Trials Evolution: Origin of Pain

Something we haven't uttered in a while. Well, not since we last caught up with developer Red Lynx at the Microsoft Showcase at the start of this year. But much like then, an all-day event (this time Ubisoft's Digital Days) begins and ends with Trials Evolution - this time in the form of its first DLC pack, Origin of Pain.

The pack, due out this month end for 400 Microsoft Points, hosts thirty-six tracks split between different divisions and includes new Skill games (such as firing yourself out of a cannon and a run up a steep incline) and tournaments, as well as new player costumes and new objects for the Track Editor (as with the rest of the pack, based on player feedback from Evolution - "people felt like they needed new tools," laughs the developer).

All this divided across a new 4x4km area called Paine Island (twice bigger than the previous location) and once downloaded accessible from the main menu.

The track structure - Easy through to Extreme again - mightn't make sense given that most of the players by now will be seasoned (if continually vexed) racers of the title. Surely deep end is where we want to be?

Not so, according to Creative Director Antti Ilvessuo, on hand once again to listen to the air turn blue and watch multiplayer sessions turn from jovial to intense in a matter of tracks.

"We've been thinking about that," he explains when find a quiet corner to talk away from the noise of the booth. "There's people that have played a lot and they like more medium-hard, maybe Extreme. But still there are people who just want to play a fun game. I remember reading one Twitter feed, and this was back with Trials HD, one person was complaining. They stated 'I want my fun game back.' There are still those people who don't want to take it too seriously."

Design-wise the DLC has taken a turn for the spectacular. The little denouements come track's end have now swallowed courses whole.

A charge through a rusting circus sees laughing clown heads roar in the background and swirling kaleidoscopes dizzy as we zoom by. A city escape has us jumping traffic, and watching explosive car crashes form makeshift platforms mere seconds before our tyres hit the twisted metal. Course endings have expanded as well - perhaps unnecessarily: crossing the finish line we watch nearby cannons pan round and fire on a pirate galleon sailing the bay behind the race course.

But it's hard to quibble with the added elaboration. The developers have earned their right to play as they see fit with the scenery ("As long as its fun and it surprises players - that's the idea." states Ilvessuo).

A small but weighty addition is the inclusion of a new biking featherweight division: the pedal-powered BMX makes an appearance and the lighter-than-air touch required to keep the thin framed devils under control makes for an enjoyable, if expletive-driven, afternoon.

While this is an expansion of the XBLA title, PC owners aren't being left without. Coupled with the DLC announcement is the news of Gold Edition hitting PCs in 2013, combining both HD and Evolution, along with a smattering of the DLC for both, the acquisition by Ubisoft affording the team extra resources into bringing the racer back home.

As for Pain, the emphasis is that it's the first DLC. What's due next however, the developers aren't saying, as a laugh meets our enquiry. "We're always thinking as to what's next." But as long as the price remains right, and the game keeps diversifying, we're happy to keep racing.