TRIBES 3: Rivals

I've been chasing the high of a perfectly chained ski run into a mid-air disc kill since Tribes: Ascend, so when Tribes 3: Rivals dropped into Early Access I was in faster than I could blink. The good news: the core movement loop is genuinely excellent. Chaining slopes into a jetpack boost, reading the terrain to maintain speed, and landing a spinfusor shot on a flag carrier screaming past at full velocity still feels like something no other shooter bothers to attempt. That kinaesthetic hook is real, and Prophecy Games deserves credit for not fumbling it. The class system gives you some loadout flexibility across light, medium, and heavy archetypes, with perks and weapons you can mix to suit a role. Capture the flag is the main event, with 7v7 competitive and larger 16v16 formats available. Custom matches let you tweak health pools, energy, thrust, and gravity, which is a smart outlet for the hardcore crowd. On movement and feel, reviewers have noted that the sliding and high-speed traversal genuinely stands apart from the rest of the current FPS market, and hitting shots in that context feels more rewarding than in flatter games. The VGS voice command system, a Tribes staple, is present and adds personality to team communication. Here is where I get impatient. The content envelope is thin. Veterans of the older titles have been vocal that large pieces of what made Tribes tactically deep, namely base infrastructure, inventory stations, mobile forward spawns, and vehicle play, are absent and do not appear to be on the roadmap in any meaningful way. What you get is mostly high-speed CTF with disc launchers and jetpacks, and while that is a good time for a few sessions, the strategic layer that justified the team in team-based shooter is underdeveloped. Early playtest feedback also flagged the heavy class as overpowered and hitboxes as oversized, and those balance concerns followed the game into its Early Access launch. Steam reviews sit in Mixed territory, and the player population has visibly contracted since launch, which raises real questions about matchmaking health going forward. Netcode has been reported as a friction point by some players, with latency problems making matches rough depending on your region. For a game where skiing momentum and precise leading of targets are the entire skill expression, anything above acceptable ping is a significant problem. The monetisation approach, year-long skin and weapon wrap passes at launch, drew criticism from the community that already felt the content was sparse. If you are a Tribes lifer who wants to scratch the itch and has realistic expectations about Early Access scope, there are moments of genuine brilliance here. If you are coming in fresh expecting the tactical depth that made Tribes 2 a cult classic, the current build will feel like a highlight reel with no film around it. Keep an eye on the player count before buying. A fast, empty lobby is the worst possible place to learn the ski mechanics. Fred, Scout Team