The original Tribes was a sleeper hit, and the first multiplayer-only game to the best of my knowledge. Dynamix was smart, and sent out free copies of the game to people who promised to run a server (that’s how I got my copy), ensuring that there would be lots of servers up when the game was released.
There were problems with Tribes, however.
Tribes Version 1.0
The initial version required a 3dfx card for decent visuals (OpenGL support was added later, but did not work well for a while).
Some players decided it was more fun to kill people on their own team. While you could have them kicked via a vote, players on both teams participated in the vote. If someone was being a pest on the enemy team, why would I want them kicked? Makes it easier for my team to win if they are being disruptive.
Vehicles were fun, but there were only three - a scout (fast, fired missiles) and a couple of armored personnel carriers. The only way to shoot them down was via a guided missile turret (and there weren’t many maps with those) or with a chaingun (a machine gun) that wasn’t very accurate.
The maps were also sort of small. Thirty or so players filled them up.
And there were only four game types – CTF (Capture the Flag), Capture and Hold (capture and hold buildings for points), Defend and Destroy (defend your facilities while destroying the enemy facilities) and Deathmatch (everyone fights everyone). CTF was the only game worth playing for the most part.
The whole idea of CTF (the most popular game type) was to divide into two teams, and then try to protect generators, command stations, turrets, inventory stations, and of course the flag. At the same time, the goal was to destroy enemy stations, and capture their flag and bring it back to your own.
The game was fast paced, and lots of people came up with interesting modifications and maps that further extended the game.
Tribes 2 was announced soon after Tribes was released, and has (for the last year or so) been one of the most anticipated new games.
Tribes Version 2.0
The Graphics
I first got to play Tribes 2 back at the Game Developers Conference in March 2001. AMD and a few other companies had high-end machines running the game, and it looked very nice. Explosions and players now look more realistic, terrain is more varied, and they have added water.
To max out the graphical detail, you really need a high-end machine. A GeForce 2 (or ATI Raedon) with 32 meg of RAM and a 500+ mhz AMD Duron/Thunderbird/Pentium 3. I would recommend an 800 or above.
New Packs
Tribes 1.0 had different packs a player could carry. The jamming pack cloaked the player from sensors (but do not shield them from the naked eye), the energy pack provide an energy boost (which allows the player to fly higher and farther - yup, you can fly in Tribes 1 and 2) and allowed the player to use the laser rifle, the ammo pack allowed extra ammunition, the repair pack allowed you to repair equipment, yourself and other players, and the shield pack provided some extra protection.
In Tribes 2, the packs are the same, but a cloaking pack has been added that makes the player invisible to the naked eye. It’s fun to sneak around an enemy’s base, attacking when they least expect it.
New Weapons
The original weapons were the blaster, the chaingun (a machinegun of sorts), the disk launcher, the laser rifle, the ELF gun (drains energy), the grenade launcher, the plasma gun, the mortar gun, and the target laser. Different armor carries different weapon configurations.
Tribes 2 has added the shock-lance (for sneak attacks) and the guided missile. The last one is very handy. It must be locked on to a target before fired, and to lock on, the target must produce heat (i.e. the player must have the jet pack engaged). Most vehicles produce heat by default, and thus are easy to lock on to.
There are also new grenades (launched by hand, not by the grenade launcher). The flare grenade distracts guided missiles. The concussion grenade knocks players back, and may knock off a weapon or pack (decreasing their effectiveness during critical moments). The whiteout grenade temporarily blinds players who are looking in the general direction of the explosion. And there is the standard grenade that explodes and does damage.
New Vehicles
The number of vehicles has doubled. There is the gravcycle, which scoots along the ground at a high rate of speed, the strike fighter which flies and fires energy bursts, the bomber which can drop bombs and fire energy bursts, the personnel carrier (transports troops), the Beowolf tank (fires mortars), and the Jerico (a remote base for arming players, with a cannon for defense).
This adds a lot to the game. A team can now focus on air strikes, while setting up a remote base to keep the pressure on the enemy. Grav cycles can be used to zip in, grab the flag, and zip out, and tanks can be used for heavy assaults on an enemy base.
Players in vehicles can now drop flare grenades that throw off guided missiles. The vehicles are also more impervious to damage (the Jerico is very difficult to destroy).
Same Old Armor
The armor in Tribes was light, medium and heavy. The only change in Tribes 2 is the names – Scout, Assault, and Juggernaut.
Miscellaneous Features
There are a few other interesting things that have been added. One is built-in voice communication. This is the ability to talk via a microphone and have your entire team hear it.
In the original Tribes, there was a script you could run that allowed you to “ski” – run down hills at a high rate of speed. This was great for flying, landing on a downhill slope, skiing to increase speed, and then rocketing off the upward lip of the slope. This is now built-in.
The number of armor and weapon configurations that can be stored as “favorites” has been increased to twenty to allow for the greater depth of weapons, packs, and grenades.
Tribes had remote turrets that players could set up at key points for defense or offense. There are now clamp turrets (for buildings) and landspike turrets for outside.
And finally, there is a map editor in the game that allows you to edit or create new maps for other people to play on.
New Game Types
The number of possible games that can be played has also increase.
There is Bounty, where the objective is to pursue another player. Each player is chasing another player, and at the same time is being chased. The goal is to eliminate your prey without being caught by the player hunting you.
Rabbit is a game where one individual carries the flag for as long as they can before being killed by one of the other players. The longer you stay alive with the flag, the more points you get. Once you are killed the flag drops and another player has the opportunity to grab it. This is a fun game that requires no teamwork, and is great for improving skills.
Capture and Hold is much like the original game – the point it to capture and hold objectives, with each objective adding points to your teams score. The longer you hold it, the more points are received.
Deathmatch is one-on-one, with the highest kill-to-death ratio being declared the victor.
Hunters is a game where killing an opponent causes a flag to fall to the ground. The objective is to gather flags, and return them to the Nexus. The more flags you have, the more points you get. But if you hold on to the flags too long, and get killed, all the flags drop to the ground.
Team Hunters is like hunters, but is team based. Scores for returning flags to the Nexus go to the team rather than the individual.
Siege is an interesting game where one team defends a control panel, while the other team tries to capture it. If the attacking team manages to get to the panel and toggle the switch, then the defending team loses. The defending team wins if time runs out.
Keeping the Losers Out
One of the biggest problems with Tribes was team-killers. These were people who knew that they could run around and attack people on their own team with little risk of being kicked off a server. Every player, on both teams, voted on kicking a player. If the player isn’t on your team, you have no incentive to kick them. In fact, you don’t want them kicked, because they’re helping you out.
And even if they were kicked off and banned, changing their name was enough to get them back on (the servers kept banned players out by checking names).
This was pretty annoying to most people. In Tribes 2, every person has a unique key they entered when installing the game. Server administrators can use this key to permanently ban players. Players have to buy a new copy of the game to get back onto a server.
And only players on the team of the person being kicked can vote. Players are kicked off servers all the time now, where it used to be an infrequent event.
Gameplay/Teamplay
The original tribes was multiplayer only, and most people played the team-based CTF. The number of things a player could do was limited, and thus it was easier to form people into teams. Some people naturally gravitated to defense. Some enjoyed the thrill of trying to get the enemy flag.
Tribes 2 is a much bigger, more diverse game, however. The potential for players doing their own thing, to the detriment of the team, is much greater.
Dynamix has added new facilities for assigning tasks to players, but they are rarely used. Instead, I’m noticing that the attraction of the vehicles is too much for most players, and you frequently see people flying around, doing no appreciable good, while more mundane (but necessary) tasks are ignored.
Hopefully, once the bloom is off the rose, things will settle down and the game will be as much fun as Tribes was.
Did I Waste My Money?
Definitely not. Tribes stayed on my computer for years, and with the new weapons and vehicles, the potential for the game is even greater.
The manual is a little skimpy, but it covers the basics.
I suspect that I will need to upgrade my computer, however. When there is a lot going on, even a Pentium 3 600 mhz computer with 256 meg of RAM and a GeForce 2 MX bogs down. I would recommend an 800 mhz or better.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.