I'm not a hard-core Tribes nut from the early days of the original game. No, I hopped on that bandwagon when Tribes 2 (T2) was released a few years ago. It was a game I liked so much that I spent nearly a year and a half leading a platoon in my clan, Steel Maelstrom, playing it. I had a lot of fun with it and gave it up only a year ago, largely because I had moved on to other multi-player games like Raven Shield. But even though I'm not a genuine old-school tribal, it was nevertheless a pretty sure thing that I would purchase and play Tribes: Vengeance (T:V).
I'm happy to say that when it comes to visuals T:V is clearly not your father's Tribes; i.e., this is not a game built on top of a home grown engine. Rather, it's a game built on top of the same engine that powers Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT2k4). As such, it shouldn't come as any big surprise that the visuals are absolutely top notch. Oh, sure, I've seen a few prettier games like DOOM 3 (D3) and Far Cry, but the list of games that look better is very short. T:V doesn't redefine game visuals, but it looks absolutely wonderful to a fan of T2, and it looks more than good enough to impress anyone else as well.
The modeling is very nicely done, as is the texture work. It's true that textures with hand-drawn shadows are starting to look a little long in the tooth next to games like D3, and it's also true that a few more polygons probably could have been used on the characters' faces. But the combination of modeling and texturing in T:V is impressive nevertheless. I particularly like the scratched-up, lived-in look to the armor worn by the various characters and enemies. The hyper-clean, futuristic, shiny-chrome look of T2 was pretty neat in its day, but T:V has a much grittier look that matches its gameplay perfectly.
I should also note that the animation is top notch. Some of the animations in T2 looked a little too smooth, a little too clean for my taste; there was something about the side-stepping in particular that always struck me as artificial. T:V does better than the original in this respect, making each vehicle, turret, and character animate smoothly but realistically. Again, it's not that I was ever bothered by the way T2 handled such details until I saw T:V, and that's the way it should be.
But whereas T2 practically required a super-computer and a series of patches to run well—and saying that it ever ran well is really quite charitable—T:V runs very well right out of the box. I played through the entire single-player campaign at 1280 x 1024 x 32 bpp with 2xQ anti-aliasing (AA) and 8x anisotropic filtering (AF) enabled, and only in the very final battle with Seti did I see any stuttering. That seems pretty good to me. If I turn off the image quality (IQ) enhancements it runs smoothly in the final battle as well, even if I crank the resolution up to 1600 x 1200 x 32 bpp. That's mighty impressive for as great as the game looks.
The audio is a bit more problematic. The music is great, continuing the electronica vibe from T2 while still distinguishing itself as its own animal. The sound effects are even better, managing to sound big and crisp and well mated to the visuals. The voice acting is also good, featuring some relatively strong performances with only a handful of not-so-convincing moments here and there.
The problem is that it barely works right if 3D audio is enabled. The problems were particularly terrible during in-game cut scenes. One character's voice would be fine, while the character standing right next to him couldn't be heard at all. Some audio bits would play back at twice (or higher) speed, freakishly injecting Alvin and the Chipmunks into the Tribes universe.
I didn't see nearly as many problems outside of the cut scenes, but the broken 3D audio absolutely ruins all their dramatic impact. Once I figured out that the 3D audio option was the culprit I disabled it, but I shouldn't have to do so. It's an obvious problem that should never have been left in the game in the first place.
Still, that's a relatively minor complaint. The audio, if not quite as pristine in its implementation as the visuals, remains quite pleasant. I just wish the developers had nailed down a few more of the bugs before they released the game.
The interface for the game is pretty nice overall. The opening menu is beautiful, taking the player soaring through the clouds. The menus are laid out nicely and are quite intuitive. I'm not crazy about the new loadout management system—I lived and died in T2 by using the quick-inventory keys—but I guess I can live with it. Who knows, maybe I'll even come to prefer it. Time will tell.
The most obvious drawback I can cite is that that the team management features seem entirely unimplemented. My clan mates and I have tried to figure out how to make it work, but we've had no success. Forum postings we've read back us up on this point. I guess the developers couldn't quite squeeze it in before they hit their ship date, which is a pity. T2 shipped with better community features from the outset, but T:V may hold more promise for the long term.
I should also point out that T:V has great server admin features. Too many games force a player to learn various console commands in order to perform basic administrative tasks, but T:V provides a nicely functional interface that's simple to use. It's not quite so simple for admins to make it work, but once it's working it's a pleasure to use.
The game mechanics in T:V are an interesting mix of the original game, T2, and some nice innovations. For example, the old-style resupply stations from Tribes are back, along with the inventory stations from the first two games. But T:V adds separate supply stations for dispensing deployables like turrets, mines, etc., which should considerably ease crowding at the inventory stations.
What isn't nearly so pleasant, to my way of thinking at least, is the way the game's multi-player mechanisms have been dumbed down. I especially miss the laser designator; it was always great fun to be able to paint a target and call down mortars from some heavy, hundreds of meters out. T:V also greatly reduces the number of available packs in the game to four: energy, shield, repair, and speed. Compared to T2, which also had sensor jammer packs, detonation packs, cloaking packs, and so forth, that number is pretty small.
And yet the way the packs work has been changed to make them more effective. The new energy pack not only causes one's energy to regenerate more quickly, it has an active mode that gives the player a nice little boost of speed. The new repair pack doesn't require the player to sacrifice his weapon to fix things or fix them one at a time; rather, its active mode repairs everything within range. Similarly, the shield pack reduces all incoming damage somewhat by default but really protects the player when its active mode is enabled. So even though the number of packs has been decreased, the packs that "made the cut" are more flexible than they used to be.
I'm also happy to report that skiing has been simplified a bit in T:V. Whereas T2 had plenty of invisible nodes on the maps, which would bring the player to a complete stop if he hit them, the skiing in T:V seems absolutely smooth. The physics of skiing seem to hearken back to the original Tribes, or to the "classic" game mode eventually introduced in T2. The player has even more control in the air without using his jets, which is a nice enhancement. Any way you slice it, skiing is best in T:V.
Some of the dumbing down is also a positive thing, at least it my view. Hard core players in the first two games in the series will remember a tactic named "mine discing", which consists of the player tossing a mine and then detonating it with a well-placed spinfusor disc. This tactic made heavy armor a suicidal proposition because it made it possible for someone wearing light armor to cream the toughest heavy within a few seconds. It might still be possible to mine-disc in T:V, but only if the player is willing to hit a lot more keys and only once before another trip to a deployable station would be in order. Suffice it to say that I won't miss the cheesy mine-discing from the previous games at all.
The story is a neat take on Romeo and Juliet, albeit one set in a far distant future with spinfusors and a lot less sophistication. Still, the story for the single-player campaign manages to be relatively engaging. Some of the plot twists are pretty predictable—I surmised correctly who had sold out the Imperials the first time I saw the character—but others do have some surprise power. I particularly liked playing as Mercury trying to assassinate Daniel, all the while hating what I was going to do and much relieved at the twist that prevented me from completing the mission. I don't play most games for their stories and T:V is no exception, but it's more than good enough to provide reason to play.
Playing as a young child is alternately great and irritating. Getting to fly a fighter pod while blasting everything in sight is a big plus. But running around in a game as a little girl?! Seriously, it's just hard to get past that, and especially so when tasked with that nearly useless grappling hook thingy. There is a section where the player is supposed to haul him... er... herself up to an exit at the top of a room with a busted up staircase. But there are two problems: (1) the bad guys are on the bottom floor ready to shoot at you if you so much as show your pretty head, and (2) the grappling hook sucks.
Seriously, I got so tired of trying to figure out what piece of architecture I could grab that wouldn't foul the line (and thus get me dropped and killed), that I just used the railing instead. It was a lot easier. A grappling hook that releases the instant the line touches anything is useless for such a situation in my book. Maybe others didn't have so much trouble with it, but I'm used to the old Quake grappling hook that worked much better. It's more interesting in the multi-player aspect of the game, but it's worse than useless in the single-player aspect as far as I'm concerned.
In the plus column, though, a lot of the cut scenes were great. The final cut-scene with Julia as a child was very emotionally powerful. My heart dropped into my chest watching it, even if it was mighty predictable. Some of the other cut-scenes are just as good, but the developers really managed to make that one intense. The game definitely scores points for having good cut scenes.
The variety of levels was also interesting, and the developers definitely deserve credit for building levels with goals that force the player to develop the skills necessary to compete on the public servers. Some of the trials of the Phoenix were more than a bit irritating, but even the worst were still useful. All in all, the environments captured the Tribes feel quite nicely and provided great room to maneuver for some pretty frantic fighting.
Speaking of which, the enemies in the game are of mixed quality. Their look is spot-on, their moves are generally pretty good, and some of them can really shoot. But their artificial intelligence (AI) reveals some weaknesses here and there. On more than one occasion I watched the enemy attempt to jet upward, only to get hung up on some bit of architecture until his jet pack ran dry and he fell to become an easy kill. Overall they were a fun bunch, though, so the defects weren't fatal.
The vehicles are also a big plus in my view. The fighter pod is fun, but the rover was an absolute blast. I had a surprisingly good time driving that thing around the single-player game. I haven't found as much use for it in the multi-player game, but that could be due simply to a lack of opportunities. I know some others complain about the vehicles, but I rather like them. True, the fighter pod seems like it's made out of tissue paper, but the others seem a bit more balanced.
But perhaps the biggest plus of all, at least in my book, is the arsenal of weapons in T:V. I always liked the weapons in the previous games, but it seems to me like T:V refines the basic formula rather nicely. The new limitation on the sniper rifle—that it requires actual ammunition as well as energy—forces campers to move every once in a while. The spinfusor and fusion mortar are exactly what they should be, workhorse weapons that requires a bit of intelligence to use well. The grenade launcher is practically the same; the rocket pod is a new and different take on anti-vehicle weapons; and the chaingun remains the tool of choice for those with low ping and good aim.
But I think my favorite change to the weapons is the remake of the blaster. I could barely stand using that annoying little pea-shooter in T2; it just didn't do enough damage for the energy it drained. Its only legitimate use, at least in my experience, was for taking down heavies wearing an active shield pack. But the blaster of T:V is actually worthwhile. At close range it can be devastating, particularly because it seems easier to use for some reason. It even feels like someone brought the shotgun in from DOOM 3 or something. Suffice it to say that the weapons of T:V are a great bunch of fun.
The content is the high-quality stuff of which great games are made, no doubt about it. True, the single-player campaign does have a few warts here and there, but it's still pretty darned good for a first effort in the series. And besides, most people reading this review probably couldn't care less; the Tribes series has been about serious multi-player action, so that's where I'll be spending the rest of my time.
The previous two games in the series unquestionably redefined team-based multi-player games, adding a level of depth and flexibility that no other franchise approaches. Because T:V is somewhat simplistic compared to its predecessors, other team-based games available these days—Battlefield Vietnam (BFV), Star Wars: Battlefront, etc.—approach its level of complexity, but T:V still takes the cake. T:V is still far more complex and satisfying with its jet packs, deployables, emplacements, and so forth.
But that's not what people really want to know. What they really want to know is this: does T:V deliver the multi-player goods? The answer, I'm happy to say, is a qualified "yes". Honestly, I prefer the greater complexity of T2, but I have to applaud the developers for their innovations in basic game mechanics. T:V does not seem to suffer as badly from the kind of ridiculous spawn-raping problems that plague so many other team-based games, and it manages to provide a fun and engaging multi-player experience despite being stripped down compared to its predecessors.
The smaller number of loadout options provides a tighter focus in gameplay. Whereas there were literally dozens of different possible tactics for any given map in previous games, the number of possibilities has been significantly reduced in T:V. And yet I'm surprised to find myself enjoying it nevertheless. There's something about the game that feels like a return to basics. The flexibility of the previous games was purchased at the price of team coordination, which means that too many games devolved into unbalanced slaughter in very short order. Because the mechanics were focused so flexibly on team play, it was often very difficult to find a good server; they amplified the effects of the typical grief player greatly.
In contrast, T:V manages to feel a bit more forgiving, more like UT2k4, BFV, or other such games. True, it puts a team at a disadvantage if players aren't working together, but it's not nearly so frustrating suiting up as a heavy when you don't have to worry about getting some schmuck's attention to paint you a target. In T:V you've got the goods to roll into the enemy base and do some damage, ala the original Tribes, without worrying about getting mine-disc'ed to death hundreds of yards out.
And yet I'm still torn myself over the new direction of the franchise. When I could find a good game of T2, it was truly magical. Some of my fondest gaming memories are of being part of a great bomber crew, dropping hellfire from the sky on an unsuspecting enemy base. It was always very rewarding to pull off a properly timed combined assault, painting targets for the heavies and distracting the light defense so that a flag runner could sneak in and out at high speed. A lot of the things that made the previous games great are not included in T:V, and I'm sure that's going to put off a lot of tribals.
But of this much I'm certain: T:V is a lot of fun in its own right. I do miss some of the stuff from the previous games, no question about it, but I also find myself missing it less and less as I play more and more. The game grows on me the more I play it, so maybe that's a sign that the developers really did get the important stuff right.
The final word is clearly positive: if you're a fan of either of two previous Tribes games, you'll likely enjoy T:V as well. You'll probably miss some of the gear from the previous games—the lack of demolition packs has made me wince more than once—but you should still be able to take joy from the positive changes in T:V.
The maps are still huge and packed with opportunities for movement in a true, three-dimensional space. The flexibility of different loadouts and deployables is still there. And the realistic physics still beats the crap out of other games. In short, the most important stuff remains intact, but it's welded to a much better looking engine to provide a game that is clearly faster and arguably more fun to play.
For those to whom Tribes doesn't mean much, T:V is a wonderful way to ease into the milieu. The single-player campaign features a number of well-crafted bits to introduce you to skiing, disc jumping, and all the other quirky aspects of the Tribes franchise that are so often daunting to new players. The only people who shouldn't buy the game are those who don't like first-person shooter games generally and those who succumb easily to motion sickness. Everybody else should at least try the demo, for T:V is a good game and a good purchase for most gamers.
10/25/2004