Sound: 6
Gameplay: 8
Value: 7
Reviewer's Tilt: 9
Overall: 8.2
Reviewed by Chris
And the most important aspect of the game: The jet pack. This thing will let you soar over the beautifully rendered terrain, giving you plenty of flanking and sniping oppurtunities. Maybe that's why I love Tribes so much, because it is unlike any other game. This game is highly addictive, you may find yourself popping in this game several times a day just to get a little practice. The learning curve isn't as steep as people have been saying, in fact you could become a master in an hour if you tried hard enough. And to help you get better, play 1 player offline mode, maybe a little capture the flag against the bots, and sharpen your skills there. Tribes lets you set the bot difficulty from 1 to 10, 1 being "dumb" (although I've gotten my ass kicked plenty from them!) to the most impossible AI ever devised, 10. Tribes offers the player more tweaking options than they will ever need. From the armor class to the weapon class, Tribes offers the most diverse selection of characters in a first person shooter.
Multiplayer has it all. Obviously there is the internet play, which I haven't tried, simply because I do not have a network adaptor. I know that the internet play is the best part of Tribes, but I have grown up with so many split screen FPS games that it has become "the thing". I've clocked hours of 2 and 4 player deathmatches with Halo, and Tribes is no exception. I love it. If you were to ask me which game's multiplayer is better, I would have to say Tribes simply because it has bots. Halo does not. And it's got hard bots, highly intelligent they are. Whenever you are below an enemy who is hovering high above you, you can count on the enemy to get out their spinfusor and blow the hell out of you.
While playing Tribes, I have learned that teamwork is the most essential part of the game. Weapons, armor, or skills cannot compare to how important the team is. The bots in this game sure aren't stupid, they are highly intelligent, and sometimes cheap little sons of bitches, both team and enemy AI. Enemies have their own tactics as well. Sometimes you won't see any enemies, the next minute you'll see a pack of them charging at you, coming down a hill to raid your base. It's moments like these that make you stop and think, is this really happening?
Yes, there's vehicles, four of them. You have your Mongoose bike, which is a pretty crummy thing that doesn't do that well. This is the only vehicle in the game that is forced to stay low to the ground, the rest of them fly! The Transport is a really cool and large vehicle to pilot, it flies high above the terrain and can carry up to 5 people, the driver and four other teammates. The Bomber is one hell of a vehicle which allows you to fly above the enemy base, switch views and drop some bombs onto it. Extremely cool stuff. Then you have the Fighter, which is the fastest vehicle in the game. It may have speed, but it has horrible defense and not much armor. All of the vehicles have advantages and disadvantages, which make the experience even more rewarding. Tactics must be planned, and sacrifices must be made in order to achieve the best results when it comes to vehicles.
Campaign mode is a real treat, but it was nothing like I was expecting. Call me crazy, but I was really hoping that it had a plot, but it doesn't. It's basically like Unreal Tournament, where you kill everything in sight to progress to the next stage. It's got a refreshing blend of gameplay, with some deathmatch modes and some capture/hold the flag thrown in for good measure.
The graphics in Tribes are unique. They look like a computer game, but in a lower resolution. The framerate stays solid throughout, but there are some problems with draw-in distances, especially when flying high in the air in the Fighter. It's not a big loss. The areas are simply stunning, and massive, I think that this is the biggest PS2 game ever made. There are some problems, for one there aren't that many trees, and some of the structures don't look all that great. But my biggest complaint: Where are the f***ing shadows? Jesus Christ. But it's not that big of a loss, because the shear size of the game, not to mention excellent animations and great weapon effects more than make up for it. Too bad the game doesn't have any water of any sort.
The sounds are great, mostly the weapon effects. The only problem I had with the sounds is the annoying, repetitive voice overs. Every time you frag someone, the person you are playing as only has 3 things that he HAS to say after each kill. It gets very old and predictable. And the music is trying too hard, it's nothing like Halo, Deus Ex or even Red Faction. Like I said though, the weapon effects are some of the best ever, and actually steal the show.
Halo, you have nothing to worry about. Tribes was fun, but it was almost disappointing, and it isn't nearly as fun as you are. It may be more complex, but size isn't everything. Tribes is a fun game that will last PS2 owners a while, but the lack of any form of communication during online play is disgusting, there's no way to plan strategy. Communication is crucial, and Tribes fails here. But it's so fun, you won't really care that much. I'd say that it's worth the price for the split screen action alone. --Chris Currey