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'South Park' is ready to do battle on your phone
The Fractured But Whole isn't the only South Park game arriving this fall: Ubisoft and RedLynx have released South Park: Phone Destroyer, the Android and iOS title teased back at E3. Think of it as Hearthstone meets Herbert Garrison: you're duking it out in real-time solo or multiplayer battles using collectible cards that grant special abilities to the show's many, many characters. And it's not just banking on South Park's usual sophomoric humor to reel you in. There's a proper 60-mission single-player story and a rare team dynamic that lets you share cards with friends.
Clearing 'Trials of the Blood Dragon' demo unlocks full PC game
Game demos typically are little more than a bullet point in a publisher's marketing plan designed to give folks an early taste of what a game might end up being while simultaneously driving pre-order numbers northward. But for Trials of the Blood Dragon, Ubisoft is trying something different. If you download the, err, trial version of the game on PC and complete the available challenges within a certain threshold of perfection, you'll unlock the full version of the game. Of course, you'll have to suffer through using Ubisoft's Uplay interface to do so, but that's probably a lot less work than getting 15 faults or fewer across the some 30 available stages.
Trials Fusion adds online multiplayer, new DLC hits next week
As promised late last year, developer Redlynx has added online multiplayer gameplay modes to its stunt-platforming motorcycle game Trials Fusion in a new, free update. According to publisher Ubisoft, the new online multiplayer options support up to eight players, and include three gameplay options. Online-X Supercross pits eight players against each other in a series of three races, while Private Game and Private Game With Spectator allow players to alter race parameters, ranging from track to speed and handling to the strength of gravity, before the event. Additionally, Ubisoft has announced that the fourth Trials Fusion DLC pack, entitled "Fire In The Deep," will arrive on January 27. Described as the "biggest downloadable content pack yet," Fire In The Deep will include "11 new tracks, five new achievements and trophies to unlock, 27 new track challenges and dozens of new editor objects." Like all Trials Fusion DLC packs, Fire In The Deep is priced at $5, but can also be found among the five DLC packs included in the $20 Trials Fusion Season Pass. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion online multiplayer planned for 2015, PC beta live
Trials Fusion's support for head-to-head online multiplayer is running a little behind its end-of-the-year schedule, according to a press release from Ubisoft. The launch window has shifted to early 2015, though PC players can rev up in a beta that's available now. Fusion's online components include Online X-Supercross, a randomly-selected three-course score battle for up to eight players, Private Game, which lets up to eight compete in individual, modifier-friendly matches, and Private Game with Spectator, a mode similar to Private Game that lets its hosts watch the matches they create instead of partaking. Fusion had online functionality closer to its launch in the form of tournaments, but they were ran off of leaderboards rather than direct competition. Teams were also implemented in this week's update, which allows up to 50 players to band together under a name and emblem to conquer leaderboards dedicated to tracking teams. The eventual-arrival of parallel multiplayer will address one of the criticisms within Editor-in-Chief Ludwig Kietzmann's review, but even with that absence and a nagging need to unlock content, Ludwig remarked that Fusion "nails its balance between purity and cruelty." [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion gets eight-racer multiplayer by the end of the year
Ubisoft detailed a coming improvement to its motorcycle racer Trials Fusion this week, a new online multiplayer mode. At the game's launch in April, it included four-player local competitions, which our review of the game deemed "halfhearted." Developer RedLynx will provide a free update that adds support for races between eight players online by the end of the year. A recent Ubisoft blog post discussed the shortcomings of previous multiplayer efforts in Trials Fusion and Trials Evolution, stressing that the new mode places racers in the foreground at all times so that opponents are "never in your way." The developer plans on issuing a beta test of the multiplayer mode on PC as well, but has not indicated when the testing phase will begin. Since the game's launch, it has received three pieces of downloadable content with additional tracks, challenges and track editor objects, the most recent being October's Welcome to the Abyss pack. [Image: Ubisoft]
Third Trials Fusion DLC plunges into the Abyss on October 7
The third piece of downloadable content for Trials Fusion will launch on October 7, Ubisoft announed today. Invitingly called "Welcome to the Abyss," the pack adds 10 tracks and 24 challenges to the motorcycle-flipping game, as well as five new achievements. The pack is part of Trials Fusion's season pass, though players can pick it up alone for $4.99. Welcome to the Abyss is set in "mysterious underground ruins" with ancient machines "powered by strange relics." The DLC includes over 100 new objects for use in the game's track editor as well. Trials Fusion launched in April for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, reaching one million copies sold in July. Ubisoft expects every piece of DLC for the game to be available by May 2015. [Image: Ubisoft]
Second Trials Fusion DLC takes to the skies
Trials Fusion received a new DLC pack today titled Empire of the Sky, which adds nine tracks to the game: six classic trials tracks, one Supercross multiplayer track, the "Freefall" skill game and the "High Society" FMX track. Empire of the Sky also includes 18 track challenges and dozens of new track editor objects, such as anti-gravity technology and resort homes. Empire of the Sky is the second of six DLC packs that will launch in Trials Fusion's "first season," the first being July's Riders of the Rustlands. The latest pack follows the same pricing model as the first: $4.99 (£3.99 / €4.99) as a stand-alone download or free for the $20 season pass holders. Those with the season pass will receive all six DLC packs, which are all expected to launch by May 2015. Trials Fusion reached the one million mark in sales across all platforms (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PC) as of late July. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion rides into the rustlands in first DLC pack
Ubisoft takes players to a grittier side of the Trials universe today in "Riders of the Rustlands," the first of six planned Season Pass DLC packs planned for Trials Fusion. Riders of the Rustlands takes place in a wasteland outside of the squeaky-clean cityscapes featured Trials Fusion's core content, challenging riders with level layouts made up of makeshift metal platforms and rusty abandoned structures. The pack introduces six new Classic Trials tracks, two Supercross levels, one Skill Game, and one FMX track, along with a collection of 18 new Track Challenges. Riders of the Rustlands is available as part of Trials Fusion's Season Pass, and is priced at $4.99 as a standalone download. [Video: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion moto-crosses one million mark in sales
Trials Fusion sold one million copies globally across all platforms, Ubisoft announced today. The game first arrived in April for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. Announced alongside Trials Frontier at its E3 2013 press conference last June, Ubisoft's motorcycle-flipping action game entered closed beta for PC players in March. Trials Fusion also received an update today, which improves the game's tournaments, track central and track editor modes. Now, players can craft custom supercross tracks for local multiplayer use, and can also create four-land motorcross tracks in the game's editor and put forth challenges to their friends. The Uplay Recommended section of the track central area in Trials Fusion has also been refreshed with 15 creations from the game's community, accessible to players on all platforms. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion demo hits Xbox One, tournaments come online
If you'd like to try before you die awkwardly in a Finnish-made motorcycle gauntlet from hell, try downloading the Trials Fusion demo that just became available on Xbox One. To access it, simply say "Xbox, I wish to see a man suffer." Ubisoft has also announced a free update to the RedLynx-developed game, available now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4 and PC. The update activates online tournaments that dole out prizes like rider outfits, experience points, in-game cash and shiny bike bits to the best players. Tournaments are based on leaderboards – they open for a limited time and log your best scores across a set number of events. If you keep your momentum up and bone-smashing tumbles to a minimum, you'll place highly and receive in-game goodies. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Frontier pops a wheelie, propels self to Android
The Trials series provides both gratification from conquering brutally-difficult obstacle courses and surges of frustration from the dozens of attempts preceding a victory. If that's a mix of emotions you'd care to display in public, Trials Frontier is now available to Android users for the affordable download price of free. The experience isn't uninhibited though, since attempts on courses burn up a microtransaction-based currency of fuel. Contributing Editor Earnest Cavalli details the limitation in our Frontier installment of Portabliss, though he reminds us that in a case of taking the good with the bad, Frontier "definitely offers more of the former." [Image: RedLynx]
Portabliss: Trials Frontier
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Hi, my name is Earnest and I have a motorcycle problem. It started small, a few races here and there, a couple minor upgrades, but before I knew it, I was standing on a street corner, panhandling for enough cash to make it through just one more run. Don't pity me though. It's too late for that. Instead, take a lesson from my struggle. Remind yourself each morning that no matter how much the withdrawals hurt, no matter how hard it is to cope with your demons, spending $5 on virtual gas for your fake motorcycle is an awful investment. That fanciful scenario was brought to you by developer RedLynx and its new iOS (and eventually Android) entry in the Trials series, Trials Frontier. If you've played any of the prior Trials games, you can likely commiserate with my addiction, but, unfortunately, the microtransactions present in the mobile game are a glaring dark spot on an otherwise glowing pedigree. Don't let that ominous introduction scare you, though. From a design perspective, Trials Frontier is one of the most engaging iOS games available. It offers a short race structure – almost every event can be completed in under a minute – which is perfect for portable play, but more critically, RedLynx made some very intelligent choices when designing Frontier's controls.
Trials Fusion review: Lean to live
We've all had our secret victories in the war against wobble: freely standing in the shower on one foot while washing the other, or rejecting the easy-mode handrails of a jostling train. Trials Fusion is about those quick, instinctual corrections you make – or fail to make – when there's a bump in the road. Balance is divine in Trials Fusion, and mastering it makes you a god on a motorcycle. But that's jumping ahead to the conclusion of the journey; this story of a tenacious man driving with abandon over hills and valleys, trying not to fall his little face off. There's a lot to think about as you constantly fiddle with your speed and your driver's posture in a world of steep angles and dangerous pits, and yet it feels thoughtless in the moment. You just know it in your gut: You need to lean forward to keep the bike on this incline. Almost there, almost - oh that's too much acceleration, you're lifting up front. You can get out of this, you can bring it back, just wiggle a bit and – nope. You've gone and done the banana peel again. Now your bike is upside down and crushing your bones.
Trials Fusion day-one update increases resolution on Xbox One
The Xbox One version of Trials Fusion will require a day-one patch to increase the game's resolution to 900p, Ubisoft has confirmed. Prior to the application of the patch, Trials Fusion on Xbox One will run at 800p at 60fps. Ubisoft also confirmed developer RedLynx had originally targeted a resolution of 1080p for both the Xbox One and PS4, but the team was still optimizing its game for each platform. The PlayStation 4 version of Trials Fusion will run at 1080p at 60fps at launch. Trials Fusion from developer RedLynx launches tomorrow for the Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PC. [Image: Ubisoft]
More players means more crashes in Trials Fusion trailer
Trials Fusion: Come for the camaraderie of four-person multiplayer races, stay because your pelvis was atomized by an oncoming tree. [Image: Red Lynx]
Joystiq Streams: Trials Fusion and the art of the face-plant [Relive the stream!]
Rage can be one of gaming's sweetest plums. Not the sort of rage where you flip out on a cheater in Titanfall or lose a particularly thorny League of Legends match. Sweet rage comes from classic challenge, when a game asks you to do something extra hard and you come oh-so-close to pulling it off before losing and getting sent back to try again. RedLynx's Trials Fusion, the latest in the strong run of motocross trick games, produces only the finest rage. Didn't quite land that flip? See your friends getting a better score than you on this track? Trials makes a player see red. No wonder we want to broadcast ourselves face-planting repeatedly in Fusion's new sci-fi themed tracks. At 4PM EST on the Joystiq Twitch channel, Joystiq Editor-in-Chief Ludwig Kietzmann will stream one solid hour of the Trials Fusion PC beta, providing a veritable smorgasbord of spills and, well, mostly just spills. Anthony John Agnello will be hanging in the chat as usual, feeding your questions to Ludwig. Want more? We'll be giving away 15 beta codes to the Trials Fusion beta in the Twitch chat while we play. Then you can face-plant with us. Joystiq Streams broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST. [Images: Ubisoft]
Trials Frontier rides to iOS on April 10
Trials Frontier, one of the two upcoming games in the motorcycle-flipping series from developer RedLynx, will launch April 10 on iOS. The mobile entry in the series will roll to Android at a later, undisclosed date. Being the first Trials game on iOS and Android isn't Frontier's only departure for RedLynx, as the game is also set in a futuristic wild-west environment "after the fall of the Trials Fusion universe." Players unlock small villages that are all that remain of civilization in Frontier as well as new motorcycles, characters and upgrades for their bikes. Those that connect the game with Trials Fusion will receive bonus gear as well. Trials Frontier was first announced during publisher Ubisoft's E3 2013 press conference alongside Trials Fusion. Fusion is slated to launch April 16 on PC and entered a closed beta phase late last week. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion entering closed beta this week ahead of PC launch
Players who pre-order the Windows PC version of RedLynx's motorcycle stunt sim Trials Fusion can get a head start on the competition in a closed beta test prior to the game's launch next month, publisher Ubisoft announced today. Starting March 21, players who pre-purchase Trials Fusion at GameStop, Amazon, and other retailers can download a beta version free of charge. Trials Fusion is also slated for release on the PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, though Ubisoft's beta offer is available exclusively for the upcoming PC release. Trials Fusion will be priced at $19.99 when it premieres digitally on April 24. [Image: Ubisoft]
Trials Fusion flips, snowdives, and crashlands onto shelves in April
Expect a sharp upturn in broken controllers and smashed screens when Trials Fusion arrives on April 16 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Windows PC. The next entry in RedLynx's absorbingly thorny 2D platform-puzzler/stunt biker series, the first Trials ever on a PlayStation platform, is coming to physical shelves on Xbox One and PS4 in North America, as well as digital storefronts on all platforms. The downloadable version of Trials Fusion is priced $20, while the physical version is priced $40 and includes a season pass in addition to the game. According to Ubisoft UK, the season pass can be purchased separately for the same price as the game there, which is £16. Ubisoft UK adds that the season pass features six DLC packs that will be released across the span of a year, with each one including a variety of tracks, bike components, and rider gear among other bits and bobs.
Get Black Ops 2 for $40, Trials Evolution for $15 on Steam this weekend
Steam's deals for this weekend are action-packed, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is 33 percent off ($40.19), while the Deluxe Edition also on sale for $53.59 until May 13. Early birds can play the game for free until 1pm Pacific on Sunday. Trials Evolution is also part of the weekend sale, as the game's Gold Edition is 25 percent off ($14.99) until May 13. The special edition of the game also includes the single-player tracks and skill games from Trials HD.
