Gaming Friday: Tribes Ascend Beta

This week on our Gaming Friday segment we are back to a first-person shooter!  A lot of people may not believe me, but this is my first time playing a Tribes game.  Tribes Ascend is a upcoming free-to-play multiplayer-only first-person shooter.  I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Tribes franchise.  The Beta for the game is currently out and available for everyone to download.  I have been playing it for the past week and I am really enjoying it.  Read on to see what Tribes Ascend is all about and to see our gameplay video!

To really show you what the game is all why not just play it and record the action?  That’s what we did so here you go.

There are currently 9 classes in the game: Pathfinder, Sentinel, Infiltrator, Soldier, Technician, Raider, Juggernaut, Doombringer, and Brute.  When you start the game the Pathfinder, Soldier and Juggernaut and the only available classes to be.  You can unlock the other classes by using your gained experience points or buying gold using the micro-transaction system.  Once you gain XP by playing matches you can go in an upgrade your weapons, armor and other items for each class.

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As I say in the video the game is all about skiing.  This is a technique that you use to get around the large maps.  If you have never played a Tribes game before this technique takes a little bit of time to master.  Basically you enable skiing when you are going down a slope then use your jet pack to boost off up into the air.  Once you master it you will be able to zip around the levels very easily.

This game is multiplayer-only and currently game modes are Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag and Arena.  Team Deathmatch is a normal deathmatch game, except you are split into 2 teams.  One interesting aspect to team deathmatch is that there is a flag.  When your team has the flag your kills count as 2 rather than one.  This means everyone is going for the flag carrier, which can lead to some pretty intense battles.

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In capture the flag there are 2 teams again and your goal is to go get the other teams flag and return it to your base without letting the other team pickup your flag.  On the maps you have 2 bases setup with defenses so if you are going to be playing offense and trying to get the flag you are going to want to be wary of where the turrets are and either get past them quickly or destroy them.  Skiing is a big part of capture the flag because it allows you to get in the enemies base quickly and get back to your base.  Another thing that is cool about the capture the flag mode is that it if you are the technician you can build turrets around your base for added protection of the flag.  Actually I think that capture the flag is the only mode where the technician is really useful.

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As you can see from the gameplay video above there is a lot of action in the game and it is quick.  This had a lot to do with the skiing mechanic and the large maps.  So what are you waiting for go download the game and start playing!  You have no excuse not to, it is a free game!

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