Post by Dan @ 03:02pm 18/04/12 | 59 Comments
If you have ever played Tribes, then you need to stop reading right now and download this game. There is no other argument that I, or anyone else for that matter, could make that should prevent you from playing this masterpiece. For everyone else, especially those looking for something different, you also have no excuses. Not only is this game free, but it has local servers, varied and challenging classes, fun maps and a reasonable learning curve.As a free-to-play game, Tribes: Ascend reportedly manages to steer clear of the pay-to-win trap that scourges most of the genre, so if you're after a fast-paced PC shooter, the only cost is some Internet download quota. Read our review for the reasons, then go and play.
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Posted 03:11pm 18/4/12
Posted 03:19pm 18/4/12
I should probably point out that I didn't play the original tribes much either.
last edited by Tollaz0r! at 15:19:55 18/Apr/12
Posted 03:57pm 18/4/12
Posted 04:11pm 18/4/12
Try playing on a server with people on it then.
F*** I'm funny.
Posted 04:22pm 18/4/12
Posted 04:25pm 18/4/12
I was heavily addicted to the first one back in '98, s*** was epic
I did grab the beta for this one and pre-purchased it for $29 or whatever that deal was, but I haven't played it much since so I dunno
hard to believe any game can get a perfect 10, there would be something wrong with it
does it have a dedicated server executable? if not that is instant -5 points
Posted 04:27pm 18/4/12
Posted 04:32pm 18/4/12
look at bf3, you've gotta pay money to get your own
I have a shipload of bandwidth at my disposal in Brisbane, I could have easily thrown up a few 64 player servers which would have only made the BF3 community better, but no, I can't because they don't want anyone running servers
my conspiracy theory on this is that they want the game to die in a not-so-distant future, so they can sell bf4.
if bf3 was still being played in 10+ years like counter-strike, they'd have a lot more trouble selling the latest game every 12 months.
Posted 05:22pm 18/4/12
Gonna give Tribes a shot tonight. How large/long does the client take to download?
Posted 05:24pm 18/4/12
Edit by Eorl - No referral links please.
last edited by Eorl at 18:29:19 18/Apr/12
Posted 06:06pm 18/4/12
Posted 06:10pm 18/4/12
Posted 06:13pm 18/4/12
I'm not trying to s*** on you, but seriously as if you could be bothered maintaining said servers when there is barely any beneficial gain anymore? Local dedicated servers in Brisbane were ideal back in the days of s*** network code and dialup... now with phat bandwidth pipes etc I hardly see the need to worry about all that s*** anymore.
They provide lag free, hassle free, cheat free, servers and I am definitely not going to whinge about that.
Posted 06:16pm 18/4/12
This does not deserve a 10.
-It doesn't have proper dedicated private servers (all run through Hi-Rez) so you can't set up your own rules at the moment.
-It doesn't have a decent tournament mode (even though they're going for the E-Sports angle).
-It doesn't have in-game demoing (you need to run Fraps etc).
-The balance is still off and doesn't work for pub or comp play (snipers and shrikes dominate and there is no reason to kill them as they re-spawn in the same spot 4 seconds later).
-The game is still buggy and the servers crash often (especially PUG and custom servers).
-There aren't enough maps, and all of the maps are similar size except for one.
-There is no public map-making tool.
-The CTF tutorial isn't comprehensive enough so new players (beside being absolutely slaughtered) often do the wrong thing and piss off the whole team while not understanding why.
Still, if they get the server and map-making issues sorted, I can see myself playing this for many years to come, and I only spent $15.
Posted 06:27pm 18/4/12
Posted 06:53pm 18/4/12
Posted 07:04pm 18/4/12
Posted 11:13pm 18/4/12
Posted 12:19am 19/4/12
If you prefer a slow paced game you will struggle. But if you dont mind fast paced games with jetpacks its pretty damn fun.
Agreed. I had tonnes of fun just camping about 20m behind our flag on one of the maps and moving to defend against incoming people after the flag/generator. And with a steady stream of enemies coming, it wasnt boring at all.
The TDM with carry the flag was kinda lame though. 1 dude grabs the flag, a few defend him, a few chase after him and the rest just clusterf*** in the middle ignoring the flag.
I should play more tomorrow.
Posted 02:37am 19/4/12
I'm a network admin for an ISP, hence heaps of bandwidth available
I was given a task of setting up game servers and making them quota-free for our customers, but that is not possible with a great many games these days
Posted 07:07am 19/4/12
Posted 08:56am 19/4/12
I easily changed to my ESDF layout although there are more surrounding buttons than normal and im still trying to figure out whats more important to have close by.
Posted 09:22am 19/4/12
But what really annoyed me was how one second I'd be aiming a Spinfusor and the next I'd get a close-up of Red teams snatch.
Worse was the external camera keybind that was in the way all the time.
Posted 09:31am 19/4/12
Posted 09:43am 19/4/12
Your point is totally valid though - most end users simply don't care about not having dedicated servers. The vast majority of noobs out there just want to click play and have it, well, play. But if you care about having games that are accessible for as long as YOU want and under circumstances you can have some control over, you need to be aware that a closed server model is simply another form of DRM that they can wield against you.
Posted 10:10am 19/4/12
Posted 10:50am 19/4/12
I find SDFC little bit too far away from shift and ctrl. WASD makes Q,E,TAB,Shift,Ctrl and what not all easily accessible imo. your middle finger is longer anyway so you're not exactly "extending" it. each to the own...thank god for key binding
played a bit last night. pretty fun but don't know about 10/10. Once I get playing a bit and get used to the game i think i'll have a lot more fun. It is nice to have a jump in and kill game again.
Posted 11:07am 19/4/12
Probably one of my favourite things about it as well. It feels really really good too. Just need to nerf all the classes except for Pathfinder ;P
Posted 06:41pm 19/4/12
Posted 09:24pm 19/4/12
There is no way this deserves 10/10 they have dumbed it down way to far, other than grav bike vehicles are useless, no mobile point bases, no bomber, no target painter, no controllable turrets, no remote sensors, no barrels on turrets, no motion sensors.
Posted 10:01pm 19/4/12
haha you would have seen some wicked skiing bra :P god i was terrible.
Posted 10:10pm 19/4/12
Posted 10:12pm 19/4/12
Posted 10:14pm 19/4/12
a game doesn't need to be perfect to score a 10.
Posted 12:20am 20/4/12
I honestly think reviews need to go back to what they used to be, too much politics these days to give good reviews even if the game is s***.
Posted 12:29am 20/4/12
Just because it's free doesn't mean it's a perfect game. Just because we're not admitting it's perfect doesn't mean we're QQing. Besides, qqing is a term from the 90's. Grow up.
Secondly to raider; also you should grow up. If you want to run your own review system, start a blog. You might have defined 100% as some kind of unobtainable theory placeholder, but the truth is that isn't how Ausgamers decides things. Stop trying to compare how some run their far more successful business than your bellyaching.
If your reviews were vs ausgamers reviews; i'd have to give them a 10 because in comparison to yours, it's from god.
Edits as i couldn't write coherently.
Posted 12:26am 20/4/12
Maybe in your mind it is, unfortunately the reality disagrees with you. Its not like the game is trying to pass a test and its scoring points for getting answers right or something. Its just a rating that indicates the quality of the game, same way that you can have a five star motel or a three hat restaurant.
Posted 07:52am 20/4/12
Posted 08:54am 20/4/12
Posted 03:30pm 20/4/12
Posted 08:38pm 20/4/12
Nerd weekend this weekend - dota2 and tribes
Posted 09:17pm 20/4/12
Posted 09:25pm 20/4/12
Posted 09:42pm 20/4/12
You are everything wrong with everything ever.
Posted 09:47pm 20/4/12
Posted 11:35pm 20/4/12
Posted 11:43pm 20/4/12
Personally, id prefer an invulnerable generator option for servers so that the game would just be a simple CTF with jet packs but i know there are the hardcore tribes fans who love the tactics of structure destruction.
I havent even moved past the initial light armour dude. Having fun upgrading his s*** to better pwn people trying to steal the flag.
Posted 05:43am 23/4/12
So like the original Tribes its way old school! My username is Viper119 if any peeps want to jam.
Posted 07:35am 23/4/12
Oh ps people should add me to their freinds list, i'm either "Casa" or "casacains" can never remember which one.
Posted 07:56am 23/4/12
Posted 01:05am 24/4/12
Posted 08:45am 24/4/12
Of course, this is 100% the exact opposite thing to do if you want to make money from your games over a long time period, as the freemium industry has demonstrated - it generates all that cash and results in massive revenue increases by keeping players interested enough to keep playing to the point that they are prepared to dump money into the game to enhance the ecosystem for them in various ways (like.... hats?).
last edited by trog at 08:45:48 24/Apr/12
Posted 10:05am 24/4/12
Posted 09:06pm 25/4/12
There's nothing like getting you and a mate to singlehandedly decimate the enemy team. Like flying at 200km/h and grabbing the flag MILLISECONDS after your mate did an orbital bombardment.
There's so many skillshots in this game that will make you jizz. 10/10 will probably be spending some $$ on this
Posted 10:08pm 25/4/12
I also like how they made skiing a button feature, rather then the old school repeat jumping.
I do hope they fix some of the minor buggyness in future updates. It'd also be good if they reverted to a bit more traditional Tribes-esque stuff in relation to the vehicles and inventory/class management.
Does anyone know if there's visibility of their development roadmap for stuff like the above?
Best fun I've had playing online multiplayer in years!
Posted 09:51am 26/4/12
The biggest mistake I made was not paying for a booster before staring playing. The unlocks are the biggest pain in the ass in this game - I haven't yet accumulated enough XP to unlock the raider.
However I've spent a bit of XP upgrading the Pathfinder (35%), which I have to say makes a massive difference to your survival; when you're playing at the pointy end of the rankings on a public server, an extra shotgun shot in a clip makes all the difference; 4% regen makes the difference between a 228km/h ski and a 245km/h ski (or it could just be me getting better at it, but I'm not convinced that's it).
One thing I haven't quite nailed yet is how lag and latency affect hit zones. Ie server vs client calculated. An ITTS mod would be awesome, though maybe cheating a little (lot), but my accuracy is getting back up there after what, 7+ (?)* years of having never played an FPS outside Portal.
Is buying the 49.99 gold pack enough to unlock everything?
That seems to be roughly the equivalent of buying an off-the-shelf game.
* = Note that no, this is not a regular expression.
Posted 10:38am 26/4/12
how to spend your xp/gold
Don't unlock any classes or perks with gold, use xp.
Don't unlock Sentinel if you don't like sniping
Go to target practice to try out all weapons before unlocking them.
last edited by focal at 10:38:17 26/Apr/12
Posted 12:26pm 26/4/12
I had issue with that. A few times i flew head on @ an enemy and fired shotgun @ near point blank range and found hitting was difficult. Not sure if i have to aim ahead to take lag into consideration.
Nailing a spinfusor long range shot on the enemy flag carrier is still awesome though although i had a dude raging that it was the noob tube of the game. WTF.
Posted 11:10am 01/5/12