Trials Fusion

[Cam]

Comes out tomorrow. If I didn't have class in the morning, I'd stay up until midnight to buy it.

[21Kid]

I watched the trailer, and it looks pretty sweet.

[Cam]

Front end is really flashy--almost too flashy. Kind of annoying how Ubisoft has it's name all over it now. :rolleyes: Gameplay is practically the same, which is good. Haven't got far enough to try stunts yet.

[George]

Xbox One only? Poop.

I am really digging Trials HD and Trials Evolution. Recently discovered DLC available for Trials HD - probably old news to you old Xbox vets but new to me.

[GreatScawt]

Pretty sure it's on XBox 360 as well.

[Cam]

I don't have an Xbone. I'm playing it on the 360. :)

When I start it up, I get a "register" screen for Uplay (Ubisoft profile or something) that tells me that it can't connect at this time. If I try to connect to it later via the menu, it hangs on the connect screen and you can't back out of it. :rolleyes:

[George]

Cool. Thanks. I'll check it out from the 360, as I happen to have tomorrow and Friday off work. The video I watched said it was for XBox One but that might have been because the guy who made the video was using that. No matter.

Cam, I have you in my friend list and can see your ghost in Evolution - can't remember if there are ghosts in HD but I think I saw your times there as well. It's obvious you not only have mad skillz but also a bike that I haven't unlocked yet. When the race starts, you name flies off the screen to the right, never to be seen again! I gotta get one of those NOS-injected ones that you apparently have. :up:

[Cam]

Yes, you unlock better bikes eventually. Also, Trials is one of those easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master games. I've played this game a lot. My brother and I had a friendly rivalry going to try to top each other's times.

I've spent hours repeatedly doing one track to beat my time, get zero faults or a platinum medal. :o

Apparently multiplayer doesn't work yet and won't for a while. :mad:

[George]

Agreed on easy to learn and damn frustrating later on. I think the track called "Mother Of All Jumps" in Trials HD was the one that nearly did me in - it's the one where you have to jump way down a mine-shaft, almost, and then you're rewarded with a rocket boost. I kept trying to tip-toe down the upper landings until I finally got lucky and managed some kind of flip of the back wall of the vertical drop and somehow landed on both tires just in front of the rocket launcher.

[Cam]

I should correct my previous post and say online multiplayer is not available at this time. Local multiplayer is available.

[8400RPM]

I'll be getting this tonight for 360 for sure. I see it has a season pass......

George- Don't worry about catching Cam for awhile. I've played this game a lot and still not in his league. There are still some Extreme levels I can't finish. I've even hit the maximum fault/time limit on a few of 'em.

[Reynard]

I should correct my previous post and say online multiplayer is not available at this time. Local multiplayer is available.

This is a good thing as I can't really grip a 360 controller tightly at the moment so I can wait a bit to get this. Let me know when it gets updated though. :)

[The359]

Annoyingly, Steam doesn't have the game until a week after everyone else gets it. However, I have been playing the Beta for a few weeks now.

[Cam]

Just when I think the obstacles can't get more vile, along comes Inferno IV. :eek: I completed it, but it took over 27 minutes with 189 faults. :hard:

[George]

Yesterday I downloaded two DLCs for Trials HD - the Big Pack or something, and another. Pretty cool. Several new tracks, and some of them Easy and Medium so even I can enjoy them.

And, surprise surprise, I found Origins Of Pain for Trials Evolution in my download history. Apparently I paid for it and never downloaded it back when I was trying to figure out this whole mess. Maybe now some of the user-made tracks will work for me. I've only found one (1) so far that will work, and I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong...I can't read most of the tiny text on the screen that describes the tracks, so I'm probably missing the instructions of how to use them. I also assume the makers of this game caused user-tracks to require DLCs to make mo' money - I would!

Sure wish I had more bikes, though. I seem to be stuck with a couple 250s in both Trials games - one with a nasty hair-trigger throttle; a raspy 450 that doesn't seem to be anything special; and the Banshee 350 that I can use on tracks from the Riders Of Doom DLC. My favorite in both games is the weaker 250, and I have it pimped out in Evolution with crazy mismatching colors on every panel and mismatched wheels, too. Classy. There's also a 600 in my Trials HD garage but I have yet to find a track that will allow that bike. I can see it but can't use it.

I also passed the acheivement in Trials HD of finishing Container Rush without letting go of the throttle yesterday. I thought that might unlock a new bike, but no.

I guess I want to try different bikes because I've peaked in my ability with the current bikes and am in a Catch 22 of needing a faster accelerating bike to get over some obstacles but I can't have it until I prove I don't need it. I want whatever Cam is riding that makes his ghost vanish in milli-seconds from the starting line with acceleration that none of my bikes can match. I can also tell that Cam has some kind of super hot rod from his distances in games like Javelin and similar where you bail out for distance. I can't even get close. Not trying to obsess about what Cam has but he's my only Xbox friend so his scores are all I see. I also keep seeing 4-wheel ATVs in demos and trailers - where are those?

Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually, and I shall endeavor to persevere.

Not complaining here - I love these games. I will certainly buy Trials Fusion when the price comes down, if not sooner.

[Cam]

There are eight bikes in Trials HD: Turtle, Reptile, Scorpion, Phoenix Evo, Micro Donkey, Hauler, Phoenix REV and Scopion AIR. The last three are only used in the skill games. To unlock the Donkey, you must successfully complete the National Bike Cup tournament with a Gold medal. The Scorpion and Phoenix Evo are the best bikes to use to set the fastest times. Although, my brother is fierce with the Donkey. Use the Scorpion on the easier tracks and the Phoenix on the harder tracks. The Scorpion has a faster top speed, but the Phoenix has better everything else. There are techniques to riding that are not obvious when you first play. For example, if you do a wheelie, then shift your rider's weight forward, you'll do a bunny hop. This technique is very useful for getting over gaps and obstacles you might not think you can get over. Also, if you're going down a long, steep hill, sometimes you can gain more speed by coasting rather than holding down the gas.

You can view replays of the top 5000 riders on any track in Trials HD, and the top 10000 in Trials Evolution. Just highlight a track, then press Y to look at the leaderboards. Use LB and RB to change the filter to view overall or just your friends. Highlight a top time and press Y to view their replay. Very helpful in learning the fastest way through a track.

There are seven bikes in Trials Evolution, some of which are DLC: Rattler, Piranha, Scorpion, Phoenix Evo, Micro Donkey, Gecko and Banshee. Same deal as Trials HD, the Scorpion and Phoenix are the best bikes to use. You unlock the Donkey in Trials Evolution by having the Unyielding achievement in Trials HD: Complete Groundhog Returns faultlessly without changing the rider's posture.

There is no four-wheeler in Trials HD or Trials Evolution. Good luck improving your times!:rawk:

[George]

Wow, that's quite the complete guide to Trials there Cam. Thanks.

That's all the bikes? I thought there would be many more and I was certain I've seen 4-wheelers on YouTube. I figured they came with DLCs. No matter if not - a two-wheeler would certainly handle better and accelerate faster.


Rattler, Piranha, Scorpion, Phoenix Evo, Micro Donkey, Gecko and Banshee.

I have all those except the Micro Donkey. Dang. I thought I had many more to unlock. The Gecko is dumb IMO - wish they'd given us something cooler, like a BMW Paris To Dakar bike or maybe a '70s AMF Harley Davidson Evel Knievel bike.

I'll have to find a track with a relatively flat and calm starting point and figure out how Cam's ghost goes *POOF* off the side of the screen while my rider is just puttering along by comparison. I mean, pressing a button to simulate twisting a throttle should be something I can do as well as anyone, and therefore my starts ought to be pretty much the same speed until the first obstacle when Cam's superior skills let him leave me behind. That I understand. The much-faster-off-the-line thing however, I do not. That's why I figured there must be faster, well, quicker bikes available, like the 600 in Trials HD that teases me with its upturned exhaust pipes.

Oh, and I got a strike at midnight bowling last night. Was disappointed it didn't unlock another bike after 289 attempts. Of course, once I figured out how to do it, I can pretty much do it on command now.

I imagine the Hard and Xtreme and whatever other kind of tortuous tracks that I haven't even unlocked yet are the same way - practice makes perfect.

[Cam]

There is a four-wheeler in Trials Fusion.

The Micro Donkey is a 50cc kids bike, but it's surprisingly quick. It looks remarkably like an old Honda Z50.

495

I remember thinking the extreme tracks were IMPOSSIBLE when I first tried them. I got better. ;)

[Reynard]

George, you can add Reynard11 to your friends list if you would like to have a ghost that's not quite as fast to chase around. I won't even bother with any Extreme tracks, they're beyond my "still having fun" ability. I'm reasonably fast on the Supercross tracks though. ;)

[George]

Thanks Reynard. I'll do that the next time I get online with the Xbox - may well be this weekend before I get a chance.

[8400RPM]

George- you can add me as well - VTEC8400. My times are pretty even with Reynard's for the most part, he is usually who I target as far as ghosts. Cam's wife is another.

As far as getting a good launch at the start, are you shifting your weight forward as you accelerate?

I wouldn't worry about getting Trials Fusion so soon if I were you, unless you really want that 4-wheeler which for me is less fun than the 2 wheelers. Fusion is a solid game, but I can't find anything in it that's any better than HD or Evolution. The tricks are a throwaway for me, and track design might even be worse. The theme song- I'd like to delete it from the Earth.

[Reynard]

he is usually who I target as far as ghosts

Of course you do... as do I with you. :twisted:

Glad to hear your impressions of Fusion though. No rush to get it now as I have more then enough games vying for my attention and couple with their hooks deep in me right now anyway.

[Cam]

Cam's wife is another.
She's surprisingly good. :rawk:

[George]

As far as getting a good launch at the start, are you shifting your weight forward as you accelerate?

I thought I had been, but after working on this specfically, I have improved quite a bit. Now I'm following Cam's ghost pretty well on some tracks until I crash and burn and his ghost disappears. :lol:

Got my first Platinum medal, and wasn't even trying, if you know what I mean. It's one of the bicycle-only tracks and I just happened to hit everything perfectly, I guess. I got lucky. I can look up the name if anyone's looking for an easy track to get Platinum on. It must be easy if I can do it "accidentally" on just a regular run. I wasn't practicing over and over to get it perfect.

The latest track to vex me is, I think, called Gigatrack or Giga-something (sorry, I'm at work) and it came with one of the DLCs in Evolution. It's a long track across the countryside, which is great fun, until you have to make a LONG jump, Evel Knievel style, over a train and land on a ramp that's *just that close* to being reachable. I keep smashing into the white barrel under the lip of the ramp. One of these days, I'll clear it again. I did it once but can't repeat the feat (yet).

Finally I have the Micro Donkey in Trials HD. Agreed on the amazing acceleration. This could be useful on some of the Skills Games where you have to bail out and fall down stairs to break bones or fly across a field for distance. Top speed is disappointing but realistic and the handling is comically awful.

I had a friend who had a Z50 when we were about 14 or 15 years old. Several of us had bought mopeds with our lawn-mowing money but Mark scrounged up an old Z50 from somewhere. It was a 3-speed manual transmission but no clutch. To shift, you rolled off the thottle and just shifted it, as you can do in an old VW Beetle without touching the clutch if you're careful and smooth.

Seems like it would idle fine in first gear and then when you'd twist the throttle, it would slip into gear and go like hell. That Z50 would smoke our 49cc mopeds on the trails in the neighborhood.

One day we were riding on the single-track trails through a park area near a small river and Mark swung out wide from the trail, as if to wildly pass us through the taller grass as we mopeds cruised on the trail.

Suddenly, he was gone - he disappeared into thin air!

We went back and found he and the bike had fallen into a shallow concrete pit dug some kind of utilities - power lines or plumbing or sewers - I don't remember, if I ever knew. He broke his shoulder blade in the sudden stop in the concrete bunker but the bike was fine as I remember.

/signing off from the summer of '82 or '83

[Cam]

Even though Gigatrack allows you to use the Phoenix, you pretty much have to use the Scorpion to make that jump.

[George]

Thanks. That's probably how I did it before.

Stylish tip o' the day: The Scorpion looks very "vintage" in white paint with a brown "leather" seat. The other bikes don't pull off that look as well, IMO.

Signed,

The Barefoot Bandit

(edited because I was confused about the Scorpion - I thought it was the lower-powered 250. The Scorpion is the 450. That's what I get for posting at work)

[George]

The track I mentioned earlier that I was surprised to win Platinum on is called Cauldron Trail.

The 450 clears the jump in Gigatrack with a few feet to spare.

Cam's undoubtedly gold medal or better time on Gigatrack is six minutes and some seconds - six minutes! That's a long track. My best time is eleven-something. I think it's my favorite track in the game - a sprawling, long-distance journey over some very interesting scenery and obstacles that are challenging but not overly frustrating. My only complaint about this great track is that some of the checkpoints are pretty far apart. I wouldn't mind if I didn't crash so often.

[George]

I played WAY too much Trials this past weekend. I haven't been into video games in many years and forgot how addictive they can be. :smh:

Downloaded the demo of Trials Fusion. Cool, but the text on the screen is even tinier than the other two and mostly illegible on my 36" CRT TV. I have never wanted a larger TV or an HD TV, until now. :eek:

Also downloaded a bunch of Evolution user tracks and had fun with a few. A track called Trials Revolution is pretty cool with what I assume is a wood-burning motorcycle with perhaps solid wooden wheels circa 1776? Hard to tell on my TV. Also found one called Four Wheeler 2 that lets you drive a four wheeler in Trials Evolution. It's fairly slow. I also found some crazy downhill tracks and can confirm Cam's earlier claim (which was never in dispute) that the bikes will roll down long hills faster by coasting than holding the throttle down.

Fans of the long Gigatrack will like the user track Giga Island. It's another super-long track that's less "cross country" than Gigatrack but seems to be equally long and is cool in other ways. At first it looks like there are lots of extra ramps and other obvious "paths" to take but the bike will swerve in ways you might not expect. You'll think you're lining up for one ramp but you'll end up taking another in some places. I thought this might be to trick the player but what happens is you criss-cross an island and keep coming back to places you've already been, but on a different nearby path the next time(s) through those areas.

[Cam]

I cracked and bought the season pass. There's only three DLC packs out right now, but three more are supposedly on the way. I'm a bit annoyed that there is still no online multiplayer mode. It's supposedly on it's way too.

I think Trials Fusion just doesn't have the magic the first two games did. Although, I think that's just what happens when a big publisher like Ubisoft/EA/Activision gets its hands on a property. They just strangle the magic out of it. :|

[21Kid]

:deleted: :?

(Is the season pass worth it?)

[Cam]

Meh. There are countless, free, user-created tracks to play. Yeah, there's lots of crap, but there's lots of good ones too. Unfortunately, the game does not allow you to sort out the overall top-rated tracks, that I've seen--only a best of the week or featured tracks. Featured does not mean best.

[George]

I haven't played this (or any games) in ages. I'll have to see if there are new DLCs for the first two Trials games. I downloaded the demo of Trials Fusion but haven't purchased the game per reviews here.


Fusion is a solid game, but I can't find anything in it that's any better than HD or Evolution


I think Trials Fusion just doesn't have the magic the first two games did.

[Cam]

Online multiplayer is now available. It's very similar to Trials: Evo. Matchmaking doesn't take too long this time. Track selection is limited. Also, there are often momentary screen freezes, like when an opponent finishes, that can cause you to crash if you're doing a crucial maneuver.

[Cam]

There's a couple of weird things Lori and I discovered with Trials Fusion that make me go :erm: . It's bought and installed on both of our Xbox 360s, one of which is not connected to the internet. The first two Trials games work fine, but Fusion does not work unless you have a connection to Xbox Live. Unfortunately, that's not all. Lori tried to play it on the other Xbox, which she has done before. We were shocked and chagrined to discover she needed to log in with my profile first, start the game, then log out and log in with her profile in order for the game to work. Looks like a case of forcing the user to check in with home base every 24 hours (I don't really know how long, that's just a guess) for the software to work. :rolleyes: I guess Ubisoft does not care that Microsoft was vilified for trying to do that with the Xbone. Somehow they quietly got away with it.

[Kchrpm]

:( But they had stopped doing that kind of thing on PC, I thought :(

[Reynard]

Yep, welcome to the new age of video gaming, where you always need to be net connected and everyone is a beta tester... whether they want to be or not. Hooray!

grumble, grumble, grumble :smh:

[Mr Wonder]

Trials frontier on Android/fruitphone is even worse. Plus the free to play mechanics which are by far the worst I've encountered.

[Kchrpm]

I can't imagine how ridiculous the riddle in Trials Fusion is after reading about the one in Evolution

http://kotaku.com/fans-unite-to-solve-bonkers-globe-spanning-video-game-1710794373

[21Kid]

:eek: WOW! I never heard of that. That's pretty amazing!!!

[Cam]

I had to buy this game again for the Xbone. All my progress is gone. :( I guess there are separate leader boards for 360 and One players. Kid, put me on your team!

[21Kid]

I haven't played in months. I'll add you next time I boot it up though. My son plays it more than I do.

[M4FFU]

Picked this up this weekend and got that all too familiar experience of Cam's ghost sodding off into the distance, every, single, course.

:D

[Cam]

:toast:

[George]

My kids have discovered Trials HD and Trials Evolution on the Xbox 360. They both are playing Single Player mode on their own, but we are really enjoying the multi-player version of Evolution in which up to four people can race at once. They're after me to buy a third game controller, which I guess I will eventually, but I cringe at the price of those things. They ought to cost about ten bucks, in my mind.

Anyway, I've read there is online multi-player in Trials Fusion, but is there also a good number of "local" multi-player tracks as there are in Trials Evolution? I tried searching but almost everything related to video games seems to be blocked here at work.

I could see buying Trials Fusion to have more multi-player tracks and of course a new Single Player campaign for Dad...uh, I mean for the kids. Yes, the kids. That's what I meant. :cool:

Thanks.

[George]

...Fusion does not work unless you have a connection to Xbox Live.

Oh, wait. I just read this. Maybe I do not want Fusion after all for this reason.

Apparently I had Live for a while when the Xbox was new, but I can no longer search and download user tracks for Trials Evolution or see DLC. Apparently my Live membership has expired, and I don't want to pay whatever outrageous monthly fee they probably charge to have access to that stuff again.

I've also noticed that because I don't have a Live connection anymore, I can no longer save changes to my rider or my motorcycles in Evolution, such as motorcycle color and my rider's clothing, and any personal records I set or new medals I win aren't saved either, I don't think. Seems like I'm stuck at 204 medals every time I turn on the game, and I know I've recently gotten a few bronze medals on some harder tracks that I either didn't attempt or couldn't complete the last time I was playing Evolution regularly.

[thesameguy]

It's $36 annually. $3/mo. :lol: And if you have it, you get two free games every month.

[Cam]

For someone like me, who plays a lot of Xbox, it's AWESOME VALUE.

[21Kid]

$36? where did you find that? I find them for $43-45 on ebay, but never that low.

[thesameguy]

Just gotta be patient - they are always around in the mid-$30 range. Oddly, you can buy them from Costco in Canada online for $36 now - but you need a Canadian shipping address. Since they are just codes, the shipping address can be anything including Costco's own address. :lol:

I think this is the best domestic deal right this second: http://www.gamesdeal.com/xbox-360-live-gold-membership-12-month-card-xmasdeal.html?a_aid=rawcode - but it was $26 before Christmas.

Mine expires in March, so I will re-up later this month. I'll come back with wherever I end up buying.

[George]

Oh, you buy a gift card...ONE TIME (I can dig that!)...and avoid monthly fees. Cool. Thanks. Sorry to be so clueless, but I just don't know these things, and I absolutely refuse to have anything charged to a card or withdrawn from an account every month. Everyone wants to get customers on that plan, but I refuse to play. It seems a good way to bankrupt oneself without even realizing it's happening.

Honestly, I figured it was at least $10 per month, and probably a lot more than that...just based on what everything else seems to cost these days. I'll have to hit up the hepcats at my local game emporium for the most happenin' deal with Xbox Live.

One really nice thing about not having Live anymore is not having to be demoralized by Cam's ghost destroying me on every track, and that is AWESOME VALUE.


Picked this up this weekend and got that all too familiar experience of Cam's ghost sodding off into the distance, every, single, course.

[thesameguy]

:lol:

[Cam]

I hope I could inspire you to improve your times. :(

[George]

You will again, once I buy a Live card. Why not? Life is short, and I really enjoy playing with my kids. I hope Fusion has Local multiplayer that's comparable to Evolution.

Them shits is fun!

[George]

Bought a 3-month Live card today at Target for $24.99. I'm sure I could have gotten a better deal online, but I had a $25 Target gift card from Christmas, and who knows, perhaps I/we will be bored with Trials again in three months.

I look forward to being able to download more user-made Trials Evolution tracks, and user-made supercross tracks too, to play with the kids. The user-made tracks I downloaded way back when are still a blast to ride, and I bet with the passage of time have come hundreds more user-made tracks. I also figured out how to load user-made supercross tracks into a local multi-player race, so hopefully I can find a bunch of new supercross tracks to download, as well as single-player maps.

And, last night I was looking at some videos online and I see they have online multi-player for Evolution. I didn't know that, but it's the thing that made me get off my duff and go get a Live card. Now I may not need to buy Fusion at all.

Hmm, perhaps online racing in Forza 4 as well?

I anticipate a rather unproductive weekend in the household chores department.

*checks clock to see if it's quitting time yet*

[Cam]

You might have trouble getting a match in online multiplayer seeing as the game is so old.

[George]

I didn't have any trouble finding 2, 3, and 4 player matches on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in Trials Evolution. Why didn't I try that back when I had Live with the purchase of the Xbox 360, I wonder. It is a lot of fun, and I was surprised that I was competitive in multi-player mode, after these other riders have been doing it for so long now.

I'm up to level 8 already, and have found the Piranha 250 (I think - it's the lower-powered of the two 250s) is quite competitive. It's easier to control, especially going up steep hills, than the more powerful 250, and it doesn't want to flip over backwards with enthusiastic acceleration.

The slower 250 also doesn't seem to over-shoot jumps like the 450 does. It seems to spend less time in the air and tends to land on the downhill ramps rather than hitting the uphill part and therefore losing speed and momentum like the 450 can with riders like me who don't know the courses well enough yet to know when to let up on the throttle.

There are tons of user-made maps out there, which are fun also. The only disappointment I had is finding out the one Live membership doesn't work for everyone else in the family. My son kept telling me that, but I didn't think he knew what he was talking about. I figured it would be one membership was good for all players, sort of like how if your house gets cable TV, the whole house gets cable TV, not just one room, but I guess I underestimated Microsoft's sales department.

So, I can download supercross tracks and we can play them, but he can't join online races, unless he signs in as me. No big deal, but a lesson learned. I told him that if he's good (always a condition for kids!), perhaps we can get him a 3-month membership when mine expires.

I easily had $25 worth of fun racing online on Saturday afternoon alone. I can see now why people maintain a Live membership.

I dropped into an online race in Forza 4 also, but I chose my car unwisely. I picked one of the most fun to drive, the '69 Charger Daytona, and when the race started I was immediately slammed into from behind because everyone was driving "R" series cars, like the Toyota GT-One and whatever other high-end pure racing cars there are. After the starting line collisions into my far too slow car, they vanished into the distance. I've won a few of those super-cars in the game, but haven't raced any of them yet. I'll mess around with that more as time goes on, I imagine.

[thesameguy]

I am 99.9% sure you can share your Gold account with household members.

Edit: Snap, it's only on the One.

[George]

Xbox 360 knowledge scorecard:

George: 0
TSG: 0
My seven-year-old son: 2 :lol:

I imagine a One is in our future, someday. Like when the price drops to $99. :up:

[thesameguy]

Well, you *used* to be able to get discounted family packs of Gold, but with the One and its "home" features I guess the 360 got left out in the cold. Does save One users a fair amount of cash. Sorry bro!

[thesameguy]

I'm not doing this deal, but

http://www.gamesdeal.com/12-month-xbox-live-gold-membership-xbox-one-360-ea-access-xbox-one-1-month.html

Coupon code is xboxplusea, total is $40.

Also:

http://www.gamesdeal.com/xbox-360-live-gold-membership-12-month-card.html

Coupon code is gamesdealxbox , total is $37.50

I'm *almost* ready to go it, but I'm going to wait another month or so and hope for another few bucks off.

Yes, when it comes to video games I am *that cheap*.

[George]

After playing Trials Evolution to exhaustion with my son last weekend, on Monday evening after work, I stopped by my local GameStop store to buy Trials Fusion.

They said it doesn't come on a CD (WTF?!) but is only available for download. As annoying as that is, I bought a gift card from them for cash and then had to go through the whole online bullshit with, yet again, another new password (I must have a hundred of 'em now for various sites, and I hate that) and finally downloaded Fusion early this morning.

I had been chomping at the bit to play sooner, but you can't believe how many hours of homework second-graders are assigned these days. I swear, it's more time than I spent on homework in college!

Well, my son completely commandeered the game this morning and is up to some high level now. He's doing tricks where his body comes off the bike, and then back on, but he won't tell me how. :lol:

Some quotes from this thread from long ago:


April 2014: Front end is really flashy--almost too flashy. Gameplay is practically the same, which is good.

Yeah, it is too flashy, but the gameplay is the same, and I got Gold on the first few tracks I tried, simply because it's the same as Trials HD and Trials Evolution. That's good. Very good. My son did the same.

I recently downloaded a demo of Forza Horizon and found it completely different than Forza 4, so I was glad to Trials hasn't changed too much.

The "UPLAY" popup is annoying, and I had to chuckle at myself because I first read that as up-lay, rather than u-play.


May, 2014: Downloaded the demo of Trials Fusion. Cool, but the text on the screen is even tinier than the other two and mostly illegible on my 36" CRT TV. I have never wanted a larger TV or an HD TV, until now.

Okay, now I have a 42" HDTV and some (not all, but some) of the text is still too small to read. My gosh, how large a TV does one need to be able to read basic text? It's not like they're starved for space as in a newspaper layout - I'm talking about screens with huge, pretty background pictures and then a teeny tiny portion of the screen with itty-bitty text up in a corner. Come on, people, let us read what you wrote!


December, 2014: There's only three DLC packs out right now, but three more are supposedly on the way

I didn't count, and I haven't been in front of the TV much today (unlike my son :lol:) but I think I saw five or six DLCs, at least.


January 2016: I hope I could inspire you to improve your times.

Of course you did, and you still do. :up: We gripe about your annoying ghost as a compliment...or at least I do. The best thing I've learned from your ghost is to slow down and not get too much air over the big jumps. Keep that rear wheel on the ground for mo' powah! I still see 8400RPM's ghost in Evolution and Fusion and he's faster than me too, but he, like me and especially like my seven-year-old son, sometimes flies too high and loses time in the air, while Cam's ghost is on the ground and always pulling farther away from us mere mortals.

Verdict after one day of ownership: Trials Fusion is $19.99 well spent. :up:

[Cam]

:) I'm still playing it... on Xbox One now though. It appears there are separate scoreboards for the 360 and the Xbone.

[George]

Looks like there are six DLCs for Fusion, and I have $10.01, I think, left over in my Microsoft account. Cam, or anyone else, can you recommend any of the DLCs as better than others, and preferably not too sadistic? I'm thinking of the kids when I say that. ;)

Or, is there a better way to spend ten bucks on the Xbox 360? Other games, maybe? Any good, cheap multiplayer games out there good for kids and Dads too?

Speaking of kids, here's how the boy vs. girl thing works with all three versions of Trials, at least in my house:

Boy: :angry: Super-competitive. Must get gold on every track. Must win in multiplayer. Gets angry when courses are too hard, or when I sometimes fly by him at the last second to get the win...not that I try, but it happens sometimes in multi-player where the leader wipes out near the end, or the guy in second place gets a lucky landing that results in a faster run to the finish line. Won't listen to me when I suggest he let up on the throttle for some jumps in order to land in a more advantageous spot. Doesn't wait to see the ending sequences, but instead hits the continue button immediately after finishing or restarts the course to try to do better.

Girl: :lol: Mellow and happy. Not concerned with silver or gold medals. Loves to laugh at difficult stunts and when her rider gets crushed, drowned, falls of cliffs like Wile E. Coyote, blown up, sucked into spinning fan blades, lit on fire, etc. Listening to her watch the rider die after each race is like hearing Bart and Lisa Simpson laugh as they watch The Itchy & Scratchy Show.

I'm somewhere in between, I guess. I never get angry, but sometimes I quit in frustration, and I too love the various death scenes at the end each track.

[Cam]

I recommend Storage, Inc. which is an indie game. I can't remember how much it costs, but you can try it for free. It probably only costs a couple of bucks. You can play up to four players on the same console, provided you have four controllers. I think it is be a great family game.

Castle Crashers is another fun four-player-on-the-same-screen game. It's one of the highest-rated games in the XBL Arcade.

[George]

Thanks Cam. I was just looking at those on YouTube. Storage, Inc. is $2.99. Wow - I didn't know there were any that cheap. The graphics in Castle Crashers reminds me of Plants vs. Zombies, and it seems exceptionally bloody in a cartoonish way. :lol:

I'd love to have two more controllers, or even one, since my wife doesn't seem interested in the Xbox, but I balk at the price of those things. They're probably cheaper online somewhere, but I see them at Target for $50 or more, the last couple of times I've looked.

We currently have two wireless controllers and one with a cord that came with the Xbox 360, but the green light on that one flickers on and off, so I'm thinking the wire got bent too much and perhaps is partially broken inside the the covering, so now it doesn't make constant contact. My first thought was to solder in a new cable, but then I figured I'd probably have to buy a whole new controller just to get a cable with the correct end for the Xbox. I imagine an Xbox cable would be much harder to find than something a replacement lamp cable that are sold in every hardware store.

[George]

As has been mentioned before, Trials Fusion is missing some of the "magic" of Trials HD and Trials Evolution.

I put in the Trials HD CD today and ran through a bunch of older courses that I used to curse for being too difficult, but now fly through like an old pro...well, sort of. My kids laughed at the Micro Donkey and my daughter said it made me look fat. :p

My daughter was sitting on the couch next to me, having conned her mother into loaning her the iPhone. Between whatever she was doing on whatever that thing does, she laughed maniacally as I was repeatedly impaled, lit on fire, and crushed by falling objects from above.

I think Trials HD may have the most gruesome death scenes. If nothing else, it certainly is the "fieryest" of the three Trials games, if that's a word, and worthy of a replay for any of you gentlemen who may not have revisited this game in a while.

[Cam]

Glad you're still having fun with it. Alas, I no longer have an Xbox 360.

You can race me vicariously with my ghost. :p

[George]

You should have sent the 360 to me. I'm starting to wish we had two of them, sometimes. :lol:

Your ghost is still kicking my butt.

Also, from my non-scientific study of online multiplayer racing, more people are playing Trials Evolution online than Trials Fusion these days.

[Kchrpm]

I recently downloaded a demo of Forza Horizon and found it completely different than Forza 4

Forza (Motorsport) and Forza Horizon are effectively two different series under the same umbrella for marketing reasons and some graphical asset sharing. The free-roam driving genre has proven quite popular, but time consuming and expensive to make. By sharing many of the vehicular modeling resources, and having two different teams making the core of the games (Turn10 for Motorsport, Playground Games for Horizon), they're able to have yearly updates, with 6 months of DLC, followed by 6 months of hype building to the next release.

[George]

Interesting. I was really psyched about Horizon, once I read about it online somewhere, due to the free-roaming thing and the fact that it's set in the gorgeous state where I live, even if with fictional places. The scenery looks quite authentic from what I've seen in the demo and the concept of being able to drive anywhere is exciting. Part of me also liked being able to smash into other cars in Horizon and cause damage to them, like the Tahoe or Suburban I hit in the Viper and busted out all the glass in the SUV. :lol: Take that, Mr. Texting While Driving! Hee hee.

What turned me off from Horizon is all the teenager crap. I'd rather it have the same, well..."machine-only interface"...if that makes sense, as does Forza 4 and the first two Trials games and most others I've played, where you just select your map/course/mission and go play. I don't need trash talk and sexy stuff, like the chick's voice in Trials Fusion, who says at the end of one of the training courses, "Okay, time to hit the showers! Well, um, time for YOU to hit the showers."

It's not that I mind, if it's just me alone, but I'm a little creeped out about having my kids see that stuff. They're WAY too young for it, and everything these days seems to be so accessible to them. That's why the GTA V CD lives in the bottom of my sock drawer and hasn't seen the light of day in months, so they (he!) won't find it and start shooting uniformed police officers....although I confess I've thought of having the boy get me through that impossible first level so I can see what the rest of GTA V is like. He's a more skillful gamer than I, in some ways, and perhaps his younger eyes could actually see the teeny tiny crosshair, which I think is one single white pixel. :down:

I keep thinking I'll pull GTA V out of the drawer one of these days, but there never seems to be a time when I'm home and the kids aren't. So, Trials it is for now, plus they love Minecraft and the Lego games, like Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, and Lego something-or-other that I forget. The Hobbit, maybe? Those are pretty fun, I must say, in two-player cooperative mode.

This weekend we played some 'Splosion Man, which is fun until we got to an obstacle we could not get past. I may have to buy a third controller after all, so we can all play at the same time, since two people 'sploding at the same time can jump higher than one by himself, while a third stands near a switch that makes things happen to assist in getting to the next place in the game.

How's that for going waaaay off topic from Trials?

[Kchrpm]

Conversely, a lot of people complain that Forza Motorsport never has a real attempt at a story mode :) They have tried to appease those people lately with a more structured career mode, and incessant voice over explaining what is so awesome about all the vehicle genres and race types, which I don't think satisfied anyone. Being a massive, mass-market aimed piece of media is not without its difficulties.

[thesameguy]

I did this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Xbox-LIVE-12-Month-Gold-Membership-Card-for-Xbox-360-XBOX-ONE/172079151449?icep_id=117&ipn=icep&customid=78d410bac5a411e5901852c64be25ed20INT&pub=5574652453&campid=5337259887&afepn=5335869999&hash=item2810b77959&rmvSB=true&afepn=5335869999&rmvSB=true

[thesameguy]

If you've never used groupon before:

https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-12-month-xbox-live-gold-membership-5?utm_campaign=1029&utm_medium=afl&utm_source=GPN&tsToken=US_AFF_0_1029_1327_0&sid=89aa34fccb8311e5970c820b2527e7750INT

With coupon code GROUPON = $25 xbox live card

Win?

[George]

Win!

Thanks for that, and for your post on the 28th also. :up:

Oh, what's this? They want me to join their website and create yet another password in my life? (grumble, grumble...)

Okay, I did, but I'm getting this message after putting in GROUPON as the coupon code:

"Sorry, this code is not valid. Make sure you entered it correctly."

I've tried GROUPON, Groupon, and groupon. I even tried "GROUPON = $25 xbox live card" just to be safe.

Maybe I missed the deal, but many thanks just the same!

[George]

You may ask if I verified my Groupon membership. Yes, I just did. I happened to check my personal email and there was a link to click on to verify. I did, and tried to check out again, but it's still not accepting GROUPON as a coupon code.

Oh, well - no biggie. I have time before my membership runs out, and this is hardly a Really Important Thing in my life. I'll get one when the time and the deal are right.

In other Groupon news, I see I now qualify for One Classic or Express Airbrush Tan with Exfoliation at Tantrum Tanning (Up to 58% Off).

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[thesameguy]

It does indeed look like it expired. There is a replacement - TENOFF - which is exactly what it sounds like. Not as great, but still good. :)

[21Kid]

That feeling you get when you beat one of Cam's ghost times. :D

[Cam]

I'm proud of you, padawan. :finger:

Did you add me to the group?

[21Kid]

No. :lol: Completely forgot. My son was playing and I was just helping him beat a level.

[Kchrpm]

You're going to get to a point where he has to help you beat a level...#oedipus

[thesameguy]

Man, rough reference.

[Cam]

Shut up and post some times. :p

[Cam]

Got 100% in career mode. :hard:

[21Kid]

Our group thanks you! :D

[Kchrpm]

Sequel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzxhVkeWgPY

[Cam]

:jawdrop:

[21Kid]

:lol: Are they going to make a Blood Dragon version of every game now?


That does look really good though. :cool::up:

[Mr Wonder]

Hellyeah!

[21Kid]

This comes out tomorrow?!? Whaaaaat! :D

[George]

:jawdrop:2

If that's real and not a spoof of something I have no clue about, I want it!

(for my son, that is...I'm far too old and serious to waste time on such childish endeavours)

[SkylineObsession]

:lol: Are they going to make a Blood Dragon version of every game now?
Yes, they fvcking should. :hard:

Gran Turismo: Blood Dragon - drive the coolest 80's cars around some cool old tracks. Cool.

<insert your blood dragon game here>

$23NZD on PS Store at the mo, or $26 (discounted from $30ish something i think for PS + members) with game and soundtrack.

[Fiat500]

Free on XBL / Games With Gold at the moment.

[21Kid]

That's a good grab. My son and I still play this every few months, and have a great time.

[Cam]

While Fusion does not have the magic of the original, it's still awesome value, especially when it's free. The best Games With Gold game yet. Get it immediately if you do not already have it. :up:

[Cam]

Trials of the Blood Dragon is the free game on XBL right now. DLing. :)

[Cam]

I found Trials of the Blood Dragon quite annoying to play. Stupid, low-brow story and humour. Deleted.

[21Kid]

I didn't realize it was more grown up and let Logan play it. He told me there were naughty words in it. A LOT of them. :(

[Cam]

I suppose this is the catch-all Trials thread. New Trials coming out soon! Trials: Rising, coming in Feb.

[Cam]

Trials: Rising released today. Played it a bunch this evening. Core game play is pretty much unchanged. Feels just like Trials: Fusion. Front-end is drastically different, however, similar to Trials: Frontier. You progress on the map and eventually unlock other areas and tracks. Of course, they added loot crates. Loot seems completely random. Rider and bike are very customizable.

If you like the Trials series, I think you will enjoy this one too.

I have not tried online multiplayer yet. Local multiplayer is unavailable at this time. There is some kind of party system I have not examined yet either.

More later.

[Cam]

Of course, there is an expansion already available. Dirty trick. :smh:

[George]

Cool. I had no idea they were still making Trials games. The "hilarious new Tandem Bike mode" sounds like fun.

My son and I still enjoy the first three Trials games on our Xbox 360 (and the ghosts of a few of you guys in my single-player games. After all these years, I still can't catch Cam's ghost).

[Cam]

Lori and I played a few tracks with the tandem bike. It’s fast, but you have to be coordinated. A good team could set some records.

[Phil_SS]

So what you are sayin is that Lori isn't coordinated?

[Cam]

We were not coordinated. :lol:

[George]

Nice save!

[George]

Dumb question: if I bought the PC version, could I plug two wired Xbox controllers into my PC for two-player racing? I didn't find any mention of this at Ubisoft's website.

I like Trials a lot, but not enough to go buy an Xbox One if it's just as good on Windows.

[Cam]

I have used my Xbox controllers on my Windows box, simply by plugging them in with a USB cable. :up:

[Cam]

I was playing for a few hours, then Lori walked in, “Still hogging my game?” :lol:

[George]

I have used my Xbox controllers on my Windows box, simply by plugging them in with a USB cable. :up:

Yes, I know this works. My son does that to play Rocket League on PC. What I'm wondering is this:

With the Xbox 360, you need one copy of the game on CD or saved to the internal drive and two controllers. Each person signs into his account on the Xbox and then two people can play on the one console at the same time with one copy of the game.

Would it work this same way on a PC, or would we need two PCs and two copies of the game? I realize you guys may not know, but it's free to ask, right?

[Cam]

You're right, I don't know. :lol:

[George]

Well, you're no help! :p

I suspect I'd end up wanting two versions of the game for the boy and I to play on. Would be better to have on a console, I think, so that all four of us in the family could theoretically race together. I don't know if we've ever had all four on at once, but we've done three a few times in Trials Evolution with me and the kids and it was a hoot.

I wonder what Xbox Ones are going for on craigslist...

[Phil_SS]

No way I would buy a used console on Craigslist. No way to test if it works etc.

You would be better off heading to Costco and picking up the bundle they have that is a 1TB Xbox One S with 2 controllers and 3 month game pass for like $230.

[George]

Yikes! They're too expensive, even on craigslist. And the controllers aren't backwards compatible? Screw that.

Yeah, I imagine buying a used console would be risky, especially since most of them are probably operated primarily by teenage boys - not exactly the most gentle human beings on the planet.

[Cam]

Lori does not like video games, for the most part, but she really likes Trials. :lol:

[Cam]

Inferno 5 is vile. I timed out on the last obstacle, a sheer vertical wall. I watched the replay of the top rider. He went up it like he had magnetic tires. WTF? :erm:

[21Kid]

H4ckzorzz!!!

[Cam]

This game is quite buggy right now.

[Cam]

I just bought three Trials games on Steam for ~80% off; Evolution, Fusion and Rising. Alas, Trials HD is not available. It appears that it was Xbox Arcade only. :(

[Cam]

Often, smoke or fog occludes the rider while I am trying to ride. I do not remember that happening on the Xbox. Difficult to play when you literally cannot see the rider. :erm:

[George]

I still have Trials HD on the Xbox360. The CD also has 'Splosion Man and Limbo on it. Once in a great while, I play Trials and I still see your ghost way out ahead of me on most courses when I'm in solo mode. Most often I race against one or both of the kids on multi-player tracks in Trials Evolution.

[Cam]

I’m kind of surprised there is still an online leaderboard for Trials HD. The game is over 14 years old.

Apparently, HD is packaged inside Trials Evolution Gold Edition for Windows.

[George]

Glad to hear they didn't abandon HD. I thoroughly enjoyed it, including the amusingly gruesome deaths.

[Cam]

Well, they just ported over the tracks and made it a separate selectable area inside the game.

[Cam]

Getting platinum on some tracks on the first try. Getting gold on most tracks first try. Takes a few tries to get gold on hard and extreme tracks.

Oh yeah, I still got the moves. :hard: