TF2 rises above the rest in terms of its intense fast paced gameplay and strange, but unique cartoon like graphics.
First off, I highly recommend you buy The Orange Box on PC. Why? Because this $50 package includes TF2 as one of the five games. (The others being Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2, and Portal). You could buy just the game online if you want to but you don't get a box with it, it just downloads straight to your computer. TF2 standalone is $30, and as you can see for an extra $20 you get four of the best computer games of all time, so I hope you make the decision to buy The Orange Box. The reason I am suggesting the PC version is because the PC version will have more loyal and hardcore Half-Life fans playing online, and for a fast paces game, the mouse is much more precise than the Xbox 360 controller.
Unless for some out of this world reason you have never played a computer first person shooter than these controls will be very familiar to you. I really shouldn't even go over the controls for this game because as long as you've played a PC shooter before, you will feel right at home. But if you haven't I will give you a brief rundown: The mouse is for aiming, clicking left for shooting. You move with the W, A, S, and D keys. Each key represents movement in whatever way it is facing on the keyboard. Common knowledge of course. And there, you are pretty much set. Sure there are other uses for keys but the game will tell you those and most of them are not very important, except for maybe the Tab key. The Tab key brings up your stats for that match which is pretty helpful.
It is beyond me if this game supports a PC game controller or not. It might or might not, because I did not bother to check. Trust me people, the way to play PC shooters (and practically any shooter), should be with the mouse and keyboard.
Of all the online shooters available, TF2 reminded me most of the Counter Strike series and I think that is the way it is supposed to be judging that they are somewhat connected in the sense that Counter Strike is usually the multiplayer counterpart of Half-Life (thought it is quite different in terms of style mostly), and TF2 is the multiplayer component of The Orange Box. Any way you look at it, the fast paces gameplay is similar to Counter Strike's except I found it much more enjoyable. Unlike Counter Strike, you will respawn many times during matches instead of having to wait for the match to be over to resume playing, making the game much more user-friendly. Unfortunately, TF2 doesn't have many maps to begin with, but a lot of people mod and make their own maps just like in every other online shooter.
The graphics in Team Fortress 2 are easily the strangest aspect of the game. Team Fortress 2 swaps the realistic look of Counter Strike for a cartoon look. Yes, you read that correctly, a cartoon first person shooter. Your first thoughts may take you back to that 2003 cel shaded shooter XIII, but Team Fortress 2 is not cel shaded, which in my opinion is quite a good thing. The cartoon style is very unusual and neat and it's actually a really cool part of the game. Don't expect a cartoon game to lose mature feel though, expect to see the enemies explode and have their limbs shot off as puddles of blood and ripped off limbs begin to cover the ground.
Not only are the graphics unique, but they are also quite technically impressive. While they might not be the next Crysis, Team Fortress 2 shines with quality graphics. The cartoon look trades super detailed environments for very clean, shiny and slick cartoon environments which is one of the high points in the game. Even though the level of detail may not be astounding, Team Fortress 2 still has what it takes to be a technically proficient looking computer game and it hangs in with the rest of the pack.
This paragraph will be the paragraph that ultimately decides whether you are going to get TF2 or not. TF2 is a multiplayer game only. Yes, arguably the most important sentence in this review. If you expected a single player campaign, that is why The Orange Box includes the four other games, mainly Half-Life 2. Trust me, it is still worth it. The multiplayer gets very intense and the character classes add a ton of the enjoyment to it. You play on either team Red or team Blue and then you pick your character. The basic one of soldier which is armed with a rocket launcher, and then there are a lot of other classes such as the extremely quick and nimble scout, the teams medic, the spy, the heavy weapon, the sniper and more. This gives each player a specific job even though there is no limit to how many people get a certain job. If you ask me, this is one of the most well done aspects of TF2.
The sound and music of Team Fortress 2 is decent but I am not the kind of person who plays multiplayer shooters to listen to the music. It's not really something that stands out in anyway and I'm no gun expert so I can't tell you how realistic the guns sound. I am guessing they are not the most realistic sounding guns mainly because TF2 is not really a realistic games. To be honest, my favorite part of the sound aspect was when members of the server I was on started playing "Chocolate Rain" during the match.
Team Fortress 2, I found to be more addicting than Counter Strike, and that is a good thing. Depending on how well you like playing online will determine how much time you spend with Team Fortress 2. There is no single player campaign, but if I was reviewing The Orange Box, which is the set I am hoping you get, I'd give value a 10 easily. But I am reviewing TF2 standalone so it depends on how much you like this kind of game, granted if you bought the game you had anticipation for intense multiplayer action in your mind.
Overall TF2 is an awesome game. It is one of the big shooters to come out this year, and there were a lot of big shooters this year. It is available for download on PC, and is one of the five games on The Orange Box for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. As I said earlier, for the best experience stick with the PC version because of its more precise controls and more of a Half-Life related franchise. Plus, if you buy it for Xbox 360 and you want to play online you will have to pay $50 for Xbox Live, where as on PC and Playstation 3 it is free to play online. Team Fortress 2 is definitely one of the games you'll want on your computer this year, and for years to come until a Team Fortress 3 is released.