Welcome to another UO video game review. I am going to break this one up into two different parts. First we will take a look at the Single Player aspect of the game then we will delve into Multiplayer side of things. Let's take a brief look at the Tribes History. The first installment of the series was called Starsiege: Tribes, which was released in 1998 and created by Dynamix. Starsiege was the first true attempt at a large scale FPS with support of up to 32 players online. While 32 player games where pretty rare due to lack of quality broadband at the time, it was still a very fun game that started a large online following.

Next up we had the starcrossed game Tribes 2 which was released in early 2001. This game was also created by Dynamix and had Sierra as a parent company. In it's early stages the game was shaping up to be a great game that would boast very improved graphics and support for up to a staggering 60 players online. However the game ran into some production issues and Dynamix was pressured to put out an imcomplete game. When the game came out it was not received well it caused Sierra to shut down Dynamix (not a good move IMO). The game would receive several updates to make it better but the damage was already done.

Fast forward to 2004 take the Tribes History combine it with a new developer, Irrational Games, a more mature Sierra, a solid publisher Vivendi Universal, throw in the best graphics engine available, Unreal Engine, and you have the makings of what Tribes 2 should have been.


Single Player: The game starts off with ingame rendered cutscenes that are pretty impressive. The cutscene show the Imperial Family and follow Tribes History pretty closely. You start off as a arrogant and raw Imperial princess Julia. Julia is captured by the Tribals and one of their leaders Daniel. This is where you really start to notice some things about the graphics. The indoor scenes lack detail and textures but are more than made up for in the outdoor scenes.


While in custody of the Tribals, Julia learns to become a skilled warrior. The gameplay allows you to learn things such as using your jetpack, skiing (which took forever for me to master but once I did it was fun) and using your weapons. Once you complete several missions while captured, you fast-forward 20 years to the present.

Here is where the game really starts to get fun. You are set in an arena and play out several different gametypes. Some are old school such as Deathmatch but some are new and fresh. One such type is like a combination of UT2004's Domination. Where you have to capture and control several checkpoints for a specific amount of time.


My personal favorite in this part of the game is where you have to steal fuel from the other team's fuel depot and bring them back to yours. What happens after this? Well I don't want to spoil the game for you, so you will have to just find out for yourself.

Multiplayer: This is where the games shines the most. The strong point of this game is the fact that it is built on the Unreal Engine and as we all know the Netcode in UE is the best in the business. The graphics are very cool with the most notable being the new and improved Skyboxes. When you combine that with new water reflections and updated fog, you feel that the world just goes on forever.


Those of you that liked the weapons in the first two games won't be dissapointed in T:V. The old standby's such as my personal favorite, the SpinFusor, are back along with new weapons such as the Energy Blade. Online play features all of the traditional things like Capture the Flag and Deathmatch but the most fun can be had with the new vehicles that are in the game. They definitely add a cool element to the game.

Now my only fear about Tribes: Vengeance is that it comes out at the wrong time. With Doom 3 still wildly popular and Half Life 2 about to set the whole PC gaming world on it's ear it may be another case of bad timing. The game 'feels' finished and definitely polished. I can honestly say I couldn't find any major bugs in it. If you are looking for something to pass the time until HL2 comes out and like the movement of UT2004 than this is the game for you. It definitely earns the reputable honor of being a Fanboy Approved product.


Thanks again for stopping by the site,
Tycho
October 26th 2004