Tribes: Vengeance details

http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=13770



The Tribes multiplayer shooter franchise has been exactly that since it started with the original Starsiege: Tribes: a sci-fi fast paced action game that was mostly for multiplayer gamers. Thursday at Vivendi Universal Games’s pre-E3 press event, their Sierra division gave the first hints about the next major game in the Tribes series. Titled Tribes: Vengeance, this game will truly be like no other Tribes game before it because it will have not just a action-packed multiplayer game but a strong single player campaign that will be far more that just a tutorial for the multiplayer (although it will serve in that end as well).

While the game itself was not on display at the press event, they did show a brief trailer that not only showed off the gameplay from Vengeance but also hints at the new game’s storyline, which will use the already deep backstory of the Tribes universe. The storyline hints of family and generational struggles and the clip showed off some of the new armours as well as the vast landscapes that Tribes fans have come to know and love.


The game itself is being developed by Irrational Studios, (taking over from Tribes' creators at the late Dynamix Studios) who have made two of the most critically acclaimed PC games in recent years in totally different genres: the first person action-RPG System Shock 2 and the top-down super hero RPG Freedom Force. Tribes: Vengeance is actually being developed mostly by the Australian team that created Freedom Force, although the developer’s Boston offices is contributing with things like art, sound and especially story assets (indeed, Irrational co-founder Ken Levine is developing the script for the single player game himself).


Another big change for the game is the engine. Irrational and Sierra decided to use Epic Games’s Unreal engine as the basis, not only because it looks good and can handle the large outdoor terrains that Tribes fans expect but that it is easily modifiable, which will please fans of Tribes and Tribes 2 many mods. Irrational plans on modifying the Unreal engine to suit their needs, including volumetric shadows, facial animations and a rewritten physics system that will be able to handle things like Tribes’ jet packs and “skiing” down hills.


While the single player campaign will be a detailed one, Tribes: Vengeance will not disappoint the multiplayer gamer, according to what Irrational producer Tony Oakden told HomeLAN at the press event Thursday . The multiplayer game design is being handled by Michael “KineticPoet” Johnston, the creator of the Team Rabbit mod for the original Tribes as well as the Sierra-sponsored Team Rabbit 2 mod for Tribes 2 that was included in Tribes 2’s retail relaunch in 2002. Oakden said that in addition to gameplay modes like Assault and Capture the Flag, there will be some new sport-oriented modes that take place in arenas. Indeed, Oakden described the sports-like gameplay as “Tony Hawk with spinfusors”. There might even be some maps that have players collect tokens in gameplay similar to Sonic titles.


The amount of default players in multiplayer will be 32 but maps will apparently run the gambit from small intimate affairs to giant maps so there should be something for every type of Tribes player. However, there will be no bot play for multiplayer because Irrational doesn’t believe bot play can ever simulate what a real human can do. Armor classes will also change somewhat; the light armor will be lighter than in Tribes 2 while medium armor will be closer to what the light armor in Tribes 2 is now, according to Oakden (the heavy armor will remain about the same).


If details on Tribes: Vengeance seem a bit sketchy at this point there is a reason. While Irrational has been in full development of the game for about six months (with prototype work six months before that), the game itself is still quite a ways off, with about 18 months to go before its scheduled late 2004 release. That should give Irrational and Sierra plenty of time to make the game solid and fun and yes, there will be an open beta for Tribes: Vengeance before the game ships to stores.


We have only heard the smallest bits of info concerning Tribes: Vengeance (the developer won’t go into detail on new weapons, armors, items and such yet), yet we are already very interested in what Irrational and Sierra have in mind for the game. Of course, we will try to find out much more about the game in the months to come.



Images are too big to post and still make the thread easy to read.

http://www.homelanfed.com/images/jcal/tribesv1.jpg

http://www.homelanfed.com/images/jcal/tribesv2.jpg

http://www.homelanfed.com/images/jcal/tribesv3.jpg


The third image reminds me of Unreal Tournament 2003 though.

 

I wish we did, but I doubt it. About the only Infogrames action there will be, I think will be Sterling/Pumpmonkey, Oed, RaceWiz, Auntie, and I playing the game (and kicking some arse ) after the game comes out.

Then we will see who is better Dane or Vong's people....

hehe

 

ActionTrip takes a first look at Tribes: Vengance for the PC, due late 2004. A bit about the story:

Most of the plot is under wraps at this point, which means we weren't filled in on the complete situation. Recently, though, the creative team at Irrational revealed that players will be taken through two different timelines, one of which occurs exactly twenty years before the other. Also, rather than tying the plot around a single hero, the developers instead tell a more complex tale and allow players to experience the game from different character's perspectives. Although we still don't now exactly which characters and individuals are essential to the plot, we do know that the game may uncover many things; like the mysterious identity of the Children of the Phoenix. And, among other things, the story in Tribes: Vengeance unveils the origins of the Blood Eagle tribe and what links them to the Empire...


http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/tribesvengeance.phtml