Starsiege: Tribes -- death and resurrection

It was at E3, 1998, in Atlanta, Georgia that that the unheard-of, upstart FPS multiplayer shooter Starsiege: Tribes was quietly unveiled. Despite the game's 'sleeper hit' popularity and critical acclaim, however, the franchise would ultimately die in 2007, when Vivendi pulled the plugs from the servers and Tribes effectively breathed its last -- until now.

A little tribal history

Starsiege:Tribes was developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line in 1998. It was the first multiplayer-only, team-based  first person shooter, released at a time when the Internet had just begun hatching as a mainstream entity and when broadband penetration had scarcely begun. (In fact, one of Tribes' selling points was that it played very well over a modem line.)

Tribes was part of the larger Earthsiege/Starsiege universe created by Dynamix in the early/mid 1990s, which included the mech-combat games Earthsiege, Earthsiege 2, Starsiege, and the turn-based mech-combat game Cyberstorm.

The Tribes universe is set in the far future in the year 3941. Humankind has spread throughout the stars, forming into four tribes: Children of the Phoenix, the Blood Eagle, the Diamond Sword, and the Star Wolf. Each tribe has their own distinctive look, personality, and background story, but within the context of the game they are the same apart from their graphical/visual differences.

Jetpacks: The special ingredient

Tribes  was unique in a number of ways, but perhaps one of the biggest is that it was one of the first shooters to make jet packs and 'jump-flying' an integral part of the gameplay.

Because Tribes maps were comprised of both enemy bases and expansive, outdoor battlefields, long-range aerial combat skills were just as important as in-close fighting. Combined with the Tribes 'signature weapon', the Spinfusor (essentially a rocket launcher that fired discs), aerial battles were slower, more calculated, and required better timing than your usual ground-based, indoor fragfests typical of other FPS games.

Other unique features were the three customizable armor types and weapon loadouts, as well as tactical options like deployable turret defenses and vehicles. Tribes was one of the first FPS multiplayer shooters to fully integrate these features -- all of which are commonplace now in multiplayer FPS games.

Complemented with an array of tactical maps with standard capture-the-flag, capture and hold, deathmatch and other maps, as well as seamless indoor-to-outdoor transitions, Tribes was arguably well ahead of the multiplayer FPS curve in many areas in 1998. The fact that it was easily and highly modable was also a boon that enhanced its popularity. 

The Tribes 'virus'

I was working for Sierra On-line at E3 in 1998 when Tribes was unveiled. After returning from E3, Tribes quickly spread throughout the company in beta form, and became known as 'The Tribes Virus'. Everyone at Sierra was playing it -- executives, the IT dept., technical support, customer service, QA, and more than a few programmers -- the entire company seemed to spend many, many lunch hours (and then some) in spinfusor duels. Tribes launched relatively quietly in late 1998 to critical praise. 

Starsiege: Tribes is an ambitious game that successfully delivers a rich and addictive multiplayer gaming experience. -- Starsiege: Tribes Gamespot review, November 1998  

It's commercial success, however, was relatively limited -- in large part because it was so easy to pirate the game. (Many speculated that this might have been intentional -- an extreme form of 'viral marketing' -- though it was never proven, to the best of my knowledge.)

Regardless, Tribes was a critical success, and quickly spawned a dedicated, vibrant community with ladders, tournaments, clans and leaderboards.

The Tribes 'antivirus'

Unfortunately, Tribes 2 suffered a relatively poor launch, and though it also scored well with critics (8.5/10 from Gamespot), it required much better hardware to run, and suffered from technical issues -- in short, it was rushed out the door.

Unfortunately, a number of technical problems in the initial [Tribes 2] retail release have dampened some players' enthusiasm for what is otherwise an outstanding multiplayer action game." -- Tribes 2 Gamespot review, March 2001

Tribes 2 didn't sink the franchise, fortunately -- and it largely retained the original game's forumla. But it still disenfrachised some of the Tribes community.

A third, final Tribes game called Tribes: Vengeance launched in 2004. Tribes: Vengeance introduced a solid single-player storyline and returned the gameplay (and stability) of the series back to its roots. Unfortunately, it also launched at a time when other multiplayer FPS games like Unreal Tournament 2004, Counterstrike, and others had firmly staked out sizable claims in the hearts and minds of multiplayer FPS players. 

Tribes: Vengeance effectively captures the spirit of the original game, and adds a surprisingly good single-player campaign to a deep and addictive multiplayer component. 
-- Tribes: Vengeance Gamespot review, October 2004

Tribes: Vengeance was a critical success (8.8/10 with Gamespot), but not successful enough to re-invigorate the franchise and stop the eventual death of the series. Vivendi pulled the plug on Tribes servers in 2007. 

The resurrection of Tribes: Playtribes.com

At PAX 2009, I got to re-experience a resurrected Starsiege: Tribes exactly as I remembered it -- with the exception being that this time I was playing it through a Web browser, courtesy of Garage Games' Instant Action and PlayTribes.com.

And it was perfect -- down to the last pixel.

Garage games bought the entire Tribes Intellectual Property from Vivendi in March of this year, and now owns it lock, stock, and spinfusor. Currently, PlayTribes is still in beta, and GarageGames reps couldn't comment on the specifics of its future -- although they implied that it should formally launch by the end of this year.

Curious, I also asked if there were plans to update Tribes' graphics, or resurrect Tribes 2, or possibly even integrate the best features of both -- in short, I wanted to know if they were simply going to recreate the originals, or recreate them and then possibly breathe new life into them.

I even asked there were plans to resurrect the Earthsiege / Cyberstorm franchises in some capacity as browser-based games.

Unfortunately, they were mum on all fronts. Right now, they said that they just want to focus on the completion of the resurrection of the original 1998 Starsiege: Tribes -- which means getting it out of beta and into the browsers of its fans -- old and new alike.

I'll keep digging to find out what the future may hold for this restoration-in-progress, but in the meantime Tribes fans can rest assured that the game is in good hands. What I played at PAX was utterly indistinguishable from the original Tribes. It looked and played exactly like the original -- (and the producer for Tribes: Vengeance -- a friend of mine -- even stopped by to play a while and kick everyone's butts).

So here's hoping that Tribes enjoys a long, healthy, new found life when it (re) launches -- hopefully before the end of this year. Stay tuned for more info as I get it.

For more info 

• Visit Playtribes.com for more info
• Read the InstantAction blog for more info
• Read more about GarageGames