Team Fortress 2 - Review

Dear reader you should not consider this a review of Team Fortress 2 since reading a review of a very popular PC game that now approaches four years old would be a bit foolish. Instead, let us consider this more akin to a tribute or possibly even an homage to a game existing in the team based shooter genre which, unlike many of its contemporaries, rose up to the level of other quality team based shooters of yore like Enemy Territory: RTCW and Battlefield 2.

Much like those examples, Team Fortress 2 took the existing formula of two teams with varying classes, added some new ideas to the formula, and most importantly and unique for TF2, they kept the game fun for gamers by introducing new content for several years either from internal work or bringing the community into the work itself. In fact, is this even a purely team based shooter anymore? Has it become some wild hybrid of a first person shooter, a team shooter, an RPG, and a micro-transaction monstrosity? It can be hard to argue against that hypothesis.

Also, for those new to the game, welcome aboard. Alas, while I'm baffled as to why you'd wait for this game to be free to actually play it, having you here to dismember and eviscerate these past few weeks has proven to be cathartic. Snipers never looking up from their scopes, Heavies unable to spin fast enough while I do a Pyro death dance around them, and even watching hapless Medics uber our own teams Spy. All of these examples long faded into the distant mist of time and only whispered around the spawn area weapons locker as everyone treated them for what they were: a time passed into memory and probably never to be seen again.

Until, the game went free to play recently and all those who stalwartly refused to purchase anything through Steam (“fuck Valve, AMIRITE?!”) even when it cost $2.50 at one point finally joined into the fray. I'd like to think a large contingent of those game veterans who recently downloaded TF2 possessed a gaming swagger for themselves, having been veterans of the high res graphics and M4 carbines pumped out by those games like Call of Duty. I'd like to think that right before a Demoman's shield smashed them in the face from a sprint that the CoD and MW veterans were frantically trying to find the button for their hand grenades, fingers mashing what I guess is the 'G' button only to have their character throw out the character taunt instead. I hope they were a pyro when that happened, that's the best taunt anyway.

Maybe they did get a handle on the game and are now true believers in the Sasha portable mini-gun and 1950s themed graphics. One can only hope. If they didn't I wouldn't be surprised though, and some might have gone crawling back to their Baghdad simulators muttering about how TF2 wasn't real enough or looked good enough for their tastes anyway and fuck that shit because I love the desert anyway sand, oh god how I love my sand.

Wait was I playing MW:3 or is this Medal of Honor? Shit I can't tell!

Other grizzled fanatics of TF2 might have scoffed at the idea of making their beloved TF2 a free to play game. “NOOBS IN MY CATHEDRAL OF GIBS?! NEVAH!!” Rearing up on their hind legs howling at the moon about how the new players would ruin the game and make it no fun. To them then I say you are short sighted. These past few weeks have been a renaissance. Not only do some of the old tricks work but the sheer idiocy of some teams allows a person to try new and crazier things that you would never had tried before against more seasoned opponents. If those things work then even someone who's played a lot such as myself just learned something new. Let me provide a specific example but please keep in mind that I had not played much in several months before this went free to play so if this has been common knowledge for a while so be it.

On several maps I started seeing Engineers placing turrets and teleporters in places that would on first blush appear impossible to get to without some sort of assistance or perhaps even a little hacking or exploiting of map bugs. However, upon watching them – because the other team of idiots was completely dead or giggling at a boobie wall spray – the truth appeared. Engineers were using their Wrangler to rocket jump themselves to those locations. You could say they showed some real ingenuity, but if you do that's really a bit too silly of a pun and you should feel ashamed of yourself.

But enough about new players, what I should be trying to argue is why has this game possessed such longevity. I believe there are many reasons that range from the admittedly asinine choice of letting players receive or even make hats to more technical issues such as supporting much older game system APIs like DirectX 8.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my hats even if they logically make no sense to have and contribute nothing to the overall gameplay. But come on, when I play Pyro and get a good kill like air blasting a soldier rocket back at him and having the soldier explode, then you know I can't deny the now dead soldier the chance for a nice screenshot of my sombrero, Southern gentlemen's beard, and monocle while laying down a heavy metal rift on my melee weapon. 

Style. I has it.

 

The ultimate prize as far as I'm concerned is the Towering Pillar of Hats because why settle for one hat when you can have many hats atop your head. Sure I could buy it from the store but that would take some of the joy of actually finding it or crafting it myself. It's like my own stupid little honor code in the game. If you want to give me one though then by all means hit me up on that. 

You know what they say about a gentlemen with tall hats.

While killing people and using their intestines to grease the path in front of me toward a backpack full of hats is a pretty good incentive to keep playing, I don't think that's what has given the game its staying power which has been impressive compared to many of its predecessors whose online servers often become devoid of life in less than a year. So what then has allowed TF2 to have this sort of staying power? I think it's a few different things

1. The gameplay maintains an incredibly fast pace often on par with games considered much more “twitchy” like the Quake series. A player can often get into the action quickly from spawn and become embroiled in a vicious firefight where a life expectancy of more than several minutes is considered an amazing accomplishment. As I was reading “Masters of Doom” about id's founders and the games they made, one thing that stuck out to me was their insistence on action. Fast, relentless actions as what was seen in Wolfenstein, Doom, and many of their other games. If the idea didn't contribute to making the game an assault on the senses it was quickly dropped even if it meant losing Tom Hall in the process. What TF2 has accomplished is that same incessant action but in a team environment.

2. A lot of reviews and even the wikipedia article discuss the graphics of the game in great detail with discussions of a 1950s design inspired by various artists. In forums and symposiums Valve also has discussed how it went to great lengths to ensure the ease of class distinction with their silhouettes being so different from one another. I don't really see a need to go on about that but I will say if you want to see an example of this character design done poorly, load up Brink, join a server and tell me who is what class from a distance? Personally I couldn't do it easily; hell I couldn't distinguish friend from foe sometimes.

3. The game's parity has held up well over the years despite a bevy of new weapons and changes in classes. I think this is probably the most important distinction between TF2 and BF2. With BF2 you were rewarded for how long you played and were at a considerable disadvantage if you were new to the game. On the support role, for example, the M-60 was miles behind the unlockable support guns. However, in TF2 the heavy's main mini-gun is still a perfectly viable weapon to use now and probably still superior to the weapons that drop or can be purchased since it has no speed or damage penalties. So what this means is that new players at least have a chance. The one class and weapon I know this doesn't hold up for though is the Medic who's Blutsauger medic gun drop is much better than the standard medic gun despite the health penalty on it. And despite most of the weapons being purchasable on the store you don't hear too much of any outcry about it like when purchasing items or even gold in MMOs. I would think that says something for the team balance.

4. It's been a while since a shooter attempted to maintain some sense of humor about it. Sure there are always humorous moments in games but a team shooter actually providing its own sense of fun has become a rare sight due to the shift of most shooters into modern militaristic themes, which is very serious business apparently. With TF2 though the game takes a humorous, often macabre, slant towards the over the top displays of violence on the screen. It seems that all aspects of the game are attempting to maintain the humor, to near slapstick levels and honestly I'm quite okay with that. Everything from the game's website and associated comics, to having your sniper carry a jar of piss around to throw at enemies, the game focus on making the game not only fun but funny. Even after a bad round the tongue in cheek attitude of the game make a loss not that big of a deal. Perhaps that's my old age and maturity talking though.

To wrap up this whole writing I wanted to possibly pass on some guidance to you new players about playing classes. While I can do all right with most of the classes I really think I do best as the Medic.  They're always in demand, you learn the maps real quick, and you make an obvious and direction contribution to helping the team win. A lot of people refuse to play medic or even lament how the team needs a Medic over voice chat. My answer: go Medic yourself, son, and now here's some tips for hopefully doing it properly. Because without a Medic your team won't be able to win a round. You did see that this game's name is TEAM Fortress 2, right? Okay then.

Let's discuss the weapons. First and foremost the thing you'll be doing the most is healing your teammates and you have three options for this: the Medi Gun, the Kritzkreig, and the Quick Fix.

The Medi Gun gives you the familiar ubercharge effect making you and your target invulnerable for about ten seconds. Timing is everything with this. Set it off too early or when you're not near the enemy and you're wasting valuable time. Fire it off too late and you'll probably be dead before you get a chance to charge it. Your obvious first choice for ubercharging is the Heavy. If you're going after sentries though stay in front of the Heavy so the sentry targets you and not him. If a Heavy's not available then uber up a Pyro and if he's not around a Demo with sticky bombs will do, too.

The Krizkreig provides a very potent alternative to the Medi Gun. While you don't get the invulnerability effect your target does get to deal crit hits on every shot and it will fully charge faster than the standard medi-gun. This is a wonderful thing to give a Soldier who has the standard rocket launcher as it will clear out the bad guys quickly and with lots of blood. So much sweet, delicious blood. If a Soldier isn't around then Demoman is your next best option and lastly give it to a Heavy.

The Quick Fix I'm finding to be a mixed bag so far. On the one hand I really like how quickly it gets to full charge and how it lets me keep up with faster classes like a Scout but when I hit the ubercharge, the 300% healing bonus doesn't seem to help your more traditional ubercharge targets like the Heavy. My guess is that this pack would be best used with a flanking Pyro or even a Scout.

As for your melee weapon, my preferred choice is the Amputator as it provides heals to everyone within a certain radius when you hit the taunt button. I like the Vita-Saw as it lets you keep up to 10% of your ubercharge when you die too but there's a trade off on less health.

For your firing weapons I only use the Blutsauger but that's because I haven't had the Overdose or Crossbow drop for me or show up in a crate yet.

Now when you're out on the battlefield my first suggestion: NEVER STOP MOVING. Spies, pyro flames, sniper bullets, and grenades will be flying everywhere so with a Medic's speed you should be doing everything you can to dodge and avoid it all. Personally I often find myself circle strafing around the target I'm healing since it also allows me to keep on the lookout for enemy soldiers coming from unforseen directions. If you have to stop for whatever reason then get your back against a wall so a spy won't come up behind you and stab you in the back. There's nothing more humiliating than having a spy stab you and you lose your ubercharge progress.

As for who you heal, I personally try to heal everyone but if you have to make choices in the middle of a firefight then help other Medics, Heavies, Demoman/Soldier, Pyro, and then anyone else. If it's a cart map, though, get in there and help those moving or stopping the cart first.

For your hat, I'd suggest the pickelhaube but the Blighted Beak looks like it might be nice too.

Being a medic is not a glamorous job as you're not racking up the sick kills but it's a vital job that you should do from time to time to help your team get the victory.

You can find me over on the No Hereos servers most of the time.