14 DAY TRIAL // I start my first-ever match of Tribes: Ascend, ready to get a feel of the new multiplayer first-person shooter controls with a science fiction setting and to fire off some shots before being inevitably taken out by much more experienced enemies.
I only manage to take one good look around at the playing field before a jumping, hulking human in full armor takes me out.
I think I can do better so I press the Fire button in order to spawn, and a raining bombardment that leaves green goo on the pristine snow kills me again, with some help from a lithe jumping enemy that moves faster around me than I can turn.
I think about the old saying about third times and charms and press Fire again.
This time I start off in a nice position away from the fight so I have the time to leap into the air using my secondary mouse button and get a basic understanding of how skiing works (anyone can also use a Tutorial sequence to try out the core game concepts).
I also see an enemy that seems to be separated from his buddies and I resolve to try and take him out quickly in order to get at least one kill to my name before jumping again into the fray.
I launch a jump and come down basically on top of him, hammer the Fire button in order to deliver hot bullets from my assault weapon and get the kill quicker than I expected.
Someone promptly kills me once again, I suspect by a sniper, given the fact that I was moving via jump at the time.
I have since played quite a few more matches of Tribes: Ascend and I have discovered a very quick, solid first-person shooter that has a free-to-play business model attached.
The action is engaging, even if I lack the skill to be a star player, and I always get the impression that I can take out anyone in the field, even if they seem to have better equipped or armed characters.
Take a look at the attached video of Tribes: Ascend in order to see me repeatedly dying and to get an opinion of the free-to-play game.