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PreviousTrials HD BIG Pack Review
Xbox 360 Review by Dan Whitehead
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Did I like Trials HD? This tentative email enquiry from Eurogamer editor Tom Bramwell was more loaded than he perhaps realised. Yes, of course I like Trials HD. I love it, because I have a soul and people who do not love Trials HD are hollow, empty creatures. Would I like to review the first dose of DLC, the boastfully titled BIG Pack? Again, the answer was an emphatic yes. But professional duty meant that it came with a humiliating confession: as much as I love Trials HD, I'm very, very rubbish at it.
It can't have come as a surprise - after all, Tom sits atop my Friends leaderboard on virtually every course, his inhuman dexterity writ large with brisk times and impossibly few faults. I'm somewhere near the bottom, with times that are more tortoise than hare, and faults soaring into triple figures (current record: 172 faults on Technique!). My shame is there for Tom - nay, the world - to see.
Thankfully, the fact that Trials HD apparently turns my usually skilled fingers to floppy rubber doesn't matter. Not just for Tom, the kindest, most gentle taskmaster in the history of games journalism, but for the game itself. Trials HD is that most wonderful of things - a game where it's not just okay, but downright fun to be crap.
Pants: soiled.
It's a game that shines for those lofty God-like beings striving to shave an extra second off their perfect runs, while also thrilling mere mortals like myself, clawing our way through each track from checkpoint to checkpoint, each green light a desperately needed resting place, spending more time flailing at the edge of control, crushed and splattered rather than roaring majestically to victory.
Either way, it's a hoot, offering the sort of immersion that even the biggest, most detailed RPG world can't hope to compete with: being able to feel the thing under your control, involuntarily moving along with it, so complete is the connection between player and game. To be able to cater to the best and worst among us, offering these tangible pleasures for all while also rewarding dedication and the persistent application of skill, is truly something to applaud, and so it goes without saying that this temptingly priced expansion (400 Microsoft Points) continues to showcase this rather breathtaking precision design from developer RedLynx. Is it more of the same? Mostly yes, and that's why it's so great.
Cars can be used as static ramps, or as interactive rolling elements to be toppled or balanced on.
New courses make up the meat of the package, effectively doubling the Medium and Hard tiers of the game and adding a couple of extra Extreme challenges for the truly masterful to boot. They're an agreeably eclectic selection, covering most of the subtle variations that make Trials so much fun. For those who enjoy the technical challenge of mastering tricky jumps and manoeuvring a bike up and over simple yet devilish obstacles, there are the likes of Workshop of Secrets, Pro Speedway, Final Flashback and Junkyard.
If you prefer the more woo-hooooo levels, with the massive leaps, explosions and other action movie ballast then the pack also provides for you. Condemned Complex and Prison Break find you racing through blazing and broken environments, hurtling through plate glass, dodging flames and negotiating tilting floors.
Are you excited about Trials HD on Xbox 360?
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Latest Features
Latest Videos
Trials HD - Get it now trailer [9] Friday
Exclusive: Trials HD - Fantastic! [10] 11 January, 2010
Latest News
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Trials HD hits 1m sales across game/DLC [38]
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New Trials HD Achievements detailed [16]
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RedLynx details Trials HD's BIG Pack [29]
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Trials HD BIG Pack DLC dated, priced [30]
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Trials HD races past 300,000 sales [40]
Latest Screenshots
11 December, 2009 [4]
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Roland_D11
06/01/10 @ 12:59
+2
Thanks for the review, I was tempted by the Big Pack but did not buy it yet, because I am very, ahm, mediocre at Trials... Tonight I will buy it :-) .
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 06/01/10 @ 12:59
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GamesConnoisseur
06/01/10 @ 13:05
+3
Big Pack RESTORED my love of Trials HD in a stroke! I never regretted getting this DLC for an instance and a must buy. Its really added to the quality of the main game and finds you bunch of new things too as aptly described in the article.
So what its Kickstart for the current gen, its exactly what I and others want! Lovingly reimagined in HD gen with all the juicy effects. Well done RedLynx. |
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local_celebrity
06/01/10 @ 13:10
+2
Outré? What's wrong with 'out there'? This is a game about pikey motorbikes, after all. Not the fookin' French new wave.
No, but in all seriousness, great review. Such a shame I can't go anywhere near this game. Seeing a grown man have a temper tantrum is never a pretty sight. |
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Roland_D11
06/01/10 @ 13:42
+7
@Hobo
And why is that disgusting? For me 400 Points are €5. Do you buy everything at that pricepoint without looking? I hesitated because I feared the pack would only be fun for people who excelled at the base game. |
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Roland_D11
06/01/10 @ 14:15
0
@spekkeh
You need the original game, this is just an expansion. @RexRunti I didn't play LBP, had it moments in it where you wanted to throw your controller at the tv? And pick it up again for just one more try? ;)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 06/01/10 @ 14:17
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Psychotext
06/01/10 @ 14:21
+6
Some of the best DLC ever for one of the best downloadable games ever.
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0
Thanks, crwoody, but now I'm totally confused. :) I thought HD was the Xbox version of Trials (eg. Trials 1, for PC) and Big Pack was an expansion pack of Trials HD. So I figured either there would be a corresponding expansion for the PC version, Trials 2 was it. Is Trials 2 older than Big Pack? Is Trials 2 older than Trials HD for that matter?
Steam put Trials 2 on sale for $2.50 around the same time Big Pack went live on XBL, hence all the obsessing LOL.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 06/01/10 @ 15:36
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GamesConnoisseur
06/01/10 @ 15:37
+3
I m not skilled enough, extreme is just hair pulling 'how the heck can ANY player do those?!' but must say hard is quite do able, just probably in three figures retries. I did then realised there is subtlies to how your body position, bike, speed and momentum all affects how you proceed past some of the 'problems'.
In a way it is a puzzle game in which you try out range of options to solve the level, sometimes switching to the slowest bike did it for me! |
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kenbrilliant
06/01/10 @ 16:45
+1
Why all the skill games bashing? I'm quite enjoying a few of the new ones - Hill Climb and the one with the rocket car especially. And the flipping one is a better layout than the original.
I still don't get the bone breaker one though - my best score came from when i just hurled myself at the very first small hurdle and broke 41 bones in one movement. Other than that though, all of the new tracks really are quite lovely. Apart from the fucking donkey one. So annoying. So so annoying. |
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+2
Excellent DLC for an excellent game. Trials is already eating heavily into time I should be spending asleep, I haven't even touched the level editor yet...
Anyone unsure about splashing out for this due to perceived weak skills shouldn't worry, the new medium levels alone are fantastic (with the exception of the last one with all the pipes - it hates me). |
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+1
Has anybody managed the tournament achievement? Complete the 20-stage tournament without any retries? It's the only one I can't manage. Got all of the rest including the DLC ones, I just can't finish the tournament with fewer than around 10 retries! The annoying thing is I can do every separate stage without any retries no problem at all.
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-1
I adored Trials HD for a good few hours after purchase- my eyes popping out of my head at the glorious speed with which the various motorcycles careered over the wooden ramps, gasping in admiration at the expertly-designed levels, and planning the next "empty" at my house so that I could show it off to my casual, Modern Warfare-playing friends. Then, just over halfway through, I absolutely hit a brick wall and could not for the life of me manage to nudge my bike over the various obstacles, leading to much frustration and very little in the way of "fun". I realise that it's my fault for being utterly pish at the game, but not being able to get past most of the levels after the game's half-way point just sickened me, and for that reason this DLC is not something that I have been excited about, and not something that I will be downloading, even in light of Dan's glowing review.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 06/01/10 @ 17:55
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+1
@Mr. DNA - just stick with it, a very similar thing happened to me. One thing that really helped get me past the "Oh fuck it's impossible" point was watching other people's replays of the levels. Sometimes it made me suddenly realise what you could do with the bike, or just made me want to give it one more go.
I've gotten gold medals on the first 3 medium levels, and the others are mostly silver (with Underground stuck on bronze - I hate that fucking level!). Of course, there's no point banging your head against it if you're really not enjoying it, but there's more depth in the game than I had thought when I first started playing it. |
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0
I got stuck on the Extreme levels first time round, but then my mate bought the game and gave me some leader board competition. He also managed one of the Extreme levels. So, I started playing it again and through sheer persistence managed to nail of the Extreme levels and subsequently all of the DLC levels as well. If you keep playing, watch the replays, etc, you'll get better and the more difficult obstacles become a lot easier. It's all about the technique!
edit: Also, you've got 500 retries per stage (or 30 minutes), so use them! Instant retry FTW.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 07/01/10 @ 09:57
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Moribundman
07/01/10 @ 12:38
0
@f00b_inc I think there's a slower, cuter game in the same spirit called Little Big Something or other... ;-)
@espy Much more likely. And I will buy it again on PC as well so I can take it anywhere with me! (Yay!) |
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Roland_D11
07/01/10 @ 13:37
0
@Sofa
Why the hate? I really liked the form of the review, because I felt the same as Dan. I am not good at trials and reading that the expansion is enjoyable for someone who is not good at it helped me a lot. |
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CHAZBIGPOTATO
07/01/10 @ 13:37
0
Oef!
I think the reason they left out the sound effects is because it is made with the same building blocks used for the other levels, just with extremely clever use of lighting and camera position to create the effect of it being old school. I believe they said somewhere that all levels in the game are created using the track editor we get. |
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0
@Hypercube: OK, so I followed your advice and bought the DLC, and I'm glad that I did. I'm enjoying it every bit as much as I did in those first few hours with the original game, and even if/when I do hit the obligatory brick wall, I've still had my money's worth, seeing as how the additional content was a very affordable fiver. Cheers.
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TheRankinator
07/01/10 @ 18:56
0
Superb add-on, absolutely loving it. But RedLynx, come on, the fans have been asking since the original release for an easier way to share tracks with the world, there are some FANTASTIC levels out there but hardly any chance to play them. How can you release this DLC, bringing even better features to the level editor yet no good way to share them!
I remember an interview before the DLC release, and a member of the team stated "This new pack will benefit the community in a BIG way", how sad I was to find out that only meant new toys for the level editor. However judging by the success this game has received, I'm sure there will be another add-on (well here's hoping!) and it will be included :)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 07/01/10 @ 21:54
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