\$60? Is that a joke? Your family can't live on ramen and disappointment alone. So, what's a penny pinching gamer like yourself to do? Why, dive into the ever-expanding world of free-to-play games, of course. Yeah, they sometimes get a bad rap, but the fact of the matter is, they're here to stay, and F2P does not just mean Farmville anymore. In this column, Nathan Grayson picks out the cream of the free-to-play crop so you don't have to.
What Is It?
Tribes is among the most beloved franchises in PC gaming history, but its execution over the years has been – like the limbs of someone who's met the wrong end of a spinfusor disc – all over the place. After console jaunt Tribes Aerial Assault and the Irrational-developed Tribes Vengeance failed to set the world on fire, the series went dormant for nearly seven years. Absence, however, only makes the heart grow fonder – especially when nostalgia's emotion-amplifying rose-tinted glasses are involved. Really, though, that might not be such a bad thing. An incredibly demanding fanbase has stalked new developer Hi-Rez Studios' every step, resulting in a game that's almost slavishy devoted to its source material.
Why Is It Free to Play?
If Hi-Rez Studios' previous track record is any indication, it loves precisely two things: free-to-play games and jetpacks. Conveniently, both are applicable in this situation. CEO Todd Harris, though, doesn't believe this to be some sloppy business model duct tape job. Tribes, he told me, has all the right ingredients for F2P in its DNA.
"For us, we're really trying to avoid a pay-to-win or pay-for-direct-power model," Harris said. "So then, the question is how are you going to do it? With Tribes, the game is based so much around freedom for the player and teamwork that this idea of unlocking classes so that you can progress horizontally just made a lot of sense."
"So basically, even before free-to-play, we decided we wanted it to be class-based. And once we had a class-based game, that led us to a free-to-play design that was not pay-to-win where you could just buy a weapon that shoots more damaging discs."
What Are You Paying for?
It'd be easy for Hi-Rez to slap price tags on all the best guns – and perhaps put a strict limit on the number of times you're allowed to say "Shazbot" per match – and call it a day. But it'd also be easy for Hi-Rez to hurl a block of concrete at a hornet's nest and stand still for the inevitable tidal wave tornado of stinging pain that results. Point being, that wouldn't fly with Tribes fans. Not one bit. Make no mistake: Hi-Rez is still kicking a series mainstay – highly customizable gear loadouts – to the curb, but a constant influx of varied classes aims to take the edge off.
"There are three things [we're charging for]: Classes, which you can also earn through gameplay – but you can get them more quickly if you buy them. The second one is boosts. We do have out-of-match progression, so you get XP and earn ranks. Boosts let you do that faster. And the third is cosmetic items – skins and that sort of thing," Harris explained.
Choice, then, isn't six feet under. Instead, it's merely jetpack jumped six feet to the side. Ascend will – at least, once you've unlocked them all – offer 12 classes to switch between mid-match and various swappable perks accrued from leveling up. In other words, it's a matter of "different, not better." Still though, in the wrong hands, this could go from dream franchise revival to balancing nightmare in a heartbeat. And while that'll always be a concern, Hi-Rez's Global Agenda MMO has a pretty great reputation in that regard.
How Does It Play?
Happily, the map I played on was extremely conducive to all sorts of battles. It wasn't quite Tribes 2 huge, but bases were far enough apart that I had to trek quite a ways when I wasn't rocketing around in some type of vehicle. Regardless, I found myself in everything from tense one-on-one duels to free-for-alls that resembled some sort of underground cricket fighting league. Chaos and intelligent tactics shared the spotlight quite willingly – although a convention crowd CTF match was hardly the best place to measure truly high-level tactics.
Even so, I managed to wrack up my fair share of memorable moments. At one point, I went toe-to-toe with a guy whose skills quite clearly put my Baby's-First-BFG-level attempts to shame. So I got desperate and – more importantly – stupid. He was pelting me with splash damage-prone plasma, so my "Why the hell not?" response kicked in. I closed the distance until I technically counted as one of his most involved relationships. He tried to leap away, but I wouldn't let him. I repeated this process until – BOOM – he killed both of us. Everyone loses! Now that's my kind of tie.
I tried out a few classes, as well. The basic Spinfusor-equipped soldier, of course, played like a dream. A heavier machine weapon-based class, meanwhile, took some getting used to, but also felt pretty capable of holding its own. Still though, it's hard not to lament the absence of previous Tribes' customization options. This new method's quick and convenient, sure, but not nearly as personal.
What's Next?
Tribes Ascend is free-to-play, and it means it. Case in point: what's in the pipeline for the game post-launch.
"All new maps will be available [for free]," Harris told me. "We don't want to segment the community. We'll add a lot of classes after we release. It'll take quite a long time for a free player to earn those, but they'll have a path to it. But as far as new maps and gametypes go, the idea is to keep it free."
Nathan Grayson is a freelancer based out of Dallas, Texas. He writes about games for everybody imaginable, but his real dream is to join the esteemed staff of Cat Fancy.
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