I have to start by being honest about my inexperience when it comes to the Tribes series. I played Starsiege a bit, may have glanced a few times at the first Tribes, but didn't really have my first experience with the jetpack/ski fest until I discovered Tribes 2, years after its release. I had a blast playing against a friend of mine over local multiplayer, trying to get the mid-air-spinfusor shot down, but mostly just jetpacking around like mad, playing rabbit and having a blast.

When Tribes: Vengeance came out I dove into it as fast as I could, but got only a few hours into the singleplayer before the giddyness petered out. The game just wasn't as good as I remember Tribes 2 being and my ineptitude in the multiplayer led to a swift uninstallation and the game being banished to a box in the attic.

Tribes: Ascend creeped up on me, in a way. A short glimpse of power armor was all I got in the teaser trailer and then there was silence for several months until a chance encounter with the official site revealed that the game was going into public beta in just a few days. Pre-ordering (a concept which doesn't really work for a free-to-play game) the game gave you lifetime VIP access to special servers and a handful of the in-game currency, but it was the access to the beta that I wanted, so I did something something I've never done before in my life: spent money in a free-to-play game.

The game is downloaded and started through the official Hi-Rez Studios launcher, which includes other free-to-play games from the developer including Global Agenda, an(other) class-based jetpack-fueled shooter and Smite, a DOTA-style game currently in development. The launcher itself seems a little superflous, but will probably make sense for anyone who plays more than just Tribes and probably help advertise for Hi-Rez Studios' other projects.

The interface in the game is very simple, showing you the available classes, a browser for joining a game, settings and links to the official store, where you can purchase gold for unlocking classes and booster packs which allows you to gain extra XP while playing the game. Purchasing gold and boosters is done via a website running in a window inside the game, so you don't have to tab-out or anything to get your microtransaction fix. For now gold does nothing else than unlocking player loadouts, which can also be done using tokens which are earned by playing the game.Loadouts are the Tribes version of classes from other multiplayer games, where each has their own specific weapons, pack and perks, and also come in three armor flavors: light, medium and heavy. The basic Soldier and Ranger loadouts are available from the get-go and the other loadouts all cost the same amount of gold, so there seems to be a focus on balance rather than hoarding the good stuff behind a paywall. Packs and weapons are locked to specific loadouts, which is very different from the Tribes which I am accustomed to and, although there is a "Change Perks" button, it doesn't seem to do much as all perks are locked to their respective loadouts, at least for now.

Finally, there are skills to upgrade, by spending XP which is gained from playing the game. These upgrades aren't really game-changers, but give you more ammo, more health or faster recharge, which makes it pay off to stick to a specific loadout. Your XP is also tied to the loadout you are using, but can be transferred to other loadouts by going via an XP pool (which isn't active yet).

Playing a game is as simple as choosing a game mode to play and pressing "Join", but the offerings are slim, providing only basic CTF and the Tribes-classic Rabbit modes on the open, free servers. The menu specifies the ability to play on VIP-only servers, ranked matches and private matches, but these aren't available just yet. Lastly, there is a training mode which will teach you the complicated art of skiing and letting you roam the available maps, of which there are four, without worrying about getting shot at.

The gameplay itself is fun. Really fun. They captured the best parts of Tribes 2 and streamlined it a little bit, but not really making it too easy. You can still get shot out of the sky by a well-aimed spinfusor, but getting good with skiing doesn't take you hours of practice and the recharging shield (which can be sped-up with the appropriate pack) does ease you into the game a little.

Other additions to the game is the ability to tag enemies, like in the Battlefield series, but it doesn't seem to have much effect as enemies will be picked up by the radar in your base and will show up on your HUD anyway. What also shows up on your HUD is huge text letting you know what's going on. "This player picked up the enemy flag", "Our flag is secure", "Auto-balance in 5 seconds" and such show up in large text in the middle of your screen and, although you get used to it quickly, seems like the most annoying place to put such text, especially considering that there is also a voiceover which tells you the same information.

While you're playing you may earn some accolades, for shooting down an airborne enemy with the spinfusor, blowing up the enemy generator or simply by repairing your base. I imagine that this will lead to XP gains and will be available to see on your public profile, but there is no obvious gain as of yet and the profile page is under construction.

In terms of game modes, Capture the Flag works as you would expect, with you fighting over the flags in two bases situated on opposite sides of large, sprawling maps filled with little detail, but a bumpy and uneven surface, built for skiing. It's not unusual for an enemy to come flying in at great speeds, snatching your flag and then flying off into the distance on the momentum he built starting off at a distant hilltop. The game is fast-paced and if you're not paying attention you will be shot by someone just passing by and grabbing the flag without any starting momentum means that a group of enemies will come down on you before you have a chance to jet up the nearest hill.

Rabbit is a mode which was introduced in Tribes 2 and consists of everyone fighting over a single flag. Whoever holds the flag is your enemy and will steadily gain points for as long as he holds it. Having everyone gang up on the rabbit only to find yourselves fighting over the dropped flag is exciting, especially because it means that if you pick it up you're going to have to run and build up speed as fast as you can. Nothing gets the adrenalin pumping much like getting chased by jetpack-wearing soldiers armed with launchers that shoot explosive discs.

Tribes: Ascend is still in beta, which means that there are the odd bugs here and there. I keep getting kicked out of games, sometimes kicked out of the program completely, with complants about loss of signal to the server despite my awesome internet connection. There are some texture pop-ins, especially in the loadout selection menu and I have encountered a complete crash or two in the short time I've been playing it. However, the game is really fun and it's definitely going to be worth a look when it is released as a free-to-play game later this year.