Now here we are with a new round of first-person shooters, and the next generation on the horizon. Quake III Arena has been released and a team-based expansion pack has also made its way to retail. Unreal Tournament is now making rounds on console systems (though the Dreamcast version, with its online play, totally kicks the PS2 version’s split-screened ass). Now Sierra and Dynamix reenter the fray once again with an improved game engine, added vehicles and a new addiction factor that combines all of the drugs of the world into one little capsule.

To say Tribes 2 isn’t addictive would be like saying Daikatana didn’t suck; it simply isn’t true. Tribes has something about it that keeps you coming back for more, while making the time you are playing it a rewarding experience that only true hardcore games can comprehend. Tribes is the kind of series that has a cult following to it. Casual gamers may pick up the game to see what all of the hype is about, but they won’t really get what it is all about. You need to be a Tribes veteran, or someone who at least knows what the game is about.

The thing with Tribes is, unlike some first-person team shooters, you actually have to work as a team in order to get things done. Your bases (by the way, all your base are belong to us) are defended very well by manmade armaments and anti-aircraft turrets, so it will take a coordinated attack by a majority of your team to bring down enough defenses to get your guys in and grab that flag.

Moving around in the world of Tribes could be a major problem if you don’t have the hardware to support the game. The game boasts some of the most ludicrous system requirements ever posted. If you are running a 3dfx card, you need a system powered by a totally bitchin’ Athlon or Pentium 3 running at 500 MHz or better.

Of course, if you have the hardware, you can totally enjoy what the software has to offer. The new engine developed by Dynamix is by far one of the prettiest engines ever conceived. While it doesn’t reach the visual levels that we have seen with the Quake III engine in games like American McGee’s Alice or the upcoming Soldier of Fortune 2, the engine for Tribes is more than adequate for the intense team based action. Utilizing some amazing weather effects, you will have to do battle in extreme fog or driving rain, as well as perfectly sunny days. The game defaults to 32-bit color if your video card can support it. The textures are clean, and show little to no sign of blur or pixelation.

The immense landscapes are filled with puddles, rivers, lava and trees, as well as your flag holder and main base. At your main base, you have to opportunity to upgrade your character to one of nine pre-set modes that give you certain attributes. If you select your character to be upgraded to a scout-sniper, for example, he will be given a sniper rifle as well as a grenade launcher and the appropriate armor. All characters in the game are given the key piece of equipment that is essential in truly enjoying Tribes, the jetpack. Using the jetpack, you can move around in the game world easier, as well as "ski" down mountainsides to pick up speed before you lift off.

The coolest thing that sets Tribes apart from the other shooters on the market is the fact that you can build vehicles and use them in combat. You can use a transport of fly or drive you troops to the attack site, or create a scouting ship to fly in and destroy your enemies. The addition of the vehicles adds a new dimension to the gameplay, and some much-needed variety. Sometimes you could get tired of getting shot on the spot when you try to attack by land, so what do you do? Well, you build a ship and fly in there and show them "death from above!"

Moving into the audio department, Tribes has all the bases covered (all your base still belong to us). The pumping techno soundtrack is very well engineered and gives you the right kind of rhythm to blow your enemies into their next lifetime. The sound effects, although few, sound nice without the hint of muffling.

One major letdown by Dynamix is the lackluster single-player play. We all know that Tribes is known for its online play and team-based action, but there are some players who will be new to the Tribes ways of doing things. They need a single-player mode to practice what they are to be doing online, so they aren’t the laughingstock of the entire clan. A single-player mode introduces the gamer to the basics of Tribes, and some of the things they will be expected to do once they get online.

Unfortunately, the Tribes 2 single-player mode is nothing as it should be. It is more tedious than fun, and seems rushed into the game, as most of the bugs that I encountered were in this mode: Several were BOSD bugs, and some just flat-out dropped me to the desktop with no warning to as why it just disrupted by fragging.

The second major flaw in the game is the keyboard setup. Almost every key is used to some extent by the game in order to perform and action or to call up a message to send out to your teammates. The odd use of ESDF movement instead of the WASD keys puzzles me, and the mapping of some of the keys is bizarre by any standards. Players will get used to the setup and can re-map the keys, but it just seems rather odd.

Despite the buggy and lackluster single-player mode, Tribes 2’s online mode is spectacular. The interface is beautifully done, and gives you access to the most important news and information. You can examine all of the servers that are running Tribes 2, add them to your favorites and pick the best one as it scans more than 1,000 servers to find the best ones for you.

Tribes 2 manages to do what most games have a hard time doing, and that is be better than the original game. Not since Quake II has a game totally built up the technology to obliterate what the original game was. While it does have some problems (what game doesn’t), it is still very addicting and too much fun to really express in a review. You need to play the game to really enjoy what it is, so go out there and buy yourself a copy before the Surgeon General gets word of it and you need to be 21 or older to get your fix.