Games Ahead of Their Time #1
Starsiege Tribes

Starsiege: Tribes, Sierra, Dynamix, 1999: A Game From the End of a Century

Tribes was one of the first games to offer online-only play. This certainly doesn’t make it ahead of its time. As a matter of fact, no one aspect of this game puts it in that category. What does it is the overall package the game offered.

Gamers had seen online play in Duke Nukem, Doom, and various other games that well predated Tribes. The same way System Shock offered more depth in story and character development, Tribes offered a much deeper online experience. It wasn’t just shoot, shoot, shoot.

For the first time, players had to really cooperate and strategize in order to achieve victory. There were different jobs to be carried out and equipment that needed to be deployed. That equipment was also a big innovation, as was the several different sort of packs a player could equip. You could drive vehicles and fly in mini-ships. It all had to be a coordinated effort to lead to victory. This was all true innovation on the standard online play model.

Tribes also offered sped up gameplay with the standard jetpack, which allowed players to fly for short periods of time. Sure, this was done in Duke but it was done so much better in Tribes. The addition of player classes really set this game apart and allowed a variety of gameplay. You could choose a class that fit your playing style, instead of just being some standard character.

Most of the innovations in Tribes can be seen in later games, showing how it paved the way for the online FPS. Point and shoot style games fell out of favor fast. Players wanted variety and they wanted new additions. Tribes offered that, but at a time when most players hadn’t had their fill of the basic FPS. To say Tribes was a failure would be wrong. Tens of thousands of people still play it today, 8 years after its release. It didn’t achieve real commercial success, and it could just be that players were only getting into online play and the complexity of this game was just too much. Also, many people might have confused it with its Mech-style cousin, Starsiege. Whatever the reason, the people that passed this one over missed out on a game that offered a glimpse into the future of FPS gaming. Too bad the sequel to this game stunk..

Want to play Space Quest V? Check this out.