I never got into Halo. I have nothing against squad-based combat; I spent plenty of hours in high school playing Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear. But there was one game that consumed my waking life more than any other. After working a ten-hour dinner shift at Mickie D's, I'd throw open my window to let the cool night air into my stuffy room and fire up Starsiege: Tribes, playing until dawn and sleeping through the afternoon. It was an easy way to avoid the summer heat and my nagging parents.
The easiest way to describe Tribes to the uninitiated is "Like Halo, but with jetpacks." It was the first online multiplayer game I experienced, and it remains one of my all-time fav's. Playing Halo after experiencing the mid-air bliss of Tribes was like going from a roller coaster to bumper cars.
"Like Halo, but AWESOME" also works.
Fallen Empire: Legions (ugh, again with the colons!), is developed by the same dudes who worked on Tribes, now known as Garage Games. As "spiritual successor", it retains many of the same elements, but major differences include a suped-up jetpack, which allows players to change direction in mid-air and play with momentum a bit more.
The game is free to play online, for now, and it will play in the comfort and convenience of your browser. It's been available for a while, but no one else is talking about it except for Tycho at Penny Arcade, so it bears repeating. Watch a promo video and sign up for free beta play at Instant Action.
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