the original?

Just because I can't beat the harder levels doesn't mean I don't enjoy playing all of the others. I'd buy Super Meat Boy 2 without knowing anything about it because I enjoyed the first one so much, but still have yet to beat worlds 6 or 7.

You should finish SMB, Pinapple! (I haven't had a chance to beat Cotton Alley yet, :lol:)

It broke my brain, I'm still recovering!

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

It broke my brain, I'm still recovering!

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I got some Meat Boy stickers in the mail yesterday, they're shiny.

I never finished all the crap in the first one, but I felt like I go my moneys worth.

I don't think anyone has beaten Super Meat Boy and Trials together.

Those are two of the hardest games released this gen.

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Originally Posted by jyoung

I don't think anyone has beaten Super Meat Boy and Trials together.

Those are two of the hardest games released this gen.

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I finished all the Trials tracks (except for one shitty expansion track) and finished just about every Super Meat Boy level (still working on 100% though).

Meat Boy is GOTG.

Game of the gays.

GGG, IMO.

It is neither good, nor giving.

Super Meat Boy =/= Meat Boy, get right.

RedLynx just released the first gameplay video:



But I really think you should use this 60 FPS link instead: http://download.redlynxtrials.com/do..._Trailer_1.mov

Looks incredible. Full multiplayer, level sharing (not just between friends), etc.

A developer commented in the GAF thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=123

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1. "doesn't look good"
The screen shots in first post don't look very good, because they are not official, and they seem to have spread from a forum into several news stories. The official new screens that went out with that trailer to the press are for example here:
http://www.gaming-age.com/2012/02/tr...ate-unleashed/
or here:
http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/121/1217826p1.html
other official ones here:
http://redlynx.com/trials-evolution


2. "abandoned PC" / "Maybe the next one after this will be PS4/Next Xbox/PC"
Can't speak about future plans as you understand, but we are a multi-platform developer.

3. "Any word on if the user track sharing system is more than just what your friends built?"
Track Central is an integral part of the game, can be seen in the new trailer from 1:22 on. No need to have people on your friends list, you have access to EVERYTHING anyone has built, and can search, look at top-rated tracks, RedLynx picks, your friend's creations, or create your own custom searches, filtering by difficulty setting, mp/sp tracks, etc.

4. "I hope the leaning back and forth is analogue this time. As much as I loved Trials HD it felt like it would've benefited more from gradual leaning instead of the on/off style lean."
The control scheme is same in Trials HD and Trials Evolution.

5. editor capabilities
:D

6. "So excited! When does this release allready?"
Spring 2012 as in the trailer. When we get closer to launch and know the actual date, we can share it.

7. "Holy balls at that trailer. No way this is 15 dollars right? Gotta be 20 at least with that much content. "
We haven't given a price except to say we expect it to be in line with the previous game.

8. "BTW, who's the band in that clip?"
We have some great voice and music talent which will be shared.

9. "hope the editor isn't a pain in the ass to use with a pad."
There are two modes for the editor: LITE is easy for quickly laying down fun tracks, PRO lets you do more advanced things, whether extremely sophisticated tracks or your own skill games, as shown in the trailer. Our level designers use Xbox controllers and the exact same editor that comes with the game to create the tracks and skill games.

10. "I hope the sharing system is solid and everything can be played in multiplayer/over LIVE."
User created tracks can be played Multiplayer over Live. The actual file size of a track is less than 10kb, so downloading should be a snap.

11. "How many tracks are there? "
Right now we are at about 60 tracks, with 30 sp and 30 mp

12. "I imagine the editor evolved organically, not because the guy from the marketing department told to."
Definitely that. I didn't tell them what to do with the editor

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I'm M. Bisoning over this game.

SPRING COME SOON!

Fuuuuu... it looks so good! We should do a Trials Thursday, or something. You know you want to.

After seeing the 60fps trailer, I'm in. Multiplayer races are going to be dope.

Whoever designed the water pipe level deserves this death:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvXSwDp9nu4

Seems like the servers are down. ARGH! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BEAT BACON'S TIMES IF I CAN'T SUBMIT MY SCORES TO THE SERVER!?!?!

Yeah I was enjoying this game until the servers shit the bed about mid-day. I guess everyone got home from school/work and the servers flooded.

Everything is back up and running now, server problems solved so it seems. I'll be on for the next few hours if anyone wants to try and get in some of the multiplayer, I'd definitely like to check it out.

I'm watching hockey now, but I'll be on late tonight.

Supercross is awesome in 4 players. I just wish there were more default Supercross tracks. Thankfully, you can play custom tracks online. And only the game host has to have the track for everyone in the session to be able to play it.

I need to get a new mic. Mine is broken right now.

So is it worth the $15? I'm a huge fan of the first game, but I worry that this game is more of the same, even with the multiplayer mode.

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Originally Posted by Cowdisease

So is it worth the $15? I'm a huge fan of the first game, but I worry that this game is more of the same, even with the multiplayer mode.

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Why would more of the same be a bad thing if you liked Trials HD so much? Evolution is just a more polished version of Trials HD. Is it worth $15? Absolutely. You'll have all the tracks you'll want to play until you're blue in the face, especially with the level editor being just mind-blowingly crazy.

I'm also surprised at how fun the multiplayer is. It's a different focus on the game; it forces you to NOT be OCD because you can't mash on restarts every time you make a mistake, and it makes being able to perform in the here and now that much more important. The one weird thing is how restarts count against you in Supercross, but not in any of the Trials playlists -- so there's spots where you would want to respawn where you wouldn't in SP to avoid taking the fault.

The new track sharing section is worth the price by itself. I'm still surprised that Microsoft even allowed it.

This is also the first 400 GS XBLA game I believe.

This game is the business. The default tracks seem much more numerous than in the original Trials and the amount of originality is awesome. I couldn't even get up to the hard tracks after a few hours because I was having so much fun replaying each level as I got to it. Awesome job with the designs. Controls feel a bit more responsive to me now, although they may not have changed them at all. The little license levels are nice for getting reaquainted with some of the different things you can do, and a good refresher course for things you're about to have to get good at real quick. Played a little multi with weeman and Bacon and that was a blast, definitely what Dipstick says about it making you play differently is true. Even something as small as the names of your friends showing up when you're trying out a track is fun, it fills even the first run with a sense of urgency as you see their names flying past when you screw up or falling behind when you hit a sweet spot. The level editor seems like it'll take some getting used to but seems to be very robust, I can't wait to see some of the things people come up with. And that opening theme song that plays before the start screen... I'm sure it will get annoying eventually, but right now it's awesome, got me very hyped when I turned it on. A++ so far.

Didn't you get "ghosts" from your friends in the first game?

Related. I'm stuck on the first game on a couple tracks. Should I fuck with this one, or wait for a sale?

This one's all about multiplayer and sharing tracks. If those two things interest you, definitely pick it up.

If not, you'll be cool with Trials HD 'til you finish it up.

I care about neither of those things. I either play so late that none of you are awake, or in the midst of most of your workdays.

Sharing tracks isn't person-to person this time. There's a master server and anyone can grab content, even if they don't have a Gold subscription. Track filesize is very small (10kb) so you can easily keep a lot. Each custom track even has its own leaderboard.

As for the editor, every Redlynx track was created with the in-game editor so it's definitely powerful. I swear I'm not being paid for this post, it really is amazing to see something like this on Live.

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Originally Posted by Josh

Didn't you get "ghosts" from your friends in the first game?

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You got the ghost of the closest person to you, not every one of your friends on the track. There are a bunch of settings for different types of ghosts in this one, by default it shows everyone of your friends who has raced that track, which I found really really distracting. I switched it to how the ghosts were in Trials HD, but that's just my preference.

Overall this game kicks as much ass as the first one, and like Pineapple said, just has more variety. I find it to be a lot easier, I was able to breeze through the hard levels with no issue, just need to go back and gold/platinum them all. I can't wait to see what people come up with in the track editor, it's kind of insane the number of options and how deeply you can customize tracks when you're creating them.

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Originally Posted by epmode

Sharing tracks isn't person-to person this time. There's a master server and anyone can grab content, even if they don't have a Gold subscription. Track filesize is very small (10kb) so you can easily keep a lot. Each custom track even has its own leaderboard.

As for the editor, every Redlynx track was created with the in-game editor so it's definitely powerful. I swear I'm not being paid for this post, it really is amazing to see something like this on Live.

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I want to buy it, but even if I didn't like it I'd want to support the idea.

More supercross tonight!

I've downloaded a bunch of supercross tracks in preparation.

Hopefully they lack boxes.

I'm up for some supercross now through the next few hours. I'm really sick so I doubt I'll be on late though.

You shitty buttonholes. I'm going to buy this instead of Chinese food.

Buttonholes! WHY CAN'T I TURN OFF AUTOCORRECT IN SAFARI

Buttonholes is totally a way better word than whatever you intended. One point awarded to autocorrect.

Just having the new outdoor environments is a huge improvement. THD looks extra dull in comparison.

Yeah the outdoor environments are some of the best, it's really nice how they transition the lighting in some stages to completely change the feel mid level. Also agreed with BrandX that it seems easier, although that could be that the game has more levels with more variety which helps you use different approaches and gets you more familiar with other things. Like after playing this one for a solid 2 days I feel like I could clean up a lot of stuff I couldn't even touch in regular Trials. And hitting that perfect run and beating the number one person on your list by .261 seconds feels so great. Speaking of which, some of you have some work to do ;)

Where is your name on the extreme leaderboards, dog?

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Originally Posted by jyoung

Where is your name on the extreme leaderboards, dog?

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

I couldn't even get up to the hard tracks after a few hours because I was having so much fun replaying each level as I got to it.

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I stopped last night at Giga Track (which is totally awesome btw), so I'm about to start doing the Hard ones. I doubt I'll have any high scores on the Extreme tracks, I've not been good enough to finish any of them in the past.

The only thing I haven't liked so far is the one medium level that has the water pumps. It feels completely stupid and is wholly enraging to be doing a perfect run then get hit by a blast of water that sends you backflipping into a pipe. It's way too random for a game that's built on your personal control of the bike. I tried to do a faultless run for about an hour and a half last night, went cross-eyed from doing the same level so many times. It's retarded and I hate it. Everything else is total boners.

The Trials of Limbo is about the coolest stage ever.

It is!

I love that there's an achievement in this game for having a perfect run and blowing it after the final checkpoint. It turned my very loud FUCK YOU into an Oh? Nice!

I never played the original, but this game is kind of amazing. It makes up for you assholes recommending skull girls.

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Originally Posted by Jeremy

The Trials of Limbo is about the coolest stage ever.

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Can I run over the Limbo boy's head?

After 120 faults, I decided to let the Way of the Ninja level go undefeated. I just picked it at random from the Extreme list, and I like to think I got pretty far into it before my hands atrophied.

I also got past the first pipe in Inferno III once. Voodoo Ninja Magic is about the only way I see to do it, and no fault-less video is going to prove otherwise.

James

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Originally Posted by SamuraiMoogle

Can I run over the Limbo boy's head?

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No, but you can fall victim to a buzzsaw.

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Originally Posted by James

After 120 faults, I decided to let the Way of the Ninja level go undefeated. I just picked it at random from the Extreme list, and I like to think I got pretty far into it before my hands atrophied.

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Tried that one and a few of the other Extreme tracks last night, they are no fucking joke! I'm not sure how far through WotN I got but it was a decent amount and I was already up to about 100 faults and then my finger slipped and pressed Select and restarted it so I said fuck it and gave up. That happened with just about every one of them I tried. The second one on the extreme list I managed to get a really good run in, made it through like the first 9 or 10 checkpoints with only one fault! Then I started losing it and I could tell I was about 2 or 3 checkpoints from the end with only about 15 faults and again slipped and pressed the Select button. Rage quit after that.

I was just screwing around on Ninja, just to see what kind of crazy shit they expected us to be able to do. Like on Trials HD, I fully expect to do a couple levels out of sheer bull-headed obstinacy, and just poke at the rest for the fun of it. I will say, though, that the extreme tracks really point out how nice analog leaning would be. I'd like to be able to adjust the angle of lean on a steep slope without my back wheel going flying away from the surface.

James

Stop pressing select, noob.

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Originally Posted by James

I was just screwing around on Ninja, just to see what kind of crazy shit they expected us to be able to do. Like on Trials HD, I fully expect to do a couple levels out of sheer bull-headed obstinacy, and just poke at the rest for the fun of it.

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Same!

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Originally Posted by James

I will say, though, that the extreme tracks really point out how nice analog leaning would be. I'd like to be able to adjust the angle of lean on a steep slope without my back wheel going flying away from the surface.

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Very much agreed, there's just no subtlety to it. If you press forward or back even the slightest bit the guy goes lurching forward or back like he's trying to fling himself off the bike. Maybe not that bad, but when it requires impeccable precision I feel it leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Has anyone found any squirrels?

356 faults, 25 minutes, Way of the Ninja complete! :D

James

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

Has anyone found any squirrels?

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I've found about half of 'em.

The easiest ones are on the D license test and Suspended. Just wait around for the whole after-race death animation to play out.

Squirrel guides:

Just got a silver on an Extreme track. The Truth is Out There only has one really insane jump, as it turns out, although it's the one to get to the finish line.

James

http://static.fjcdn.com/comments/You...f01a7a859d.jpg

Very entertaining games tonight with Dipstick and Chux (save for that one god awful extreme track), Josh you should move with Ramon and ape off his sweet new internet connection.

And I should've taken part in tonight's festivities and uploaded them to Youtube...maybe next week. Got hooked on All Star Pro Wrestling III tonight and forgot about the Trials stuff at 10 PM.

I'm sad I missed it. It's 2:30AM and I'm just about to put an hour in before sleep, so I may be just a bit late.

James

Haruspexblue

Please add, games tonight?

Any night.

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Originally Posted by Pineapple

Any night.

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Added you Pineapple.

I think choosing Gigatrack online is officially the best way anybody could ever troll in a game by selecting a map.

Giga Track's not that hard a map to beat. I think I did it in about 10 minutes and a dozen or so faults.

Inferno III would be a much bigger troll pick. Most people can't even make it past the second jump sequence.

It took me almost a half hour and sixty billion faults. I hate it.

If you play an extreme track on multiplay...

You will believe a controller can fly!

I can't even beat a single hard level. Fuck you all.

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Originally Posted by Josh

It took me almost a half hour and sixty billion faults. I hate it.

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I remember messing around with the first mile or so trying to figure out the best lines and just screwing up and warping back, everyone's names had gone flying past me minutes before, then I finally decided to just finish the track. Bout a minute later I buzzed past your name as it was lingering near some wall, snickering ensued.

I've tried some extreme tracks, given up halfway on every single one.

I finished Archipelago on full throttle for the achievement; home run is definitely the easiest track to get 'Nervous Twitch' on. Are the extreme tracks actually in the rotation of hardcore time trial? I only ever play the excitebike mode, cause it's fucking awesome.

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I buzzed past your name as it was lingering near some wall, snickering ensued.

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As long as I beat Brand I don't give a fuck.

Extreme tracks can make it into the online rotation, it's really up to whoever is the host. You can change any track and set it up any way you want. It is kinda fun to do a couple easy and beginner tracks and throw an extreme in at the end, some people flip the fuck out :)

Yes. Over and over again. Due to those goddamn boxes.

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Originally Posted by Chux

If you play an extreme track on multiplay...

You will believe a controller can fly!

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Was this before or after the 300 rageresets? :lol:

I didn't throw it. Might have if it was SP

This is some serious control, whoever this is is beyond good.


http://www.trueachievements.com/a163...m?showguides=1
For video of him doing this for EVERY Extreme track. Had me in disbelief with some of these videos.

So I'm only about 6 tracks in, but the DLC for this is great so far. The BMX bikes are a nice throwback to the days of Dave Mirra BMX on the Dreamcast/PS2.

Definitely worth the $5. I saw that they also threw in a "Castle Crashers" helmet for those who like that game.

Trials Evo DLC?!?! I had no idea. Tonight just got that much better.

It's great up until the extreme tracks and then those are just a bitch. Thankfully, there are only 3 extreme tracks.

All of them are pretty darn good. Really creative level designs and lots of interesting shortcuts and stuff. Not a big fan of the BMX bike but it's an interesting change of pace. The first two extreme tracks aren't too bad in this one, I can see getting in the single digits later, but the final stage is just boring and not fun. And the skill games are pretty stupid. Shame they're tied to an achievement. Got 3 of the new ones so far. It's just as addicting as the base game, I started it around 10pm and just finished the whole thing.

Trials EVO DLC pack 2 is up. 400 points.

I will check it out when I get home tonight.

I guess I'll post it here as well:

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Originally Posted by epmode

Beta signup for Trials Evolution Gold: http://redlynx.com/evo-gold-beta/
(includes all tracks from Trials HD as well)

The beta launches tomorrow so gogogo.

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This is for the upcoming PC port.

914 mb download for this bitch.

Guess I'll be playing tomorrow :(

Played 4 or 5 tracks so far, all nice and varied and fun, also seem to be stepping up the challenge a bit. I like the new bike too, it's got the pick up and go of the Phoenix with more speed and a little better control.

Good news: emails were sent out today letting people know if they made it into the PC beta

Bad news: beta has been delayed until early January

The extreme tracks this time around are fucking brutal. Well thought out, really interesting set pieces, totally varying styles, and each one just fucking brutal.

Closed beta invites have been sent. Check your emails.

The PC port (which includes both HD and Evolution) launches on March 21st for $20. Buying now gets you in the beta but it might be the limited beta that has been live for a few weeks.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/22...snr=1_7_15__13

If you check out the Red Lynx creations section in the downloadable stuff they redid a lot of the older tracks to be used with the Banshee. It's nothing new in terms of the tracks, but being able to use that bike is almost like playing it again for the first time, and on several I found myself liking it even more than the Phoenix. Way of The Ninja in particular seemed MUCH easier, although it could be that I've not stopped playing this since release. First try with the Banshee and I only faulted 26 times, several of those being really dumb things that I was just having fun with. The amount of excellent content that people are still creating for this game is staggering, it's a real testament to how great of a job they did this time around.

Only way I'm getting the PC port is if the fix the texture pop in. That shit drives me mad on the XBLA version.

I think that happens once out of every like 100 races for me. And only the first time, and only for the time it takes for the 3 second countdown before all the pop in is done. It ain't that bad.