Tribes 2

Rating:
Summary: Too complex for the average gamer
Review: I'm an avid FPS (first person shooter) fan, and I was very much looking forward to playing Tribes 2. I'd read many glowing reviews and heard lots of buzz about the game. Unfortunately, after three separate attempts to get through the tutorial, I was hopelessly bored with the game and annoyed with the physics engine.

Bottom line is that this is a complex game that is probably a lot of fun for people who are big into teamplay and resource management, but if you're a die-hard shooter fan like me, I think you'll find that this game's lack of polish and emphasis on complexity is not your cup of tea.

Rating:
Summary: gaming nightmare
Review: This game and the time spent trying to get it to work properly, even with the appropriate system requirements, was a nightmare. If you are thinking of buying this game, try to torture yourself in another, less costly manner. What a piece of JUNK! Oh, by the way, the technical support from SIERRA was WORSE THAN THE GAME!

Rating:
Summary: T2 stable, starting to soar
Review: It's taken a number of patches, but Tribes2 is becoming the game that everyone had hoped for. Ladder play is heating up, and strategies and counter strategies for the various maps are becoming known. There are numerous resources for tuning the performance available within the tribes community.

This is the multiplayer team game by which all future standards will be measured. What other game can boast active 16 v 16 player matches? What other game actually requires you to work together with your teammates to win. What other game, has the gravcycle, a vehicle so fun, you can spend hours just riding the thing around in the huge environments?

Everything you've heard is true: the vehicles, the graphics engine, the weapons, skiing... and with classic mods like Arena and TAC2 being released, it looks as if T2 is just hitting its stride.

I'll admit, that it took me a while to warm to the game. It was buggy, it was slow, it had UE's, and it wasn't T1 with fancier graphics. Having stuck with it, I'm hooked again, and my doubts have dissappeared. The Heavy is once again an effective choice. The thrills are back: where T1 had disc mining, T2 has the joys of shocklancing incoming HeavyO. Where T1 had discjumped flag routes, T2 has 200mph Shrike attack routes. Where T1 had deadly chaingun ld packs, T2 has roving elfers, with Shrike D support, and snipers picking off a fleeing capper just as he crests the hill.

Pick up a copy of Tribes2 and be willing to play it for 2 months. If you do, don't be surprised if 10 months from now, u find yourself still playing it - daily. It's that kind of game, and there's nothing else like it.

Rating:
Summary: TRIBES 2 is an absolutely spectatular game
Review: TRIBES 2 is an awesome online multiplayer 3D-shooter game, and is the sequel to the smash-hit 1999 game, Tribes [1]. I have been playing Tribes 2 since the day it after it came out, and its a blast to play. There are many different game-types to play, and I have them listed with a description a little farther down.

Tribes 2 features 10 weapons, two of which are new to the game (the shocklance, which is a close-quarters melee weapon, and the missle launcher, which lets you lock onto a target and fire a target-homing missle at it/them), the rest are the original weapons from Tribes. That may sound lame, but Dynamix (the creators) wanted to keep the gameplay level relatively the same, but bring updated graphics and new community features to the game. Also in the game are 6 vehicles, and are EXTREMELY fun to play around with. They add a new level of gameplay to the game, especially the bomber. Games in Tribes 2 feel more like a battlefield than what you would find in something like Quake 3, especially since the majority of the maps are outside. The game supposedly was to include a single player mode, but it does not, unless you count the single player training, which is only training for when you actually play online. You will need atleast a 56k modem to play properly, although broadband is better - you can be a LPB. ;-)

Joining and creating a tribe (aka, a clan, guild, ect) is now official business in Tribes 2. One of the community features is the ability to create a tribe. You click a button, and can type in information (like what you want your tribes' name to be, or what you want your "tag" to be), and your Tribe is created. Or, you can be recruited to a tribe. Since the game has a built in mail system (called Tmail, which means Tribes-mail), you can send a recruitment message to somebody, and they can either accept it or reject it. Your tribes tag appears in your name (such as H^H, or -A-), and will appear yellow.

When Tribes 2 was released, many people complained that the game ran terribly and that it was full of bugs. That was somewhat true, but they have fixed all those issues. The game will still require a speedy computer to run comfortably. Despite what the box says, a Voodoo3 or TNT2 and a 600 MHz CPU is highly recommended for optimum playibility.

In the game, you can either be human, or a new orkish-like race alled Bioderms. Like in the original Tribes, you have three armor sizes: Scout (light), Assault (medium), and Juggernaut (heavy).

The game has multiple modes to play, some are team-based, some aren't. First up, the team-based game types:

Capture the flag: By far the most popular, in CTF the goal is to grab the enemy flag, and bring it back to your own base, and "capture" it by touching your teams own flag with it. Capturing the flag scores your team 100 points, but just touching the flag will get your team 1 point, which means you don't need to cap the flag to win.

Capture and Hold: In CTH, there are a number of bases, towers, or command posts, where teams have to 'capture and hold'. The longer you hold them, the more points your team gets. The winner is the team with the most points by the end of the game.

Siege: In Siege there are two teams, and two bases. When the game first starts, one team is defending their base, while the other team is attacking. The team that is attacking has to, effectively, capture the other teams base by touching the switch. Then, the teams switch, and the other team (which was defending), is now the attacking team, and has to capture back their base faster than the other team did it. If no team captures, the game is a tie. Sound confusing? It really isn't, and its highly enjoyable.

Team Hunters: Just like Hunters [See below], except you play in teams. When you return flags to the Nexus, the points count towards your teams score. The team with the most points wins.

And now for the non-team game types:

Deathmatch: Pretty simple, its basicly a free-for-all. Every person is for themselves. But instead of simply getting the most kills, you also have to becareful that you don't get killed. The winner is the player with the best kill:death ratio.

Hunters: Like Deathmatch, except when you kill a player they will drop a flag. You pick up the flag, and you carry it with you. You score by walking over the "Nexus". The more flags you have the more points you get. The player with the most points at the end wins, but kills do not count torwards your score. If you kill a player who has atleast one flag, they will drop them all.

Rabbit: In Rabbit, there is one flag which is at a central location. When the game starts, everyone runs and trys to get the flag. The player who has the flag becomes the "rabbit" and is chased by all the other players, who are trying to kill him. The longer he has the flag, the more points he gets. When/if he is killed, the flag is dropped and anyone else can get the flag and become the "rabbit". Player with the most points wins.

Overall, TRIBES 2 is great fun and I recommend you checking it out. Pardon the long review, but I just had to list all the gameplay types (just so you know that it isn't only Deathmatch, or only CTF, ect). Hope this helps.

Rating:
Summary: Great game; great improvements!
Review: This is the best game I have! I had the original, and I thought it would be hard the beat the gameplay, but Tribes 2 delivers.

The game runs great. I have a 650Mhz, VooDoo 3 w/ 16MB vram, & 128MB sdram, and it runs smoothly. It's true you can't have all the settings cranked without a killer machine, but setting texture detail at 80% keeps everything fast and still good looking. You'll be much too busy keeping the enemy at bay to notice any graphic problems. My only recomendation is to have a fast conection to the net. My 56K allows me to play, but you get killed quickly when the server starts lagging. A fast connection gives you an easy advantage. I was online playing after only 20 minutes. I only had to download about 3MB of patches before I was ready.

Gameplay is also much better. It is even easier to communicate with your team. I can tell my teammates when I destroy a turret or a generator, or ask for a tailgunner for my bomber. The best improvement overall is inventory handling. No longer can people clog a station for an hour picking guns. You pick before stepping up and the arming up takes only a second. You also get 20 favorites by name. There are more guns, more packs, and more vehicles.

Sadly there is one downside: If you, like me, have a VooDoo card, you are forced to used OpenGL or D3D drivers instead of the fast, accurate Glide driver. Tribes 2 does not use Glide like the original. That is the only problem I have found with this game. Buying this game is still highly recommended. If you want a great game for multiplayer action, buy this game!

Rating:
Summary: Be careful
Review: This game, I've been told, is great. However, if you have a Voodoo-based card (as many of us still do) the game will not use your graphics card and instead will use software rendering. This means that it will look like CRAP and run like a slideshow. When I say CRAP, I mean it will look worse than Atari games from the late 80's. Beware, Voodoo owners!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome game, but one problem.
Review: This game is downright awesome. The graphics are good and so are the levels, but one problem. If you're playing online, you'll need a fast internet connection so you don't have any/some lag. If you're using 56k, I would suggest you stay with a ping of 240 and below. If it goes higher than that, I suggest you quit. I have a 56k, so I only chose that much ping. Don't get DSL because you like this game, if you have multiple reasons to get it, get it. It would just be waste of money if you just got it for this game. I would've given it a 5 stars, but it needs very fast computers and fast internet connections. I have a fast PC, but slow connection. You also need a good video card, I have a Ati Raedon, some people say Geforce 2 is good. So in my conclusion, this game is awesome.

Rating:
Summary: I love this
Review: This is a great game. When you are used to Half-Life's tracked, jerky vehicles, T2's smooth drivable ones are incredible. I'm still mastering running people down in my l337 gravcycle. There are a lot of things to customize. You'll be adopting a role, but the cool thing is this: If you want to be a medic and a pilot that plays offense with a Spinfusor, go to it. T2 even has a built-in email system, forums, news, and chat rooms. You get a profile, and you can have a buddy list. You can set the filter to find servers with your buddies in them, so you can play with them at any time. You have a point with the fact that it's hard to learn, but I myself didn't have much trouble. I read the manual about 3 times (I keep it by my comp in emergencies), practiced with bots, taught myself to fly, and I'm having no problems. (Except I kinda suck with the weapons...=) The only major con I can see is you need an iron fist as far as computer equipment. I have an Nvidia Geforce 3, or something along those lines, and I have no problems. I HIGHLY reccommend this game if you have the hardware to run it. If you do get it.. Say goodbye to the thing called 'sleep'.

Rating:
Summary: A flawed, but fun experience
Review: This game, Tribes 2, if far better than the original. Unfortunately you need a powerful PC to run it at decent framerates.

If you've played the original, than the interface should be quite familiar and easy to get into. What differs is the single player. The original only had training. T2 is VIRTUALLY the same thing. There are 5 'campaign' maps (which are essentially training) and the ability to play against bots. The problem with the bots is the fact that they can range from incredibly smart to incredibly stupid. If you like bot matches, get Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament.

Online-wise, this game is the champion. It is fun, but it still boils down to one thing: you need a powerful PC. When the screen is loaded with explosions, flying equipment, and players, your system will be put to the test. Slowdown is almost inevitable (unless you've got a good 64MB video card).

Pros: Better than the original Easy to get into Addictive

Cons: High system requirements

Pitiful single player Broadband internet connection almost a must-have.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: As did Tribes, T2 sets the standard in the Strategical FPS. I think T2 owns all other FPS by far. However I must say it lacks a certain element that the first one did...but i cant put my finger on it.

Unlimtied replayabilty...