Flying around in rocket-powered armor is cool. At least, that"s always been the philosophy behind the Tribes franchise. For those unfamiliar, it"s a first-person shooter series that straddles the line between Unreal Tournament and Battlefield 1942 with one major difference—everyone gets a jetpack that facilitates soaring and sliding along the z-axis, letting gamers reach places they could only dream of in other games of the type.
But the Tribes saga has been a notoriously rocky one. The original Tribes never really climbed out of its hardcore multiplayer online niche, and 2001"s Tribes 2 was nearly classified as a franchise-killing disaster thanks to a super-wonky launch plagued with bugs, patches, and buggy patches. But apparently the Tribes philosophy (i.e. jetpacks are cool) was a cause worth fighting for; and the folks at Vivendi Universal Games have somehow found it in their hearts to give the series another go with a new developer (Irrational Games, makers of the superhero tactical RPG Freedom Force) and a brand-new engine.