https://account.hirezstudios.com/tribesascend/?ad=1&utm_source=Liquid&utm_medium=Adwords&utm_campaign=Adwords&gclid=CMf20vXBuq8CFQQ4nAodoDnTigThe Game: Tribes: Ascend Beta
The System:PC
The price:Free
The final review: 5 Stars (from me)
Description:Team based FPS online futuristic battle
More images:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tribes%20ascend&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=853&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=4oaMT_3gD6rl0QHDh7j3CQReview:For those of you who remember the original online Tribes fanaticism from 13 years ago, skip on ahead to the next paragraph. For the rest of you, I will try to enlighten you to what I consider the cult classic team-based online game of the millenia. Tribes is a futuristic FPS that was online-only for its inception long before there was Counter-stike, Ghost-recon, Call of Duty, or any other game with the exception of Unreal:Tournament. But the difference between Tribes and any canned generic FPS online shooter was insurmountable. The reason is due to the world/weapon system used by Tribes. The maps are vast landscapes with slopes and valleys (get to those in a minute), floating ships and fortresses, and automated defense systems. The weapons on-whole were slow-moving projectile based. For such a long-distance play field, these projectiles completely changed the way FPS combat was traditional used to. You had to lead your target. These weapons had incredible 'splash damage', which meant that hitting the ground next to the target did damage. But wait! Your target did not spend allot of time on the ground! Introduce short-burst jet packs. Allot of the movement was in the air. These jet packs would only last a few seconds, so launching yourself in the air to travel these landscapes was how the gameplay was done. So, one-on-one dueling meant jumping into the air and waiting for your opponent to land so you could shoot for the splash damage. The possibility of hitting mid-air was so unlikely, it was smart to save your ammo for the 'landing'. Think of rabbits with hand-grenades. Another concept unique to Tribes was 'Skiing'. After jet-packing into the air, you used the sloping landscape to travel quickly by 'jumping' down hills to speed up for the next jet up the next hill. It was kind of like reppeling. This technique was a must-learned skill for any tribes player. Although there were a few variations of gameplay, the most common was Capture-the-Flag. Remember the floating fortresses? Also, the built-in defenses in the map. This meant that simply running in and running out with the flag was not an option. Each team would have a flag base and numerous automated defenses, and a main generator which could be destroyed to disable those defenses. So individual people with individual objectives would mean a losing team. This also meant that if you were a kill-jockey, you should go play something else. This was a true team-based game. It was a constant-respawn type of game (like COD). You could chose the class to spawn as and change it through inventory stations. Light classes were fast and could drive vehicles. Heavy classes had all the heavy weapons meant for destroying base generators and defenses (and defenseless people trying to repair those defenses). There were also tech classes to add more defenses to what the map gave you. The strategies for each map would evolve as people came up with new ideas for defensive and offensive play. This made a game where those freakishly skilled FPS players did not change the entire gameplay of the game. Instead of a map being determined by the skill of one player, it was determined by the coordination of the entire team. But that did not mean the entire team had to be close buddies talking over voice either. What it meant was that depending on how the 'tide' of the map was going should determine what role you were playing on your team. At least one or two people should be flag runners, but not half the team. If the opposing team built up there defenses too much to reach the flag, start using a heavy armor to destroy their generator. If your flag was getting captured too easily, become a tech and build up your defenses. Unless the team are completely unbalanced, the gameplay should remain pretty intense and the strategies used should shift and change throughout the entire round of the map. As you get more skilled at what you are doing, it almost becomes zen-like as the team adapts to the situation without any verbal communication involved. A good team simply knows what weakness is present and someone will fill that role instinctively. Did I mention that this game was one of the first Ladder competition games Nationwide? Yup, before Counter-strike was even created, Tribes competitions were held by clans for the 'professional' teams.
So there is the insight to what Tribes was to begin with. So why did such a great game vanish? Sequels. If your a COD fan, you know how this goes. Once a sequel comes out, the servers begin to vanish as they change from one version of the game to the next. Enter Tribes 2. They were aggressive in the game engine, and it failed. Only $1000 video cards would show any textures at all. Even then, bugs made the launch of the game miserable. By the time the engine was stabilized, the need to change the gameplay was over. The pure mechanics of this sequel were pale to the original. Where Tribes 1 had vast maps, Tribes 2 had squished maps (to compensate for making the jets 'slower'). In the end, the game left everyone wanting to play the original again with no servers to play on. There was another sequel after that, but I think it was strictly a pale Unreal copy-cat that failed miserably (the only people that recognized the Tribes name knew it was not Tribes gameplay, and everyone else though it was a B version of Unreal).
But now Hi-rez has dared to revisit this cult classic. Not only are they attempting to bring back the mechanics that made it such an exhilarating online game, but they also offer it Free-to-Play. That's right. A free download and you play online immediately. But here is the catch: Introduce the Call of Duty experience ranking system to unlock the goodies. Where the original Tribes had 'spawning classes' with default load-outs that could be changed to your 'favorites' at an inventory station (if your gen was still active), Hi-rez has
your weapon load-out completely. At the very beginning you have only 5 classes to spawn as with only default weapons for those classes. As you gain experience, you can use these experience points to unlock more classes or unlock more powerful weapons for those classes or upgrades for those classes (more ammo, faster regeneration rate, faster jet speed, etc). And if your not patient enough to earn your rewards, you can goto the Hi-rez store and purchase 'gold' that can also be used to unlock these items. You can also buy 'time boosts' that double the experience earned for 30 days or more. But Hi-rez does not sit around. The game is still Beta. They are constantly adjusting the parameters of the game for 'balance'. They are trying every day to tweek the gameplay to be as challenging and fair as it can be. They also keep creating new maps and new weapons to unlock as time goes by, so there will always be something new to keep things fresh.
But back to the title of this article: Will this version Hold Up? Will this upstart bring back the same level of gameplay that Tribes had thousands of players wishing for the old days of skiing? As of now, the gameplay is close. It keeps getting closer every day. The Skiing feels the same. Even some of the old tricks from the original game (like throwing a grenade down at your feet as you lift off for a jet-launch gives you a boost of speed at the cost of hurting yourself) works in this new version. But the advent of locking the classes and having to earn the better choice of weapons may or may not work in its favor. I understand people like to 'earn' the ranks and show off their prowess, but I never liked that myself. Just because someone has the opportunity to play 40 hours a week and has had the game 3 months longer than me should not mean I have to play against people with a handicap until I finally get enough XP to upgrade. And if that is the opinion of someone who wants/wishes/desires to see the return of the 'good ole days', what about people who never heard of Tribes? It is already over-bearing coming into the game with little knowledge (another poor part is there is no distinctive guide since the game is online downloadable only) and no ability to select the better classes or weapons, you get beat down pretty fast as a noobie. From my perspective, I played long enough to determine if the game was good enough to keep trying or uninstall as a failed attempt to recapture what was once an incomparable experience. After a couple of weeks of trying slowly to earn the class unlocks (these are cheap by comparison) and one weapon unlock (this took most of the time) I finally made the decision to purchase the 'gold' option for $30. This gave me enough gold to unlock 2 weapons, the rest of the classes, and a few other knick-knacks like grenade/backpacks and also comes with a 30 day 'XP boost' that doubles the XP earned. It also grants permanent VIP status which provides another 50% XP boost. The way I looked at it was I would have bought the game if it wasnt for free for that amount easily. Since that purchase, I have been able to earn enough XP to unlock 2 more weapons in less than a week due to the boosts and the better weapons. So in my case, this was a win situation. But does that make me believe that the game over-all will succeed as the rightful hier to the Tribes legacy? The gameplay is so close, I dont think I care about whats different when I am jetting like the wind with the enemy flag and can hear constant spin-fusor disks whizzing by as I race to my home base. But I had experience before even downloading this version of the game. Granted, I was still a noob during the first week trying to get used to everything, but I did have some experience to lean on from 13 years ago. And as I learned and unlocked things, the better I got. I had the over-whelming desire to see this version become the game I remembered long ago. But what about people who never played Tribes? Whether they were too young or interested in other games, trying this game for the first time can only be (my guess) nothing but frustrating. Like I said, individual skill does not make or break a round in Tribes. But a team full of decent players with a ton of XP and the only skill that matters (strategy) can make a first time player feel like a goldfish in a washing machine with 100 lives. You cannot touch the flag before being killed. You lose miserably in one-on-one duels. You cannot even get near the enemy base in heavy armor without a sniper slowly killing you halfway across the map. And the XP you earn depends on how well you do. So the newer you are, the longer it takes to unlock the hardware to at least be on fair terms with all of the experienced people. Sure, you can buy your way into the game, but if your experience so far was miserable, why would you spend any money? Did I mention that $30 only gets you a couple of weapons (out of 30)? I can only imagine this is a common problem with the Call of Duty games (can you say hacked boost servers?). But for a PC based game not well known to the mass community, is this the right strategy for Hi-rez to introduce? I have my doubts. The gameplay takes getting used to. Especially for COD freaks. For me, I believe that the challenge of 'turning on' people to this little-known but awesome game is already an uphill battle. If you add onto it this prolonged period of 'turning off' these same people then you only end up with a few die-hards in the end while the others just go back to playing some other FPS online game (where one freakishly skilled individual determines the game). So in the end, it will come down to whether the gameplay is really superior enough for the average person to push through the hardship of induction.
