Tribes 2 follows the same sort of plotline as the first. The BioDerms of CyberStorm lore have been sweeping into the tribal colonies outside of imperial space. The tribes graciously incorporated them into the warfare that has been going on for a long time, and that's about it. It's minimal, but still ties into the Earthsiege universe, if only barely. There are also single-player missions, but who cares about those. This is a multiplayer game through and through. If you sink your teeth into Tribes 2's multiplayer component, you will not be disappointed.

Tribes 2 is a drastically better game in terms of visuals and audio than the first one. The fidelity of the models has been increased, animations are better, article effects are both fancier and cleaner, and textures have a higher resolution. This last one is important, as the landscapes of Tribes 2 are gigantic, which really requires better texturing so that it doesn't look smeared and distorted. The sound is much better, with some excellent techno beats serving as the music during off-times and the cacophony of battle serving as your in-game music. Everything you loved about the first game in terms of presentation has been improved upon here.

Tribes 2 has a number of different game modes, but the core gameplay is the same. You have health and energy, and energy can be used for your jetpack, energy weapons, or packs. Your jetpack is incredibly important, as it allows you to fly around and make yourself a much harder target for enemies. You can also ski on the slopes of the landscape to get some impressive speed to rocket yourself way out there. The gun selection ranges from the definitive Tribes weapon - the Spinfusor - to chainguns and portable mortars. That's about all there is in terms of infantry gameplay, and things haven't changed much. Get the weapons you want, ski down a mountain, and leave a trail of destruction in your wake.

Tribes was one of the first games to really incorporate vehicles into the gameplay, and Tribes 2 is no different. There's a number of new vehicles, and old standbys have been improved as well. You have ground vehicles such as a deployable base (complete with inventory stations, sensor, and spawn point) and tanks, while aerial classics such as the transport and the scout make a reappearance. It's up to the server whether or not vehicles are used, and a good chunk of Tribes elitists do not like vehicles, but you can still find some using them if you dig deep and look through all the different server selections.

As mentioned before, Tribes has quite a few game modes for those that want some variety. There's the variants of deathmatch, obviously, as well as an assault game mode and capture the flag. Capture the flag is easily the most popular of all the game modes, with most servers having this game mode on at all times. The one thing almost every team-based game mode has in common is the presence of bases. Bases serve as the respawn and restock point for each team, and include generators, inventory stations, and turrets. This is excellent, as those that aren't all that good at the fast-paced aerial combat of the series can serve their team by destroying base objects and crippling the enemy team with good sabotage. However, the enemy team can always repair base structures, and most bases have a repair pack located somewhere within to make it easy, so a saboteur has to be constantly moving around and destroying things to keep up the pressure.

Tribes 2 has a significant mod community, thanks to the few limitations of the Torque engine used in the game. Some mods are simple tweaks to the gameplay in order to make it more balanced, while others radically change how players interact with the game world. One of the most drastic changes is the construction mod, which enables players to build their own bases in a sandbox-style environment. Some variants of the construction mod include weapons for fighting as well, turning Tribes 2 into a semi-predecessor of the excellent SourceForts mod. Other big mods include instagib, extreme mods (which make all weapons behave in absurdist fashions, like shooting dozens of rockets instead of one), and new game modes. The best part is that most mods do not require an external download, but instead run on the server as a script, meaning players can jump into something new without having to pick up the necessary files from elsewhere.

Tribes 2 is a classic of the multiplayer genre, and was one of the most anticipated games before it was released. It set the bar high for future multiplayer games, and its arguable whether or not any of these games have met the expectations set by Dynamix. It's a shame that it was their last game, as future Dynamix Tribes games would've definitely been a good thing. You can download the full copy of Tribes 2 and the workaround patch (which redirects you to a functioning master server) right here on Big Download. If you have issues, you can also download it from TribesNext. Happy hunting, and try not to get shot out of the sky by an errant missile.

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