The Soviets' efforts never came to fruition, however, and the facility is now abandoned - or at least thought to be. Sometime after the events of World War II, towards the beginning of the Cold War, the Soviets discovered a powerful element called "E99" (or "E to the 99th power") that allowed them to develop weapons that were far superior to anything that the West was able make. Set in one of my favorite gaming genres, Singularity is a Sci-Fi shooter that takes place on a remote island that is owned by the former Soviet Union, called "Katorga 12". He put a glimmer of hope in my shadow of a doubt, and I'm sure glad that he did, because Singularity turned out to be quite the enjoyable experience. Since our taste in games is pretty similar, I started having second thoughts. As it got closer, though, one of my gaming buddies mentioned that he had been following it for quite some time, and was thinking about buying it. I stopped following its production and basically forgot about it for the next three months. It looked a bit too similar to Bioshock, which I was not a huge fan of, and I thought I would just sit this one out in anticipation of a better game. When I first heard about the game Singularity and saw bit of gameplay footage, I wasn't immediately excited about playing it. And become a better person because of it (probably).
So here's what you do: go to the the Tribes: Ascend website, download it, and start kicking some ass right now. Yeah - it'll cost you much less than some of the steaming piles of crap that people call games out there, and it already kicks ass. Oh, and the best part of all? The damn thing's free. To be fair, Tribes: Ascend is still in the beta stages (though the beta is now open to the public), but if the plan is to do nothing but improve the game based on player feedback from here on out, then I'm already sold on this game.
A few of the gameplay mechanics and your ability to acquire weapons have been somewhat tweaked to fit the Free to Play format (you have to level up and spend points to earn new weapons and equipment), and HiRez Studios has even added some new weapons and items, but for the most part the game feels like an old friend from the past. The graphics are the best of any Tribes game to date, and the physics will have your stomach turning knots when the action gets heavy. Combined with jetpacking, players can build up some serious momentum and travel at speeds previously unheard of in FPS games.Īlong with movement, much of Tribes: Ascend is virtually identical to Tribes 2 (though much better). You're also given the ability to "ski", which allows players to essentially ignore friction for the most part and slide across the ground on your feet. The intensity of combat and the fast pace of the game might remind some of games like Unreal Tournament or the like, however - Tribes offers a whole new dimension of movement by giving players the ability to fly for short distances, which makes it kick so much more ass than Unreal Tournament games. For those who have never touched a Tribes game, it will provide a refreshing, riveting experience like none you've ever had. For those who have played Tribes 2, the game will be extremely familiar. For an oldschool gamer such as myself, Tribes: Ascend is a delightful little slice of nostalgia that has brought back (and improved upon) countless memories of jetpacking, disc-slinging, and truly kickass gameplay.