I’ve been wanting to blog about Trials for a while now, but in all honesty it’s such a huge subject I had trouble figuring out where to begin.

Quite simply Trials is the game that myself and my circle of Xbox friends play the most. We may deviate or get all excited when a new game is released, but we always seem to go back and revisit our old friend.

Essentially it is a motorbike, or a Trials bike game. You control a rider on a physics based motorcycle while navigating obstacles on a track. Fast paced, challenging and often times frustrating but with seemingly endless playability.

Trials HD was the first release, way back on the 12th August 2009. I certainly had seen no other game like it or that could match it. I played it at my Brother in Laws and was captivated and couldn’t wait to get home and purchase it for myself.

I liked the game, but sadly I didn’t fall in love with it. The further I progressed, I found myself getting utterly frustrated by my inability to improve. In fact so frustrated that the controller bounced off the floor a fair few times. I would turn it on, play a track, fail miserably and turn it off because the constant engine rev of the bike was grating on my nerves like fingers down a blackboard.

The bikes felt heavy, almost unresponsive at times and the tracks nigh on impossible.

Eventually it became a dust gatherer within the innards of my Xbox. In the wider gaming world however it was a success.

On the 18th April 2012 Trials Evolution was released and everything changed!

 The huge success of Trials HD made it possible for us to finally create the game of our dreams — Sebastian Aaltonen, Lead Programmer at RedLynx

Unlike it’s predecessor it provided outdoor environments with curved driving lines and sleeker, more responsive bikes which were partially customizable along with the rider.

As in real life you must pass license tests to progress through the 57 levels which range from Beginner to Extreme, unlocking bikes as you go. No two levels are the same, all having their own set of unique challenges.

I loved it. Unlike Trails HD I was totally sold, however there was still the problem of the inability to progress. The hard and extreme tracks lefts me with cold sweats, cramped fingers and rage head! I lost count of the times I cursed and screamed swearing they were an abomination and impossible to complete.  Again I almost gave up.

Then I met the crew in the picture at the top of the post and they helped me unlock the secret! Healthy competition. Your friends names always ahead of you certainly make you push that little bit harder. Also Multi player which is pretty decent improves your single player skills.

I’ve now completed every track, albeit some of the extreme still have a hefty amount of faults attached, but I can’t describe that feeling of triumph when you finally cross the finish line on one that has been giving you nightmares for weeks!

The game also has an in built editor, meaning anyone with an interest can create tracks and then upload them for others to play. Hence me saying earlier it was seemingly endless, there is always new content being added.

However this also has a downside. Sometimes Track Central can get overloaded with tracks with no playability whatsoever and other great ones get pushed to the bottom or out altogether meaning you may never get to see them. Also you can only search by user name which can be difficult given the use of symbols, lower and uppercase letters.

Don’t get me wrong Trials Evolutions is not without it’s faults. We (my circle of friends) have all experienced lag, console freezes, loss of data and a couple of us have had to erase and re download. But at 1600 Microsoft points (approx £16) for Trials and the two DLC’s, Origin of Pain and Riders of Doom who can complain. It’s kept me entertained since it’s release date in April and I am still playing!

Shady and I have spent the last few days compiling a list of some of our favorite tracks, however as Shady himself says there are hundreds out there we have not yet discovered. So if you know of any good ones you think we should try, please feel free to comment.

We’ve purposely left out Redlynx created tracks as they can be easily found within Track Central.

Our Top Ten Just Kept on Growing!! (I blame Shady!)

SmEgHeAd89 – A Knights Ride & Farm Trail

Meenie77 – Adventure of Doom

PuRpLE oOzi – Citywide Storage Co & Old Railroad Run

Spizaa – Giant’s Kitchen

Murdoc Loch – Glitter & Doom and Rouge Ridge

Doctor EDD – LOTR Moira and any of his other amazing Lord of the Rings Tracks

Icky Qualms – Natural Resources

X CYBER SCYTHE – Quarry Project

Medieval Genius – The Elder Trials IV, Time Line and Now You’re Cookin

Mr Fecker – Mild Insanity

Jelly 1969 – Quick & Simple

ratrod dad e O – Time Travel and The REAL Giga Cross

qbicfeet – Scandanavian Summer

AGANIZE – Sonic (Trials)

F1RESTORM uk – The Show Jumper

StrykeUM – White ‘n’ Sandy

morfyboy – It’s snow good

maccorenzy – Le Monde de Morphee

Kalinius – Carole’s Garden

ll ManOnFire ll – Westwood Farm

insanedude13 – Blue Boxes

the emcee – Air.Craft and Go Ape!!

GhostForce2 – Alice in Woodenland

cKz Kalipso v – Dopamine

Slatonator – Snow Drift Peak

Lus1kka – Palmway

THE ELMONATOR – King of Kludge

x4BSOLUTExZER0x – Tornado Emergency

i ZeqeeeNz 3XM – Lumber Lord

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When you find the creators name, make sure to also check out the “Other tracks by this Creator”. We have only listed a few of the many fantastic tracks they have made.