Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
great graphics, sound, and new vehicles, but missing element, November 14, 2004
I started playing tribes with "starseige: tribes". Tribes 2 was an awesome upgrade. However, graphics, sounds, and vehicles aside, I think "tribes: vengeance" is an inferior game to tribes 2.
I have conquered the single player missions and I have played several days worth of multiplayer. Things I like are the new vehicles and the updated graphics and sounds. Things I don't like are the lack of a targetting laser, all of the packs only last a few seconds after activation, and once you activate a pack you can't "unactivate" the pack until it runs out of juice. Furthermore, you can't activate a pack until it reaches full energy.
They changed the plasma rifle into a burner rifle. The burner rifle runs off the armor energy instead of being ammo driven, which is cool except that you can't use the burner while jetting around.
You can't seem to mount turrets on walls or ceiling. There are no pulse sensor packs or motion sensor packs or cameras. There is no health kit you can use anymore. There is a repair pack which passively repairs you over time, but it doesn't really help you recover from an "oops, that was stupid of me" kind of mistake unless you run and hide for a long time. The new repair pack is cool in that it repairs all equipment and players nearby instead of just one object at a time.
Another thing I dislike is the new voice hot key list. I can no longer say I am going to defend the generator. Now, I can only say I am going to defend the base. Less specific and I think that hurts team work. Additionally, you have to hold the shift key while you are keying in the letter to say what you want to say, which takes two fingers. Before, I could key in a message while still moving with two fingers, now I can't move because the shift key has to be held, which disrupts game play and makes me a sitting duck while trying to communicate with my team. As a result, I rarely use the voice keys, which once again detracts from team play.
I don't like the fact that I can only carry three weapons even in heavy armor versus the 5 weapon slots in tribes 2. Also, the new missile launcher now requires you to guide the missiles to your target instead of being able to lock on to a target and then fire and forget. Oh yeah, there are no flare grenades either. In fact, for tribes: vengeance there seems to be only one grenade type.
The end result is that I like tribes 2 better. Tribes: vengeance is less complex than tribes 2 as far as strategy goes. I think it might be a good idea for VU to distribute tribes 2 as a bonus disk along with tribes: vengeance, since they were giving it away anyway. Maybe that will generate more sales, and if people like tribes 2 better they won't feel like they were ripped off as much. Better yet, maybe VU can add the missing components so that tribes: vengeance is actually an upgrade to tribes 2 instead of being, in my opinion, a down grade.
Great vehicles, graphics, and sounds, but in my opinion VU has wrecked the mechanics of this game.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ok, but disappointing for the strategy minded., November 5, 2004
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
The game is fun, and I held off writing a review until I had had a few days to play it. However, I am going to wait for a few of the mods to come out and see if they can get back in some of the missing things.
One, is the missing beacons and targeting laser, as well as the indirect fire weapons. This is what made the difference in Tribes, to me, with the other first person shooters. The ability to coordinate as a team and attack with greater accuracy with larger weapons was invaluable when I played.
The second problem is the newbie-factor. In trying to make the game more newbie-friendly they made the feel too much like UT. Or, maybe I should say didn't differentiate it enough. Wearing a heavy armor is only slightly inconvenient, as opposed to the differences in Tribes 2. Ragdoll effects, as mentioned before, do seem somewhat... exaggerated. Also, the ability to get clamp turrets to ceilings, around corners, etc is missing.
On the plus side, I DO like the grappler, and the new additions and variations of the weapons. Also, the inventory system is quicker once you get used to it. Having the turrets come out of pods on the wall for pickup is nice, as well as the new pack system makes things a bit more strategic. The graphics ARE beautiful, and sound is great. I'll continue to play, most likely, but hopefully Vivendi will release an official patch to us "old timers" that enjoyed the strategy of Tribes, not just the "blowing things up" part. And don't get me wrong, I play UT as well - But if I wanted that, I'd just buy UT.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Only buy it if you want the single player., March 24, 2005
First off, best to warn you, the reader, that Vivendi Universal has no plans to patch the bugs that are apparent in the Multiplayer... They cancelled the patch they had been working on, and no patches or fixes are planned/expected.
Having gotten that out of the way...
Regarding the multiplayer: the game takes the fast, jetpack attack action of the first game, and the vehicle combat of the second game, and manages somehow to make neither aspect appealing. The gameplay is perhaps TOO fast, and can become very one-sided in the first few seconds of gameplay (frustration with the controls/inventory stations/vehicles will taunt you from the very get-go). If you have played any of the previous franchise titles (Tribes 1 or 2) you'll immediately notice that the projectiles move slowly (It is entirely possible to outrun your shots), the accuracy is mediocre at best, and while the new skiing ability is nice, it also feels completely random and therefore wont be used by 90% of the people who play it. The vehicles, a staple of the franchise, have been dumbed down to the point of being either totally overpowered (ie. the tank) or completely useless (ie. the rover). The rover and both air vehicles are fragile, only needing one or two shots before being destroyed. This is "balanced" (if you can call it thus) by the vehicles' ability to rapid-fire missles/bombs/etc at ground targets (this gets downright boring after a while).
Game/weapon/vehicle balance issues aside, the game interface is clunky at best, requiring "modding" to make it even remotely functional to the average gamer (or even the Tribes veteran). The ability to switch armors and weapons has been "streamlined" (again a misnomer) to require you to set up several "loadouts" which can be accessed through a complicated "hold" pattern as you step onto an inventory station.
Included maps are an insult to the franchise, often feeling very "cramped". Tribes has historically emphasised an "open air" feel, which is TOTALLY lacking in this iteration.
The choice of the Unreal engine as the foundation for the game has proven to be disastrous, as the game basically had a built in cheater base. Sadly though there will always be those who deny it, aimbots and other hacks are rampant in game.
There is plenty more wrong with this title, and it makes for a very unenjoyable multiplayer experience, but continuing in this vein would only be flailing the proverbial dead horse.
The only saving grace of the game is that the Single Player campaign has its moments, and that despite the somewhat wooden facial expressions, the characters and writing ARE better than your standard crop of FPS games. If you choose to get this game, understand that the campaign is somewhat short, but I DID enjoy the story and it was nice to have a glimpse into the Tribes Universe (even if it doesnt synch with the canon of the game world). I give the SP campaign 3 stars...
But with VU games pulling any support, I cannot recommend ANYONE buy this game save for the brief SP enjoyment.
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