Starsiege Tribes
a game by | Dynamix |
Platform: | PC |
Editor Rating: | 7/10, based on 3 reviews |
User Rating: | 9.0/10 - 2 votes |
Rate this game: | |
See also: | First Person Shooter Games |
Starsiege, the upcoming giant robot game, has already spawned a spinoff! In Tribes, settlers of the future have strayed farther and farther from their homeworlds, and as new, decent living space is found, they'll do whatever it takes to claim it as their own.
Focusing entirely on the multiplayer experience, Starsiege Tribes offers first- and third-person action for up to 32 players--but you can forget about the standard corridor crawl. You'll duke it out with sniper rifles and assault tanks on vast, gorgeous, seemingly endless terrain, and you may have 1651 to follow multiple combat objectives. Players are encouraged to create their own clans, logos, and skins to add to the universe. The preview is already rocking our hard drives.
Download Starsiege Tribes
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Game Reviews
There is no "I" in "team," but there is one in "Tribes." Hmm. Still, Dynamix's online shooter, Starsiege Tribes, isn't your average Quake clone players have to exchange their lone-wolf heroics for Starwolf teamwork. In other words, to be successful, you'll need to understand your role as part of a larger team. Get your infantry out of its infancy with these solid strategies.
Be Prepared
There are a few things you should do to make life easier on your tribe before you enter the thick of battle. First, join an empty server and select your favorite setups at the inventory station. In battle, time is a premium--the more you save when choosing your weapons, the more fighting you can do. Plus, it's really rude to sit on an inventory station and go shopping for armor and weaponry piece by piece when there's a line of soldiers waiting behind you.
Diversify your setups by having them reflect different possible roles--offense, defense, stealth commando, repair crew, whatever. Always remember: Experimenting with different armor weights and weapon combos is the key. Once you're ready to log on, know your role and play it If everybody decides they're going to jump in a scout vehicle and take out the base, its unlikely that the team can sustain the energy and properly equipped personnel to pull off a victory. Chat about who'll do what at the start of each round.
Everyday People
In fact, knowing your role is the single-most important part of playing Tribes. Face it--you can't all" ways be Rambo. As it turns out, performing well m in one of the less-glorified positions can often mean the difference between success and failure. Here's a list of the most important jobs that often get overlooked.
You need to dedicate a backpack to this thankless role, but most people don't want to run around repairing things. When you get jammed by the enemy, however, someone has to fix the broken stuff like vehicle pads, turrets, solar panels, and even other players. Furthermore, the work gets done twice as fast when two people work together.
Whats the surest sign of a team not working together? A guy in heavy armor walking from one base to the other. Time to commandeer an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) and fly the big boys to their destination. As the strike team's driver, you should bring some hand weapons and a sensor-jammer backpack to provide cover and wreak stealthy havoc when you land. If you're transporting a heavily armored soldier who's equipped with a mortar, bring a targeting laser to help him aim.
Again, backpacks that don't shoot things aren't too popular with the gung-ho crowd--but these backpacks will shoot by themselves once they're deployed. Strap on some medium armor and abso-utely litter your base with turrets. It will take a good chunk of time to set up, but nothings more satisfying than watching your enemies suffer from turret syndrome.
Talk the Talk
When you do something that affects the teams goals, tell your comrades. If you've blown up the generator, jammed the enemies' sensors, mined your team's flag, or if you're about to drive an APC, the rest of your team needs to know so they can act and react accordingly. Tribes makes it somewhat easy to contact your team members via a voice command menu: Three keystrokes will trigger .WAV files that offer updates like "Our flag is mined" and "APC waiting for pick up." Or you can always send messages to your team by toggling the Y-key and typing what you want to say.
Likewise, when you see or hear someone doing something worth praising, give 'em a shout-out Team spirit is as important as any weapon--just ask General George Patton, "Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory." Dismissed!
Want more info on Starsiege Tribes? Check out Dynamixs official Web site, http://www.tribes players.com.
ProTips:
- A purple Impact point means the item you're attacking is shielded. You'll either have to take it out with a mortar or disable Its shields by blowing up the generators.
- Avoid unnecessary delays by preselecting your weapon ioadouts so you can effectively dispose of enemies storming your base.
- If you get stranded or stuck. It's sometimes better to kkk the bucket. Use Ctrl*K to commit suicide and re-spawn somewhere else.
- If you get stranded or stuck. It's sometimes better to kkk the bucket. Use Ctrl*K to commit suicide and re-spawn somewhere else.
Overview
Our ancestors fought the in the last Earthsiege. Our great-great-great-great-grandfathers were among the first who jumped. Our fathers died three jump gates back, killed by the Blood Eagle. We were born 15 jump gates back on a world we left to the soft ones. Now we're on Septa Scarabae IV, and we bear the dragon marks of manhood. The Starwolf and the Diamond Sword are already here -- they have settled their ships and dug in. This is a good world, a lush planet. We will take it for our people.
Starsiege Tribes is set in a universe where humanity has become divided -- some followed the Emperor, rebuilding Earth and her colonies. The rest followed interstellar transfer conduits, or "jump gates," and began branching out across the galaxy, separating into tribes as they scattered. While the empire had become a technologically advanced and aesthetic society, the tribes who travel the stars have formed fierce warrior castes to battle for the planets they find. Eleven hundred years have passed since the final Earthsiege. Hundreds of tribes exist scattered across the galaxy, exploring, discovering, and fighting for worlds. For the tribes who journey among the stars, war is a constant way of life.
Gameplay, Controls, Interface
Most first-person shooters today have some simple team play options -- either a cooperative play mode or simple capture-the-flag multiplayer gaming -- but in most it’s more of an afterthought than the game’s focus. Starsiege Tribes is designed from the ground up to provide excellent team-based play in almost all its modes. Players band together in two or more teams and do battle in missions that range from simple capture-the-flag skirmishes to complex defend-and-destroy scenarios where effective teamwork (or the lack thereof) is the difference between an easy win and an ignominious defeat.
Tribes is not a heavy mech-style game like the other titles in the Earthsiege and Starsiege family -- this is a one-on-one battle that gets up close and personal. Each player on a team has the option of selecting from three body armor classes, each of which is designed for different tactics. The lightest armor is great for quick infiltrations and snatch-and-grab operations, but can’t stand up to much punishment. The medium weight armor is a great all-around class, providing more protections and firepower with a slight cost in speed. The heavy armor class is slow moving, but can pack enough firepower to level almost anything in its path. All three armor classes include a jetpack, allowing players to take to the air for small stretches to reach tops of buildings or hills. Players can also add extra equipment packs, ranging from remote repair kits and energy packs to deployable ammo stations, sensors and turrets. Each armor class can also be equipped with a range of weapons, letting each player custom-fit gear for specific roles, ranging from a repair tech or engineer to a sniper or heavy assault.
In some of the most basic game scenarios, teamwork isn’t required to a great degree and a group of loosely organized players can hold their own, but most of the scenarios will require more teamwork to succeed. Heavy assault forces must team with light infantry to break down enemy defense and make off with flags. Snipers teamed with shock troops can break through enemy lines where the troops alone would be Swiss cheese. Light armored players can fly heavily armed allies into the action using one of the personnel carriers in the game. Coordinating all this teamwork can get complex -- often one player will need to spend most of his or her time in the game’s commander screen, looking at the action in a top-down view and giving teammates instructions and direction.
New players have the option to go through a series of solo training missions to learn the interface and equipment options, but there isn’t any single-player mode in the game -- the only way to really play is to with a group, either on a LAN or over the Internet. Some new players may be very intimidated trying to jump into the fray with seasoned veterans -- the game could have benefited from an extra couple of training missions that allow you to practice more realistic play against simulated opponents. If you are new to the game, try to find less crowded servers to practice on and be patient as you’re killed often early on.
Graphics
The environment in Tribes is fantastic. Almost all the scenarios include huge expanses of open territory and many also have large building complexes to explore. Even in software-rendered mode the terrain looks great, and with a 3D accelerator it’s breathtaking. There are a few glitches here and there -- spots where the ground seems to change shape or sometimes block-looking people and weaponry, but overall the graphics provide lots of eye-candy for those of us who demand a high "wow" factor in our games.
Audio
The audio communication in Tribes is among the best I’ve seen. Players can rapidly select from dozens of voice messages on almost any topic of interest in the game, and with ten separate voice styles built it’s usually easy to tell which teammate spoke. The effects and ambient sounds are also top-notch. The only thing that would have made the audio better would have been in-game support for full voice chat between team members.
System Requirements
Pentium 166 (Pentium 200 or faster recommended), 32 MB RAM, 3D graphics accelerator, Windows 95/98 or Windows NT4 SP3, 4X CD-ROM drive, LAN connection or Internet connection required (33.6 modem or faster recommended). 3Dfx graphics accelerator recommended. Supports IPX or TCP/IP networking.
Bottom Line
Tribes is a knock-your-socks-off multiplayer game that will captivate anyone who likes to join in friendly mayhem with a group. Players who are happier with a solo experience won’t find anything to interest them, but if you want to join a team of players and fight for control of new worlds, this is a must-have. I’ve taken long enough writing now -- back to the game!