A not your average first-person shooter, with not your average developer support and updates, that is just plain fun!
The game is a multiplayer only first-person shooter, always consisting of two teams battling each other; red versus blue. While this may sound very limited, it is in fact not due to the wide diversity of character types and game maps.
There are four game types; control points, capture the intelligence, payload, and arena. Control points involves designated areas on the map which can be captured by either one or both teams. Different variations have one team attacking, one defending, or points which when controlled, add to your score, or points that need all of them captured to win. Capture the intelligence has both teams with a base and an intelligence. Successfully bringing the intelligence back to your base scores you a point. Payload involves moving a bomb in a cart along some train tracks to the enemy's base where it will explode. Standing near your cart pushes it forward, while it provides you with extra health and ammo. Variations have both attack/defend a single cart and duel carts. The last game type, arena, involves a basic deathmatch with no respawning. A variety of maps, especially a large and ever growing collection of user created ones, keeps the game fresh.
What really makes this game shine is the different character classes, who all must work together to achieve the objective. There are nine classes, all of which are very diverse. Each has a variety of weapons and items they can use.
The offensive group includes the soldier, scout, and pyro. The soldier is a tough class with quite a bit of health and a rocket launcher as his main weapon. They can even use their rocket launcher to rocket jump much higher than normal. The scout is the weakest, yet fastest class in the game. They also have a double jump. They use their speed and agility to weave around enemies and to travel around very quickly. The pyro uses a flamethrower to set people on fire, who will continue to burn even after he has left them alone. With not a lot of health, you must learn to set on fire and retreat, as well as using your shotgun to attack people out of your flamethrower range.
The defensive group includes the demoman, heavy, and engineer. The demoman has a pipe bomb launcher whose bombs will detonate when they hit an enemy or after a timed delay. These are very useful for shooting around corners and over ledges. He also has a sticky bomb launcher whose bombs stick wherever they land and explode when remotely detonated. These are perfect for laying traps. The heavy is the strongest, largest, and slowest class in the game. They carry around a large mini-gun which, after a couple of seconds warm-up, fires a huge number of rounds very quickly. Any enemies nearby get mowed down in no time. The engineer normally doesn't directly fight himself, but builds a sentry which automatically attacks any enemies in its range. He can also build a dispenser, which heals and provides ammo and metal, and a teleporter, which transports people instantly from the entrance to the exit.
The support group includes the medic, sniper, and spy. The medic has a medi-gun which heals teammates. As he heals, an uber-charge meter fills up. Once full, the medic has the ability to uber-charge a teammate, which makes the pair of them invincible for a limited amount of time. Used at the correct time and place, this can have devastating effects. The sniper has a sniper rifle that does more damage the longer he looks through the scope. A fully charged head-shot will kill any full-health class in the game. The spy has the ability to cloak and disguise as an enemy player. Using these, he can kill anyone with a single back-stab or "sap" enemy engineer buildings, which disables and then slowly destroys them.
Most objectives cannot be achieved alone and require the teams to work together with a variety of classes. This makes achieving them so much more rewarding. The game is very well balanced and no class is superior to any other. This makes for an enjoyable experience, no matter what you play as.
The graphics of this game have a very cartoony feel, which really fits in with the whole silly mood of the game. They also look great. The sound is top-notch, especially the character voices. From the cocky scout, to the german medic, they all sound fantastic and have many funny things to say. The control is very similar to most first-person shooters and works very well.
An added bonus for TF2 players on the PC is that Valve has continuously been releasing updates for it. New maps, game types, weapons and items, and bug fixes have all been released. Even collectible decorative character hats have been created and there is still more in store! The best part is, it's all free!
With great gameplay, high variety, a focus on teamwork, and free updates from Valve, this game is one you should not miss. Especially since you can get it bundled with The Orange Box which has four other amazing games included in it as well, all for the price of one!