Downloadable content is a great way to expand the life of a game as well as please fans of the game who quite simply just want more. When Trials HD was originally released back in August it was received with open arms by the gaming community. Everybody loved it. We loved it. It must be stressed though that everybody also hated it for being so god damn addictive and more importantly, so god damn frustrating, but in a good way. Well the team behind the game, RedLynx, have looked at the reaction of the gamers and decided that it warranted some new content treatment. Priced at 400MS Points, is ‘The BIG Pack’ worthy of your hard earned cash?
When I heard there was going to be downloadable content released I was overjoyed with happiness. Not only had I just re-grown my hair from my previous Trials HD outing, but I was ready to be frustrated yet again and most likely lose some of that re-grown hair. I knew it would frustrate me but it still didn’t stop me purchasing the content. I was intrigued to see what the content entailed of and I’m sure you are too.
The content brings a new lease of life to the game. and incorporates a whopping 35 new tracks, new tournaments and new skill games. The new tracks take place in the Medium, Hard and Extreme difficulty categories and as expected some of them are easy, some are not so. Take the extreme levels for example. Absolutely solid. I’ve spent over an hour on one of the two extreme levels and I still can’t get passed a certain point. Even using the guy’s replay who is at number one in the world I am struggling. I will get it though and when I do, you will hear about it in my blogs. Throughout the trials there are some new apparatus you have to use, including fans which blow you around and new physics mechanics – for example, bouncing the wheel from the bike against pieces of wood to redirect your motorcycle. Once you’ve mastered the new trials you can head over to play the tournaments, which like before, contain levels found throughout the different difficulty categories.
There are a new selection of skill games included in the pack but I’m a little disappointed in these to tell the truth. All the new skill games added are just adaptations of the already existing skill games. For example the new games include pulling a bomb for a specific distance, breaking as many bones as possible and riding inside a ball for as long as possible. While these new games are still as fun as the original set of skill games, they bring nothing new to the table which is what DLC should be doing.
Coming with the DLC is a bunch of new achievements consisting of 3 new achievements worth a total of 50GS. While this isn’t a massive amount of extra GamerScore, it’s still nice to collect these while playing the game. These range from bouncing over 5 trampolines in succession to catching a ride and surfing on top of a ‘lowrider’ in one of the trials.
Overall ‘The BIG Pack’ does bring value for money. You get 35 brand spanking new trials which are sure to keep you busy into the new year. You might loose some hair over the whole situation but it can always grow back, even if it requires a few cans of ‘Regain’. For 400MS Points I was initially hesitant purely based on the price of the DLC, however if you’re a fan of the game then I recommend you download the content. If you weren’t massively loving Trials HD itself you’d probably be best spending your points elsewhere, as on the face of it, it’s more of the same. I’m off to set some trials…
