The Concept

Developer: Dynamix
Publisher: Sierra
Official Website: http://sierrastudios.com/games/tribes2/

Teamplay Ho!

Tribes undoubtedly revolutionized the online FPS market. It was one of the first shooters to make multiplayer its primary feature, nevermind teamplay. Players were no longer squished into tiny maps full of walls, ceilings and tight corridors. They fought on vast landscapes across great distances. Sniping was no longer a 100-foot shot with a railgun but a 1000 foot carefully aimed and timed blast of laser fire.

Lookin' fine!

The new GUI

Teams didn't fight over control of a scant few armors, weapons or powerups. They made raids into the enemy base to disable their power, inventory stations or ammo stations. On a public server, a good player could get away with a raid by himself.

In competitive Tribes matches, however, players constantly found new strategies and perfected them. Each and every team member did a specific job with machine-like precision and repetition. Some, like flag cappers in Light armor, can get away with a bit of leeway.

Wooo, what a background

Testing it out first

Other jobs, like Heavy Offense, might as well be scripted bots on some maps because the job is so repetitive. Get armor and weapons, get to a hill, ski as appropriate, launch an attack and do as much damage as possible before you die. Wash, rinse, repeat. Tribes could appeal to a casual player or the hardcore competitor. How do you follow up on such success?

What's on the grill, Triber?

Tribes 2 offers some new game modes and updates of old ones. Since the stock game was so concerned with team and team accomplishments, individual skilled players felt a bit left out. Hardcore Tribes players can probably remember the release of the semi-official Rabbit and Hunter mods. Both helped fill the gap in Tribes' gameplay by offering a bit more individual glory. Although maybe not specifically designed to alleviate this flaw, the mods did it anyway. Naturally, they found their way into the sequel, along with a team version of Hunters.

Impressive vehicle pad

Choose yer poison

While Defend and Destroy was dropped, a new, similar mode was added - it's called Siege. If you've played UT and enjoyed Assault, you'll feel right at home in Siege. Aside from the new game modes, there are also a couple new weapons and vehicles that we had a chance to play around with in the beta.

The new interface is by far the most impressive in any game so far. It offers a way to read updates from developers, a newsgroup-like message board and even a way to create and find Tribes in-game. Spiffy.

Vehicle creation	The Wildcat Grav Cycle
ZOOOOOOOMM!	Shiny reflection off water