Tribes series

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Contents
Articles
Overview
Tribes series 1 1 4 4 8 12 14 20 21

Games
Starsiege: Tribes Tribes 2 Tribes Aerial Assault Tribes: Vengeance PlayTribes

Miscellany

References
Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 22 23

Article Licenses
License 24

Overview
Tribes series
For the biological concept, see tribe (biology). For the social concept, see tribe. Tribes is a series of science fiction first-person shooter computer games originally developed by Dynamix, a subsidiary of Sierra Entertainment. Set in the same universe as the game Starsiege, there are six games in the Tribes series: Starsiege: Tribes, released for Microsoft Windows on November 30, 1998 Tribes 2, released for Windows on March 28, 2001 and for Linux on April 24, 2001 Tribes Aerial Assault, released for PlayStation 2 on September 23, 2002 Tribes: Vengeance, released for Windows in October 2004 Tribes Universe, an upcoming MMO developed by Hi-Rez Studios Tribes: Ascend, an upcoming multiplayer-only successor to Tribes 2 developed by Hi-Rez Studios

Fictional universe
The Tribes series is set in a distant future, spanning from 33rd to 40th century AD, while the back-story of the games begins in 2471, when a scientist Solomon Petresun invents the first "cybrid", a bio-cybernetic hybrid artificial intelligence named Prometheus or IT. Based on ITS design, thousands of cybrids are mass-produced as slaves for the mankind, however, by 2602, Prometheus grows wary of humans and rallies all cybrids produced to date against humanity in a devastating slaughter later named The Fire. The events of The Fire are depicted in Earthsiege (1994), the precursor of the Tribes series, although several important points (such as the appearance of Petresun and Prometheus as the factions' leaders) were retconned later in Starsiege. In Starsiege continuity, the Terran resistance manages to drive Prometheus' initially victorious forces out of Earth and onto the Moon where they are consequentially decapitated by General Ambrose Gierling and his squad's suicide attack on the cybrid base in 2627. Prometheus, however, survives the explosion and to counter this threat, Petresun (having technically achieved immortality through his studies) proclaims himself the Emperor of Mankind in 2652 and succeeds in unifying and rebuilding the Terran civilization. Pursuing his goal of fortifying the Earth against the inevitable cybrid retaliation, Petresun ruthlessly exploits Martian and Venusian colonies, spawning massive resistance movements among the colonists by 2802. The Martian rebellion led by the former Imperial Knight Harabec Weathers and the consequent Cybrid Wars are described in Starsiege (1998). The chronologically first game in the Tribes series is Tribes: Vengeance (2004). Set some time between 33rd and 40th century, it shows the Great Human Empire, now ruled by "Imperial King" Tiberius, having hunted down (almost) all remaining cybrids and expanded beyond the boundaries of the Solar system through the so-called Interstellar Transfer Conduit. While the Empire itself is prosperous, there are outcasts, known as "the Children of Phoenix" (after Harabec "Phoenix" Weathers, whom they consider their progenitor) or simply Tribals. Their insubordination has made the Empire dispatch a great force of elite Imperial Knights, the Blood Eagles, against them, however, by the time of Tribes: Vengeance, the Eagles have fully embraced the Tribal way of life, considering themselves Tribesmen despite still having ties to the Empire. The next (chronologically) game in the series, Starsiege: Tribes (1998) sees the conflict between the Blood Eagles, the Children of Phoenix, and other tribes formed by the renegades of these two (such as the Star Wolf and the Diamond Sword) escalating into countless blood feuds before finally culminating in the devastating Tribal Wars about 3940. The sequel, entitled Tribes 2 (2001), deals with the insurgent uprising of BioDerms, a new race of

Tribes series warriors/workers created by the Empire to replace the cybrids, and their assault on the Wilderzone, the space frontier where the Tribes mostly reside. The Tribes Aerial Assault (2002) does not significantly contribute to the fictional setting of the series.

Versions
Starsiege: Tribes still retains a large community of players. Starsiege: Tribes sold a total of 210,000 copies. In March 2009, GarageGames announced it had obtained the rights to the Tribes franchise from Activision Blizzard and would be bringing Starsiege: Tribes to InstantAction as PlayTribes.[1] However on November 11, 2010, InstantAction was shutdown, thus cancelling development on PlayTribes. A single player version called Tribes Extreme began development shortly after the release of Starsiege: Tribes, but was abandoned before completion [2]. Tribes 2 added additional vehicles (such as a two-person tank and a three-person bomber with a belly turret), weapons, and items. A few details of gameplay were changed; for instance, the original game made a player choose his load out while he was at a supply station (sometimes resulting in long lines to use the station), while the sequel required the player to choose his load out before he used the station. Tribes 2 also included many features to help its community of players: it included user profiles, interactive chat areas, and message boards. The initial release of Tribes 2 was plagued by bugs and slow performance; several patches were released over the following year (first by Sierra, later by GarageGames) to address these issues. Tribes Aerial Assault was a PlayStation 2 version of Tribes 2. Developed by Inevitable Entertainment and published by Sierra, it offered simplified but significantly swifter gameplay (fewer maps and vehicles, and a subset of the original's voice commands) and network support for up to sixteen players at a time. Tribes: Vengeance was a prequel to the other games. In addition to multiplayer support, it featured a full single-player game with a storyline. It was developed by Irrational Games using a heavily modified Unreal engine to bring the game's appearance up to par with other modern first-person shooters. This new Tribes largely de-emphasized the focus on massive maps and slower gameplay that was typical of Tribes 2 in favor of the swifter action of the original Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes Aerial Assault. Battles were faster paced, and teamwork and vehicles were less necessary. Tribes: Vengeance was released with almost no marketing support in autumn 2004 shortly after the release of Doom 3 and Far Cry and just before the releases of Half-life 2 and Halo 2. Sales were predictably poor: after six months, only 47,000 copies of the game had been sold. In March 2005, all support for Tribes: Vengeance was dropped, including a planned patch that would have addressed several bugs and added PunkBuster support. In February 2006, GarageGames "leaked" short videos of a tech demo which featured "tribes like" game play on their Torque Shader Engine or TSE.[3] The demo made its debut at the 2006 GDC as "Legions", an obvious allusion to the Tribes series for which the team is famous for. Announced officially in 2007 as a "spiritual successor" to Tribes, Fallen Empire: Legions was released to the public in June 2008 on InstantAction, and is currently being developed by the community after InstantAction was shutdown in November of 2010.[4] On October 23, 2010, Hi-Rez Studios announced that they were the new owners of the Tribes franchise, and were developing a new Tribes MMO called Tribes Universe.[5] Hi-Rez Studios attended PAX East 2011 and announced Tribes: Ascend, a multiplayer-only successor to Tribes 2 for the PC and XBLA.[6]

Tribes series

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] http:/ / kotaku. com/ 5171349/ instantaction-brings-tribes-to-your-web-browser http:/ / pc. ign. com/ articles/ 072/ 072619p1. html http:/ / www. shacknews. com/ onearticle. x/ 40854 The Long Zoom: Legions Will Fly Again (http:/ / www. rockpapershotgun. com/ 2010/ 12/ 21/ the-long-zoom-legions-will-fly-again/ ) Hi-Rez Studios announces development of Tribes Universe MMO (http:/ / www. massively. com/ 2010/ 10/ 23/ hi-rez-studios-announces-development-of-tribes-universe-mmo/ ) [6] Shazbot! Tribes: Ascend announced. Multiplayer-only, coming this year, has trailer (http:/ / www. pcgamer. com/ 2011/ 03/ 11/ shazbot-tribes-ascend-announced-multiplayer-only-coming-this-year-has-trailer/ )

External links
GarageGames (http://www.garagegames.com/) Owners of the Torque Game Engine (TGE) used to make Tribes 2.

Games
Starsiege: Tribes
Starsiege: Tribes

Developer(s) Publisher(s) Designer(s) Engine Version Platform(s) Release date(s) Genre(s) Mode(s) Rating(s) Media/distribution

Dynamix Sierra On-Line Scott Youngblood Darkstar 1.11 Microsoft Windows November 30, 1998 2004 (freeware) First-person shooter Single-player, multiplayer ESRB: Teen (T) ELSPA: 12+ CD-ROM

System requirements Windows 95/98/NT, Pentium 166 MHz or equivalent, 32 MB RAM 3D accelerator video card, 4x CD-ROM, DirectX compatible sound card, mouse and keyboard

Starsiege: Tribes

Starsiege: Tribes is a sci-fi first-person shooter video game. It is the first of the Tribes video game series and follows the story from Earthsiege and Starsiege. It was developed by Dynamix and published by the company now known as Sierra Entertainment in 1998.

History
A sequel, Tribes 2, was released in March 2001. Sierra licensed the franchise to Irrational Games for a third installment, Tribes: Vengeance, which was released in October 2004. Vivendi Universal released Tribes and Tribes 2 for free on May 4, 2004 on a DVD-ROM with Computer Gaming World magazine and on FilePlanet, in order to promote the release Tribes: Vengeance.[1]
Starsiege: Tribes screenshot

On July 16, 2007, Sierra Entertainment announced that they would cease online support of Tribes starting on August 16, 2007.[2] As of November 2007, the Sierra Master Server is no longer active, and has been replaced by multiple community-run master servers. In March 2009, GarageGames announced they had purchased the Intellectual property and source code for Starsiege: Tribes and would be releasing it at PlayTribes.com [3] through an update on their browser-based game service, InstantAction.[4] PlayTribes was available for play during the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo at InstantAction's display in the expo hall.[5] On October 23, 2010, it was announced that Hi-Rez Studios were the new owners of the Tribes franchise, thus canceling development on PlayTribes.[6]

Gameplay
Tribes is a squad-based multiplayer online game with no single-player campaign; it is similar in this respect to the Team Fortress and Enemy Territory games. The story is set in the 40th century, after humanity has settled across the galaxies via jumpgates. Conflict has broken out between several factions of humans, the four largest of which are the Children of the Phoenix, Blood Eagle, Diamond Sword, and Starwolf. The first and largest descends from people isolated from the Great Human Empire during the jumpgate dispora. The second is a force of imperial knights orginally sent from the Empire to subdue them who have gone 'tribal' over time. The Diamond Sword and Starwolf are secondary, with innumberable other splinter tribes constantly fighting for territory. The player assumes the role of a warrior loyal to one of the four major tribes battling in the front lines of the conflict. The battles take place on one of 40 maps. Most of the standard maps are outdoors environments in a variety of climates, from sunshine to snow and hail. In general, bases are scattered throughout the map depending on the gametype. The outdoor environments can extend for several kilometers. There are five distinct "default" gametypes: Capture the flag (CTF) - Each team (up to eight, normally less than three on any given mission) has one or more bases and a single flag. Each team tries to take an opposing team's flag and touch it to their own, which "captures" the flag and awards the capturing team a point. If a flag carrier is killed, the flag is dropped; the flag can be picked up by a teammate to finish the capture, instantly returned to its base by a member of the flag's team, or returned after a certain interval of time. Stalemates often occur when multiple teams' flags are taken at the same time; a team's flag must be at its base to accomplish a "cap". Capture the Flag is a popular mode, with 75 percent of

Starsiege: Tribes servers running this game type.[7] Deathmatch (DM) - It can be played with or without teams; in both cases, players must get the highest number of kills to win. Capture and hold (C&H) - Teams must seek out capturable bases or other assets, sometimes complete with turrets and stations, throughout the map. Points are given based on the amount of time an asset is "owned". Defend and destroy (D&D) - Players on a team must destroy certain items in an enemy's base before the enemy does the same to their base. Subsequent team-based First-person shooter games, however, did use variations of the concept (such as with Unreal Tournament and its "assault" game type). Defend and Destroy is the second-most popular game type.[7] Find and retrieve (F&R) - A number of flags are scattered across the mission area. Team members must find and bring them back to their base. The flags can be captured from the enemy as well. The team to capture all the flags wins. Multiple Team: Multiple teams must fight against each other to retain control of an objective or to capture the enemies' flag. Open Call: Open Call isn't necessarily a game mode per se, but a collection of missions created by map makers after a contest held by Dynamix.[8]

Each player wears either light, medium or heavy armor. Heavier armors supply larger amounts of armor, energy, and ammunition. Different armor types support different weapons and equipment; for example, only the heavy armor supports the heavy mortar but only light armor supports the sniper rifle.[7] When damage is dealt to the player (by falling or being hurt by a weapon), armor is lost. Loss of all armor results in the player's death. After dying, the player respawns at the team's base (or somewhere in the field). Players also have an energy cell, which is drawn on for jetting, firing some kinds of weapons, and activating packs. The different armor types can be accessed at an inventory station. There are various items of equipment usable by the players, including vehicles, eight weapons, and "Packs" which alter the abilities of the player. On some maps, bases include various defense mechanisms and other tools to assist the team: Generators, turrets, stations and sensors. Generators provide power to systems. Destroying them can disable an entire team's defense by deactivating turrets and stations. They are also among the objectives in the "Defend & Destroy" gametype. Turrets come in five varieties. They can all be destroyed by sustained fire and their shields can be drained by an ELF. Stations are where players get equipment or monitor the base. Sensors scan a radius for enemies and allow players to view troop movements in the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). There are large and small varieties. Weapons include the heavy mortar, sniper rifle, explosive disc launcher, short-range gatling gun, grenade launcher, blaster, plasma rifle and laser rifle. The heavy mortar is considered to be a good weapon for taking out base defenses from afar.[7] The sniper rifle is the only hitscan weapon, with the others firing relatively slow projectiles.[7] The PDA is intended to provide information to commanders and give detailed information on the team's situation. Among other things, players can issue commands to teammates, view equipment status, monitor enemy activity (with sensors or hidden cameras), watch teammates in a miniature screen, and control turrets (although this must be done at a command station).

Starsiege: Tribes

Movement
In addition to running and jumping, players are equipped with a jetpack which allows them to accelerate into the air until the armor's energy is used up. In addition to straight-line movement, the jetpack has other versatile uses. It can be used to make short hops whilst zig-zagging to make a player harder to target in open areas. An upward thrust can help the player evade oncoming enemies armed with short-range weapons.[9] Another method of movement is known as "skiing", and relies on an exploitation of the game's physics engine.[10] If a player taps the jump button with the correct timing whilst descending a hill, their momentum will accumulate. High speeds can be achieved this way, and if this momentum takes the player to the crest of another hill, the jetpack can be used to rapidly propel them across the map.[9] This technique was later developed into a game feature by Dynamix for Tribes 2.[11]

Reception
Reception Aggregate scores
Aggregator GameRankings Score 84% [12]

Review scores
Publication GamePro GameSpot GameZone IGN Score 8 out of 10 [12] [7]

8.6 out of 10 9 out of 10

[12] [13]

9.3 our of 10

Gamespot awarded 8.6 out of 10, considering Tribes to be an almost perfect balance between gameplay, online connectivity and speedy performance. The multiplayer gameplay drew comparisons with NovaLogic's Delta Force, with good visuals and customizable weapon loadouts. The maps were highlighted as being wonderfully rendered, with seamless indoor-outdoor transitions. Criticisms included the difficulty in conducting long-range combat, a lack of close-combat weapons and the queues that form at weapon consoles. It was felt that Tribes would have benefited from a stronger training mode and better handling of scores and statistics.[7]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] http:/ / www. techspot. com/ news/ 12832-get-tribes-and-tribes-2-free. html http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ news/ 6185076. html http:/ / playtribes. com http:/ / kotaku. com/ 5171349/ instantaction-brings-tribes-to-your-web-browser John Callaham (5 September 2009). "PAX 2009: InstantAction Tribes hands-on impressions" (http:/ / news. bigdownload. com/ 2009/ 09/ 05/ pax-2009-instantaction-tribes-hands-on-impressions/ ). Big Download (http:/ / news. bigdownload. com/ ). . [6] Hi-Rez Announce Tribes Universe (http:/ / www. rockpapershotgun. com/ 2010/ 10/ 24/ hi-rez-announce-tribes-universe/ ) [7] Michael E. Ryan (1999-01-22). "Starsiege Tribes Review" (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ action/ starsiegetribes/ review. html). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2008-10-13. "Tribes is an ambitious game that successfully delivers a rich and addictive multiplayer gaming experience. Any team-minded action fan will love this game, and I suspect that more than a few freelance types will also." [8] Join the Tribe (http:/ / pc. ign. com/ articles/ 068/ 068786p1. html) [9] Lambert, Kornel. "PC Cheats: Starship: Tribes" (http:/ / www. computerandvideogames. com/ article. php?id=69365). Computer and Video Games. Future Publishing. . Retrieved 2009-07-09. [10] Butts, Steve. "Tribes: Vengeance Review" (http:/ / uk. pc. ign. com/ articles/ 554/ 554250p2. html). IGN. . Retrieved 2009-09-07.

Starsiege: Tribes
[11] "Tribes 2 Review" (http:/ / uk. gamespot. com/ pc/ action/ tribes2/ review. html). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2009-07-09. [12] "Starsiege Tribes Reviews" (http:/ / www. gamerankings. com/ pc/ 132861-starsiege-tribes/ articles. html). Game Rankings. . Retrieved 2008-10-13. [13] Trent C. Ward (1999-01-15). "Starsiege: Tribes Review" (http:/ / pc. ign. com/ articles/ 154/ 154005p1. html). IGN. .

External links
Starsiege: Tribes (http://www.mobygames.com/game/starsiege-tribes) at MobyGames - Game Archive and Review site documenting Credits, Shots and reviews Starsiege: Tribes (http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Shooter/T/Tribes_Games/ Starsiege_-_Tribes/) at the Open Directory Project Tribes game client (http://emberlink.com/tribes/) at Emberlink

Tribes 2
Tribes 2

Developer(s) Publisher(s) Engine Platform(s) Release date(s)

Dynamix Sierra Studios Torque Engine Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS (canceled)

NA EU

March 28, 2001 April 13, 2001

Genre(s) Mode(s) Rating(s)

First-person shooter Single player, multiplayer ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 12+

Media/distribution CD-ROM System requirements

Windows 95/98, 2000, NT 4.0 or Linux 2.2x 400 MHz Pentium II or equivalent 64 MB RAM (128 recommended) 531 MB hard disk space 12 MB video card 16-bit DirectSound- or OSS-compatible sound card 4x CD-ROM drive

Tribes 2 Tribes 2 (abbreviated as T2) is a sci-fi first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra Studios. A sequel to Starsiege: Tribes, Tribes 2 was released for Microsoft Windows in North America on March 28, 2001[1] and Europe on April 13, 2001. A Linux port was released by Loki Games on April 19, 2001. On November 2, 2008, Sierra disabled the authentication servers required for its online multiplayer.[2] In early 2009 an unofficial community project provided a patch and replacement server which restored online functionality.[3]

Setting
Set in the year 3941 of the fictional Earthsiege universe, 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.

Gameplay
Tribes 2 is a multiplayer online game, designed for Internet or LAN play with up to 64 players (32 vs 32) or bots per match, although a small single-player tutorial mode is included. The game may be played from both first- and third-person perspectives. Each match takes place on an Earthsiege-themed map. The Tribes 2 engine, an early version of the Torque Game Engine, is capable of both indoor and outdoor maps, with expansive play areas. Player movement about the map may be on foot, using a jet pack, or in various ground and airborne vehicles as pilot, co-pilot, or passenger. Each match is played according to one of a number of possible game modes, which dictate the rules of the match. These modes include capture the flag, deathmatch, rabbit-chase, and others. Players are free to choose their own role, and may deploy various items of weaponry, vehicles, and emplacements. Many of these items can be left unattended to operate automatically, or control may be assumed by players. Each player may also choose from three armor types (which trade off various abilities, e.g. weak but fast, or strong but slow), and a weapon and equipment loadout, which may be reconfigured at any time during a match. The large variety of equipment and deployable items results in many opportunities for creative play and tactics, from pure combat to stealth. Tribes 2 gameplay makes extensive use of jet pack-powered flight, which adds a notable vertical element to combat. As such, playing style varies dramatically from player to player, and from moment to moment, but Tribes 2 gameplay may be generalized as being fast-paced three-dimensional combat over a wide playing area. Player vs player combat is a central element of Tribes 2 gameplay, even in team-based modes.

Community
Tribes 2 was designed to encourage team play by facilitating the creation and administration of clans, and originally provided clan and player profiles, email, chat, league tables, tournaments, and message board functionality in the client. Support for these was dropped over time as the game declined in popularity, and changes in the support policies of the various intellectual property owners. Both Tribes and Tribes 2 were designed to be highly modifiable by players. A scripting language built into the Torque Game Engine, has 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.

Tribes 2

10

Reception
Tribes 2 Aggregate scores
Aggregator GameRankings Score 84.99% [4]

Review scores
Publication Eurogamer Game Informer Game Revolution GameSpot GameSpy GameZone IGN PC Gamer US PC Zone Score 8/10 [5]

8/10 B [6] [7] [8]

8.5/10

89/100 9.3/10 8.9/10

[9]

[10]

89/100 87/100

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. Sierra, which is now part of Vivendi SU, 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. In November 2009, Vivendi shut down the official master servers, dropping all official support for the Tribes franchise, and severely limiting players' abilities to play the game online. The player community, however, developed a fan patch called TribesNext to allow continued multiplayer functionality. It removes the requirement of using CD Keys and replaces the official authentication servers with fan-operated servers. The full game and TribesNext patch can be downloaded from the TribesNext server.[11]

Tribes 2

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References
[1] Tribes 2 Tech Info (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ action/ tribes2/ tech_info. html?tag=tabs;summary& tag=stitialclk;gamespace), Gamespot. [2] Ellison, Blake. "Sierra Shutting Down 21 Old Game Servers" (http:/ / www. shacknews. com/ onearticle. x/ 55173), Shacknews, 8 October 2008. [3] http:/ / pc. ign. com/ articles/ 941/ 941845p1. html [4] http:/ / www. gamerankings. com/ pc/ 914210-tribes-2/ index. html [5] http:/ / www. eurogamer. net/ content/ r_tribes2 [6] http:/ / www. game-revolution. com/ games/ pc/ action/ tribes2. htm [7] http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ pc/ action/ tribes2/ review. html [8] http:/ / www. gamespy. com/ reviews/ april01/ tribes2/ [9] http:/ / www. gamezone. com/ gzreviews/ r13095. htm [10] http:/ / pc. ign. com/ articles/ 161/ 161683p1. html [11] TribesNext (http:/ / www. tribesnext. com/ ) seen 2011-5-23

Tribes Aerial Assault

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Tribes Aerial Assault

Tribes: Aerial Assault

Developer(s) Publisher(s) Platform(s)

Inevitable Entertainment Sierra Entertainment PlayStation 2

Release date(s) September 23, 2002 Genre(s) Mode(s) Rating(s) First-person shooter multiplayer ESRB: Teen (T) ELSPA: 16+

Tribes Aerial Assault is an online first-person shooter computer game released for PlayStation 2 in 2002 by Sierra Entertainment. Tribes Aerial Assault is essentially a port of the popular PC title Tribes 2.

Story
It is the year 3945 A.C. (five years after the events of Tribes 2). On the frontier "Wilderzone" of human space, hardy neo-barbarian tribes compete for possession of new worlds. Tribal warriors enter combat in powered armor, relying on skill and bravery to win glory. BioDerm Hordes have started to invade tribal space. Though the tribes boast of being the finest warriors humanity has ever produced, they face a genetically modified race that has literally bred itself for battle. The stakes are epic, and the Wilderzone is aflame with a new kind of war. The player controls J.Ransom, a recently-recruited newblood. After a training segment, the story follows J. Ransom through missions to fight off the BioDerm horde and keep control of tribal space.

Gameplay
Tribes Aerial Assault is a first-person shooter game with an emphasis on mobility. While still employing the classic "kill the bad guys" routine, there are many game types in the single-player campaign and multi-player. These include capture the flag (CTF), capture and hold, hunter, team deathmatch, and deathmatch. Campaign usually consists of some mixture of these game types. In all games but hunters and deathmatch, there are team and player points. Depending on the game style, team and player points can reflect two completely different things. Player points are usually earned through an individual player's accomplishments that help the team as a whole. Player points are earned by setting and deploying equipment, repairing friendly assets, destroying enemy assets, defending friendly assets, and completing objectives of the game.

Tribes Aerial Assault Capture The Flag: Both teams have a flag, and the objective is to capture the other teams flag. The "runner" is unencumbered by the flag, that is; he/she can stil use weapons and grenades freely and without debilitation. After either team has captured the flag 8 times, or the time limit runs out, the game is over and the team with the most points wins. In CTF, team points reflect how many times a team has captured, or attempted to capture the flag. Trying to capture the flag, but dying before reaching the base, gives the player's team one point. Successfully getting the enemy flag to one's own base rewards the player team a hundred points. Capture and hold: This is an asset-guarding game. Usually there are four buildings or bases scattered over the whole map. Inside each of these is a switch. The objective is to touch the switch in any building and try to prevent the enemy team from doing the same for as long as possible. For every second that a base is held, that team gets one point. When the time runs out, the team with the most team points wins. Hunter: A survival-based game. The objective is to kill as many people as possible and collect the flags that they drop, and then try to bring those flags back to a central "nexus" for points. There are no teams in Hunter, so everyone is an enemy. If someone drops more than five flags, everyone in the game is alerted as to who has the flags and who dropped them. Team Deathmatch: Two teams duke it out until time runs out. 1 kill = 1 point. The team with the most points when time runs out wins. Deathmatch: No teams, few rules, kill or be killed. The person with the most points at time-out wins. Like most first-person shooters, TAA has a Heads Up Display (HUD). The HUD consists of a crosshair, health, energy reserve, grenades and grenade type, pack type, armor heat, lock-on detection, and vehicle condition. The HUD also has target identification, that is, a red arrow over the target is an enemy, a green arrow is a friend. A somewhat unique feature of TAA is the jetpack feature. The jetpack runs on armor energy and allows players to fly for short to medium distances.

13

Online Servers
In early November 2008, Sierra shut down the online servers for 21 games, including Tribes: Aerial Assault.

Reviews
GameSpy - 80 out of 100 GameSpot - 7.2 out of 10 Games Domain - 3.5 out of 5

External links
Tribes Aerial Assault [1] at MobyGames AADS Home Page (web archive) [2]

References
[1] http:/ / www. mobygames. com/ game/ tribes-aerial-assault [2] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20060718063211/ http:/ / aads. gamerplug. com/

Tribes: Vengeance

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Tribes: Vengeance
Tribes: Vengeance

Developer(s) Publisher(s) Designer(s) Engine Version Platform(s) Release date(s) Genre(s) Mode(s) Rating(s)

Irrational Games VU Games Ken Levine, Ed Orman, Michael Johnston, Tony Oakden, Chris Mahnken Unreal Engine 2.5 1.01 Microsoft Windows October 5, 2004
[1]

First-person shooter Single player, multiplayer ESRB: Teen (T)

Media/distribution CD-ROM, DVD-ROM System requirements

Windows 98/2000/XP 1.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 5 GB hard-disk space 256 MB RAM 32 MB 3D card (hardware T&L and pixel shader support) DirectX-compatible sound card DirectX 9.0c 4x CD-ROM drive 56K dial-up modem for online play

Tribes: Vengeance Tribes: Vengeance (sometimes called T:V or Tribes 3) is a science fiction first-person shooter (FPS) computer game of the Tribes video game series. It was developed by Irrational Games and released by Sierra Entertainment (part of Vivendi Universal) in October 2004. It was built on an enhanced version of the Unreal Engine 2/2.5, which Irrational Games called the Vengeance engine. In addition to its multiplayer network maps, Vengeance includes a complete single-player campaign. The developers have since abandoned the franchise.

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Single player
The single player campaign follows five playable characters (Victoria, Daniel, Julia, Mercury, and Jericho) whom the player navigates through 18 missions. The missions are played in achronological order, set either in "The Past" (Victoria, Daniel, Julia, Mercury) or in "The Present" (Julia, Jericho, Mercury), with the former detailing the story of Julia's birth and childhood and the latter describing her search for vengeance upon the Tribals and later, for her own psychological identity.

Plot summary
Set hundreds of years before the events of Starsiege: Tribes, Vengeance depicts the birth of the growing Tribal War. It focuses on the events surrounding five different characters over the course of two generations and how they each contribute to the developing war. The story ("The Past") begins with a Phoenix sub-clan leader named Daniel abducting the soon to be Queen, Princess Victoria. He takes her to his home world to show her the injustices done to his people and the two eventually fall in love. During this time, a cybrid assassin named Mercury is hired by an unknown contractor to eliminate Daniel, but the contract is canceled moments before the shot is fired. Eventually, Victoria and Daniel try to make amends between the Imperials and the Phoenix, but it all ends disastrously when the Phoenix's enemies, the Blood Eagle tribe, stage a raid on a Phoenix base disguised as Imperial troops. In rage, Daniel kills the Imperial King, Tiberius, whom Victoria avenges by killing Daniel. It turns out that Victoria was pregnant with Daniel's child, who was born female under the name Julia soon afterwards. Some years later, Daniel's brother, General Jericho, raids the Imperial Palace and kills Victoria in front of Julia. Enraged, Julia becomes an anti-Tribal extremist who uses her political powers and fighting abilities to humiliate them at every opportunity (in "The Present"). Eventually, she captures the leader of the Phoenix, Esther, and stages a trap for Jericho. Jericho, however, is killed by Mercury before she can do anything to exact her revenge. She then learns about her true father and, ironically, goes to Esther for guidance. Esther trains Julia as a Phoenix, accepts her into the Tribe, and the two try to make peace. At this point, the news arrive that the Blood Eagles have raided the Imperials and taken Olivia, late Victoria's sister and Julia's only remaining family, prisoner. Julia goes to rescue her but discovers that Olivia was, in fact, manipulating the Blood Eagle leader, Seti, the one who had hired Mercury, and was planning to set up a "freighter accident" to destroy a large part of the Imperial population center. However, in the end, Julia stops her and foils her plans. Although the end of the game sees Mercury and the Blood Eagles' leader, Seti, killed by Julia, Olivia escapes her in the last moment, leaving the story without a definite conclusion. This may have been addressed on in the unreleased patch as an additional story mode.

Characters
Victoria is an Imperial Princess who was captured by the Phoenix Leader Daniel. The two fall in love and have a child together. She kills Daniel after he murders her father, and lives on to raise their daughter, Julia, to an age around 6 years old. She is then killed by Jericho.

Tiberius' Death at the hands of Daniel after he hears about the 'Imperial' raid.

Tribes: Vengeance Daniel is a leader of a sub-clan within the Phoenix Tribe and the father of Julia. He spared Victoria and almost made peace between his people and the Imperials. However, he was tricked into killing Victoria's father, and was killed by a disillusioned Victoria in turn. Jericho is a Phoenix General under command of his brother, Daniel. He is completely opposed to anything concerning the Imperials due to the atrocities done to his people and the betrayal of his brother. He kills Victoria as a retribution for Daniel's death and is, much later, set up by her daughter Julia to be arrested, freed and assassinated in a rapid series of events. Julia is the illegitimate daughter of Imperial Queen Victoria and Phoenix sub-clan Leader Daniel. She originally had brown eyes, but has mechanical gold eyes surgically implanted in "The Present" to give her HUD information without the need for bulky headgear typical tribesmen would wear. Her armor is also unique, having much less observable plating than typical light armor, in addition to her jets being mounted on her calves as opposed to her back. She is the one caught up in the hopes of her parents, the friction between the tribes, and a behind the scenes plan to destroy the Tribals once and for all. Olivia is the older sister of Queen Victoria. It is later revealed that she is an Imperial extremist who believes in the total eradication of all Tribals, although she seems to favor and use the Blood Eagle tribe, most likely, because of their former connection to the Empire. By the end of the game, it is unclear on whether or not she is killed or if she escapes. Tiberius is the ruler of the Imperials, and father to both Olivia and Victoria (grandfather of Julia). He seems to be against Imperial-Tribal unification at first but later softens up to the idea after nearly killing Daniel in an arena match, which he devised as punishment for abducting Victoria. However, he is killed before anything about the situation can be done. Seti is the only apparent leader of the Blood Eagle at any time in the entire story. He is the main antagonist but there is not much known about him in the game except that he is a polygamous, manipulative, sadist. He is killed by Julia in the last mission of the game. Albrecht/Mercury is a general in the Imperial military. It is unclear on whether he is part of Tiberius' family or if he is only considered close enough to be part of the family. He is the only member of the Alaxian faction in the entire game that is revealed. Near the end of the game, he is also revealed to also be the cybrid assassin, Mercury. He is decapitated in combat by Julia in the final missions of the game.

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Factions
There are three main factions in this entire game, and two minor factions. Because Tribes: Vengeance takes places centuries before any of the other Tribes games, factions such as the Star Wolf, the Diamond Sword, and the BioDerm Hordes do not appear in the game. The Imperials Symbol: A golden lion's head in profile An evolution of the Great Human Empire founded by Solomon Petresun, appearing as playable characters for the first time in the Tribes series. During the time of Tribes: Vengeance, the Empire is depicted as prosperous and relatively at peace within its borders. On the whole, the Imperials regard Tribals as barbarians, and look down upon the Tribes as lowly pariah societies. They do, however, have old connections to the Blood Eagle tribe, and maintain somewhat favorable relations with them. The Children of Phoenix Symbol: A human skull with flames pouring from the eye sockets (based on Harabec's logo) More or less the victims in political and social status. They have both the Blood Eagles and the Imperials as the enemies and are restricted to the most desolate and uninhabitable planets that are still able to support life by royal decree. A basic belief of the Phoenix is that they all descend from a being named Harabec Weathers, a character in Starsiege (the parent game of Tribes), who had a Cybrid brain and was thus "immortal," being able to be implanted into a new body. His call sign was also Phoenix,

Tribes: Vengeance for which he was later mythologized "The Immortal Phoenix." Originally known as the Phoenix, its name was changed after the death of the sub-clan leader Daniel. The Blood Eagles Symbol: A wiry eagle viewed from the front against a black background Shown as antagonists in the game. Often referred to as 'Beagles', they are another Tribe who inhabit the same planet as the Phoenix, but receive special treatment, land rights, and technology from the Imperials. They are, in fact, the second oldest faction among the Tribes. The Blood Eagle is descended from an Order of Imperial Knights that was long ago sent to subdue the Children of the Phoenix. In the game, they are allied with Olivia in order to destroy the Phoenix. The Cybrids Symbol: none known Last seen in Starsiege. It can be inferred that although the humans hunted down the majority of Cybrid civilization in retaliation for their genocidal acts towards humanity, Cybrids chose to infiltrate human society, rather than completely retreat from the galaxy. The only known Cybrid throughout the entire game is Mercury. Cybrids are shown to have no emotions or feelings, including pain, sadness, or even fear of death. Furthermore, it is unknown whether they eat, drink, sleep, or anything that may be a trait of living. The intentions of this group are unknown, as conclusions cannot be drawn from an individual concerning an entire group, but it is known that those humans who are aware that there are Cybrids among them are naturally suspicious of their motives. The Alaxians The most mysterious faction in the game. They are mentioned on rare occasion, with reference that the unknown assassin was being contracted out by them. While there is not much known about this group, it is known that they are of a noticeable size in the sense of all political groups and are not prejudiced against (such as the Tribals and Cybrids are).

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Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode offers five different default game types and a diversity of map locations. Players are ranked during matches by points they acquire through the match. You can get offensive (killing an opponent, capturing a flag, or destroying enemy equipment), defensive (returning a flag, repairing your equipment, or killing a enemy flag carrier), or by style points (hit a head shot with a sniper rifle, or hitting someone in mid-air with a spinfusor disk). Arena is a 'Team Free for All' in which two teams fight for up to 9 rounds. There is no respawn, so once a player dies, they must wait for the next round before they can play again. Whichever team has more rounds won at the end of a match wins. This game type is inherited from earlier Tribes games. Ball is a game type where two teams play against each other with a goal for each team. There is a single ball located somewhere on the map, usually in the middle. The objective is to get the ball and throw it into the enemys goal. Whichever team has the most points at the end wins. This game is original to Tribes: Vengeance, but also resembles Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004's Bombing Run game.

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In Fuel, both teams have a fuel depot at their base. There is one neutral fuel depot which the players can collect fuel from, as well as a depot for each team. Players may stand within these to gradually steal fuel or, if it is their own team's, to deposit fuel. The less fuel in the depot, the slower it takes to collect it. As well as the depots, players can collect fuel cells from the ground that may have originally spawned there randomly on the game's start, or have been dropped upon a player's death. The maximum amount of fuel a character can carry is 15, and each fuel cell contains a specific amount of fuel. Whenever a player dies, their team's fuel depot loses one unit of fuel. Whichever team fills their depot first is the winner. This game type is original to Tribes: Vengeance

Maps can differ from a lush area like this to a rough desert landscape.

Rabbit is the only 'Free for All' game mode in Tribes: Vengeance. In this, there are no teams, but a single flag on the map somewhere, usually in the middle of the map. The objective for every player is to retrieve the flag and run. Whenever a player retrieves the flag, every other player will be alerted, and whoever has the flag will be marked as their enemy. Points are gained by holding on to the flag as long as possible and killing the other players. Points are lost by killing somebody who does not have the flag. No points are gained by killing the flag carrier. The game is timed, and whoever has the most points at the end is the winner. This game mode is common to all Tribes games, as well as many other games. Capture the Flag mode is similar to its Tribes equivalent. There are two teams, each with a flag and a flag stand. The objective for each team is to capture the enemy flag and bring it back to their base. However, the teams flag must be at their flag stand in order for them to capture the enemys flag. Points are awarded for every flag capture, and for every flag return. The game can be ended by time running out, or a team capturing the enemy flag until the max amount of captures achieved. If it is ended by time, whichever team had more points wins. Matches can end in the event of a tie.

Releases
Cancelled patch
On March 23, 2005 it was announced that Vivendi Universal games were ceasing all support for the game, beginning with the termination of the 1.1 version update. This disappointed many members of the Tribes community who had been anticipating the release. In a January, 2006 interview, in response to suggestions of a falling out between VU games and Irrational, Ken Levine commented:[2] ...This falling out with VUG is some kind of Jedi mind trick, man. We just finished an expansion pack [for SWAT 4] for them, and it went as smooth as cream cheese. With Tribes, we did a patch, and for whatever reason they decided not to release it.

Reception

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Reception Aggregate scores

Aggregator GameRankings Metacritic Score 82% 83%

Review scores
Publication 1UP.com Game Informer GameSpot GameSpy IGN Score 8.5/10 8.5/10 8.8/10 4/5 9.0/10

The game received generally favorable reviews.[3] Most reviewers agreed that the single-player campaign did a decent job of explaining the story for all three games, and retained the general Tribes "feel." Though they also noted that the game lacked some of the tactical elements found in the previous games, and that Irrational Games had simplified the game to appease a wider audience.

References
[1] http:/ / www. mobygames. com/ game/ tribes-vengeance [2] Q&A: Irrational's Ken Levine on the Take-Two takeover (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ news/ 6142322. html) - PC News at GameSpot [3] "Overview over Tribes: Vengeance reviews" (http:/ / www. metacritic. com/ games/ platforms/ pc/ tribesvengeance). Metacritic. . Retrieved 2007-03-09.

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PlayTribes
PlayTribes

Developer(s) Engine Version Platform(s) Release date(s) Genre(s) Mode(s)

GarageGames Darkstar (modified) 1.40 Microsoft Windows Cancelled First-person shooter Multiplayer

PlayTribes was a planned browser-based version of Starsiege: Tribes, an online multiplayer first-person shooter developed by the now defunct Dynamix game studio in 1998 for the PC. InstantAction first announced PlayTribes in March 2009, along with their acquisition of the Tribes intellectual property.[1] An open beta was scheduled to release that summer but was pushed back after Louis Castle came on board as their new CEO, and changed the focus of the company to develop a new game-embed platform.[2] The game was shown off in September 2009 at PAX in a relatively playable state.[3] On October 23, 2010, Hi-Rez Studios announced that they had bought the Tribes IP from InstantAction, which canceled any future development on PlayTribes.[4]

References
[1] InstantAction Brings Tribes To Your Web Browser (http:/ / kotaku. com/ 5171349/ instantaction-brings-tribes-to-your-web-browser) [2] Could Tribes Make a Return? (Updated) (http:/ / www. bravenewgamer. com/ 2009/ 12/ instantaction-tribes-and-you/ ) [3] PAX 2009: InstantAction Tribes hands-on impressions (http:/ / news. bigdownload. com/ 2009/ 09/ 05/ pax-2009-instantaction-tribes-hands-on-impressions/ ) [4] Hi-Rez Announce Tribes Universe (http:/ / www. rockpapershotgun. com/ 2010/ 10/ 24/ hi-rez-announce-tribes-universe/ )

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Miscellany

Article Sources and Contributors

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Article Sources and Contributors

Tribes series Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=449782009 Contributors: Starsiege: Tribes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=446347979 Contributors: Tribes 2 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448886637 Contributors: Tribes Aerial Assault Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=447483507 Contributors: Tribes: Vengeance Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=436118867 Contributors: PlayTribes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=449646450 Contributors: -

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:StarsiegeTribesBox.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:StarsiegeTribesBox.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: Image:Sshot0028.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sshot0028.png License: unknown Contributors: File:Tribes 2 cover.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tribes_2_cover.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: Image:Tribes Aerial Assault.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tribes_Aerial_Assault.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: Image:tvbox.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tvbox.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: File:Tribes Vengeance Tiberius Death.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tribes_Vengeance_Tiberius_Death.jpg License: unknown Contributors: File:tv emerald-1.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Tv_emerald-1.jpg License: unknown Contributors: File:Playtribeslogo.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Playtribeslogo.png License: Fair Use Contributors: -

License

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License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/