Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Tribes: Aerial Assault

Written by Matt Partington on August 08, 2002

First Impressions: Here's therapy: wreaking havoc in the enemy's base.

It wasn't very surprising when the PC game Tribes gained a large and steady fan-base, despite it being the first fully-online first-person shooter. Tribes relied highly on strategy and teamwork, up to 60 players could battle simultaneously. Tribes 2 was later released, and improved upon the series in about every way. Making a transfer to console gaming, Inevitable Entertainment and Sierra will be releasing Tribes Aerial Assault on the PlayStation 2. Unlike its predecessors, Aerial Assault will be both online and offline. Aerial Assault might look like a Tribes 2 add-on, but it actually has been developed from scratch, with a new graphics engine. Some things remain the same, such as classes and weapons, but much has been changed to suit the console gaming audience.

There are several different types of games in Aerial Assault. Even though the Tribes series is most well-known for it's massive online play, this next installment has both single-player and multi-player gamers. Single-player boasts a campaign mode with 11 total missions. If you have 56k or no online capabilities, you can engage in skirmishes with extremely smart AI bots (which I mention later on). Some of the games are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture and Hold, Hunters, and Capture the Flag. Deathmatch is an every-man-for-himself game, and Team Deathmatch is where you buddy up with other players and give an ol' fashion'd battle. Capture and Hold is pretty self-explanatory, and Hunters is a territory game where you kill an enemy, grab their flag and take it to your own capture point. Lastly is Capture the FlagЦa bit run-of-the-mill, but will probably be one of the more popular games. These games can be played online, and offline. You can play clash with your crony offline also, with two-player games.

A defining characteristic of the Tribes series is the versatility of roles. Starting out as a light armor, medium armor, and heavy armor character turns into executing several different types of tasks and jobs. For instance, heavy armor will probably lead to protecting your base and establishing turrets for protective fire, or a Уheavy defender.Ф Light armor might result in taking a jet fighter across the rolling hills to the enemy's base and attempting to grab their flag or cause mayhem, or rather a Уlight infantry.Ф Each class has their individual abilities and skills. The heavy armor class gets the most contraptions, but can't pilot any vehicles. They can also hold the most weapons (five). Medium armor has access to some vehicles and some gadgets. Light armor can pilot all the vehicles and use only a small selection of gadgets. Heavy armor makes you virtually untouchable, but your mobility is very low; light armor is quite the opposite, and medium is obviously in-between. What this results in is Уsomething for everyone,Ф and a skill for every type of gamer to master. If you like being defensive, you'll spend most of your time inside the base and protecting it from enemy attacks. Offensive players can plan strategic attacks on your opponent. People who like to help around can jump in a Transport and carry up to four allies around to a battle-torn field, or repair damaged turrets.

There are four vehicles in Aerial Assault. First is the Transport, which carries five including the pilot. It's slow, but important at certain times. The Grav Cycle is a high speed jet, but has no firepower. The Fighter is a relatively fast vehicle with missiles and gunfire. Last is the Bomber, which is exactly what the name suggests. Aside from that, there are eight weapons in your arsenal. These include the grenade launcher, fusion mortar, blaster, laser rifle, spinfusor, plasma rifle, chaingun, and missile launcher. All will help define your character, such as the laser rifle which is a sniper rifle at its simplest notion. Each weapon serves a different purpose, also; no two have the same mechanics.

Just like the past Tribes games, you will be suited up with a jetpack. This will allow you to not only travel horizontally, but vertically, which adds entirely new strategies to the game. As the name suggest, Aerial Assault will have a nice amount of flying combat. The jetpack will also let you use the skiing technique. Skiing is quite easy, you simply let off your jetpack booster and put your momentum into sliding down the large rolling hills that has made the Tribes setting so distinct. Skiing will play a big part in your strategy, giving you a great opportunity to move swiftly across a lot of terrain. Just watch out for those heat-seeking missiles...

Aerial Assault has utilized the DualShock controller to it's fullest. Like most FPSs, the two joysticks will serve as movement. The R1 button will propel you upwards with your jetpack, and the L1 button will accomplish the skiing technique, as well as jump. L2 will serve as your gunfire trigger, and Square will lock-on to enemies. Circle will switch your artillery. The control scheme is jam-packed, hopefully it'll work out all right.

What used to be 60 players online is now 16 maximum. If you're stuck in the past with 56k, don't worry, you'll be able to play online, but only with up to four at a time. For those cable users, eight players will be the limit. Only people with DSL and above will be able to have the full 16 player experience. This isn't as much of a problem as you might assumeЦyou can put plenty of bots to take up the remaining slots. The AI is supposed to be spectacular, performing equally as well as humans, if not better at times. They will follow strategies, create their own, and do whatever is necessary to win. One thing that Tribes and Tribes 2 had problems with was lag, Aerial Assault isn't supposed to have very many server problems, and the game should run smoothly at almost all times.

Aerial Assault's visuals are nice and sharp, but probably won't make you say УWow, these graphics are amazing!Ф Still, the gigantic slopes, deep valleys, and open fields gives Tribes Aerial Assault a very discrete look. The models are smooth with good details, and the textures aren't groundbreaking but adequate. Aerial Assault's appearance doesn't live up to that high-tier visuals that the first two Tribes games offered. There was tradeoff for those games though, since the great visuals made the game's frame rate slow down considerably at hectic times. If any lag exists in Aerial Assault, it'll probably be the servers, not the graphics that caused it.

What really separates Tribes from other FPSs is the gameplay mechanics. Instead of total chaos like Half-Life, or seek-and-destroy tactics like Goldeneye 64, Aerial Assault will require different strategies that involve good timing and preciseness. Being one step ahead of your enemy is necessary for your survival, as opposed to on-the-spot reactions. Teamwork is a key element. This may require doing the dirty work such as repairing damaged turrets, but someone's gotta do it, so do it for the team!

As much as Aerial Assault might seem like Tribes 1 or 2, Inevitable Studios claims differently. The game is supposedly different, in an attempt to satisfy console gamers instead of PC Tribes fans. I've personally never been able to experience the first two Tribes games, so what exactly divides these games isn't of my concern or knowledge, but those looking for a clone of the first two games might not be satisfied by this change. It should however satisfy gamers who never played the series before, and are looking for something fresh.