As I take a break from playing Tribes 3: Rivals, I find myself conflicted.
The core of this game is really solid, but very much has its roots in Tribes: Ascend.
For those who do not know, Tribes 3: Rivals is being developed by Prophecy Games, a subsidiary of Hi Rez. Yes, that Hi Rez.


And while there is a solid team behind this game composed of people who have worked on past entries, it's that connection to Hi Rez that I can't really look past.


Tribes: Ascend was not a game that died because it wasn't popular, or due to bad support, or its slow progression, or any reason other than this: It died because Hi Rez wanted it to die.
The game was well-reviewed, critically acclaimed, and had a healthy player base. That is until July 2013, when they ceased all support for the game and left it to die, citing lackluster financial returns and wanting to better support SMITE as the reason.


Then as if to rub more salt in the wound they would come back to the game 2 years later and drop a "Out of the Blue" update on the game. This is the literal actual name of the update. "Out of the Blue.” It ended up being an honestly great update that put the game in the best state it had ever been in. But it was bittersweet, given that this was also the signal that this was the LAST update this game would ever receive. From that point on, the game slowly lost its player base until it was ultimately delisted from Steam.

So that brings us to today: Tribes 3 Rivals is out in early access and seems poised to pick up where Ascend left off.
While the game we have right now is a little sparse on content, the bones here are good. Gone is the insane grind for weapons and gadgets that players of Tribes: Ascend hated. We've got a cross section of familiar locations, classes, and weapons.

There are no vehicles at the time of this review being written.

There are two modes: Casual 16 vs 16 and Ranked 7 vs 7.
I have yet to get into a ranked match, as most seem to be interested in playing the casual 32 player mode. Hopefully as the early access period progresses and the game releases, the ranked mode will populate better.
Tribes has always pushed boundaries when it comes to huge player counts - the original game was capable of hosting 128 players, and that came out in 1998. Tribes 3 does not do this, tho to be fair neither did Tribes Ascend.


I would love to see a 64 player mode added to the game one day, but for now the chaos of a fully-populated Tribes match is preserved through smaller map sizes. I would also like to see them reintroduce vehicles and maybe even cross-play at some point.


Outside of the main versus offerings there is also a gun range and a time trial mode to practice your movement - which you will definitely want to consider doing as the game is as fast as it's ever been.
There have been some nice adjustments to the game just from a quality of life perspective, such as the new drop shadow icon that appears below enemy players. Previously you had to guestimate where they were going to land, this wasn't impossible but this new feature makes it easier than ever to nail those high speed blue plate specials. Or if you're just trying to cut off an enemy's escape you can use it as a guide for where to place those doombringer shells.

There are 6 returning classes:


The high speed capping/chasing class: Pathfinder.
The lightweight Sentinel defender equipped with the useful Nitro charge to knock the flag off a fleeing player.
The extremely versatile Raider who comes equipped with a standard Spinfusor and semi-auto grenade launcher. This is going to be the bread and butter for anyone who wants to take it to the front line or hang out in midfield and disrupt the enemy team's advance.
The Technician is back with their ability to quickly repair base assets as well as throw down defensive turrets. They get a similar build to the Raider, however I do feel their importance has been reduced somewhat. *Anyone* can equip a repair tool and effectively do the job of the Technician at the moment. Would like to see some sort of buff come their way. Maybe an extra turret?
5 & 6. And capping things off, we have the big chungus brothers: The Doombringer and Juggernaut, with very similar weapon loadouts. The big thing separating the two being that Juggernaut is able to passively regenerate health and ammo in addition to their ability to slam into targets for additional damage.

With the time I've spent with the game, I can confidently say this is an excellent entry in the series just from a pure gameplay standpoint. But I am somewhat worried about history repeating itself.

The rather expensive cosmetic season passes being prominently featured on the front page and the fact that Hi Rez is still involved (despite hiding behind another developer) are enough reasons to give me pause.

But if they're committed to bringing this series back and making it as popular as it once was, I'm willing to look past the mismanagement that occurred with Tribes: Ascend.

Tribes deserves to be up there with its peers like Quake and Unreal but has historically been relegated to an after thought both by players and developers alike. Tribes 3: Rivals in its current state is an excellent first start but it's on Prophecy Games and Hi Rez to prove to the playerbase that they’re serious about reviving Tribes. If they can stay away from chasing trends and focus on what made the previous games great, they may have a shot at bringing this once great series back from the self imposed hibernation it was in.