I’m no veteran of the Tribes series, though I do know the basic premise: take conventional multiplayer FPS and flip it on its head with fast paced action and characters sprinting and flying all across the map, all in a squad based fashion, somewhat similar to a Team Fortress 2, but without all the crazy hats.
Developer Hi Rez is looking to bring back the popularity of one of the original multiplayer PC shooters, which was first released back in 1998 and hasn’t seen a new release in 7 years, with Tribes: Ascend, a free-to-play PC shooter that was featured at PAX Prime and QuakeCon.
My initial reaction of the game reminds me of NCSoft’s ill-fated shooter Exteel, with a reliance on teamwork, quick fingers, and customizaton.
Tribes Ascend will feature 12 unique classes, each with their own progression system that will allow them to unlock specific perks, as well as the interesting ability to share XP with other classes you’re not playing but would like to progress.
Tribes Ascend is due out at the start of 2012. Hopefully we can get our hands on it before then to pass along our impressions. Until then, check out this 8 minute demo clip via YouTube user ArbalestModel.
[stream provider=youtube flv=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D4H1kWUwRsss%26feature%3Drelated img=x:/img.youtube.com/vi/4H1kWUwRsss/0.jpg embed=true share=true width=640 height=480 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /]
