For someone who never played the original TF, I can still call th
Team Fortress was a multiplayer mod for Half-Life released back in 1998, and quickly became one of the most popular pc multiplayer games ever. And a few months after its success, a sequel was announced. But several problems and flukes got in its way, and ended up being delayed for nearly a decade, but now it's finally out, was definitly worth the wait to the hardcore TF fans. Most gamers probably forgot that Team Fortress was the first game to introduce "class-based" multiplayer. You have 9 classes to choose from, and you duke it out on several maps with different modes of play. Classes are divided into three groups- Offense, Defense, and Support. Offense is made up of the Scout (runs fast, captures controll-points faster, but is weak.) the Soldier (runs slow, but has a rocket launcher and shotgun) and the Pyro (wields a short-ranged, but powerful flamethrower.) Defense is made up of the Demoman (has a grenade launcher, and sticky-bomb launcher for setting traps.) the Heavy Weapons Guy (slow but powerful with a mini-gun.) and the Engineer (can build auto-turrets, dispensers and portals.) And Support is made up of the Medic (can heal teammates.) the Sniper (has a sniper rifle) and the Spy (can cloak, and stab people with a deadly knife, as well as disguise himself as the enemy.) All of the classes are well balanced, and all have counters to them. There are only six maps, so you'll feel like you've seen everything fairly fast, but if you like deep, team-based shooters, you'll be satisfied for a long time. There are 3 modes of play, which vary on which map your playing. There's capture-the-flag (steal the team's flag), control points (capture all of the control points on the map) and attack and defend (one team tries to capture the control points, while the other team defends. One of the biggest changes in Team Fortress 2 is the art style. The cartoony, Pixar-like look is definitely a love-it or hate-it experience. The levels pay homage to lots of old action movies as well, and has a purposely cheesy feel to it. On one map, each team's flag is in a underground lair where you can see a giant computer screen, which looks like something out of James Bond or Austin Powers. If you like deep, team-based shooters, you're going to be getting a lot of bang for your buck out of this one.
