Team Fortress 2
Fig. 1 - Team Fortress 2 - The Team
Team Fortress 2 originally came as part of Valve’s “Orange Box” collection. This shotgun blast comprised of five games: Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 (TF2) – now sold separately.
TF2 (and Portal) are stand outs for me. Visuals in the game are very appealing and while it looks like a first-person-shooter cross with a Pixar film, it can get a little messy. The aesthetic is something to be marvelled, a far cry from first glimpses – which was along the same lines of Counter Strike mould – boring and generic (please see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 - First glimpse at Team Fortress 2 - looks like some changes were made.
With this iteration of Team Fortress, Valve has managed to make something ‘new’ and ‘fresh’ out of the nasty potatoes at the bottom of the fridge. They didn’t just cut out the green-tinged-bits – they scrubbed it, gave it a lick of paint and polished it to a point of blinding perfection.
Props appear as though pulled through a 1950’s time warp. Server racks, chairs and various wall fixtures all contribute to a highly enjoyable experience – should you have the time to admire them before getting gibbed.
Something especially nice is the continuous support from Valve: pumping out new maps with ‘new’ mechanics (e.g. upcoming payload), distributing community-created maps, releasing class-based achievements and new weapons which all help to maintain ongoing interest in the game.
Team Fortress 2 is a classic scenario of us v. them, good v. evil, red v. blue. Both of which beat it out until someone achieves the goal – be it capture the flag, capture point, payload or death-match (arena). More time can be spent playing with respawns during the round.
There is a class for every type of gamer regardless of your playing style. Scout, Solider and Pyro for running to the frontline and sorting things out; Heavy, Engineer and Demo for holding fast and sorting things out; Sniper and Medic for hanging back and sorting your team out and; Spy for indulging your slippery back-stabbing bastard tendencies. Each class also has their own personality which is conveyed through the ‘Meet the Team‘ shorts, making them into more of a ‘character’ rather than a ‘class’.
TF2 has so much polish you can see your face in it and call it your own. It’s cutesy without challenging one’s masculinity too much and it’s fun — without incorporating hyper-realistic textures right down to the pores on your opponent’s nose giving it a much lighter, humorous atmosphere.
Character design has been very carefully considered by diligent Valve artists combing through the details. Different classes give a clear read for the player by the silhouette they cut on the horizon with enough friend-or-foe identifying colour on their uniforms (see Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 - Uniform colour gives a very clear friend-or-foe read for the player.
“For every action there is an equal, but opposite, reaction” – the strengths and weaknesses of classes is important to balance play. For an overly efficient spy infestation, a trigger-happy pyro burning everyone in sight will help stem the problem.
From Team Fortress Classic, TF2 has addressed emergent techniques (such as throwing all your grenades when near death) which made it miserable for new players. These sorts of high damage, unsportsmanlike like techniques have been downplayed in favour of making each class is relatively simple to start playing and contribute to your team.
I find the difference between a highly-organised-ninja-squad and ducks milling about, is a headset and a little leadership – which is often difficult to come by on a public server. A string of unanswered kills results in that player becoming your Nemesis and vice versa with your Domination of someone. I find this riles me into such as state that causes me to chase them down and get done again. Being cross never solved anything – if you can’t stop them, heal up someone who can.