I was tired of running around on the ground in typical shooters. Everything was just feeling too slow. Weapons all felt the same from game to game with nothing really standing out.

I've played Tribes: Ascend since early closed beta, and I've been flying high and skiing fast while getting some of the most satisfying kill shots I've ever experienced in a game. The weapons are unique and make for very fun game play. I enjoy the game now and look forward to where it's going.

If you "gotta go fast" in a skill-based F2P title, you gotta play Tribes: Ascend.… Expand

A great fun game, but you will soon realise that overpowered weapons are released every month, meaning that if you do not get them straight away you will be at a severe disadvantage. Then one month later, a nerf to the old and overpower the new. Really is a shame as they had a great product at the start. So a month has passed since I wrote the paragraph above, guess what, nerfed the old OP weapons, released an attempt at a balanced OP weapon. Automatics dominate the game to the point that it is just another shooter, no point in going fast because you will be gunned down, no point in using any other weapon other than the smgs because if you are not using them, you will constantly die to them, this really drags the gameplay down, from a fast paced shooter to another spray and pray title.

Loads of issues with the mechanics, badly optimised, every patch lowers framerates and they do not fix any problems instead they focus on releasing more content to get a quick dollar. I very much doubt this game will last longer than another couple of months unless drastic changes take place, even then it will probably be too late as the playerbase is already dropping fast. It is getting harder and harder to get a full game.

They really have shot themselves in the foot by focussing on money grabs instead of proper balance and fixing core issues.

Don't let me put you off, try the game out for yourself, it is free after all. Just do not rush into buying gold, you will probably not spend it. Adios Tribes Ascend, you could've/should've been so great.… Expand

This review is for the beta up 'till april 10th. Good: -The game is fast paced, the maps are well designed and it's generally fun and addictive -the ski mechanic feels new and cool effectively makes big maps fast to travel on foot -vehicles are cool -good optimization options (except for the mouse in the menu) Bad: -I miss faster weaponry -I also miss more color diversity in some maps -the leveling up system is a little slow for non paying users (but maybe that's the point of it)
-the paid perks are too expensive right now.… Expand

At first I was worried that Hi-Rez Studios would screw the Tribes formula (like what Irrational Games did) but now I want them to make the rest of the Tribes games if they can, The Graphics are great the maps are fun and huge and we still have the good ole' game mechanics of Tribes 2. Plus its Free to Play!

Tribes Ascend brings me way back to the old days when unreal tournament and quake ruled all FPS gamers and games like Tribes found a niche among great shooters because of the twitchy, skill-based gameplay that found it's balance based more on your individual skill level and time played over equipment and guns used. The games classes are well balanced moving from high flying pathfinders to slower & armed to the teeth Brutes... and a several in between. the fact that this gangs is free to play is amazing... and contrary to popular pay to win models, in this Tribes Ascend there is NEVER a point when you hit a ceiling unless you throw down some cash, you can merely speed up the progression process by spending a little. Very very fun game, definitely keeping me occupied in my free time! 10!… Expand

Fantastic game, free to play but not pay to win.

Nine unique classes, lots of maps and a bunch of game modes including the the classic capture the flag.

Great community support and developers who care

Got to go fast....

This game is definitely a break from every other shooter out there, requiring a lot of skill, teamwork and speed. Great game, and I hope to see more from this developer in the future.

LOVE this game. Such a brilliant departure from the stale FPS format!

I used to play heaps of COD and CS but after years of play I got really bored with it and eventually gave up on playing multiplayer FPS online. As soon as this arrived in closed beta I was all over it and haven't been able to get enough! Highly recommended!

The Tribes Ascend is a good game that makes me feel the fun times. I love to go so so fast, not llama fat E-grab. I also like that game is free and I do not have to pay to learn playing the game!

Not a big fan of FPS games. I tried out the beta on a friend's recommendation. Definitely felt different from the others I'd played, in a good way. I had a lot of fun with it. I don't know how the hard-cores will view it, but if you don't live and breathe COD, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Decent game at first, but once you gain experience you really start to see a lot of glaring issues.

For starters, the menu structure is horrible and feels like something designed for consoles. Attempting to change a weapon or perk in the middle of a game is frustrating and time consuming. It takes a bunch of mouse clicks and key presses just to change 1 item.

Weapons lack balance! The most superior weapons in the game are machine guns and sniper rifles, while the iconic weapons like the spinfusor fail to keep pace in outdoor fights. If you come across a midfield battle against a machine gun and don't have one equipped yourself, chances are you're going to die in that fight 95% of the time. Especially with the terrible design decision to make your screen compulsively shake every time a bullet hits you. Then you have the snipers that can cover an entire map single handely. It's pathetic when one sniper can shut down a whole team of cappers.

Shrike lacks balance! Again, another weapon in the game that can single handely dictate the pace of almost any game. A decent shrike pilot can run over countless cappers with absolutely no drawbacks. The shrike is also literally impossible to hit with any weapon weapon unless it's near the ground. The only real threat to a shrike pilot is the saberlauncher and everyone knows what a joke that weapon is. It's more of an annoyance to a pilot than a threat. Then you have people who will just buy a shrike and go technician and use cheap glitches like mid-air repairing, where the person hops out of his airplane mid-air, lands on the shrike and fixes it while it floats in the air. It esentially makes the shrike invicible and impossible to kill and nullifying any damage you do to it.

Netcode is awful. If anything is above 80ms ping, the gameplay is pretty bad. Everything becomes extremely jumpy and hard to hit. Have fun trying to catch some guy that takes the flag and is lagging. He will be telporting and jumping all over the place making it impossible to land a hit. Then there is also the horrible hit detection, even with normal pings. When you're involved in a chase after someone at a fast speed and shooting at them, you will at times see an explosion land directly on your opponent or very close to his character model, but it won't deal any damage.

Chasing a flag carrier is impossible at high speeds. Trying to catch up to someone who just took your flag at 250+ speed from a standstil flat land is extremely hard. Especially with the vast majority of back to front routes that let you cap the flag in a few seconds flat, or someone that is on a. Extremely frustrating game mechanic in CTF and probably why barely anyone ever chases in pub games. The only time you will see anyone go chasing the flag is when it's a very slow guy taking it and walking off with it.

No proper team balance. Countless pub games are team stacked and end in 5-0 scores very frequently.

A good majrority of people agree that most of the maps are awful, and the only good ones are the ones that are ported from earlier tribes games.

Wonky physics that makes you feel like you're floating instead of actually flying. Feels like a hover pack instead of a jetpack.… Expand

Absolutely brilliant game. If you liked Star Siege Tribes, you'll love this game, it's a total throwback to the old school. It is definitely a different type of play style when you compare it to something like Modern Warfare. Also, to anyone comparing this to Halo, let me say this; Tribes was first. For free too? Definitely get it. I put it up there with TF2.

Awesome game! True to the original and so much fun! Really gorgeous graphics and a fast pace. Love it! And it's free to play. Go play it now, people! :)

Perfect revival of a legendary game. This game is tightly designed around speed and fun and I couldn't have dreamed of a better version of the game (actually thought it might suck like the previous version but it's actually super awesome). Wait, why am I wasting time writing this review? Gotta go fast!

Words cannot describe how happy I am to have fun competitive games again. Shazbot 4 life! Fast, great gunplay, and tons of customization for your class (if you're into that).

The game is officially out now and I would like to say that it is amazing. The speed, the shooting, the skiing. It all feels awesome. I would recommend that everyone check this game out immediately.

Tribes:Ascend looked great in the beginning, but the more I played it, the more serious flaws became obvious to me.

The weapon balance is pretty bad and often makes little sense, for example a silenced pistol has a higher damage output than an assault rifle.

You have to unlock a lot of weapons that are better than the default gear, and the price both in experience points and gold/cash is steep. If you spend only $60 on T:A, you still need hundreds of hours to unlock and upgrade the good stuff. If you don't spend any money and stay f2p, you need about 40 hours to unlock each of the more expensive weapons, 30 hours for the middle priced ones and 17 hours for the cheap ones. So unless you spend most of your waking life playing this game, you won't get far without gold. You get 50% once you spend any money, but then you still need a lot of time for unlocks. You can buy xp boosters for gold that doubles the xp rate for a period, but they're usually marginally cost efficient for casual players.

HiRez has released obviously overpowered weapons in both of it's new weapon packs, and they were the most expensive ones. This shows that pay to win is how they plan to keep maximizing their revenue.

Being a team based game, team play is a very important factor. Unfortunately, in most games the teams are stacked so that one team steamrolls the other, which is neither exciting or fun. Also, overall team play is usually terrible, especially in CTF games where people often refuse to defend the flag. But if you happen end up in a game were the teams are balanced and people work together, it's a fun game.

In the Capture and Hold mode, there's less requirement for cooperation than in CTF, so the games are less chaotic, but here the classes don't work as well together as in CTF, and some of the maps used for CaH are just not well suited for it because they have rooms were people tend to crowd up and spam grenades.… Expand

Good fun. Personally I dont expect masses of depth from a game like that and I didnt get it. However, it does have some fun mechanics, it is fun to play and the FTP balancing act seems to work pretty well. A very good game well worth checking out

The golden age of FPS games is returning! Tribes Ascend is fast and skill based - nothing like the "realistic" shooters peddled primarily on consoles. I've only been playing for a few hours, but already I find the gameplay deeply satisfying. Some kills are easy, but the hardest of them mean chasing that bastard across the whole map - at break neck speed (skiing) peppering them with the assault rifle the whole time! Tons of fun!

I find the store/upgrades are a little hard to navigate and understand, but some things are simple enough to understand (i.e. +4 clip size, +5 ammo carry etc.). It's already been through a long beta, but I suspect we'll see the store improve now that they are making money from it.… Expand

Holy jesus this game is fun. Played on release for 4 hours straight and still going as I type this review. What more do I need to say? Play it and get addicted.

Well i've been playing (by playing i mean hooked on) this since november, and this game is amazing. Most people who read this have never played a tribes game, so listen: forget everything you know about shooters. Forget your piece of **** tacticool "reality simulator" (bloody screen SO REAL) shooters. Forget walking, crouching and going prone. Walking is what gets you killed and the only people who go prone are dead guys. This game is about speed, jetpacking and sliding downhill with speeds exceeding 300km/h while shooting projectile and ballistic weapons at enemies going at comparable speeds. It's completely insane and the best shooter on the market today.… Expand

Fast frenetic fun, a breath of fresh air after so many year of Call Of Plod: Modern Walking. Nothing can describe the sheer joy of speed or the sudden nausea that comes when you hit something and lose it. The game really harkens back to the great fast-paced and skilful shooters of the late 90's.

HiRez should also be commended on doing Free2Play right and continuing to engage with the community to help improve the game.… Expand

I started playing Tribes: Ascend during closed Beta, and it was good then, but I've watched as the game continued to get more polished, faster, and better. It's a challenging twitchy shooter that takes place at incredibly high speeds, but in today's pansy FPS market, this is the one game that really stands out as something different from the incredibly stale CoD/BF clones that get cranked out year after year. The challenge feeds my desire to keep playing and getting better, and like a great roller coaster, the high speed keeps me coming back for more. Highly addictive and well put together. The company (Hi-Rez Studios) also seems really laid back and good at listening to the community. I have high hopes for Tribes as it re-enters the gaming world with Ascend.… Expand

First proper skill based shooter in years. Delivers exactly what it promises: fast paced awesomeness and that in a free-to-play model. Amazing graphics, amazing gameplay, amazing fun. I'm hooked!

The first FREE game to deserve Game of The Year! or at least FPS of the year. Tribes: Ascend blew me away with the graphics and the fast, fun combat. At first it is hard to ski around and hit people but really fun once you get used to it.

Do you like fast paced,old school shooters?Well,if you do,you must have been waiting for another one for years.The waiting's over.Tribes Ascend is what you are looking for.This is the kind of shooter PC community deserves.Designed for PC,no hitscan weapons,you need to go fast and shoot efficiently,a lot of teamplay involved.Hi-rez should be praised for a product like this.Graphics are as good as UE3 can get,the style is awesome and unique,gameplay is satisfying and rewards the skilled players.What else would you expect from a Multiplayer shooter?Oh wait,it's FREE to play as well!

We surely need more games like this.Thank you hi-rez studios.… Expand

Tribes Ascend really has ascended above the Run and Gun copycats currently being played to death. Combining skiing and jetpacking has lead to a full all-axis fighting experience that only the previous tribes iterations have come close to duplicating.

You do require a beefy computer to run, but if you do you'll be treated to a beautiful game, if you don't then you're really going to struggle as the game demands fluidity in all areas.

Stick with it through the tough learning curve and if you can, spend some $ to get some extra loadouts.… Expand

This game is completely blowing away all of the CoD copies. I am tribes vet, playing every game in the series (except for the console spinoff) and I have to say this game did not let me down. I have been playing the game since closed beta, with every patch the game gets better and better. Classes are very balanced, the maps dont get old (i want more though lol!), the prices are reasonable, and best of all, its FREE. This and TF2 are the two best F2P games on the market. I'd reccomend any PC gamer to check this game out, the skiing never gets old, even if you're not good at aiming ,you can get good at skiing and cap flags lol.… Collapse