Trial Evolution is finally here, and soon gamers across the world will be wailing in despair (and occasionally in triumph) as they attempt to deal with the game's formidable difficulty.
To give you a spot of assistance, we sought out expert advice from Antti Ilvessuo, creative director at RedLynx. Read on to hear his tips on learning the basics, multiplayer racing, and how to find Trials Evolution's toughest challenges.
"This time around, the game teaches you much better how to handle some of the more challenging portions of the game, with the tutorial spread throughout the events, instead of being a few simple things right at the beginning.
"So with those steep inclines, need to go easy on the gas, easy on the leaning, and just keep practising. Will the bike forward with your mind, until eyes and hands and bike become one!"
"If you don't have friends that can teach you how to bunny hop in real life (the Trials move that is, not the Finnish dance craze), you just have to practice! It's a matter of getting the right timing and nailing it. There aren't any secret buttons or combos to memorize! It's really a game of skill, with skill that improves over time.
"If I had to try to put it into words, it would be like: Lean forward… gas... lean back really fast and then forward, to get the springs loaded and then release that momentum at the right time."
"The game sets you up with the right bike at the right time, and you have to unlock the more difficult bikes before you are allowed to ride them. You must pass license tests to prove you are a good enough driver to play that next bike. Our license tests might be more challenging than the real life driving tests, actually.
"So just select the bike you are most comfortable with in each event, and after you unlock the harder tracks you should be able to ride them all."
"We have a track called Inferno III here, and it's a real killer! There's no specific tips that can be given on that course, at least until you've sat down and played and you are having trouble with a particular bit… then download a replay off the Leader Board, and see how the top riders do it.
"You will have access to recordings of the best Trials riders in the world. Watch them. Study them. Learn their secrets. Record the video from your TV and put it on your cell phone and study the footage while on the bus, in the classroom, at your workplace, if that is what you must do. But there will come a time to stop watching and start doing. That will be your time."
"The fun thing is that when you are racing live against other people, you will start making rookie mistakes because you are so focused on your rivals and trying not to embarrass yourself. When you're riding alone, you don't make those kind of mistakes!
"So multiplayer adds the additional challenge of having to really focus, since you cannot restart 500 times like you do in single player. Your mistakes, your horrible, horrible mistakes, will be visible to the whole world – or at least everyone in the race with you."
"Extreme tracks are still hard enough. There will be a lot of former Trials HD players coming to this who will carry over all their experience and knowledge form playing the first game, but at the same there's a whole new audience that's never played Trials before.
"We did not want to overshoot on difficulty and go one difficulty up, like "Ninja", which would have not served gamers in right way. But now with public sharing, people can create really Ninja difficulty tracks and compete on those also, since there are Leader Boards are for all tracks.
"One thing that will be much more challenging for even the most experienced players will be playing Extreme tracks online in multiplayer, in what we call Hardcore Trials mode. You think trying to beat your friend's time in an Extreme track is hard enough? Try racing against him on that same track at the same time. There is no restart. One mistake and you're doomed. The pressure will crush you like the bottom of the ocean!"
"Keep the driving line clear and have a clear focus the on track you are making. Take the time to learn the tools and play your own track until it's actually fun, and then you'll be on the right path.
"We're posting 32 separate tutorial videos on www.youtube.com/redlynxtv, that introduce the editor in stages and will really help you learn the most out of that tool. So check those out, then visit our forums, where there are lots of other editors and players willing to give advice and test your tracks."
"Practice! Nobody gave Beethoven a cheat code or a power-up for the piano. You get out of it what you put into it."
Trials Evolution is available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
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