Tribes: Ascend

The Tribes series is a real classic among online shooters. It started as a side project to the Earthsiege / Starsiege mech simulator series, but it quickly surpassed the popularity of this brand, and the solutions introduced in it changed the entire FPS genre forever. Hard times came for her fans after Dynamix closed in 2001. A few years later, Irrational Games released Tribes: Vengeance , which - although it was a good position - could not win the hearts of players. Now Tribes is back as a free production based on micropayments. It turns out that the old champion is still in great shape and his comeback is by all means successful.

Tribes: Ascend takes place in the distant future and focuses on battles between the title tribes: Blood Eagle and Diamond Sword. However, the differences between them are only cosmetic.

The heart of the game, as in the previous games, is movement. All characters are equipped with jetpacks that allow them to take to the air for a short while. The device eliminating the friction force, which allows for free sliding on the boards, is compatible with this. Going downhill increases your speed and driving uphill reduces your speed. The key to success is to master the use of this equipment. Slow movement means death, and attempts to capture the flag other than at maximum speed most often end in suicide. That is why you have to navigate the maps in such a way as to take full advantage of the possible descents, and at the same time avoid hills thanks to the backpack, which would reduce our speed. All levels have been designed with this in mind. They are not cluttered with objects, so players do not have to worry that they will slow down by hitting a bush. At the same time, it is worth learning the map topography, as it allows you to plan your route well in advance. This is important because all this speed results in a lot of inertia. If we are gliding at a pace of nearly 200 kilometers per hour, making a sudden turn is not easy. On the other hand, it can be used in combat. When we have enemies on the tail, we can turn 180 degrees without slowing down the pace and direction of movement and start firing.

All this makes the movement system in Tribes: Ascend unlike anything that is currently available on the market. It takes a lot of time to master it properly, but at the same time the fun is amazing and the satisfaction of becoming a skating master is great. Hitting such fast targets is not a bet, so a lot of the available weapons are based on dealing AoE damage. Thanks to this, the projectile does not have to penetrate the enemy's body, it is enough for it to hit the ground close to him. At the same time, in such a situation, it is necessary to take into account not only the sliding direction of the opponent, but also our own trajectory of movement. Combined with the relatively slow pace of flight of this type of missile, this leads to clashes similar to air ballet, in which opponents circle each other and try to predict each other's movements. Of course, if someone has a hawk eye, the game will reward it - such users equipped with rifles wreak real panic across the map. In Tribes: Ascend there are also vehicles, although they only play a supporting role here. Rarely do more than a few of them take part in the action and they cannot dominate the match. Even a mighty tank needs constant cover of its comrades, otherwise its slow movement will make the infantry turn it into scrap in no time.

Currently, the game offers four modes of play. Here we find a popular team deatchmatch, which at the same time has been modified in an interesting way. The first one killed drops the flag and whichever team owns it scores twice as many points per frag. The heart and soul of Tribes is the second mode, Capture the Flag. Its rules are pretty standard - each team gets a base surrounded by watchtowers. The goal is to take your opponent's flag from there and bring it to your own base. The fun comes down mainly to crazy chases and escapes, which, thanks to the mechanics of movement, are incredibly fun. The authors took care to diversify the games by introducing energy generators located in the basements of buildings. After their destruction, power to the watchtowers is cut off for some time. Moreover, we can deliver the flag to the base only when our own pennant is not in enemy hands.

Capture the Flag is the essence of Tribes , but the creators propose two more modes. The first is a chaotic, yet very cute Capture and Hold. There are several strategic points on the map and the team that captures them all wins. Capturing everyone requires touching the flag and holding your position for a few seconds. When this happens, nearby watchtowers also come to our side. This module greatly distracts the action across the level and thus provides a different experience than traditional CTF. The last variant is Arena. The boards appearing there are in the form of systems of footbridges floating in the air and it is easy to fall from them into the abyss. Two teams of five players each take part in the game. Each group is limited to 25 spawns. The game continues until one team loses all its fighters and exhausts the number of respawns available. The Arena is the purest test of shooting skills and is therefore only available after reaching level 8.

In the case of free productions based on micropayments, the basic question for many players is how much emphasis has been placed on spending real money. In this respect, Tribes: Ascend has been resolved very sensibly. The authors introduced a character development system popular in modern FPS games. There are nine classes to choose from, which differ mainly in armor strength, movement speed and weapons. A few also have special skills - the Engineer can build watchtowers and repair broken equipment, and the Infiltrator uses camouflage. The classes are divided into three weight classes - light, medium and heavy. At the beginning, only one of each group is unlocked. We can develop each class in many ways, acquiring new weapons, equipment, armor and perks.

There is no question of purchasing special super-powerful ammunition or exclusive bonuses. All classes, weapons, equipment and improvements that affect the game can be obtained for experience points obtained during the game. Virtual gold bought with real money is therefore only a shortcut for people who do not have the time or willingness to spend several dozen hours on the development of the hero. A successful match increases our account by 1-2 thousand experience points. Most of the upgrades are rather cheap and it takes an hour of fun to unlock the next item. Only the weapon is really expensive - costing from 40,000 to sometimes even 100,000 experience points. At the same time, however, the new types of weapons do not provide any dominance on the battlefield. Very often an advanced type of weapon works in a completely different way than the basic one. Moreover, in Tribes: Ascend, skills are the most important. A good player with a beginner character will most often smash a moderately talented opponent controlling a fully developed hero. What's more, for gold we can only unlock each item and perk. After that, it is possible to further improve them, which, however, can only be done with experience points. At the same time, it was all well-balanced. Of course, as in any new game, too-powerful types of weapons appear, but this is not so much of a problem to spoil the course of the matches. Especially since the community has already begun to develop tactics to counter such cases, and more updates are on the way.

The guys at Hi-Rez Studios did a great job, but even they made a few mistakes. For a title so heavily reliant on team play, the authors provided surprisingly few solutions to facilitate it. What hurts especially is the lack of integrated voice communication. The situation is saved by the fact that the entire game has been designed in such a way that it forces cooperation between players, and the lack of a wide selection of cooperation options only makes it difficult to coordinate the action precisely. So you have to rely on gut. In addition, although the creators managed to capture the spirit of the previous installments, there is still something missing to the level of Tribes 2 . The physics of flight is a bit simplistic, although it's something that will only disturb the most dedicated fans of the series, and most of them will forget about it after a dozen or so hours of fun. Many other elements from the aforementioned predecessor are still missing. In this case, however, it seems to be a conscious decision. A few days after the premiere, a patch developing the Raider class appeared. known from the "two" plasma gun. Everything indicates that the authors have a lot of solutions for future updates. There were also no online rankings, although their appearance is only a matter of time.

The graphics will not evoke any emotions. The whole thing looks neat and very legible, but there are no breathtaking views. However, it is hard to blame the creators for this, because such design of the maps requires the specificity of the game. Filling the levels with a mass of small details could seriously damage the flow of motion. However, the inability to test weapons and classes before buying is very irritating, so we have to spend hard-earned experience points often blindly.

Tribes: Ascend is quite an achievement. The authors managed to recreate the atmosphere and honeyiness of the first two parts of the series, and at the same time, this production is not only for the veterans of the series. The end result is one of the best micropayment titles on the market today. Even without spending a penny, you can have a great time and such people are not only cannon fodder for paying users. At the same time, although the game is not designed to milk fans roughly, it is still worth spending a little money on it. The first purchase of virtual gold ensures constant promotion to the VIP category, thanks to which we get 50% more experience points after each match. Most people will probably settle for a single expense of this type and then have a great time at no extra cost. But most of all, Tribes: Ascend is very sweet . Hours spent on servers pass quickly and you want to come back to the game every day. Although Hi-Rez Studios relied heavily on the already old two installments of the series, at the same time the production they created is, paradoxically, a breath of fresh air on the ossified online FPS market. I haven't had so much fun in a multiplayer shooter in a long time, and expect it to stay on my hard drive for at least a year. Any fan of the genre should try this game, especially since it's free.