Team Fortress 2

Review game Team Fortress 2, Definitely worth the wait?

Thank goodness Team Fortress 2 didn’t turn out this way. With the eagerly anticipated Team Fortress sequel, Valve has produced a really good game that is both remarkably similar to and differs enough from its predecessor to feel entirely new. The visual style is the most noticeable feature, as you may have observed from any of the screens and the posted video. We’ve been playing the beta for a few weeks now, and despite the fact that we’ve probably spent way too much time playing, we’re still in awe of the artwork’s appearance and animation.

Let’s hold off on overusing the graphics, though. After all, it’s just a game, so how well it plays and whether or not it’s entertaining are what matter most. It’s interesting that Splash Damage’s Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which has experienced its fair share of delays and setbacks, and Team Fortress 2, which has been in development intermittently for the past seven years, are both finally releasing at roughly the same time. Their almost simultaneous retail release puts you, the customer, in an intriguing financial situation regarding how to allocate your funds. Playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, you would drop bombs on unsuspecting adversaries and rush bunkers with great anticipation, unleashing lethal flamethrower fuel plumes. Even with their now painfully dated character models and captivating team-focused online play, Team Fortress Classic and the original Team Fortress Quake mod are still unforgettable.

In this instance, it’s really impossible to say which game is superior in the end. It’s just a matter of taste. Without a doubt, Quake Wars is the more difficult game. The scope of Enemy Territory, its dynamic objectives, the speed at which the tide of battle can turn, the sheer number of things you need to quickly consider when that happens, and its user interface can be intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with the game. Once you get the hang of it, it’s an amazing product, but it doesn’t have the same instantaneous allure as Valve’s Team Fortress 2. And it’s possible that consumers’ preferences for a particular product will be determined by its accessibility. In any case, it’s a great moment to be a gamer because, despite how difficult it may be to choose, doing so will reward you with a brilliantly made and incredibly entertaining game.

The nine character classes in Team Fortress 2 are the same as those in Team Fortress Classic (TFC): Pyro, Soldier, Heavy, Medic, Sniper, Demoman, Scout, and Engineer. The graphics and streamlined abilities of each class on the battlefield are what make Team Fortress 2 so much more approachable than Team Fortress 1. Engineers armed with railguns and EMP grenades are no longer a thing. Hand grenades are not available for any class, tranquillizer darts are not available for spies, and medics cannot “infect” the opposing team.

Each class in TF2 has roughly three primary attack methods: melee weapons (the Scout’s bat, the Medic’s bonesaw, etc.) and secondary weapons (some classes have shotguns, others pistols, while the Demoman has a highly effective mine thrower). Primary weapons are the minigun, flamethrower, and sentry gun used by the heavy, engineer, and other classes. Classes have fewer ways to attack, but the gameplay is much more focused as a result. Every class has a very clear role and resources to make sure they carry it out well. Naturally, the only thing holding you back is how well your team works together.

Spies can quickly destroy your engineers with a few sapper charges if they aren’t protecting their structures. You won’t make much progress if your team is composed entirely of heavy lifters and soldiers but is devoid of medics. You may as well quit the server or start berating your teammates until a few switch classes if you’re playing a capture point map without any Scouts on your team. However, it appears that the medic is the pivot around which the entire gameplay balance revolves. The Medic shoots a healing stream at nearby allies in TF2, which “sticks” to them as long as the fire button is depressed. An ubercharge metre appears in the lower right corner of the screen as you ‘overheal’ injured teammates to 150 percent health. Sometimes the only way to get past chokepoints populated with heavies, medics, and multiple-tiered sentry guns is to unleash this, which for a brief period of time renders both the target and the medic invulnerable.

The other classes are still helpful, even though medicine might be the most important to a team’s success. The fastest by far are the scouts, who can double jump and change direction midair, making them even harder to hit despite their current lethality. Spies not only have the ability to backstab an enemy with one blow, but they can also spread chaos throughout the enemy’s ranks. In an attempt to uncover a covert culprit, your opponents will waste time and become distracted if they suspect you have a spy operating in the area.

Pyros usually detect spies successfully by igniting them into flames when in contact with the burning spray, and are often observed performing flamboyant pirouettes in 2Fort matches across the beta servers. Friendly Fire was eliminated from TF2 in a Steam update on September 26th, which was undoubtedly a wise decision. Because of the close-quarters maps and the broad area of effect attacks by heavies, pyros, demons, and soldiers, friendly fire ruins a lot of the game. Colleagues are free to shoot one another without FF because a spy is someone who bleeds health.

If you have been following our preview coverage, you are already familiar with the majority of this information. Steam pre-orderers have had beta access to the game for some time, allowing die-hard gamers to play it. Alright, enough about the explanations; tell me how the game works.

That truly depends on the map you’re playing, because there isn’t a way to switch between the modes on any given map. Therefore, the mission on 2Fort will be limited to flag capture (or intelligence briefcase). At least not yet. Team deathmatch is not an option. Granary and Well are control point maps. Your team must rush to score all five points in order to win, scoring them in that specific order. In reality, there are three sections in the dustbowl, each with two capture points, and each team alternates between attacking and defending. Unlike Granary and Well’s linear order of point capture, Gravel Pit is a more open map where the attacking team can choose the point capture order.

Next is Hydro, which is categorised as a territorial control map rather than a capture point map. In essence, there is only one big map with numerous capture points, and each round places teams in walled areas. Every team has to attack and defend at the same time. If they can take the other team’s point, they move on to the next area of the overall map. This procedure is repeated until one team controls everything. Although it’s a good idea, we couldn’t get rid of the impression that certain parts of Hydro gave Scouts the opportunity to score points far too quickly, ending the round while the plodding Heavies were still milling around in the starting area.

Other than that, the updated versions of Well and Dustbowl are a blast, though Gravel Pit is currently our favourite. The old favourite, 2Fort, is still very similar and enjoyable. At the start of the map, attackers can choose between points A and B; for some reason, most people online choose to go to point A first. Sure, it’s a simpler capture, but why limit yourself to the English alphabet’s sequential order? Defensive teams appear to always go to A in response, leaving B frequently exposed. Seeing how capture strategies evolve once the community adjusts to the idea of sending scouts to both locations should be interesting. When the attackers take points A and B, they expose Point C, which sits atop a wooden spire crossed by ramps and planks in the middle of a sizable arena. There are plenty of cover spots, open areas, and plateaus for strategic sentry gun deployment, making it an ideal location for a decisive battle. If there’s a problem, it’s probably that there’s room for improvement in terms of the capture speed of C once you’re actually standing on it.

TF2 goes into overtime mode if no team wins at the conclusion of a round. During overtime mode, health pickups disappear, resupply cabinets cease to provide health, and teams are prohibited from respawning. Instead, you must rely on healers and dispensers to repair any harm. Oddly enough, the round ends in a draw if no team wins in overtime or completely destroys the opposition. It kind of negates the purpose of overtime, isn’t that right?

Now for the features: Team Fortress 2 does not currently support bots. However, Quake Wars does, and its bots—which comprise five classes on each side—behave fairly sensibly. Nonetheless, it has fully integrated voice chat and a series of in-game chat messages for requesting help from medics and other professionals. When compared to playing a game like Quake Wars without a headset, being able to communicate with teammates makes a big difference. Successful teamwork involves coordinating your movements, directing medics on when to apply the ubercharge, identifying spy locations and disguises, and warning your group of any security gun positions. Most players are aware that completing these tasks in tandem with one another is the best approach.

With incredible attention to detail, TF2 expands its appeal even more. Critical hits, for example, result in green “critical hit” text prompts appearing over your target’s head when they emerge from your gun as glittering bullets, grenades, or rockets. While there are other games that have similar special animations or events after a critical hit, Team Fortress 2 does a particularly good job of implementing them. This helps you feel skilled, even if the critical hit was accidental. The game amplifies the feeling when your opponent erupts into large gore chunks intertwined with globules of vital fluid. The cartoonish style of the game will make you laugh, even though it may sound disgusting.

This game has incredibly beautiful graphics. Heavies will laugh a lot during rounds as they fire miniguns that shoot a cone of lead. The different parts lock into place like a Transformer as they are animated—dispensers and sentry guns, for example—making you stop the game to watch. You’ll swap between weapons merely to watch the character’s weapon readiness animation, such as the Scout’s scattergun’s tinted metal patches glinting in the sunlight or the Sniper’s rifle scope’s wire swaying ever so slightly.

The sets are as gorgeous as the character models, with occasionally angular stage designs perfectly counterbalanced by flawlessly exquisitely rendered artistic details. One can’t help but feel that the powerful style of the 1950s spy/espionage theme could have been utilized more effectively, by incorporating a plot and real characterization in addition to the incredibly adorable models and animations. However, since this is an arena shooter, we will have to wait for another game, hopefully.

The Demoman’s Scottish accent, the Pyro’s muffled voice chats (he’s wearing a fireproof suit, after all), and the Scout’s desperate calls for a medic are just a few of the wonderful little details in the excellent sound design. Weapon sounds boom, adding excitement to the act of firing even a Scout pistol. They also add fun to firing otherwise useless weapons, such as the medic’s hypogun. When the sparse music does come on, it fits in flawlessly with the images, further solidifying TF2’s creative vision. Fans will appreciate that some of the sounds are recycled from earlier Valve games, complementing the overall audio package, although newcomers are unlikely to notice.

Conclusion

Now that Team Fortress 2 is playable, it’s an incredible game. Its potent visual aesthetic and lightning-fast, user-friendly gameplay are enough to soften the bitter cynicism that imprisons even the most jaded of us. However, it’s not the most sophisticated shooter available, and as of right now, bot support is not available. Nevertheless, there’s enough content in the game to last a long time, and Steam includes a statistics system to help keep track of everything. Purchase it, fill it up, and let go. It’s very difficult to feel let down.