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If there was any one compelling reason why team-based first-person shooters are so popular these days, it has to be that each player can take a different role for the team depending on what they feel they are best at. Some people enjoy playing as snipers, some prefer to go on the assault, and others heed the call to defend the base. Regardless of what role a player decides to take, each part of the team is equally important. Failure from one area of the team can cost the match, no matter how good the rest of the team performs. In Tribes 2, the players have a huge variety of weapons, vehicles, and equipment to choose from, empowering them to achieve their individual goals. Before getting to the nitty-gritty about the weapons, it’s important to note how Tribes 2 handles character classes. Depending on what character class you choose, you will have different options for equipment and weapons, as well as have different ground speed and jetpack lift. Unlike most games, switching between classes and payloads is almost painless, load up a preset by hitting one button on the keypad, and walk into a friendly inventory station.
Most of the weapons in Tribes 2 are designed to perform a single task and to perform it well. Having the right tool for the job at hand is essential. A field scout, for example, wouldn’t go anywhere without his targeting laser to line up mortar shots from heavy armors, nor would a sniper wander far without his laser rifle. Weapons go a long way to defining what kind of role the player would like to take on a team. If they choose mortars, plasma guns, and grenade launchers, they probably are interested in breaking down an opponent’s defense. There’s a weapon for every circumstance-inner base defense (chaingun), sniping (laser rifle), anti-air (rocket launcher), and so on. Tribe 2 gives you exactly the tools you need to accomplish your goals for the team, and that’s part of it’s magic. The vehicles in the game do a great job of complementing the different roles the players can take. The grav cycle can get a scout past an enemy defense line very quickly so he can jump off, storm the base, snag the flag, and get back on the cycle to return home quickly (of course, a diversionary strike helps out). The other ground vehicles include an assault vehicle (with shields and one hell of a turret), and the mobile base, which provides a portable inventory station and a shielded sensor jammer. The air vehicles are equally useful. There is an interceptor, a bomber, and the most feared of all ships, the heavy transport, which can rip a base or defense perimeter to shreds since all four passengers can use their weapons-including mortars, grenades, and plasma bursts. Control of the vehicles is simple but realistic. That bomber isn’t going to maneuver like a scout with a jetpack, and it’s really easy for a grav cycle to get out of your control if you aren’t careful. Using vehicles appropriately in the game will give your Tribe a huge advantage in the contest, as their abilities, when used properly, supplement a properly assembled task force of players. Like the weapons and vehicles in Tribes 2, the equipment in the game is best used as a tool to accomplish a specific task in the game. Each type of grenade, for example, has a specific use- whiteout grenades are great for flag or switch rooms, and concussion grenades do a great job when you need to escape from an area quickly. Most of the game’s equipments are in the form of packs, some of which are deployable. The personnel packs include energy, shield, and cloaking packs. Each of which are best used in specific situations (sensor jammer to sneak through enemy lines and disable a generator, for example). The deployable packs include a wide variety of equipment, ranging from turrets to sensors to jammers. A team with vigilant engineer types who are careful to deploy and repair their supplemental defenses will be far more successful than a team with a bunch of heavies just guarding a base. Likewise, a team that uses personnel-based packs to sabotage and disable will find themselves gaining ground on the enemy quickly. The weapons, equipment, and vehicles in Tribes 2 are very well balanced and never overpowering one way or another. Like a good game of paper-rock-scissors, there is always a best-and-worst configuration when approaching a problem. As such, they reinforce the teamplay very nicely by forcing team members to use their complementary skills to achieve their goal. And that’s the idea that’s at the heart of every teamplay FPS, Tribes 2 included. Stay tuned for Friday, when I close out our preview with some final thoughts about Tribes 2, the impact it will have on the FPS market, and some of the ‘outtakes’ from my screenshot archive.
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