This game never became to popular, which is a shame because it is wonderful! Grabbing the enemy flag at 200kph is a feeling that no other game has replicated and with a suite of classes and weapons, there is a playstyle for everyone!

Updated Review, after 660+ hours put into this game:

[VGTG-VGS]

My all time favourite first person SHAZBOT. You know a FPS game is going to be damn right amazing when you have a speedometer.

This is my go-to game when I am feeling down or I'm raging from other games. Some people have CS, TF2 or Quake. I have VGS. The freedom of motion is amazing, and everything you're doing is so damn fun because of the fun mechanics.

Pros:
- free to play; great model; prices have been halved a while ago; ♥♥♥♥ING TRY IT
- high skill roof; one of the hardest games to master those plates
- skiing - my damn favorite mechanic to have in a game. Frictionless skiing.
- jetpacks - goes hand in hand with ^
- all classes are fun
- objective-based play; death stats and K/D ratio aren't even in the game - capture that flag with your team or go home
- [VGS] commands
http://www.shazinator.com/VSDD+VSTD+VDB+VDE+VNS+VBR+VBE+VGS+VGTT+VSAB+VTW+VGS+VGS+VSAB+VVW+VTN+VGS+VGS+VGQ+VSAF+VAW+VFF+VAD+VGS+VGS+VGTB+VSAF+VAW+VFF+VAD+VED+VFF+VNC+VDB+VGTG+VGW+VGCG
- competitive
- GOTTAGOFAST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTNOGjqHnmA

Cons:
- the devs have left the game; no new update in 100+ days
- comp scene is weak and fragmented
- community is the only thing holding this game together
- snipers OP nerf pls
- slowly solidifying, so not many new players are joining, and those that join are obliterated by high-skill players

This is the -FIRST- game I recommend to anyone. Go out there and master your enemies fate.

This game is my GOTY.
Tribes Ascend is one of the best games ive played in a while. The great thing about this game is its community. ITS HUGE. The game delivers a wide amount of classes and if your computer cant run it then turn the graphics down to minimal. Speaking of graphics if you but if on the highest it looks like halo 9000 (Note thats just a joke) I saw a review that said ,"So laggy couldn't play it so it sucked" and this person must have taken out there graphics card and ♥♥♥♥ed on it. My intel graphics 4000 can run this on ultra. The weapons are great and it really shows unreal engines 3 potential. My only problem with it is that it doesnt have iron site but thats just my taste. If you like this game rate this review.
My overall rating is 9.5/10.

If you loved and played the original "Tribes" like me then you should definitely check this out, if not at least just for old times sake! lol

I've been replaying this recently and loving it (I use the non-steam client) so I thought I'd repost this recommendation now that the character limit has gone.
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So far the best iteration of Tribes since Tribes 2. What's more its free to play so you've got no excuse not to give it a try.

Skiing
For those who don't know the series Tribes offers team based gameplay with one of the best movement mechanics in arena style FPS called skiing.
It combines physics, jetpacks, the environment and the skill of the player to have you rocketing around the map at the speed of sound and makes for some excellent chases in capture the flag type scenarios and great combat that has you estimating trajectories of projectiles and players to produce some of the most epic trickshots you'll see in any game.

Classes
It also has a really nice class system that has subtle class differences which are exaggerated by player role choices in game. The subtlety results in a much more natural role selection basic much more on strategy rather than the "I'm playing the heavy-defender class therefore I only defend"

Map Design
One thing that also stands out to me is that I think the map design is beautiful for an arena game. While they do share some common features on the whole each map feels unique and have loads of great little details to bring them to life.

FTP
Finally for those who are nervous about free to plays being pay to win (as I was until recently) Tribes: Ascend feels like its got the right balance of paying giving you enough perks to make it worth it (which is important if you want the game to stay alive) but without being an essential element to play and kick ♥♥♥♥. Rather than money opening up bigger scarier guns, it seems to open up alternative roles to play within the game, all of which are available over time when playing the game for free.

Downsides
The only thing missing from this wonderful iteration of the classic franchise is the modding that came with Tribes and Tribes 2. I remember my brother and I having a whale of a time as kids playing with a lot of mods and user generated maps that added a whole ton of content to the game. While it's obvious why this can't work in a FTP game, it's a bit of a shame. Hopefully though, if HiRez studios are successful they'll be enough interest to keep them adding official content to the game to keep us all keen.

How to try it?
Give it a go! It's free. Sign up and download at https://account.hirezstudios.com/tribesascend/♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥=1899863&utm_campaign=email and for those new to the series, or who just need a bit of revision there is a great inforgraph here http://puu.sh/w7SC which gives you a bunch of handy pointers to get you going!