TR2 Part Deux

Gameplay

If you’ve played Bombing Run for UT2k3 you’ll know roughly what Team Rabbit 2 plays like. Just toss in a jetpack, the ability to roar across the landscape and the rewards for style and you have a downright amazing game. Many a constraint has been placed on Team Rabbit 2 to keep the game fast paced and small. The out of bounds grid for example, nothing foreign to T2, has now been changed to act as an accelerator of sorts, where players can do grid bounces to bring themselves back into the field of play. There are also a few other objects tossed in to act as accelerators, such as jump-pads and cannons which you can use to shoot yourself across the air like a circus freak. Some other variables have been tweaked as well, water for example is an entirely different entity than as it appears in Classic or traditional Tribes 2. Water acts as an accelerator due to its buoyancy, and players will actually gain quite a bit of speed traveling through water.

TR2 combatants also cannot be killed, you can knock a player down for a few seconds, similar to checking someone in hockey, but the only way a tribesman can be forced to re-spawn is if he suicides.

What this all adds up to is an incredibly fast paced game, faster than even classic, that performs something like an aerial ballet, you might get knocked out of the action, but you’ll be up seconds later disk jumping into the air to catch a pass.

Roles and numbas

With all the various mechanisms in mind, the game fits perfectly with a small number of people, in fact three on three is not just playable, but incredible. The max set by the mod is 6vs6, but a server can allow for spectators who can wait in line to join and watch the action as it goes on from the flag’s perspective, which is a nice touch. Admins can also toss more players in but its rarely necessary, 6vs6 is an absolutely perfect number, individual players truly shine, and you’ll rapidly be picking up on the right team-mates to pass to and the ones to pass over.

Each player can assume any number of roles, most bearing a strong similarity to a number of sports. A player within a certain proximity to the goal will become a defenseman, changing from the traditional light armor to medium armor, allowing for easier catches, he’ll also receive a tweaked shocklance which is solely a knockback weapon, sending people flying away. Get inside the goal and a player, and only one, will become the goalie, a heavy armor suit twice the size of standard heavies, equipped with a knockback mortar and the shocklance to send people flying. The goalie is the last line of defense, and despite its immense size, can only occupy a third of the goal at the most ideal moment.

All of these roles juggle seamlessly based on proximity. You don’t have to sign up to be a goalie, you don’t have to go to an inventory station. If someone is flying in on your goal you can disk jump to beat him there and once you land on the goal crease you’ll switch from being a light into the goalie.