Team Fortess 2
After a extremely long wait, almost a decade, Team Fortess 2 was released and it was totally worth the wait.
Team Fortess 2 is a class based multiplayer online shooter. This is one of the best online shooters I have played, it is fast paced and easy to learn from but difficult to master while being great fun.
The game possess an art style which is similar to the one used in the Pixar film 'The Incredibles' but take note, it is not for kids. Gore and gibbing are the manner of the day but the violence is cartoony. The game is not also a system hog as you would expect it to be due to the fact it runs off the Source engine which powers the Half-Life 2 game and its' expansions.
The sounds within the game is also top-notch. The characters voice-overs bring an overall sillness which is sorely needed in multiplayer games today. The weapons sounds are perfect and never distract from gameplay. Watch out for the hilarious announcer on the Goldrush stage. Though there is a occasional annoying sound bug.
Hopefully valve will patch this.
Team Fortess sports a simple control scheme which are in many First Person Shooters today and doesn't require a steep learning curve. Players will need to know about each class particular nuance such as the rocket jump for the Soldier and stickie jump the Demoman. These are easily learned by the seeing other players use the techniques.
Now the gameplay, which is outstanding to say the least. There are a total 9 classes within the game. They are subdivided into offensive, defensive and support categories. Most are well balanced and enjoyable to play.
You can have fun as a Soldier instantly gibbing people, have fun perfecting the art of camping by playing Engineer, mow down people with heavy, snipe people (which will make them hate you) as a Sniper. This fun applies to the other classes too.
The maps also provide a lot of fun too, my favourite is dustbowl which sports a attack/defend style where the attacking side has to capture contol points and defending side has to, well, defend these points. Team Fortess also has Capture-the-Flag and control point capture. The game has plenty of maps with additonal maps being released by Valve through downloadable content.
To get the most fun out it make sure you work with a team e.g a medic healing a heavy to make a unstoppable force with the medic using his healing gun which can make teammates immune to damage. There are many combinations to make. The game has a fantastic online community with quality severs out there.
With Valve continuing to release further content by way of new maps, new weapons tied to achievements and patches which increase balance, as well as the game making full use of the Steam Friends functionality, Team Fortess will be around for a very long time.
