aHaHaHa...Can I have some more!
Pros:
- Great graphics and character animation
- Fun multiplayer matches
- 9 different classes offers a wide range of game play type
- New updates offer a lot of replayability
- A lot of strategic team play
- Funny and light hearted...you wont be so mad for screwing up.
Cons:
- No bots or single player
- You wont be playing anything else much after this
Said the heavy as he mowed down a row of the Blu team. Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to the popular Half Life mod Team Fortress(now called Team Fortress Classic). Team Fortress 2 in essence is a class based multiplayer first person shooter. Developed by Valve, the game just oozes quality, polish and balance very rarely seen in games. A lot has been said about TF2 prior to release. Its long development cycle, its complete change in art style and redesign, but in the end, it was all worth it. Team Fortress 2 is here at last, and it is here to stay.
The new art style while looking cartoonish, gives the game a light hearted tone to it and in no ways makes the game less appealing. The art style is in fact fitting for the over the top gameplay of TF2. The characters animate really well to as players can use taunts that translate to often humorous animations of their character. The game has a lot of character as they animate and move so convincingly that it almost tells a story. A real feat for a multiplayer game.
In Team Fortress 2, players pick to play a side either the Red team or Blu team and they will have to pick to play a particular class. Players can pick either the heavy, medic, sniper, soldier, demoman, scout, engineer, spy, or pyro. Each class has their own strength and weaknesses as well as weapon and play style. Each class serves a purpose and having a balanced team is key to winning. No class is overpowered as each class has its own natural counter. The heavy's big gun is no threat for the sniper that snipes him from a far and the sniper who is unwary could easily fall prey to a spy that can backstab him. Players must learn to use their class to their strength and protect their weakness by coordinating their efforts with the team. Communication is vital in this game and the game has built in VOIP feature which every player should use.
At the moment of writing, there are exactly 5 different gameplay modes that is Capture The Flag, Control Point, Dustbowl CP, Territory Control(Hydro), and Gold Rush. In CTF, the aim is to steal the enemies intelligence from the enemy base and bring it back to your own base. In Control Point game, the aim is to capture all control point on the map. There are only 5 control points and the first team to capture all 5 wins the round. Teams capture control point by having players stand on the CP. The more players that are on the CP, the faster you capture it. Dustbowl CP is a variant of Control Point game that is different. The Red team defends 3 capture points A, B and C. The Blu team tries to capture these control point. Blu can only capture A or B first and to cap ture C they must have captured A and B.
Territory Control game mode is based on only one map that is Hydro. In this mode the aim is to control the a single territory by capturing the enemies control point. Upon controlling the territory, players open another portion of the map to fight over territory. The game end when the team takes control of the other team base on the final Hydro territory. In Gold Rush game mode The Blu team must escort a cart that carries a bomb to the Red base. The Gold Rush map is also divided into different territories. Blu team must push the cart by having players stand near the cart. All in all there are 9 maps including Hydro and Dustbowl and the varying game types.
Valve has been regularly updating the game with new maps, game types and even class attributes and weapons. The updates for each class also comes with an achievement pack. So far Valve has released achievement packs for the Medic and the Pyro with more on the horizon, there is never a lack of interest from new players. If there is only one criticism, it is that the game has no single player mode or doesn't allow players to play wth bots. This is not a serious downer as the game is strictly an online multiplayer shooter and you will have loads of fun playing this online to even bother thinking about this fact. While some might argue about the game being repetitious with only a limited map choice, on the contrary, the game offers a lot of replayibility with new updates from valve and a lot of strategy from a macro prespective of a game.
The TF2 community continues to grow and is perhaps one of the biggest online gaming community on Steam. The gaming experience is generally pleasant as most people are courteous and helpful. Team Fortress 2 is an instant classic and anyone who likes online multiplayer shooters must get this game. Now I'm off to some fraggin' in TF2....GET BEHIND ME DOCTOR!!!
