How do you add to a game with unlimited content?
Trials Evolution’s first piece of DLC, Origin of Pain, seeks to answer that question. Amongst Xbox games, Trials Evolution, which released on the Xbox LIVE Arcade earlier in the year, is fairly unique.
It is a game built to facilitate the creation, and sharing of user content. Since release, there has been an explosion of free content available through the ‘Track Central’, both from developers Red Lynx, and fans around the globe.
Above and beyond the 80+ tracks and skill games Evolution shipped with, there are now thousands of spectacular creations from a dedicated, talented, and innovative community. If nothing else, those who haven’t already explored this wealth of new content should check it out now.
What this does mean, is that to justify paid DLC, Red Lynx have to do more than simply offer more tracks. On the face of it though, that is precisely what the Origin of Pain provides – 24 new tracks to add to the Single Player, 10 new multiplayer Supercross tracks, 2 new Skill Games, plus a number of new tournaments.
In a sense, that may not sound like a lot – you can already get more single player tracks, more supercross tracks, and more skill games – but one should not underestimate the benefits of not having to look for great content to find it.
There can be no doubting who the professional game developers are: there is, as Trials players have come to expect, a uniform high quality in both presentation and playability for the new tracks. There is nothing remarkably new about the formula here, but with Trial’s gameplay being a proven and addictive hit, it’s hard to complain.
Alongside the garage of trials motorcycles integral of Trials, the DLC adds a BMX. Even without an engine, a fact which makes it uncompetitive versus the Phoenix and Scorpion bikes, it’s still fun to use thanks to it’s exceptional maneuverability. Unfortunately – inexplicably – the Gecko is not available on the original levels, which feels like a waste.
Alongside Crash Country, the world featured in the game’s original levels, Paine Island, which each of the new DLC levels is built upon, is available in the game’s editors, along with around a thousand new editor objects, opening up grand new possibilities. To try out these new creations from Track Central, of course, you’ll need the DLC.
VERDICT
To add to the game with unlimited content, Red Lynx have primarily done three things: first, they’ve added yet more high quality content of their own, second, they’ve given players new ways to experience it with the brand unique feeling BMX, and third, they’ve ensured that while those without the DLC may have unlimited content, those with it will have more, and better unlimited content.
For the generous price of 400 Microsoft Points, the Origin of Pain DLC is a bargain for anyone looking for more Trials Evolution.
