Now this is what a multi-player first person shooter should be like. When I first saw pictures of what Team Fortress 2 would look like, I thought it was a joke. Little did I know that Valve had a huge winner in the works. I never played the first team fortress, but I do have my share of experience in this type of game. I have played the various Unreal Tournaments, Quakes and Dooms. The last real good online FPS I played was Unreal Tournament 2004 and it was unique because Epic had added vehicles into the game. Suffice it to say, I was hooked for many a month.
After seeing all the good reviews that TF2 had gotten, and that the price of the Orange Box would be lower I decided to take the plunge. I was a bit apprehensive also for the fact that I would be using this Steam system that valve has come up with. I had heard all these bad things about it and did not want to have to go through the hassle. Well I can say wholeheartedly that the game is pure fun. There is nothing that I have seen that is like it, that is out there. It is a team based FPS and extremely fun.
Graphics:
The graphics in the game are very unique and really give it a real good feel. I saw pictures of what the original team fortress looked like and I am glad Valve decided to change it around. It has a very cartoony feel and that really surprisingly enough makes it all that more fun. The characters are meant to look exactly like their class. The Heavy, is a giant of a man and move slowly with a minigun. The soldier has the typical army helmet and rocket launcher. These are just a few of the 9 classes in the game.
Sound:
The sound in the game is also very unique. Each of the characters has a unique voice and speak in that voice when various things in the game are occurring. The voices of the characters reminded me of worms. Where they have a witty humor to them and it really adds a lot to the game. The background music in the game is also very catchy and makes the game more enjoyable.
Gameplay:
This is the bread and butter of the game. I have not played the game in like a month, but once the next big patch hits I will go back to it. This game is very unique in what it offers. Instead of the usual FPS where you go around killing people and every person is the same, TF2 gives us a class system. You have a choice between 9 different classes and each of them is very unique in their own way. I will go through a few that I have played with quite a bit.
Firstly, I want to talk a little about the different types of maps. There is no normal deathmatch map. There are basically capture the flag maps and capture an area maps. The capture the flag maps can be very small or can be extremely large. The capture the area map basicially comes down to one side has to defend the area and the other side attacks it. If you defend the area long enough you will move on to the next area and do the same thing. If you are attacking and take control of the various spawn points then you keep moving on till you control the whole area. Another thing that is cool is there is a point system and you get points for killing people. Something that is cool is if someone has killed you many times you can get revenge on them and get more than the normal amount of points. Now to talk about a couple classes.
Each classes comes with 3 weapons, usually 1 main weapon a secondary weapon and then a melee type weapon. The melee type weapon is very strong, but you obviously have to be up close to actually be effective with it. The scout is the fastest character in the game and is meant for exactly what the character is called. This is the character that can out run those slow moving heavies and mostly avoid enemy fire. The class is meant to run to the other base and either capture a control point or an enemy intelligence. They also have an advantage that they will capture the control point quicker than other classes and can double jump. You die a ton with this class, but if your good you can be extremely hard to kill.
The soldier is a cool character and one I spend quite a bit of time playing. His main weapon is a rocket launcher and it packs quite a punch. He also can use the launcher to launch himself to great heights. I never truly got the hang of it, but I can see it being very useful when trying to get at a sniper hiding in a corner. I really enjoyed the class because of how strong you could be with the rocket launcher. I also saw vast improvement as I got better with the class. I started out firing at the enemy instead of at the ground around the enemy.
I played with a few other classes and all of them are pretty fun in their own way. I really have to recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a very addictive and fun fps, but not in the normal sense.
My Verdict: Playworthy!
