Tribes 2 (T2) should have been a no-brainer legacy hit. At a time when other first-person shooter (FPS) games were having problems providing a smooth gaming experience with relatively claustrophobic indoor environments, the original Tribes came along like a breath of fresh air. It offered true team-based play across what were positively huge, sprawling environments for the time. It offered an interesting and varied selection of weapons, game modes, packs, armor, and everything else. In short, the original Tribes re-defined what it means to be a team-based multiplayer game.
So what happened with T2? Well, it was rushed out the door by Sierra, marketed poorly, patched as frequently as it was poorly, and was otherwise mishandled in pretty much every conceivable way. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, mind you, but no review of T2 would be complete without at least some mention of the issues connected with its release. Sierra put off a lot of players with the way they handled the release, and the developers alienated still others with the changes in game mechanics from the original. Read on to find out why none of these things should prevent you from buying T2.
Wow. T2 is the best looking large-scale multiplayer FPS game made to date. The environments are beautifully textured and, in some cases, seem positively alive with crackling lightning, flame-drenched meteors falling from the sky, and so forth. The models and animation are also very well done, the special effects are very good, and all of the structures and maps are simply beautiful. You haven't seen such a stunning game until you've jetted amidst the falling snow on Katabatic.
But all of this comes at a price. T2 is indeed a visual feast, but you'll pay the price in heartburn at the ridiculous system requirements. Maybe I've simply had bad experiences with the game, but it didn't run well at all on my TNT2 video card. It was only when I upgraded to a GeForce2-based card that I could run it well. With the GeForce2 card, for example, I could finally achieve an average of 30 - 45 FPS on most maps at 1024 x 768 x 32 bpp. That's not great, and it's positively lame compared to other FPS games like Quake III Arena (Q3A), Unreal Tournament (UT), etc. Still, if you've got the hardware, T2 is a visually wonderful game that will still compare favorably for years to come.
| NB: | Since originally writing this review, I've upgraded my video card twice. Using a Gainward GeForce3 Ti200 video card, T2 ran butter-smooth at 1280 x 1024 x 32 bpp. Surprisingly enough, it runs far worse at any resolution with the still-more-powerful ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. Go figure. Still, it looks great and runs well enough with the ATI card. |
The audio in T2 is equally well done. All of the sound effects are crisp, well-defined, and are generally "beefy" enough to support the gameplay. There's nothing else quite like hearing the screech of falling bombs and knowing that the whole world is about to come to an end. Similarly, the monstrous explosion of the fusion mortar is something you simply don't want to experience from the ground-zero point of view. The game's music is also quite gripping. The hard-driving techno-stylings of T2 are a nice counterpart to the visuals.
There are only two disadvantages to the sound. First, the only option that worked well for me was the Miles Positional Audio. My system has a Creative Labs SoundBlaster SB Live! X-Gamer card, so I should be able to use the EAX extensions for all sorts of neat occlusion effects. While using the EAX extensions does result in some very cool touches (e.g., firefights while submerged under water have to be heard to be believed), it also results in the most bizarre volume artifacts.
To be more specific, when using the Creative Labs sound options the sound balance is off terribly. When somebody fires a spinfusor disc from right beside you, you can barely hear it. And the positional aspects are emphasized so heavily that firing while moving quickly results in most of the firing sound falling off far too rapidly as it falls behind you! In short, I'm disappointed that the Creative Labs options aren't well balanced at all compared to how the game sounds with the Miles system.
Second, though the music is very good there is too little of it in several respects. There are too few compositions overall, there is too little variation among the compositions that are included, and the compositions themselves are short enough that their frequent looping becomes irritating. Perhaps the developers figured that most people would simply disable the music after a while, and they were clearly right from the players I know. But that strikes me as nothing more than self-fulfilling prophecy. If T2 had included more music in all the respects I've identified, then I would likely still be listening to it.
Still, these are relatively minor complaints. The Miles audio system works well enough, and the overall package is cohesive enough that the lack of music can be overlooked. Don't avoid the game simply because of these complaints about the audio.
Assessing the T2 interface is a difficult task at best. On the one hand it is outright horrible in its complexity compared to other FPS games. Yet on the other hand, the very features that make T2 great require a far more complicated interface than that of other games. Overall, I think the developers did about as well as they could possibly have done in this regard. The set of key bindings they supply by default works quite well once you get the hang of it, and the key configuration functionality is very powerful if you wish to change it.
It also bears mentioning that T2's interface is simply unparalleled when it comes to community features. No other FPS game gives users an email system, news forums, buddy lists, flexible server filtering, tribe/clan management features, and a host of other features that bring the T2 community alive. In this respect, the developers aimed high and largely met their mark. It's a crying shame that the game's launch was so botched that the forums had to be filled with complaints.
Returning to the bread and butter of gameplay, T2 also deserves special recognition for the in-game teamplay-promoting features. Sure, other games let you communicate text messages to your teammates, and some even go so far as to include voice support (as does T2). But how many of them provide the kind of command and control features in T2? Zero, that's how many. Seriously, the most valuable player on an organized team can be the player who sits in the command HUD issuing orders.
From the command HUD, a top-down view of the entire map is available. Any enemies within the detection range of friendly sensors are shown clearly and may be singled out for attacking, either by the entire team or by specific individuals. Assets may be identified as needing repair. Remote cameras may be monitored. Turrets may be commandeered,targeted, and fired manually. T2 provides a heretofore unimagined degree of command and control support to meet tactical and strategic goals.
Finally, though the game falls short in terms of certain features (e.g., separate sensitivities for driving vehicles, third-person view settings for various situations, etc.), the game's implementation is extensible enough that third parties have filled this gap. I consider Panama Jack's scripts utterly indispensable for T2, and they allow the player to customize his heads-up displays (HUDs) completely, customize favorites, waypoints, etc. If you're playing T2, you need PJ's latest, period. Even without PJ plugging the holes, T2 easily has the most powerful interface of any multiplayer FPS game. With PJ's scripts in place, T2 is positively amazing.
Despite all the positive things I've said thus far, this is where the game truly shines. The options for individual loadout are simply staggering with three different types of armor, almost a dozen different weapons, quite a few different packs, several grenade types, and even cameras and mines. Frankly, you need PJ's scripts just to keep track of all your favorite configurations! The basic twenty provided by the game are simply not enough.
In addition to the flexibility in individual player configuration, the game also features deployable inventory stations, turrets (two flavors), sensors (also two flavors), a variety of base-turret barrel configurations, and so forth. And as if that weren't enough, the game provides a host of powerful vehicles that are surprisingly flexible in their use.
Because the game also features somewhat more realistic physics than other FPS games, the game mechanics of simple motion become both complicated and subtle. The addition of the third dimension is wildly liberating compared to typical on-the-ground FPS games, and it is a welcome addition. The simple mechanics of getting from one end of a map to the other take a little work, but once you've mastered skiing it fits into the game perfectly.
I could go on at great length about all the various features, but the reason the game mechanics in T2 are so successful and revolutionary is quite simple: they encourage team-based play. Games like Q3A or UT feature team-based game modes, but you don't find team-based play outside of the best and brightest in the hard-core clan scene. In those games, a single star player can dominate a game completely, as I've seen happen numerous times. A star player in T2 will be a great asset to his tribe, but he simply cannot do it alone unless his opponents are downright incompetent. A team of players of average skill who are working together will utterly demolish a team of star players who act like cowboys.
Not only are the mechanics of T2 carefully crafted to prevent such star-player imbalances, they are designed to encourage players to work together in such a fashion. Two average players can bring down the best flag carrier alive if only they work together, one with an ELF and one with a spinfusor. Two average players working together can wreak utter havoc with the beowulf assault tank. Two average players can make a fabulous flag-grabbing team with one jamming sensors while the other grabs and runs. In short, there are dozens and dozens of great tactical possibilities, all of which encourage players to work together rather than playing independently of the team.
Story? Uh, T2 has a story? I know that the original Starsiege had a story (well, sort of), and I know that it provided the direction for some of the content in the original Tribes. But by the time we get to T2 in the franchise as a whole, the "story" consists entirely in amusing quotes displayed during the too-long map loading times. In effect, T2 has no story unless "get out there and crush the enemy" counts as a story. Of course, with a multi-player FPS game, who needs one?
T2 is not without its warts, and this is where most of them are found. Some of the maps seem uninspired or lead to less exciting play due to an absence of any good skiing routes. Other maps feature what seem like impossible-to-defend bases, impossible-to-attack flag locations, etc. Still, none of these problems are all that troubling. What is troubling as regards the maps in T2 is a lack of variety. The popular rabbit game mode, for example, is enabled on a mere three maps out of all of those that ship with T2. That's not much variety. I think at least a half dozen would have made much more sense.
Another really awful wart is the "solution" to the performance problems reported initially with the game. The developers simply drenched almost all the maps in fog, lots and lots of thick fog. What good is a sniper rifle, which can be used to pick off an opponent from essentially infinite range, if you can barely see your own hand in front of your face? I don't have anything against foggy maps per se, but when so many of the maps are utterly jam-packed with fog I have to complain. It was an obvious and lame solution to performance problems, and it's irked me since the day it was implemented.
Further, the training features of the single-player game are quite inadequate. Yes, the missions provided do highlight some of the important features of the game, but T2 is so tactically and strategically deep that anyone who masters the tutorials will still be utterly lost in the multi-player world. Some sort of deeper training in the various weapons, movement skills, and so forth is badly needed.
That wouldn't be such an onerous problem if the bots were of more help, but of all the warts in T2 the bots are perhaps the ugliest. Even when set to play at their highest level, the bots are utterly clueless. Their aim is pathetic. Their choice of actions is worse. I've literally seen bots stand in place humping a wall when they could be shooting at the enemy flag carrier. And don't even ask me about bot team play; there isn't any.
Of course, the above complaints about the bots must be qualified insofar as those problems are apparent only when the bots aren't busy crashing the game. T2 has been unstable since the day it was released, but trying to start a server with bots seems to crash my machine far more often than otherwise. I have hope that Sierra might someday fix the game, but I'm not holding my breath. They seem far too busy fussing around with other things.
Oh, one final thing is worth mentioning. Though T2 does attempt to provide in-game voice features, they made the awful mistake of limiting themselves by the lowest common denominator. That is, they targeted their support at modem users, which surely make up a small minority of T2 players. The result is that the voice quality is positively terrible. You will not want to use it for in-game communication. Stick with one of the alternatives (e.g., BattleCom, TeamSound, GameVoice, etc.).
This is exactly what T2 is, namely, a multi-player game. As such, its single-player component is virtually nonexistent and provides only the smallest possible taste of T2 gameplay. Because of this, I've focused on the multi-player component in the other sections of this review and will say nothing further here.
In summary, T2 is a must buy for anyone who wants a great team-based multi-player game. Because of all the problems it has had since its launch, I've seen it on sale as cheaply as $14.99, and at that price it's an absolute steal. The depth of gameplay, the plethora of tactical and strategic possibilities, the strong presentation (visually and aurally), and all the other aspects make T2 a very special game. It is my sincere hope that Sierra eventually extracts its thumb and does right by the community. I don't see how they can possibly lose if they do, but T2 is still worth buying even if they don't.
05/04/2001