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TRIBES HAS ALWAYS BEEN a unique series of games. One of the few FPS games to include the third dimension so strongly into player movement along with the large outdoor environments being played in made for a multi-player experience quite unlike any other.

Tribes 2 strengthened this and, somewhat controversially, went down a stronger squad tactical route that required co-operation between teammates to achieve goals within the game. This made for a great clan play aspect to the game but the more disorganised by nature public games suffered as a result.

Not helping matters was the closure of Dynamix shortly after Tribes 2 was released, which left the game in an uncertain state for some months, until Sierra did the right thing and contracted Garage Games to release a final patch to sort out longstanding engine instability issues.

Fans of the series thought that this was the end, but it seems that Sierra had other plans and handed the series to Australian developers Irrational Games to work on. This is something of a surprise move because Irrational are best known for their story-driven, single-player games like System Shock 2, Freedom Force and The Lost. To their credit, Irrational realised they were lacking in experience with multiplayer games and hired a variety of talent to bridge that lack, as well as opting to run an open beta process that allows fans of the series to give their take on the series and help the developers tune it.

So how have they done?

Quite well: in plot terms the game is pitched as a prequel to the first two games, and chronicles the rise of the tribes to their position of prominence in the later games. Little can be seen of the single player story but Irrational's track record is such that we have few fears on this count.

Multiplayer feels like a return to the original Tribes' style of play with further streamlining and tweaking. New weapons have been introduced and the complex system of sensors, jamming systems and the like has been largely removed. Also simplified is the choice of backpacks with only four available.

The overall feel is of a game tightly focused on giving players mobility of movement as well as a fast and frantic style of gameplay. While the game in the beta stage is undeniably fun, we do have reservations about it for the longer term. With its strong balance on favouring offensive tactics (which makes pub play workable) as well as the enhanced speed, the game seems sort of like a "Tribes Lite". Indeed, one of the hallmarks of the original games was in being the "thinking man's shooter," thanks to the slower movement model which allowed opponents to think about weapon choice and use. This has been pruned back heavily due to the increased movement speeds in the game.

Vehicles do feature, but they are so firmly secondary in capability to the personal armours we have to question why they are there for the most part. This writer has, based on his play testing, the nagging feeling that tactical diversity has been traded away too much in the aim of simplifying the game to make it friendlier to new players.

However, this is a beta, so further balancing and tweaking is continuing as the game nears its release. The addition of the new "fuel" mode of play (where teams compete not over flags but over units of fuel which must be ferried to the team fuel tank and can be stolen from the enemy team's tank) is very welcome and provides a nice twist on the classic Capture the Flag mechanics. It all adds up to a package that, despite having reservations about, we all are eagerly looking forward to trying out when the full game ships on 7th October.

Show me the screenshots!

Check out the Official Site.