After poking around on the official website, I'm starting to have some doubts about this game. I like the concept, the graphics are nice but not expensive-upgrade nice, and it sure does look like Tribes, but the weapon/vehicle/deployable lists look an awful lot like Halo.
The weapons are very generic-looking, and almost all of them are kinetic. Almost nothing does appreciable splash damage, whereas in Tribes 2 almost everything made big explosions. I worry that hitting players with jetpacks and high-speed movement will be difficult with just direct-fire weapons.
The guns seem to be generic in function as well. You've got a shotgun, an assault rifle, a machine gun, a pistol, etc. I don't see anything to suggest that they work in any unusual way. In Tribes 2, your main all-purpose gun was the Spinfusor which shot a blue spinning explosive disc of death, and if it hit you directly it would spin you around. It had good range and lots of splash, but fired slowly. No spray-n-pray assault rifle here; this thing took skill and had character.
The closest thing to a shotgun was the Plasma Rifle, which fired a golden ball of energy that exploded on impact. The projectile didn't spread, so you had to hit directly or aim at your opponent's feet to get them in the splash damage. It also disrupted shields, making it great for wrecking the enemy base. Blaster shots bounced off walls, mortars filled the area with green smoke, the Shocklance (melee weapon) sent you flying, etc. Every weapon had its own unique quirk that made it fun and interesting.
Vehicles are pretty lacking, too. They've got a mech thing, a 4-man tank, and (maybe) a VTOL supply aircraft. Tribes 2 didn't have a mech (except in mods) but it did have a 2-man tank, a hoverbike for scouting, a mobile base, a fighter aircraft, a 3-man bomber, and a 6-man flying transport. Tank/Mech/Plane feels too limiting in comparison.
Deployables are okay, as you probably don't really need three types of sensors, but I'm going to miss swapping in ELF barrels to drop flag-cappers into my ring of spike turrets.
Maybe my nostalgia is making me too hard on the game. I hope so. If there's really an open beta starting soon, maybe I'll get to find out.
