I like to consider myself a fan of the first person shooter genre.  I've played a lot of the "best of the best" shooters out there.  Games like Half-Life, Quake 2, and the original Doom series.  I've been playing these games almost as long as I've been playing video games as a hobby.  So I was a little casual when I first sat down to take a sneak peak at the new game that Irrational Games and Vivendi Universal Games have put together.  A little title they call Tribes: Vengeance.

In the first ten minutes I was hooked.  This game went from being something I was vaguely interested in to the top of my must haves list.

Vengeance is a wonderful game on many, many levels.  The single player game was so involving that I first sat down to get a feel for the game I didn't stop for almost 4 hours.  The graphics are wonderful, and the controls handled extremely well.  I can't remember the last time I was this impressed with a game.

About the only problem I had with the controls was using the skis that all players have access to.  Of course, considering my own short (and painful) experiences trying to ski in real life that was probably, just me.  Flying with the jetpack worked like a dream.  The controls were so responsive I was pulling stunts (and surviving) that I wouldn't have tried on older games.  Even more impressive was the computer AI.  The levels are designed on a 3D scale.  Things are rarely linear, which means the AI has to adapt for changes in height as much as it needs to adapt for changes in direction.  I was awestruck when I first got into the area levels of the single-player game.  The AI was bounding over hills, taking flight to avoid missiles and other area-effect weapons, and giving me a run for my money.

Another feature to the game is that players could design their own armor sets.  Each of the types of armor, from the slow and sturdy Heavy to the fast and fragile Light can equip a number of weapons and support packs.  And if you end up making a choice you don't like there is always another option:  Kill the next player and take a look at what he was carrying.  Players can replace weapons on the field without having to exit out to a clumsy interface screen.  Just be sure to take a quick look around before trying to equip a new weapon.  The poor newb you just fragged might have a friend nearby looking for some payback...

Unlike other game series that try to create a driving reason for why the carnage exists, Tribes: Vengeance created a believable story for why the universe is the way it is.  I've seen movies with less plot then Vengeance.  Being able to play through multiple levels as different characters gives the player a greater sense of immediacy.  Instead of reading some text or listening to some recorded speech talking about what happened you know.  After all, you're the one who dared the impossible.  There's even one spot where the player gets to play two different characters in the same level.

I can only imagine the fun players will have when this game hits the shelves.  During the arena levels I got to see several different options the game has available for cooperative team play.  Games like capture-the-flag are a gaming standard, but the "fuel rounds" were just as much fun.  Running around the landscape finding hidden "fuel" reserves to bring back to the team depot was a challenge.  Even more difficult was stealing fuel from the opponents while trying to defend your own depot from thieves.

The graphics are run on an enhanced Unreal Engine and come across as crisp and clear.  I was especially taken with the level design that the developers put into the game.  Everything is color coded, which is entertaining, but there are also architectural styles for each of the major cultures in the game (Imperial, Phoenix Tribe, and Blood Eagle Tribe.)  Each culture has their own armor design to go along with their buildings, and each is unique.  The graphics were not as awe-inspiring as the very latest graphics engines can render (like Quake 3) but they were still impressive.  My machine had no problems rendering everything perfectly.

Tribes: Vengeance is definitely worth a good look (or two or three!) for any die-hard first-person-shooter fan.  With the entertaining story the first person game is definitely worth playing all the way through.  The ease of the control system will help anyone learn how to handle themselves quickly and the multiplayer options are definitely worth the sale price.

Gameplay: 9.0
The controls handled better than anything I have seen in a long time.  Incorporating running, flying, skiing, and driving vehicles into one control system had me a little nervous before playing Vengeance.  I was pleasantly shocked at how easy everything works together.  Learning how to drive a tank, fly by myself, or man a turret on the side of an assault hovercraft were just as easy as learning how to run around on the ground.
 

Graphics: 9.0
The graphics for Vengeance were amazingly well done.  The level designs were exceptional; especially considering it is one of the few games I have played that made me think in three dimensions.
 

Sound: 8.5
The voice-overs in Vengeance are handled very well complete with lip synch on the part of the 3D models.  The sounds came across very well, letting me know what was going on in the area around me.  The musical soundtrack was also very good.  About half-way through the single player game I found myself wondering if they're going to release a soundtrack for this game.
 

Difficulty: Medium
Vengeance is easy to learn and even easier to get started on.  This changes as the players change the difficulty settings for the single player game or get online and mix it up with other players.  As always with an online first person shooter, mileage may vary.  Just remember the truth to online shooters:  there's always someone with less lag.
 

Concept: 9.5
The story line for the single player is great.  The multiplayer action involves ideas that I have never seen done as well.  Being able to customize your character is another added perk.
 

Multiplayer: 9.0
I didn't actually get to play multiplayer with live people, but just looking at the arena levels had me shutting down the single-player game and trying to find a server.  This is the first game since I saw Team Fortress and Counter-Strike for Half-Life that had me trying to hop online as fast as I could.  Playing against the AI bots in the single player game was enough fun that I started those levels over from scratch several times after beating them.
 

Overall: 9.0
Tribes: Vengeance is easily one of the best first person shooters I've seen in a long time.  The last time I had this much fun with a shooter was with Half-Life when it first came out.  The great controls, involving storyline for the single-player game, good sound track, and the multiplayer options available make for an impressive game.