well improving graphics always helps the sales go up !Hi-Rez Studios has polished up Tribes: Ascend nicely. The vibrant colors make the game stand out from a lot of most recent shooters. When you get shot your screen temporarily cracks as if you were in a mechanical suit that is being torn apart.
It's not SUPPOSED to be a traditional shooter, though you can't really tell with the upgrade system they used. If you want close corridors running around then you have bucketloads of other choices. Speed is what sets this game apart. It's a twitch shooter that takes full use mouse + keyboard controls.
Also, the weapons all have pretty good range. Leading your fast moving target properly for the kill is very satisfying. If you don't want to use AOE weapons, then you don't have to.
What's only available with gold?
Couple skins for the Infiltrator class from what I see.
This game is stupidly addicting - I guess because there's nothing that makes specific players overpowered. The only frustrating aspect is when you get RIDICULOUSLY good skiers and they get the flag.
Speed is what's unique to it for sure, but it feels like more of a gimmick than anything else to me I guess. It's almost like if you took TF2 and gave everyone scout speed, then 'when everyone's special [fast], is anyone?' kind of thing.
So far I've played primarily pathfinder but my only secondary weapon is still the Shotgun, so I may feel more reliant on [spinfusor] AoE than other classes are given the shotty's poor range and high scatter, but on the other hand I can nearly count on one hand the number of times I've died to a normal 'gun' whereas every other death [out of many of them lol] has been to spinfusor/thumper/mortar/grenade/etc and of course turrets.
Played it for about an hour and a half. It's good. Except all classes besides the pathfinder are shit ... the pathfinder has all the good weapons.
I played tribes back in the day, and frankly I always sucked at it. I liked the different classes and packs though but I just was never very good at the high flying and skiing game play. I did enjoy repairing generators for some reason though. I'm not sure if I'll check this one out, I doubt I'll want to suffer the abuse and like others I kind of despise leveling systems in FPS.
To be fair the 'levelling' is nothing more than a carrot on a stick to help people feel like they're 'accomplishing' something by playing and thus keep them playing.
Most of the 'upgrades' you obtain with the XP over time are pretty marginal and the first 2-3 for each slot are generally quite inexpensive. I've gotten almost all the initial pathfinder upgrades after only a couple evenings of play. I would say only the alternate weapons and perks are actually 'expensive'.
New weapons are definitely pricey. The perks too since it seems like they're unlocked per class and not unlocked for all clases after purchase.
Nah, the perks unlock for all classes at once. You don't need to rebuy them on different classes. They really aren't that bad.
This, by far, has got to be the best - and most likely most interesting - casual shooter out there.
I'm playing on 3 monitors and it looks like my view is zoomed in constantly. Can't find a zoom key. weird.
I paid $20 and unlocked all the classes tonight. Was happy to support them, since I'm having so much fun with the game. It could just be perception but I feel like I'm getting exp significantly faster. Not sure if they give a bonus for paying customers but it feels like it. All in all, having played a few additional classes I think they got the balance about right. They all have strong and weak points, and nothing seems completely overpowered so far.
When you make any purchase with real money you automatically become a VIP member and earn like 50% more exp