Tribes 2
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| Tribes 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Dynamix |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Linux,Mac |
| Release date |  March 21, 2001 April 13, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 15+ |
| System requirements | Pentium II 500MHz
Windows 95/98, 2000, NT 4.0 64MB RAM 531MB Hard drive space 12MB video card (16-bit color DirectX-compatible) 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card 4x CD-ROM |
Tribes 2 (commonly abbreviated to T2) is a sci-fi first-person shooter (FPS) computer game based in the fictional Earthsiege universe. As the name indicates it is the second game in the Tribes franchise, following Starsiege: Tribes. It was developed by Dynamix and published by the company then known as Sierra Entertainment in March 2001.
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[edit] Story
Set in the year 3941, Tribes 2 allows the user to play as a soldier in one of several factions (referred to in the game as tribes), such as the Children of the Phoenix, the Blood Eagle, the Diamond Sword, and the Star Wolf. Players can also choose to play a rebelling human-created soldier/worker race called the BioDerms. None of the factions differ from each other in strengths or weaknesses, but each has a distinctive look and background story.
The maps where the battles take place are set on the planets of the 40th century frontier, or "Wilderzone" as the game series calls it. All of the planets are far from Earth, which is currently being contested by the Bioderm uprising against the Great Human Empire. The battles themselves are mostly from the Bioderm offensive into the Wilderzone in order gain vantage over the Great Human Empire. Normally, however, the events near earth generally do not reach the Wilderzone, making star systems and their planets available to the Tribes of Man.
[edit] Gameplay
Although focused mainly on multiplayer, the game includes a training module in the Solo/LAN mode of the game, with 5 missions to train players in bomb placement, vehicle piloting and weapons training. While simple online modes like Deathmatch exist, Tribes is generally played as a team-based Capture the Flag game with up to 64 players on a single server (typically 32 vs. 32). Other popular gametypes include Duel (fan added mod), Rabbit, and Siege.
What made the futuristic series stand out is that it was the first online team-based FPS to feature a seamless combination of indoor and outdoor combat, as well as vehicular and troop (both ground and air) combat. It also introduced deeper strategy elements to the FPS genre, including deployable items like sensors, turrets, and remote inventory stations. The Tribes series also featured different player classes before they became widespread in online shooters. Classes can further be customized by configuring weapon "load-outs" with different enhancement packs and choice of weapons.
As the terrains are generally vast, each player is equipped with a jetpack, the defining point of the Tribes series, giving them the ability to soar over and across terrain (and enemies). Jetpacks take a critical role in combat by giving the player incredible mobility. Skiing allows a smooth transition from air to land, allowing players to use their momentum to slide across the terrain at high speeds.
Because of the strategy elements, customized load-outs, complex combat tactics, and use of jetpacks, the learning curve of Tribes has been considered steep for beginners.
Another unique feature of Tribes 2 is the Community Browser and GUI. It included News, Forums, T-Mail, Chat, and Browser. Early on, T2 included a full-featured clan support system, but due to claims of abuse by its publisher, Sierra Entertainment, the forum feature was removed. After the closure of Dynamix, the game's maker and a Sierra subsidiary, the news feature was removed. While the user and clan pages were a way of spreading information and recruiting members, the Browser had many bugs and downtimes during its run throughout the years.
Like most online games, Tribes 2 had a heavy focus on clan competition, with Team Warfare being the landmark site for most teams to compete. While still active today, competition has dwindled in matches since the release of Tribes: Vengeance. With Tribes 2's powerful in-game clan support, it made it easy for leaders to set up scrimmages and practices with other teams.
[edit] Mods
Both Tribes and Tribes 2 were designed to be highly modifiable by players. A powerful scripting language built into the game engine, the Torque Game Engine, have allowed prospective "modders" to alter many aspects of gameplay; since the textures and 3D models can also be replaced, games that bear little resemblance to the Tribes titles can be created. The "modding" community surrounding these games have created a large number of custom levels, vehicles, weapons, skins, voice file sets, and mission types.
Mod support maintained most of the key features present in Tribes, particularly "server-side" (no required client download) mod support, but also contained a number of new features. Tribes 2 could create "compiled" (partially encrypted) versions of the individual mod files, still interpretable by the game, which could then be optionally compiled into one .vl2 package for distribution. This allowed mods to be distributed freely in a format that did not give server operators access to the source code, one of the main difficulties faced by Tribes modders. Many of the other shortcomings faced by Tribes modders were rectified by Tribes 2, such as the inaccuracy of the GetMuzzleTransform function or the inability to specify different damage types for laser-type projectiles. The scripting language also contained numerous functional improvements, comparable to the additions to C++ from its predecessor, C. Tribes 2 scripting supported newer features such as classes and object-oriented programming, and related properties like inheritance. These new features allowed not only for easier creation of mod elements but also for the addition of significantly more complex elements to a given mod.
However, despite the positive elements of Tribes 2's mod support there were a number of lingering issues which made mod creation in Tribes 2 difficult at times. The scripting support allowed for certain object types (static shapes) to be scaled in any combination of their X, Y and Z dimensions, but coverage calculations would still be performed based on their unmodified dimensions. The new Zone object types—encompassing elements like water, lava, and force fields—had numerous frustrating properties, including unit lengths which differed from game units depending on the rotational position of the Zone, as well as a complete lack of "interaction" functions ("onCollision", "EnterZone", "LeaveZone", etc.) that could be modified or overloaded through scripting. Many prospective modders were disappointed with the lack of extra shape files, as Tribes had included a number of unused shapes which were widely used in modding efforts. Tribes 2's Inventory system also complicated matters, as there was no included GUI to allow players to purchase single items not part of their current favorites. This meant that if a player wanted to buy an item added by a mod they would either have to include it in one of their 20 favorites or bind a separate key to a special "update buylist" function for that specific item, the latter of which could not be done without significant effort or a client-side download. The Tribes 2 favorites system also proved problematic, as it would not automatically use a different set of favorites depending on the mod, unlike Tribes. In practice this forced players to limit themselves to one mod type, preventing any casual exploration of other mods.
[edit] Client-side Mods
In addition to the server-side modifications, Tribes 2 also had extensive support for client-side modifications. These modifications could range from simple aesthetic or informational changes to the HUD to allowing completely new functionality. The scripting language behind these mods made it difficult to cheat (and indeed, most mods were considered "harmless"), but some questionable behaviors and functionalities were still possible. For example, one of the more controversial client-side mods released for Tribes 2 was Qing's qFireMissions. This mod allowed the user to set up a conveniently selectable system of waypoints for the purpose of long-range bombardment of enemy facilities. Once set up, the player needs only to load the appropriate "FireMission" and a series of waypoints will appear on the user's HUD, including the position the player needs stand on for the system to work. Using this mod, it was possible to set up nigh-impossible trick shots, launching Mortar shells from half the map away or more to fall through small holes in the enemy base, destroying equipment inside that was normally inaccessible without a more direct and time-consuming assault. Of the servers still active, many will ban players if they are suspected of using this mod. Some servers have also added a small degree of randomness to the mortar's starting vector to prevent trick shots like the one above while still allowing relatively accurate long-range bombardment. Other questionable client-side mods changed the skins of mines to make them more visible, or increased the volume of sounds that an active cloak-pack made to make it easier to know when a cloaked enemy is nearby.
[edit] Construction Mods
Yet, more additions to the mod family are Construction Modifications (Con-Mods for short). These modifications allow players to use various packs and chat commands to build just about anything that comes to their mind. Buildings can range from a simple box, to a space ship, or even a complex calculator. The building community is very small in comparison to those who play Tribes 2 for the large-scale battle games, but construction mods have become (and are still becoming) more advanced with new packs and mods in development.
[edit] Dynamix
It was rumored that the developer's parent Sierra, which had been acquired by Vivendi Universal, insisted on a scheduled release date for the title in order to support the sagging fortunes of the troubled media empire (whereas legendary independent developers like id Software and Valve Corporation are famous for saying that their latest in-development game will be released "when it's done"). When released Tribes 2 was prone to crash with the famous "Unhandled Exception" (UE) error and many would argue required more gameplay tweaks before launch. These caused a high number of customer returns and complaints, which, it is believed, contributed to Sierra's decision to cancel the planned Tribes 2 expansion pack and close the Dynamix studio.
[edit] Legacy
On November 20, 2002, Sierra released an update for Tribes 2. This update contained two new game types, new maps and updates to address several issues, including those that had originally turned off many Starsiege: Tribes players. This was the last update they would do for Tribes 2.
Although the Tribes Universe is now considered "elderly" (the original Tribes was released in 1998 and the Earthsiege/Starsiege universe in which it takes place is much older), many players can still be found on its servers. Some independent servers still regularly show upwards of 20 people (of a possible 64 per server) playing.
Sierra, which is now part of Vivendi Universal, licensed the franchise to Irrational Games for a third installment; Tribes: Vengeance was released in October 2004. In an effort to increase interest in the upcoming sequel, Sierra released both the original Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2 for free download on May 4, 2004. Sierra is now no longer offering Tribes 2 keys. The installer is downloadable, but keys needed for online play were only distributed for a limited time. LAN play does not require a key.
[edit] Games Inspired by Tribes 2
After Dynamix was disbanded, Tribes 2 producer Dave Georgeson joined Sony Online Entertainment and headed-up development of Planetside, a massively multiplayer online first person shooter, one of the first of its kind.
The Torque Game Engine has spawned a large number of independent Tribes-inspired projects.
Tribes-inspired games include:
[edit] Fan Reaction
Upon initial release, a number of fans believed that Tribes 2 did not live up to the original because of limitations set on speed (Tribes had no such limits), a perceived over-emphasis on vehicles, the increased size of maps (some up to eight times larger), and the "dumbing down" of skiing; However, most players praised the sequel for the variation in game play it introduced. In particular, many players were enthusiastic about the improved vehicles and their expanded role in the game.
[edit] Community Division
The jetpack and skiing game elements took center stage for a large and vocal faction of the Tribes community, which had the ear of then-Sierra staff member Alex "Marweas" Rodberg, who single-handedly had the job of managing the Tribes franchise. Rodberg convinced his superiors that the Tribes fans were passionate as well as multitudinous, and a third game was put into development. In order to convert complaining fans into returning customers, Sierra arranged to have GarageGames patch the remaining Tribes 2 glitches and add further enhancements to what had become an abandoned title.
Because of this emphasis, Tribes: Vengeance became a more hectic experience that highlighted the mobility aspects and played-down the strategy elements of the franchise. Coupled with a shorter-than-usual development cycle, poorly-timed release window, and marginalization of user modification abilities (vital to the longevity of the previous Tribes titles), Tribes: Vengeance was declared a failure and many[1] believe it drove the last nail in the coffin for the franchise.
[edit] Present Day
As with any older game today, Tribes 2 struggles to maintain a user base. Servers (such as Elite Warriors Online and Rebels Reloaded) still remain open, but only 30 - 50 players will be in them at any given time. Australian and New Zealand players continue to hold regular pickup games (PUGs) on Tuesdays and Sundays. The 2004 electronic re-release of Tribes 2 as freeware has had little impact on the number of online players as Dynamix no longer offers keys which are required to login and play. Some players are opening their own alternate servers, however, which do not have this requirement. Using an alternate server is one of the few options that newer players have if looking to join an online game.
[edit] References
- ^ Tribes: Vengeance review at IGN, seen 2008-05-20
[edit] External links
Downloads
- Tribes 2 Installer. Does not come with serial key, necessary for online play.
Communities/Forums
- TribalOutpost Tribes Community. Originally Tribes2Maps.com. Anything Tribes Can Be Found Here.
- PlanetTribes GameSpy network site.
- TeamWarfare League Tribes 2 Forum Section.
- TribalWar Tribes Community.
- Bittah Australian / New Zealand Tribes Community.
Guides
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