Despite some minor annoyances, Team Fortress 2 is a well-polished multiplayer game every FPS fan should try out.
Undoubtedly, stylish visual design in Team Fortress 2 is the most attractive aspect of the game. Granted you probably won’t go around the maps scoping every inch, looking for amazing quality textures, the cartoony graphics work amazingly well. Ultimately, they aren’t completely celshaded, leaving space for a handful of goodies the Source engine is capable of, including High Dynamic Range lighting and cool water effects. Even with all the eye-candy, the graphics engine is very well optimized, and does certainly not require a beast computer to show its full potential.
A wide array of classes is available to play as in TF2, including a medic, a soldier, a heavy weapons guy, a spy and many more. You can either get in the boots of a soldier or the so-called Demoman and tear apart everyone you see, or choose a stealth approach and play as a spy. Feel like attacking from far distance? Play as a sniper. Want to use the element of surprise and fry your enemies to death? Be a Pyro! It’s surprising just how the gameplay changes as soon as you switch from one class to another. In a good way, mind you.
Though to assure success, a balance between the number of players using the same class should be maintained. For example, a team full of soldiers isn’t going to achieve too much without medic support, whereas spies are godsend when taking out enemy sentry turrets is a necessity. Even with all these abilities, though, the classes are balanced very well and it’s hard to point out one or two being overpowered. Basically, a team that uses teamwork and cooperation will do a lot better than a team full of people looking for “frags”. That’s the way it works, and that’s why Team Fortress 2 stands out from many other multiplayer FPS games.
Perfect sense of humor definitely adds a lot to the whole experience, as well. The game is simply hilarious. Thanks to the funny model design and cheeky voice acting, every class has a distinctive look and feel to it, making the player characters a lot more life-like and dynamic during battles. Add 30 more players blasting each other apart in the same area and you get the picture.
There are six official maps to play around in Team Fortress 2, with more and more customs coming out every day. Several game-modes are in-game, ranging from “Point Capture” where both sides have to capture and cover as many areas in a map as possible, to “Intelligence Capture”, where teams have to steal their opponents’ documents and get them back to their base. Even though every map only has one game-mode to play, it’s not really a big deal.
Control-wise, TF2 plays pretty much identically to other Source powered games, with a few additional button functions like calling for medic support. Those who like to review their skill and performance in previous games can always check out their statistics in a detailed “Player Stats” screen. If stocks all the basic information, like the amount of kills, kill assists, most points per life, etc. What’s also in-game is the achievements section, which is new to Source games. A huge list of various things is listed, including “Accumulating a thousand of total kills”, “Doing 25 headshots” as sniper, and so on. There’s a lot to do to here, but obviously, it’s all just for bragging rights, and doesn’t influence the gameplay in any way.
It's hard to remember any bad things about the game, though unfortunately, the game isn’t without issues. There were occasionally times where the player would fall out of the map after dying, or sticky bombs would bump off invisible barriers that disappear after a round starts, but they’re nothing too big. All in all, Team Fortress 2 surely is an enjoyable multiplayer. Some minor annoyances do get in the way, but nevertheless, it’s a well-polished game every FPS fan should try out. If you’re new to the Half-Life universe, purchasing the Orange Box is a great deal, and if you’re not, it still is worth every penny you pay for buying it separately.