Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is a video game that consists of 4 releases

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The long-awaited sequel to the popular Team Fortress Classic. Arriving nearly a decade after its predecessor, Team Fortress 2 conveys a bold new visual style while retaining the original classes pioneered in the first game.

The Rundown

Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer, team-based first-person shooter developed by Valve, and was first released as part of The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for the PC and Xbox 360, and for PlayStation 3 on December 17th, 2007. Fans of the original Team Fortress (and its GoldSrc-based update, Team Fortress Classic) waited for years for the release of this sequel, which was assumed at one time to have become vaporware.

Years in the Making

While Valve seems to have a penchant for agonizingly lengthy development cycles, the reasons behind TF2's delays have (according to Valve's staff in the game's commentary) been the product of ideas that failed after significant time had been invested in them. The clean-cut spy movie look of the released product was not even a notion in the early stages of this game's R&D. The first screenshots make TF2 look like an attempt at a realistic modern combat simulator. This was the initial intent, but this idea was scrapped in favor of a more lighthearted style way late as far as most developers would be concerned.

The Valve team also spent a huge amount of time looking into a shooter that incorporated a commander for each team who had some form of overlord viewing angle and the ability to give players on the ground information and orders. The idea was tested and redesigned countless times, but there was no way to guarantee that both the commander and the fighters would both have fun in any given game; the possibility of a poor commander or crappy squad members mucking up the whole experience weighed too heavily on Valve and, after all the invested time, they abandoned the idea completely. There were many other detours on the way to making TF2 the game it is today, and Valve has a blog open that occasionally posts messages about such things as well as in-progress update news.

Graphical Style

The art style in Team Fortress 2 was drastically changed from that of the original, which strove for the appearance of military realism. By contrast, TF2 has a comical, cartoon-like appearance, with characters having deliberately humorous taunts and exaggerated animations. Ever wondered what The Incredibles would look like as a class-based first-person shooter? Here is your answer. Valve constructed the models and architecture of TF2 using the Source Engine, their in-house development platform, but made several major modifications to the shader system along the way. The reflections in Fortress 2 all have a more rubbery look to them, even on the characters. This causes models to have more defined silhouettes even in darker locations, an effect intended to improve the readability of other players during combat.

The classes themselves were built explicitly to be identifiable and discriminable immediately at any distance to prevent confusion; this has contributed considerably to the ubiquity of the game's characters in internet chat rooms as well as encouraged the Valve team to make a number of "Meet the Team" videos starring the individual characters. The individual classes now, as a result, have personalities and characteristics that are fleshed out to a degree never attained by a multiplayer shooter. Despite the cartoonish feel the game displays, this should not be interpreted to mean technical laxity; the "Meet the Team" videos are all done with the in-game engine and speak for themselves if you need convincing on this point.

Team Work by Design

The "Team" in Team Fortress 2 is there for a very good reason. From the start, Valve's objective with TF2 was to create a multiplayer shooter where cooperating with those around you would always lead to a team that is better than the sum of its parts.

A prize too great for one man alone.

Objective-Based Conflict

Until recently, no deathmatch mode existed in Team Fortress 2. Every map involved capturing points, pushing carts to checkpoints, or capturing briefcases. That is because these play styles lend themselves coordination and team progress rather than individual achievement. One man can certainly take all the points or steal the flag, but their job is made extremely difficult by the open layout of the maps and the variety of stalwart defense options the game has to offer against rushing. Instead, pushing the front line or forcing a major breach in the opposition's defenses the much preferred way to go about winning a match. Even now that deathmatch has been incorporated, most servers have kept their previous map rotations or only added one or two of the new deathmatch arenas.

The Class System

There is no middle-grounder in the roster of characters for TF2. Even the Soldier, the assumed universal trooper, is really a fairly specialized class when looked at in-depth. There 9 classes available to both sides during play, and though their secondary weapons may coincide, no two classes have significantly overlapping niches. As a result (and depending on circumstance) each class has particular foes they prefer to fight against and particular friends they prefer to work with. The exploitation of class synergy is more than half the battle in TF2; the Heavy may have a boat load of health and a gun to match, but one backstab from the Spy or one headshot from a Sniper and its game over. However, if the Heavy enlists the support of another class, such as a Pyro or Scout, to deal with such menaces the two allies together become far greater adversaries than they would be by their individual merits. Even classes like the Spy whom one would think a loner makes an awesome teammate for sabotaging defenses on the way inside enemy territory.

Wave Respawning

Another way TF2 encourages teamwork is in the respawn system. When players die, they are assigned to a respawn wave rather than simply waiting for a timer to drop and racing back out to the front. Aside from the multitude of exploitive tactics this potentially fixes, the waves also make sure that players remain in contact with each other. This convenience of positioning and exposure increases the chance that players will try to work together when the get back in the field, concerning themselves with a more dedicated push than individual struggles for victory (once again, the class synergies make teamwork the better option nearly always). The effect is really more psychological than it is practical, but it is certainly a conscious effort by the developers to get players to work together.

Minimally Explosive Atmosphere

Very few things in TF2 explode. The weapons in the game with splash damage are the Demoman's bombs, the Soldier's rockets, and the Pyro's flamethrower. Other than these, the only thing that blows up are characters that get hit for massive damage. Valve saw the common shooter grenade as a barrier to effective teamplay during the development of Team Fortress. A splash damaging bomb meant the potential for an everyman's weapon, useful against any opponent and effectively levelling the playing field between classes. A breakdown of the rigidly assigned capabilities of the classes was seen to be detrimental to the teamwork aspect.

The other major issue they saw in using grenades was one that crops up in many shooters (CounterStrike being a home turf example) where grenades will be spammed with reckless abandon during matches with the hope of landing a kill on that one unfortunate soul that doesn't know what is going on. Curbing exploitation of newbies and enhancing team cohesion were both strikes against grenades, so Valve took them out. They have been criticized by the community ever since for doing so; some avid modders have even developed grenades for use in TF2, though these mods have caught only minimal popularity amongst players.

Classes

The game has nine classes: Demoman, Engineer, Heavy, Medic, Pyro, Scout, Sniper, Soldier and Spy. Each class has its own personality and appearance, as well as a unique set of weapons and abilities. For instance, the heavy is a large Russian packing a mini-gun he calls Sasha, while the engineer is a Texan who can build turrets as well as health and ammo dispensers. Each class offers its own play style, and an effective mixture of all the classes is crucial to a team's success. So far, Valve has shown an admirable commitment to updating Team Fortress 2 with new maps, character abilities, upgrades, and achievements.

RED Demoman

Demoman

The Demoman has no direct hit weapons (apart from his melee weapon, the bottle) so must rely on indirect combat. Using the physics of the game, his knowledge of the maps, and his anticipation of enemy movements, the Demoman must be smart and kill his enemies with the grenade launcher or sticky bombs. The grenade launcher is very strong, and can quite easily kill most of the classes with weaker health pools; engineers, scouts or spies. The Demoman can also bounce grenades off of walls to attack enemy Sentry Guns without being attacked by them.

Sticky bombs, the Demoman's other main weapon, are a great defense tool, allowing the player to attach them to almost any surface and can trigger them at a later time, unless he dies. In addition to guarding flags and control points, more experienced Demomen use them as their primary weapon, detonating the stickies in mid-air or just as they land. Like the soldier, the Demoman can use his stickies to jump higher and farther than usual. He can also use up to two stickies to fly much further than soldier, if positioned correctly, but this costs much more health.

RED Engineer

Engineer

The Engineer can build four different buildings; the sentry gun, the dispenser and the entry and exit for the teleporter. To build these things, the Engineer must use metal, which can be picked up from destroyed buildings, ammo crates, dropped weapons and other Engineer's dispensers or their own. The Engineer can use his wrench to fix them when they are broken, build them faster or upgrade the turret. The turret can be upgraded up to three levels, each time adding more health. The first level is a simple machine gun, the second level adds two barrels and the final upgrade adds a rocket launcher.

Engineers can also build dispensers which can deliver ammo, metal and health to anyone standing near it. They can also build a teleporter entrance and exit for their teammates to transverse across the map quickly. All of the Engineer's buildings have a certain amount of health and so can be destroyed by the enemy. Engineers tend to stay near their machines so they can fix them, especially if the enemy is near and also to defend against Spies. Engineers are also equipped with a pistol and a shotgun, and so are still capable of defending themselves at medium or short range.

RED Heavy with Sasha

Heavy

Heavies are heavy. This means they are slow, the slowest class in the game. However, they do have the highest health pool and the biggest, and arguably, the most powerful gun. The firepower of his mini-gun (his main weapon) is very high and is similar to the mounted turrets in other games. This gun can mow down nearly all the classes in mere moments, except for enemy heavies or overhealed soldiers. However, when shooting this weapon the heavy must spin it up first, which takes a few seconds, after which the heavy walks at a snail's pace, making him very vulnerable to fast classes (like the scout) or long-ranged classes (like the sniper). The gun also loses most of its power at long range.

The Heavy is often considered the best class to be coupled with a Medic. In an update on August 19, 2008, the Heavy received three new unlockable items: The Sandvich, which replenishes health when eaten, Natascha, a replacement minigun which slows down enemies at the cost of some damage, and the Killing Gloves of Boxing (K.G.B.), which give the Heavy five seconds of guaranteed critical attacks.

RED Medic

Medic

The Medic is one of the weakest offensive classes in the game, primarily concerned with healing their teammates via their Medigun, which emits a beam that attaches to an ally (and enemy spies) allowing the Medic to move around and stand a short distance from the person they are healing. As well as healing damage, Medics can boost another players' hit points to 150% its normal value and can provide invulnerability to himself and one teammate for 10 seconds, (the Übercharge) when they have collected enough charge from healing.

In combat, the medic carries a rapid firing needle gun and a Bonesaw. In an update on April 29, 2008, the Medic was given three additional weapons: The Blutsauger, a needle gun that replenishes the Medic's health, The Kritzkrieg, which gives a player 10 seconds of guaranteed crits, and the Übersaw, which, while slower than the regular Bonesaw, charges the Medic's Übercharge by 25% with each hit.

BLU Pyro

Pyro

The Pyro is the only class which can use fire to burn his enemies, doing huge amounts of up-front damage as well as additional damage over time. Upon release, he only had a shotgun and an axe to support his flamethrower which meant he was inclined to be strategic and ambush his enemies. Later, the Flare Gun was added, giving skilled Pyro practitioners the ability to set opponents aflame from afar. Despite being a powerful offensive class, the Pyro can also be a useful for defense, for example to defend a point or an Engineer's buildings from meddling Spies. Pyros are great at revealing hidden or disguised enemy Spies using his Flamethrower.

In an update on June 19, 2008, the class was given three additional weapons: the Backburner which does critical damage when used from behind (but at the cost of the compressed air in the original flamethrower), the Flare Gun, which allows the class to ignite people from a distance, and the Axtinguisher which does half the damage of the regular axe but lands a critical hit if the Pyro's target is on fire.

RED Scout

Scout

The Scout is the "twitch" class of Team Fortress 2. He attacks his enemies with his fast movement and double jump ability. His weapons are the scattergun (a close-range shotgun), pistol and a baseball bat. Scouts use their speed to get in and do damage - the scattergun is formidable within a few feet, but as the distance increases it becomes more and more useless. The scout is normally used for objective acquisition, like capturing a flag or control point, or moving the cart in Goldrush, and is useful in taking out priority targets such as medics. When standing on a control point the scout counts for two people.

RED Sniper

Sniper

The sniper has the best long range weapon in the game. With little health and weak close combat weapons, the Sniper is best used for picking off enemies at long range using their scoped sniper rifle. The longer the scope is in use, the more powerful the sniper's shot becomes and a fully charged headshot will kill any class in the game, even classes who are being overhealed by a medic. Headshots do 3x damage and are almost always the better option for a skilled sniper compared to a body shot. When forced to fight at close ranges, he has a small submachine gun and a Kukri.

RED Soldier

Soldier

The easiest to understand, the Soldier is just an all-round fighter. However, he is still very strong in good hands due to his powerful rocket launcher. Being both a good defensive and offensive class, the Soldier can cause great amounts of damage with his rockets (particularly critical rockets, which have a tendency to obliterate everything nearby) and has the second largest amount of health in the game. The Soldier also has the ability to "Rocket Jump", a skill allowing the Soldier to reach otherwise impossible heights by shooting at his feet and propelling himself into the air, with the cost of around a quarter of his health. Along with the Heavy, the Soldier is the class which received the least number of changes from the original game.

RED Spy with prototype pistol

Spy

As the game's stealthy class, the spy packs the ability to cloak, thereby briefly turning invisible to enemy players unless damaged, and to disguise himself as other classes or as a member of the opposing team. He uses these abilities to sneak behind enemy lines where he can use his Sapper to sabotage enemy Engineer buildings, and his knife and pistol to assassinate enemy players. When used on an enemy's back, his knife can cause an instant kill; a Backstab. When he uses any of his weapons, except for the sapper, any disguises are removed, so the spy must be careful about when and where he attacks. In the right situation, a Spy can be among the most powerful classes in the game, sometimes turning the tide of a round single-handedly.

Maps

Official Maps

2 Fort (CTF)

2Fort is the oldest and most iconic map in the Team Fortress franchise. It consists of 2 almost identical Forts in which each team attempts to capture their enemies Intel. Generally the team has to capture their Enemy's Intel 3 times to win the round.

Well (CTF, CP and Arena)

Well is a Control Point map and a Capture the Flag map. The center point is probably the most recognizable part of the map: A station like building where occasionally a trains passes through killing anyone or anything in its way. A new Arena version of this map was released in the Heavy update.

Hydro (CP)

Even though Hydro is another Control Point Map, it is unique. The Control Points consist of rounds where each team has to defend their point, as well as capture their enemy's. 2 points are only ever active in a single round. The Teams must capture an area to take control of it, winning the round, where upon the beginning of the next round, they must defend it. Moving around the Map like the board-game "Risk", eventually a team will have only a single area left. The winning team must take this Control Point to win the match. Whereas the losing team can only Defend until the time limit runs out, to take back an additional area. However the losing team's last Control Point is very easy to capture, making it unlikely that winning team will fail to.

Granary (CP and Arena)

A team must capture all 5 control points to win. Each team begins with 2 points under their control. Similar to Well. A new Arena version of this map was released in the Heavy update.

Gravel Pit (CP)

The blue team must capture all 3 points in the allotted time while the red team tries to defend them.

Dustbowl (CP)

Dustbowl has a wild-west theme and is a larger map that typically involves checkpoint control in 3 areas. The attacking team (Blu) must take all 3 areas to win. However if they fail to capture an area before the time runs out, the defending team (Red) wins and swaps to become the attacking team.

Badlands (CP and Arena)

Both teams rush to capture all of the points on the map. A new Arena version of this map was released in the Heavy update.

Gold Rush (PL)

Introduced in the medic update, it was the first map to introduce the game mode, Payload. One team must push a cart with a bomb into the opposing teams base before the time runs out.

Turbine (CTF)

A community created map selected by the TF2 Developers to become an official map. Turbine is an indoor, symmetrical capture the flag map, Where control of the middle is absolutely crucial to your teams success.

Fastlane (CP)

A community created map selected by the TF2 Devs to become an official map. Fastlane is a symmetrical control point map with five points.

Badwater Basin (PL)

Introduced in the Heavy update, the map will be set up very similar to Gold Rush but will be much larger and more open.

Lumberyard (Arena)

The first map of the new Arena gametype. It is also the first to feature the new alpine environment. It was released in the Heavy update.

Ravine (Arena)

Ravine is the second map of the new Arena gametype. It was released in the Heavy update.

Steel (CP)

Steel requires the attacking team to take capture point E. It is in play the entire match and can be captured at any time, however there are 4 other capture points, A-D. Capturing these aids the main objective of taking E and adds more time. It is a community map added with the Heavy update.

Custom Maps

There are hundreds of custom maps, and their quality varies wildly. Some community-made maps are good enough to get included in updates, such as Fastlane and Steel. However some poor quality maps use orange and grey developer textures meant for layout testing before details are added. These maps are usually shunned by most serious players, but have some appeal to deathmatchers.

Updates

Valve has released a series of large free updates for the PC version of Team Fortress, each focusing on a different class. Each update gives the specified class new unlocakable weapons and new Steam achievements. The updates will also be coming to the Xbox 360 version in late 2008, costing $10 (or 800 Microsoft Points).

Medic Update

New game mode: Payload
New map: Gold Rush
Unique weapon system (players can now unlock weapons by earning achievements)
New Medic weapons

           The Blutsauger - new syringe gun that drains health from the enemy
           The Kritzkrieg - new medigun that's Ubercharge gives its recipient 100% chance to score critical hits, instead of the invulnerability given by the original medigun. It charges 25% faster due to its risky nature
           Ubersaw - melee weapon that converts damage dealt into Ubercharge

Pyro Update

New maps: CP_Fastlane and CTF_Turbine
New Pyro weapons

           The Flare Gun - long distance gun that sets enemies on fire
           The Backburner - new flamethrower that guarantees a critical hit when used from behind.
           The Axtinguisher - melee weapon that guarantees a critical hit when the enemy is on fire

Flamethrower given Airblast ability - can push stickies and grenades, deflect rockets and push people a short distance.

Heavy Update

New community map: CP_Steel
New Payload map: Badwater Basin
New game mode: Arena
New Arena maps: Lumberyard and Ravine (Well, Granary and Badlands have also been reworked to allow Arena to be played on them)
New Heavy weapons

          Sandvich - healing item that restores 120 health within 4 seconds, rendering the heavy immobile during a comedic animation
          Natascha - new minigun that slows the target upon damaging them
          The K.G.B. (Killer Gloves of Boxing) - melee weapon that grants 5 seconds of critical hits to every weapon after killing an enemy

System Requirements

Team Fortress 2 Minimum System Requirements
CPU: 1.2 GHz Processor
RAM: 256 MB
Graphics Card: DirectX 7 capable graphics card
Windows 2000/XP/ME/98

Team Fortress 2 Recommended System Requirements
CPU: 2.4 GHz Processor
RAM: 512 MB
Graphics Card: DirectX 9 capable graphics card 256 MB
Windows 2000/XP/ME/98

Team Fortress 2 Ideal System Requirements
To run the game smooth in 1280x1024 with High Quality graphics:

CPU: 3.4 GHz Processor
RAM: 1024 MB
Graphics Card: Radeon X800 or Geforce 6800
Windows 2000/XP/ME/98

Reception

Team Fortress 2 has received a lot of critical acclaim, and to-date has a 92% Metacritic score from 16 critic reviews. From Gamespy, TF2 took the Best Multiplayer Game of the Year award and best Unique Art Style. 1UP gave similar awards, Best Multiplayer Experience and Best Artistic Direction. IGN also gave TF2 best Artistic Design. As well as receiving countless awards with its inclusion in the Orange Box, PC Gamer UK put TF2 as the Best Game Of All Time in in it's yearly Top 100 list for 2008.

'Meet The Team' Videos

Team Fortress 2 Roster

Team Fortress 2 is somewhat famous for its clever and original introduction videos for each individual class in the game. As of now, not every class has a video,below are links to each one. In addition, in an update on August 19, 2008, Meet the Sandvich was released, being the first 'Meet The' video not introducing a class.

General Information Edit

Game Name	Team Fortress 2
Platform(s)	PC
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts Valve Corporation EA Games
Developer(s)	Valve Corporation
Genres	Add a new genre Action Shooter First-Person Shooter
Themes	Add a new theme Comedy Espionage
Original US Release	Oct. 10, 2007 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	TF2
ESRB	ESRB: M