Global Agenda devs announce new Tribes game

25 Oct 2010PC Gamer

The developers of class-based first-person shooter Global Agenda have confirmed that they are working on a brand new entry in the classic Tribes series, called Tribes Universe. It'll have huge battlefields, vehicle combat and will feature massive scraps involving more than a hundred players. Oh, and jetpacks. It wouldn't be Tribes without jetpacks.

Global Agenda featured an MMO-style metagame in which armies of players could fight for control of territorial hexes by taking each other's bases, but it looks as though Hi-Rez Studios are thinking even bigger for Tribes Universe.

Writing on the Global Agenda forums, Hi-Rez founder and lead designer Erez Goren said that "we can’t transform Global Agenda to a large scale battle format but since we liked this concept a lot, we decided to create a new game based on large scale fighting."

He added that "while working through the design we kept coming back to one old and loved game that represented many of the concepts we where incorporating into the new game (jetpacks, vehicles, large open space, three armor types, futuristic weapons, etc). Many of you will know this game as Tribes, the original on-line multiplayer shooter. As of now, Hi-Rez Studios is the proud new owner of the Tribes franchise."

HiRezErez also posted a list of features that will be included in the game:

Three Tribes (factions)

Full clan (agency) support

First person view (third person for some vehicles)

Full vehicle support (ground and air)

Full persistent world with territory control (no instances)

PvP focused

Huge outdoor maps (about 10x the area of sonoran desert)

Large scale fights (100+ players)

Jetpacks, skiing, lots of weapons, etc.

Tribes Universe will be staging alpha testing early next year. If you're a level 50 Global Agenda player, you'll have first dibs on a spot in the testing program, so it might be a good idea to get levelling now if you want to increase your chances of grabbing a place. This will be the first Tribes game since Tribes: Vengeance in 2004. The idea of a new, bigger Tribes in Unreal Engine 3 makes me go a bit wibbly with excitement. Did you play the old games? Are you excited about the change to man a Shrike in a new Tribes title? Let us know in the comments below.