Hey guys... Tribes 2 is back!

[PatMan33]

That's right, Tribes 2 is back! It's time to dust off your spinfusors and work on your enunciation of "shazbot!". Our friends at Sierra took the sequel to Starsiege: Tribes offline late last year... thankfully the community jumped in to save one of the best multiplayer First Person Shooters ever. Don't worry about any fees or anything, the game is free to play now.

If you're interested, check out the site for Tribes: Next. At that site you'll find everything you need to download and install the beta client and get into the battle.

Gameplay wise, there's nothing quite like Tribes 2. You are allowed to select your character's armor (light, medium, heavy) and then their weapon loadout. Also, you can choose a special item called a "pack". Packs give you a special ability. Repair packs allow you to heal yourself, teammates, and fix base defenses, generators, shields, and sensors. You're also given the option to pick from an array of grenades and mines. Once you do that all you've got to do is step into an inventory station and the changes will take effect. You'll never have to reload or find ammo or anything like that... if you need more stuff, hop back into the inventory station! Easy and fun!

Players can choose to attack on foot or with vehicles. Vehicles range from hover tanks, mobile bases, speeder bikes, and a large assortment of fliers that range from personal scouting vehicles to full-fledged bombers. If none of that catches your fancy, push your finger down on the right mouse button and take to the sky with your jetpack (everyone gets one!!).

Play this game while you can, it's free! Nobody knows if Sierra (now part of Activision-Blizzard) will pull the plug but don't wait around to find out! Tribes 2 is a phenomenal game. Please note, this re-release is still in beta stages and there are some hiccups. With any luck they'll be fixed soon.