 | Tribes Ascend Map Review: Raindance |
Raindance is back! One of the crowd favorites from Tribes 1 and remade for Tribes 2, is back for Tribes Ascend (Tribes 4). Find out my thoughts on it below.
The Visuals
Straight away you notice Raindance is huge, rainy, dark and very atmospheric, it’s almost visually depressing. It’s a stark contrast to the bright, beachy maps like Drydock and Crossfire, though this change is a good one, the damp wet grass glistens as you jetpack over it and the leaky, dank generator rooms feel very lifelike.
The pretty trees really stand out the most,there’s only a few of them but I still managed to slam into them while capping…
Map Layout
Raindance was always known for it’s quick capping routes and the Tribes Ascend version is no different. The hills are large but not too steep, which means you can easily get up to 300kph speeds with a couple of nitron grenades. They’ve absolutely nailed the hills height and slope, they’re not too steep and not too small, just perfect for some big clean skiing.
I do have an issue with the spawn points, they’re generally behind your base, meaning it can take quite a while to get up to speed and back into the action. Also the generators only have a single easily defend-able access point, so if you’re a fan of generhating (trying to keep the generators down all map), then you’re going to struggle.
eSports Potential
Whenever a new map gets introduced, the top tier Tribes decide if it should be added to the rotation for clan matches. Temple Ruins is one example of a map that just hasn’t been accepted by the competitive community, mainly because it’s so big. Raindance is also a big map but with the ease with which you can reach 200+ speeds I think it’s a given Raindance will be added to the competitive map list.
Overall
Raindance is a fantastic map, it’s introduction has been welcomed by newcomers and veterans alike which is almost unheard of and it just looks great. The map is dark, different and a very faithful recreation of the original Tribes 1 Raindance map.
I do have some worries though, due to it’s size I’m guessing people will get impatient having to slowly trudge back to the enemy side. Also for competitive 7 versus 7 matches, it might feel just that bit too empty. Though for now, it’s still got that new car smell and everyone’s enjoying it massively.
Map Score: 9/10
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