Review of Tribes: Vengeance
Allow me to say this, this is the first Game I have played from the Tribes Series, but I have heard nothing but good things about the games, so I decided to pick up a copy of the latest addition. This is the first Tribes game with an offline campaign mode. This game's predecessors all were strictly online but this game brings the best out of all of the games. I think this game was a worthwhile investment and it is very fun to play online. The actual game itself is four cds in length and it will take me a while before I actually complete the full campaign but I will enjoy every minute of it. Now allow me to begin this review.
Lets begin with the storyline. The game starts off with a video of a woman standing over a person dying and he hands her something that looks like a broken cd or something. Than after the video, you find out that you start the game as Princess Julia. Through out the game, you will play a different variety of characters including Julia. The storyline overall is standard, but it goes back in the game. You play as a child at one point or another. Once you beat the offline mode, you will be very good at the online mode. I haven't played enough to be very good at online but I'm getting there.
The game interface is very user friendly and laid out for everyone. It takes you about 10 minutes to get used to the controls and maybe a little more to get good at it. As far as health goes, it shows you health and than it shows you energy. The energy is used to use your rocket pack which is the only way you can move yourself off the ground because there is no jumping this game. There is also the Energy Skis, which is the fastest way down or up a hill. If you do things just right with these, you can be going so fast, you can't be hurt easily be anything. That is about it as far as interface goes, except that the rocket is your right click and the skis are spacebar.
The offline play is solid and it is very fun to play. It can be challenging some times but you get the hang of it and the game gets really fast paced. The only downside is that most of the time your character cannot change into different types of armor, I will get into that later into this thing. The offline campaign is merely a warm up for the online mode.
The online mode is the main attraction of all the Tribes games. This is like playing any First Person Shooter but on steroids because the game is so fast paced, you have to have a good reaction speed or you toast. Even I have some trouble playing this game because I haven't played enough. There are a wide variety levels to play and only a few types of matches. I haven't played all of the modes or levels yet because I, as stated before, haven't played enough. I plan on getting better during summer but until then, school is my main concern.
There exist in this game a wide variety of weapons so you can get your frag on in many different ways. First off, there is the Spinfuser, which shoots a disc that explodes and does damage to everything within 20 feet. This is the weapon of choice of most people who play this game, including me. It is a hard weapon to use because it is slower than most weapons, ammo is limited, and you have to get good with calculating where your target will be in a second or so. Next there is the Chaingun, which is exactly how it sounds, but it's weaker than you would expect a Chaingun to be. You have to hit your enemies about 10 times for it to kill them and the bullets are not instantly there, in fact, no weapons in this game are fast, except the Sniper Rifle. The Sniper Rifle is a weapon that can only be used by someone who is in light armor. It is nearly instant point and shoot, but it has very little ammunition and the damage on it is lighter than expected. The next weapon is the blaster. It uses energy instead of ammo so you can use it as much as you want as long as you have energy charged. This weapon is very difficult to use, but can be deadly if used properly. Next is the grenade launcher, which is exactly as the name makes it sound. Onto the buckler, which can be used as a defensive shield or as a boomerang of sorts. This thing can be deadly at close range and it is a useful tool of your taking fire from the front. Now is the Energy Blade which is just the melee weapon that you can only use at point blank range, and used no ammo, so you can used it as much as you want. Now to the Rocket Pod, this weapon shoots six mini rockets and you can control them by pointing your gun to aim them at whatever. This weapon is especially hard to use but it is good to cause a mini siege on a group of people who don't see it coming. Next is the Mortar which is just like the Grenade Launcher, but it does about twice as much damage, takes twice as long to explode, shoots further, is harder to use, and can only be used by heavy armor. It is good for distance, but nothing more. There is also the burner, which shoots a ball that ignites about two seconds after shooting and stays lit for about 10 seconds. It uses energy so you need not fear about picking up napalm. The last weapon is the Grappler, which is just a grappling hook. It can be used to swing from the roof or to pick up some ammo of health or whatever. It can be useful, but it does no damage. That is the brief overview of all the weapons in this game.
There are certain types of armor, which allow or disable you from using certain weapons. The light armor is the fastest, the most vulnerable, and allows you to use light weapons such as the sniper rifle. The medium armor is the default armor, which is the most average of all the armors. It has good defense and it allows for some good mobility. The heavy armor is like being in a very small mobile suit. It is the slowest, highest defense, and allows you to use the mortar. It is always good to have an even number of each type on your team. The lights are the best for capturing the flag, the medium are good support, and the heavy are good flag protectors.
There are also packs, which help you in the game. The energy pack replenishes energy faster, and as you can guess, more energy is better. There is the repair pack that repairs your base, and heavy armors. There is the shield armor that increases your defense temporarily. And than there is the speed booster which makes you go faster. These are the most underused parts of the game, but they are more useful than they are given credit for.
Overall, this is one great game and fans of the series will love this new addition. I cannot see any flaws in anything at all. This game is simply awesome. I give it a 9 out of 10. This game will be a favorite of many for years to come.
Pros:
• Entertaining
• Challenging
• Expansive arsenal of weapons
Cons:
• None that I found
Official Tribes: Vengeance Site
9/10 Overall Rating