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Friends are your worst enemies in Trials HD and Shadow Complex
It's one thing to have leaderboards with a friends filter. Plenty of games do this. Naturally, you want to see how well you're doing compared to the people you know. But it's quite another thing to put it in your face while you're actually playing a game. Which is the case with Trials HD and Shadow Complex, two recent Xbox Live Arcade releases that know a videogamer's worst enemy is not doing as well as his friends.
This sort of onscreen friendly competitiveness first appeared for me in Geometry Wars 2, which I had to mod because it was messing up my scores (my Geometry Wars Improved Score Mod is here). It's in Shatter, an excellent Breakout variation available on the Playstation Network. But those are score-based arcade games that lend themselves to friendly competition through high scores. I was surprised to see the same dynamic in Shadow Complex and Trials HD.
In Shadow Complex, as you play, you make progress towards various achievements. It's the usual stuff. Get so many headshots, collect so many hidden items, and so forth. From time to time, a notification pops up tracking your progress. It's similar to Gears of War 2, where you know exactly how close or how far you are from fulfilling the achievement. But the twist here is that it also shows the progress of one of your friends playing the game. It's not enough to know that I've melee'd 20 dudes, but I also see that my friend Densebread (not his real name, but it's apparently what he wants to be called on Xbox Live) is close to catching up with me. Which means as soon as I finish writing this, I need to go neckchop some badguys.
Trials HD is even more insidious. See that screenshot up there? At the top center is a needle pointing to a graph. Check it out:
It represents how close you are to beating the time of whatever friend scored closest to you on this level. The guy in that screenshot can't afford to screw up if he wants to beat jorsai2's time. The pressure is on and it's right in your face as you try to control your motorcycle through perilous crumbling fiery obstacle courses.
By baxterpunch at 5:04 PM ON 08/13/09
Well, you got it right half the time. Trials, not trails. Of course, I only noticed because I am a huge fan of the Trials sport (where all riding happens decidedly OFF trails). For anyone not well versed in the art of trials riding, this is a pretty good representative video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zhb2lnS_4k
By Tom Chick at 5:31 PM ON 08/13/09
Good lord, that's embarrassing. Fixed. I had no idea there was an actual sport. Next you'll be telling me there's an actual Excite Bike event!
By Ginger Yellow at 7:20 PM ON 08/13/09
Of course not. But Excite Truck? That's real.
By Pogo at 11:28 PM ON 08/13/09
Yeah, Trials are real, and they do some crazy shit too. I didn't know it until after I played Trials 2: Special Edition on Steam, which also had a great leaderboard so you could see how you ranked against every single other person who finished the level. You could also load up anyone else's replays which made learning some of the harder techniques a bit easier.
By roberdjp at 2:11 AM ON 08/14/09
Thanks for writing about Trials, Tom, cause never in a million years would I have rebought this if you hadn't brought this to my attention. It would be way less interesting if I didn't have Jason Cross to compete against -- you and Forgeforsaken aren't providing stiff enough competition.... :)
By Brian Taylor at 1:31 PM ON 08/14/09
I would love to play Shadow Complex, but I refuse to financially support, even tangentially, a homophobe like Orson Scott Card.
By Tom Chick at 6:15 PM ON 08/14/09
Brian, I thought you were making some sort of joke that went over my head, but you're right about the connection. I didn't realize it until I just now looked it up. Shadow Complex is based on Orson Scott Card's novel Empire and is supposed to tie into the sequel due out later this year.
Tom Chick:
Brian, I thought you were making some sort of joke that went over my head, but you're right about the connection. ...More »