I've been following the development of T:V pretty rabidly. I tried to get into the closed beta, but wasn't accepted. Oh well. As soon as open beta starts, I'll be playing the hell out of it.

I played the original Tribes for about 2 years, then went to Tribes 2 when it was released. Unfortunately, T2 disappointed me. The new CTF scoring system and the slower feel of the game turned me off. I still played it for several months though.

This new game looks to be much faster paced, which bodes well for a career flag capper like me.

If anyone else has been following the development of this new game or was actually in the beta, please share your impressions. Otherwise, if you played the earlier games, how about relating your stories from them?

Back in the days of the first Tribes, I played the Renegades mod almost exclusively and was a member of two powerful clans. I'd particularly be interested in hearing from people who played Rengades.

I only played tribes 2. It was OK. :(

Meh, Tribes 2 was nothing next to the original. A pale shadow.

With T:V in the first stage of open beta, I thought I'd post some of my initial impressions of it.

After spending just a few hours playing it, I can already tell that this is going to be one of the best multiplayer FPS's ever. It's fast-paced, but also strategic, not a random frag-fest. Also, the lousy scoring system from Tribes 2 is gone in favor of the superior original.

There are some handy new gadgets you can make use of, including - of all things - a grappling hook. This thing is useful for making fast turnarounds at high speed and latching onto aircraft, either to hitch a ride or get close enough to destroy it. Another thing, which I haven't used much, is the buckler: a small shield that's also used as a thrown weapon.

The vehicles are particularly interesting. I've seen four types of them so far. A rover, which is good for ground transport. A tank, which should speak for itself. A fighter, which is astoundingly fun to pilot. And lastly, an assault ship which can cause some massive carnage when it's fully manned. Unlike the previous Tribes games, they're not available on demand, so keeping them intact is much more important this time.

The flight mechanic is more refined than ever. It's fast, easy to get the hang of, and has a lot of depth so that a skilled flier can cover much more ground than a newbie. In previous games, a technique called skiing (which was basically skimming the ground to conserve thruster power) was used to move faster. This time, it's been made simpler and has different effects based on armor type.

At this point, there are only two major bugs to be worked out. One causes your system to lock up while selecting inventory; the other causes you to get stuck momentarily on certain objects. Neither occurs frequently - in fact, I haven't experienced the lock-up error at all - so they're not a big concern.

All in all, this looks like it'll be an incredible game at its release; truly a worthy successor to the genre-redefining Starsiege Tribes.