Tribes 2
February 21, 2002
First-person-shooters (FPS) have almost always focused on one thing; kill anything and everything in sight. When Dynamix released the first Tribes a few years ago they were trying incorporate another aspect to the game, that of team warfare. Never before had a company succeeded doing this. Dynamix did however, and Tribes 2 just pushes that envelope further.
If you are new to the Tribes universe I highly recommend that you play through the offline missions first. These missions show the new gamer how to handle all the different trials of Tribes 2. Another option is to just set up a LAN game and play with 16 computer controlled bots. The bots are surprisingly good at what they do, even though they don’t come close to a real life player. If you feel like jumping right into an online game go right ahead, just don’t expect to be much help to your team.
The most popular type of game online would have to be capture the flag (CTF). If you are new to the whole FPS genre, CTF is basically what it sounds like. One team tries to get the other team’s flag back to the home base. It sounds easy enough, but there are many obstacles to get past to achieve this task. First is the other team. Trying to get into a base occupied by 20 hostile players is not an easy task. You will also have to deal with gun turrets, tracking sensors, and vehicles. Yes I said vehicles. Just like in the first Tribes game players are allowed to take control different types of vehicles. To the fast scout flier to ground based assault tank. It is still very difficult to control the vehicle types well, but if you can accomplish this, you will be a sought after member of many a team.
Tribes 2 also offers the player a choice in the way he or she wishes to play. If running full speed up a hill while lobbing grenades at the enemy is your style then great, but what if you are not an offensive based player? Tribes 2 has it covered. You can be a base defender or even a repairman to keep all the turrets up and running. There are a lot of weapons to choose from as well as different types of suits. If quick and nimble is your play style then pick the scout. While limited to only three weapons and low armor, the speed and mobility more then makes up for that. Or perhaps you want to simply destroy anything in your way, then go with the Juggernaut. It allows for heavy armor and five weapons, but not a whole lot of speed. All of this can be changed in game on the fly at an inventory station. It allows players to customize up to twenty different suit settings that can be called up with a press of a button.
The sound effects and graphics of Tribes 2 is top notch, although there have been some problems reported on lower-end computers. Even if you computer meets the requirements it may not run the game effectively. I had no problems on either of my computers though, a 1.5 GHz with a 64MB GeForce2 or on my 550 MHz with a 16MB Rage Pro ATI card. In most cases if you simply upgrade your video card it solves the problem.
If you are tired of the traditional deathmatch offered by other FPS games then give Tribes 2 a try. There is nothing like rushing a hill with twenty people at your back, an impressive sight to say the least. Now where did I put my spinfusor…
CVG Report CardTribes 2
Developer: Dynamix
Publisher: Sierra
1+ Player Game
Genre: Action
Rating: A-
Platform: PC
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