Hangar 96 – Marathon Infinity

Way back in the day, Bungie made its name with titles like Myth and Marathon, the latter considered as the precursor to the Halo series. In 1996’s Marathon Infinity, there were three bonus “dream” levels that all referenced Hangar 96. It may have just been something within the Marathon lore but that wasn’t enough for some players who went about looking for ways to unlock it. The “solution” involved taking the hexadecimal code appearing in terminals from the first and last levels, combining them together, converting that into code to create a new level and then adding it to the game. This resulted in the unlocking of a new multiplayer map called “Hats off to Eight Nineteen” that had the “Hangar 96” label. Long story short, never underestimate the dedication of some fans to investigate seemingly unimportant details. Speaking of which…

The original Trials HD has sold more than two million copies which includes both the base game as well the DLC. The game had a  Metacritic score of 86.

Trials Evolution is expected to launch on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade service.

Today and today only (Friday April 15th) Microsoft has put on sale some of its best arcade games.  These game rarely ever go on sale if not ever so here is you chance to grab them at a great price.  You can purchase the following games at 50% off on the Xbox Live Marketplace for today only.

– Shadow Complex – 600 points
– LIMBO – 600 points
– Castle Crashers – 600 points
– Trials HD – 600 points
– Monday Night Combat – 600 points

Microsoft is releasing a retail package that will run you $29.99 and will include  the three arcade game LIMBO, Trials HD as well as Splosion Man.  Anyone who does not have these game should definitely consider purchasing it in retail when it’s released on April 19th, but it was supposed to be out on April 12th.  These are some of the best games on Xbox Live Arcade and will save you around $10 by purchasing the retail package.  The XBLA Triple Pack also comes with a 48-hour pass for Xbox Live Gold and 160 Microsoft Points.

You can pre-order it here.

RedLynx are claiming to have sold 1.5 million copies of the game throughout 2009, the Finnish company will soon be “bringing 8-10 new games to market” later this year. After having released only a single game in 2008, Trials 2 SE for PC, sold over 150,000 copies RedLynx diversified their videogame portfolio and released four titles in 2009. The multi-platform business plan paid off as the four games which included Trials HD on Xbox 360, Monster Truck Nitro for PC and iPhone, and DrawRace for iPhone helped to move a total of 1.5 million copies.

The game starts off with a small motorcycle and a course constructed out ouf ramps, platforms, tires, barrels, etc, etc. Your goal is to make it through each of the 50 plus courses in the least amount of time possible. Check points through each course are forgiving and after each wipe out, you have the option of starting at the last check point successfully passed, or from the very beginning of the course. As you progress, you unlock new courses, faster bikes, and mini games. We’ll get to the mini game, relax Sparky!!!

Physics play the biggest role in this game. Everything from how your motorcycle responds with the terrain, to how far forward or backwards you tend to lean. Don’t get me wrong, nothing beats getting some huge air and attempting to pull off a flip or two, but remember one thing – what goes up, must come down. You must be sure to adjust yourself to the correct angle to stick the landing, otherwise you may find yourself face down and you bike in pieces.

Over the river and through the woods……..

You will get to a point in the game where you’ll feel like there is no possible way to completed a track and most likely you’ll walk away from the game. Next time you come back to try those difficult tacks again and see you other friend’s posting times for completing those very same tracks will give you the drive to tackle them again.

TRIALS HD included a course editor to allow you to construct your own tracks to race through. You can also share those tracks with others to test their skills on and see who has the better time.

Alright there Sparky, I know you’re chomping at the bit waiting to hear about the mini games. There are about 12 different mini games to unlock that will test your skills that you obtained from the regular race modes. Everything from transporting bombs as far as possible before they explode from bouncing around too much, to bailing out and hurling your rider through the air for either distance, or see how many bones he breaks. There are also games straight out of a circus that have you riding either on, or inside a giant cage ball.

All in all, for 1200 Microsoft points, TRIALS HD isn’t a bad buy, 800 would feel a bit better though. I’d suggest trying out the demo before going in full throttle or try the demo and decide for yourself.

That’s your Baldguy review.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.