Tribes: Ascend BETA
Mischala | 28 Jan 2012 | tl;drTribes: Ascend, because Skiing and FPS totally work.
The Tribes series are known for their fast paced, team-based gameplay. Tribes: Ascend has returned to swoop in and carry the flag for the series that is long overdue for a sequel.
I myself had not played a Tribes game before Ascend, but I have however played: The Unreal Tournament games, Team Fortress Classic and a host of other team-based, ultra-unrealistic shooters.
Aside from the normal Capture The Flag and Death match type gameplay, Tribes brings something different to the table with its unique movement system, player are equipped with a jetpack and “Gravity-Skis”.
Skiing is a mechanic that allows players to slide around the map, combined with the jetpack and other forms of self-propulsion, players can easily get up to ludicrous speeds, reminiscent of Conc-jumping from TFC.
There are three game modes available in the closed beta, Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Rabbit.
Deathmatch follows the normal Quake rules with a set amount of frags required for each team, however they have added a flag and when a player is holding the flag his team receives double points for each frag.
Capture the Flag is just what it sounds like. every map has base defences, a central base generator and vehicles. Players must work together to defend their flag, generator and capture their opponents flag.
Rabbit is a new concept for me, a free-for-all game mode in which players fight to grab a flag, the flag holder gains points for as long as they can hold the flag.
Aside from skiing, the game provides even more opportunity for players to show off their skill. Every weapon in the game is a Projectile weapon, from the explosive disc launchers to the usual pistols and assault rifles. This lack of hit scan means that players must lead every shot they fire in order to be effective, this makes the game much more skilful, and makes landing that epic disc air-shot super-rewarding.
The weapons vary from heavy explosive weapons, carried by the Juggernaut and the Doombringer to the light weapons such as the shotgun and assault rifle carried by the more agile Ranger and Pathfinder. Though this is complicated and frustrating at first, being killed by enemies with bigger guns than you, you eventually learn how to deal with the other classes, and as you play and earn “Tokens” you can unlock classes.
This brings me to the biggest downside I have found with this game.
Being a Free-to-Play game, Tribes: Ascend depends on its income from micro-transactions. These range from straight-out purchasing classes with real money, or increasing the rate in which you earn free “coins” to unlock classes.
In saying that, everything that can be bought with real money can be earned with in-game points; however saving up for a 9800 coin class seems to take forever, earning only 2000 coins for a long day of play.
Tribes: Ascend had me at the word Ski, as the movement is really the breadwinner for this game. And with all the capacity for teamwork, I believe this game may become a great E-sport.
However the micro transactions really do put a spanner in the works, but you can’t blame them for trying to make money.
Written by Mischala.
Mischala is yet another blogger from Auckland, New Zealand who has a passion for e-Sports and competitive gaming.
I’d like to point out that Juggernaut and Pathfinder, the two most powerful classes (imo) are both some of the cheapest. The unlock price goes up as the classes get more specialized – you absolutely do not need these classes to have a hell of a lot of fun with Tribes.
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For those of you who haven’t played a Tribes game before, i suggest looking around some bargain bins for Tribes: Vengeance. A great piece of work that you could, like me, pick up out of a bargain bin for $20 – $5.
The price is more than worth it.
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[...] Tribes: Ascend [...]
I’ve been playing this for the last few days… I love it. But I am a little biased. Tribes and Tribes 2 were the first online fps games I ever played. I have a soft spot in my heart for this game. I don’t find it too difficult to go up against players who have better guns. It just takes a little more time, but the challenge is fun. I’ve been upgrading my weapons and with a few games it shouldn’t be too difficult to get the better weapons. That being said I have to save 70K to get the spin diffuser for my soldier so that’s a bummer cos it’s a bit pricey – but it’s a goal
lol. The one thing I don’t fancy too much is the airstrike – it destroys the base assets too fast and as a technician it can be a little off putting, fixing the turrets only to have another air strike take them out. The supply drop is handy though – especially for those where the inventory station is way up on the hills.
As for an E-Sport – I do recall my brother being in a rather good clan or tribe or whatever they called themselves back in the original and he was recruited for the NZ tribes team lol. It could happen. Those games were fun to watch.
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