Mr. Cheese's Tribes 2 Review
posted at 7:00 AM on Tuesday, April 17th, 2001
Introduction
| Publisher |
| Dynamix Studios |
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| System Requirements: |
Video card dependant (PII 300-PIII 500)
530MB HD Space
32 MB Ram (yeah right)
Faster the processor, the more likely they'll accept it.
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| Reviewed Using: |
PII 400
512 MB RAM
GeForce 32MB |
Well, Sierra Studios has done it again. Delivering "team combat on an epic scale." No, not Smurfs Battle Arena, today we're talking Tribes™ 2. Before I begin, I have to mention that I was one of the many unfortunate souls that bought their copy of the game and had to wait four day before I actually got to play it. Damn you, UE errors, damn you all to hell!
But then the game worked, and the villagers rejoiced.
Ever since the summer of...well, I forget what year it was. But I mean the first time I was introduced to the ultra-violent world of Doom™, I’ve been hooked on first-person-shooters. After Doom™ came Duke™ then Quake™ then Quake™2, Quake™3…how many more did they make? I wasn’t counting. The genre grew stale as every developer and their mommas decided to make their own hero-with-attitude fps. I only found myself diving back into the genre for the ones that brought something new with them. Tribes™ 2 did this for me. Perhaps because it doesn’t rely on an every man for himself strategy, rather it promotes real teamplay and cooperation (something that is very difficult to achieve in the chaos we call the internet). Perhaps it was because of the spiffy cool vehicles you get to pilot/drive. Perhaps it truly is “team combat on an epic scale.” Perhaps because my hair is on fire.
Tribes™2 offers the player a variety of roles to take up in the battle. As in any good team, you’ve got your offense and your defense. Within those categories exist more subcategories including snipers, deployers, heavy assaulters, etc etc. The player is also allowed to customize his/her own inventory which creates even more variety within the team. Throw in a jetpack, two pinches of heavy tanks, a grav cycle, a few bombers and some aregano, and you’ve got one helluva sixty-four player stew on your hands.
Story
Intergalactic sheep with rage-management issues have come to destroy the Tribes from Episode 1. Or something. Look, Tribes 1 was pretty skimpy on the story, but at least they tried. Don't be buying this game for the intricate plot.
Gameplay
The gameplay is flawless. Maneuvering your trooper around the terrain whether it be by land, sea or air, is easy as pie. There are several tricks to moving around faster you pick up fairly quickly. The jetpack, for example, gives the player an alternative to simply sidestepping away from incoming enemy fire. One now has the choice of flying out of the way in style. It also helps in making a quick getaway when you’ve gotten your hands on the enemy’s precious, succulent flag.
The addition of vehicles also adds a new element of strategy to the game. While at first the vehicles are difficult to maneuver around the terrain, once a skilled pilot/driver is in control they can prove extremely useful and destructive against the enemy forces. Nothing quite like sitting in a Beowulf assault tank and lobbing an unlimited amount of mortar shells into the enemy base.
However, this game isn’t all about getting all your buddies into one tank/bomber and barreling into the enemy base screaming in bloody murder. As mentioned before, Tribes™ 2 focuses on teamplay and strategy. Roles must be distributed within the team in order to a) defend your base properly, and b) to organize an attack. If you don’t play nice with others, you’ll probably end up at the bottom of the ranks. It’s going to take some practice, but the rewards are great.
Aesthetics
The developers also were kind enough to give you about a zillion options to tweak the graphics, which often did more damage than good. I sometimes found that by slightly changing, let’s say, the terrain texture quality, I ended up making the textures appear jagged and broken. I heard similar complaints from other players so I know it wasn’t just my machine. I hope these things are fixed with the next update. Other than that, it’s great.
Although only players with more high-end systems will be able to enjoy it’s full spectrum of high rez goodness, players with mid-range systems like myself can still say that it looks better than most of the products out there.
Sound
Tribes™ 2 takes an old concept, player voice macros, and multiplies it by three, then adds a four. I didn’t really count, but there are many, MANY macros to choose from. They require you to press up to 3 buttons in sequence to execute them, which makes it somewhat difficult to memorize, but since communication is an important part of playing on your team, you’d better learn them!
There’s a “Play Mp3 Music” option in the Options menu (go fig) that allows you to play the music provided in the game CD. Personally, I have a tendency to play my own music with my games. Most games have music that’s good the first few times, but I eventually end up turning the game music off and popping in my own CD. Although it’s not official, there is an mp3 script available that lets you load up your own playlist from your own mp3 collection. I suppose most people would rather fire up their Christina Aguilera collection when rolling into battle.
The feature takes the cake for me is the microphone communication. If you’ve got something you want to say that isn’t found in the voice macros, all you have to do is say it into the mic and your teammates will hear it. No profanity please, children. This saves you a lot of typing. What more could you ask for?
Value
This game has got tons of lasting appeal. As is the case with a lot of multiplayer games, you never play the same game twice. And with the vast array of weapons, suits, packs, vehicles, and strategies, it’ll be a while before you run out of new things to learn. I’ve slowly become the kind of gamer that tires of games quickly if they get too repetitive, but I think this one definitely gives you a handful.
Conclusion
Looks like a lot of hard work and thought was put into developing this game, and it is greatly appreciated. With the exception of a few bugs and the oversight (?) of the UE error that crippled a lot of players for almost a week, this game delivers. It’s well worth the fifty bucks.
Gameplay 5/5
Requires some skill to master. We all need a good challenge now and then.
Aesthetics 4/5
Looks outstanding, but needs to have a few glitches fixed.
Sounds 5/5
What a girl wants, what a girl neeeeds...is lots of radio chatter!
Value 4.5/5
Hundreds of thousands of people kept playing Tribes 1 right up until Tribes 2 came out. It's just that good.
The Verdict 4.5/5
If you have to kill to get a copy of this game, I recommend a baseball bat with nails in it.
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