Trials Evolution

In Trials Evolution, the player controls a rider on a physics-based motorcycle from the start of the level to the end while navigating a number of obstacles. The objective is to complete the course as fast as possible and with as few crashes, known in the game as faults, as possible. The game uses 3D graphics, but is played on a 2D plane, so the rider can only move forwards and backwards. Players can also control the bike's pitch on the ground or while in the air.

The simple control scheme offers an "Easy to learn, hard to master" concept of gameplay. High level players can be seen relying heavily on very particular micro-adjustment techniques in order to complete tracks of extreme difficulty.

With the game's predecessor, Trials HD, players expressed concerns with the rate at which the difficulty curve climbed. Developer Ubisoft RedLynx addressed this concern in Trials Evolution by placing tutorial levels in each of the game's difficulty tiers. Players are required to earn a certain number of medals before they can progress forward, ensuring that they will have the necessary skills to meet the challenge of future levels. The game engine was upgraded from the version used in Trials HD.

Draw distance was increased, allowing for roughly 500 meters of visible area at any time. The game runs at a locked 60 frames per second. In Trials HD all in-game assets were loaded into system RAM at startup, but in Evolution designers chose to stream all content. This allowed for a much larger gameplay world, higher resolution textures, and more objects to be used in-game.

Trials Evolution received universal acclaim from critics. 58% at GameRankings, and fellow aggregate website Metacritic reports a score of 90/100. fr's reviewer as well as Gamereactor Sweden's Jonas Elfving. uk, Ryan Rigney of Wired magazine, and a staff member from Official Xbox Magazine UK.

The game sold an estimated 100,000 units in its first day. It was the highest selling day-one release on Xbox Live Arcade until the release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition three weeks later. The game had sold over 1 million units by the end of 2012.