Tribes Ascend: [VGW] Woohoo!

Most modern shooters always end up with the same problem. Since the decline in the Quake style shooter, there's been element missing from this most beloved genre. Speed. Freedom of movement. Players wonder: 'There's a roof on that building, why can't I get there?' Hi-Rez has always done a great job with the Tribes series, which do away completely with the limitations of narrow corridors and set movement paths, by having you soar over vast horizons trying to land projectile weapons. These are the only games in which a player moving at 120 kilometres per hour is considered slow. It gets better, as Tribes: Ascend is free-to-play.

I realise that the game came out a while ago, but I was never really interested until my friends and I started playing together. It makes the game's learning curve so much less daunting, and feeding position information to your pathfinders (the super-quick class) is invaluable in a pinch. We bought the cheapest real-money bundle once we were sure we liked the title enough. For £7, you get a permanent +50% experience boost, and enough gold (the game's real money currency) to get you started with a few extra weapons or perks for your favourite class.

It's weird how, in a number of cases, acquiring vehicles gives you less manoeuvrability.

There are nine classes; each with their own specific niche:

• Pathfinder: (Light) A super-fast flag chaser and capper. Their grenades force the enemy to drop the flag
• Sentinel: (Light) The sniper class, equipped with claymores  That's the explosives, not a sword. I'd advise against playing this as your first class
• Infiltrator: (Light) The Thief stealth class. His job is to be annoying destroy the generator and generally cause havoc.
• Soldier: (Medium) The balanced, versatile class. Standard loadout is an assault rifle, grenade launcher and frag grenades.
• Raider: (Medium) Complete with a shield-pack, which causes your energy pool to deplete instead of health, the Raider's job is to attack the base and generator, while excelling in close-quarters.
• Technician: (Medium) The turret guy. He fixes things and places turrets. A very important class for defending.
• Juggernaut: (Heavy) Often used as an offensive bombardment tool. His fusion mortar does massive damage to structures and one-shots light and medium classes.
• Doombringer: (Heavy) The ultimate flag defence class. He places forcefields, which are like portable windscreens... if the Pathfinders are road kill. He can also use saber-missiles on vehicles and fliers.
• Brute: (Heavy) He is as he sounds. Tough to kill, chunky weapons. He's useful for securing the generator room and dealing with those pesky gener-haters.

To start, you're given access to only three of them. The Pathfinder, the Soldier and the Juggernaut. These are good to get you started, but you'll soon find yourself in want of more variety. The classes take a long while to accumulate on a free to play account, which is a real pain. You can unlock all of the classes with experience long before you could unlock a weapon for a class, which is something I don't like about the system. Sure, the game is free to play, but without paying £7, your options are severely limited. Saying that, £7 is not going to leave a hole in your wallet, and if we're talking about pounds per hour, it's a great deal for saving you time.

All classes have jetpacks and a frictionless gliding system which allows them to 'ski' across the map. Picking up the flag at a less-than-neckbreaking speed will leave you as easy pickings for skilled defenders.

The competitive scene for this game is hard core. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to play this game at a high-level, but there are embedded live-streams and advanced training videos in the game's main menu. You'll have to disable the game's sound before watching them though, or you simply won't hear the speech. The only competitive game mode is capture the flag, so if you're not a fan of that game mechanic, it probably won't suit you. However, between the chasing, capping, defending and E-grabs, I'm hooked on it. I've played the other game modes, but they don't really impress me. Capture and Hold is sub-par, Team Deathmatch is, well, Team Deathmatch and Arena is done better by Unreal Tournament and Quake Live.


If you're looking for an example of hardcore Tribes: Ascend play, look no further than this montage:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL7lXydozU8

The game is incredibly solid, exhilarating and skill-based. There's a great variety of weapons, classes and tactics, but it's only really made for 'Capture the Flag' multiplayer. It may be free to play, but the system punishes the players who don't pay up. However, the low-end pricing is reasonable and highly rewarding. It's definitely worth a look.

https://account.hirezstudios.com/tribesascend/