Team Fortress 2 Review

Many video games can spend years upon years in development after their initial announcement to the public, after which only one of three outcomes can occur: the game can be just as amazing as everyone has built it up to be, it can suck horribly, or it can just never come out at all (cough "Duke Nukem Forever" cough). Luckily for Team Fortress fans, not only was Team Fortress 2 finally released on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, it doesn't suck. So that means...you guessed it...it's nothing short of amazing.

For those not familiar with the concept of Team Fortress, it's basically team-based multiplayer (and only multiplayer) heaven. There is a litany of game types to choose from, but they all require players to split into two teams (blue and red) and work together to achieve a particular objective. Some, but not all of the game types, include capture the flag, capture point (which require teams to be the first to capture a set number of waypoints on the map), attack and defend (teams take turns defending points that the attackers are trying to capture until time runs out), and payload (one team is trying to push a cart to a destination while the other is trying to stop them).

The twist, however, is that there are 9 different classes to choose from; all with their inherent strengths and weaknesses, and teams must utilize their different abilities accordingly if they want any chance at winning the match. The classes include the Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Engineer, Heavy, Sniper, Medic, and Spy. Most of the classes' abilities are self explanatory from their names, but rest assured that they all must be used in order to win. For example, an engineer can build an extremely powerful sentry gun--which automatically locks onto enemy players and immediately begins to shoot--to protect a capture point or a flag, but spies can disguise themselves as enemy team members to sneak past the sentry gun and place a sapper on it, which eventually destroys it if the engineer doesn't notice in time.

The classes themselves are one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, and not just in the gameplay aspect. While it's a blast to fool around with different classes and try out their different abilities (running around twice as fast as everyone else with the ability to double jump as the scout is especially fun), the way that Valve has created these unique personalities and traits to go with each one is extremely entertaining. The Scout is a loudmouth kid straight out of Boston, while the Heavy is a slow-moving behemoth with a thick Russian accent and very limited intelligence, and the list goes on. That being said, the voiceover work for the game is outstanding, as are the animations that are unique to each of the classes; when you get killed there's a brief freeze frame shot of your killer, and it's pretty amusing to see things like the Heavy in the middle of a crazed, open mouth laugh as he unleashes a flurry of bullets from his minigun.

Valve has embraced the personalities of each of the characters and brought them to the next level through a slew of marketing tactics, including a series of short animations called "Meet The [Insert Class]" where a brief (and humorous) background of a class is given in a three or four minute film.

The developers' involvement doesn't stop at little marketing gimmicks, though. One of the greatest aspects of TF2 is Valve's continuing support and efforts to enhance the game. Valve is well known for listening to its player community and taking their thoughts into consideration when working on a game, and TF2 is no exception. The developers have continuously made adjustments and tweaks to the game in response to the many grievances (or suggestions) from the TF2 community. Not only that, since the game's release, Valve has released updates on a regular basis, bringing more weapons, achievements, gametypes, and maps into the mix every few months. And the best part? It's all for free. That's bang for your buck.

The most obviously unique aspect about TF2, however, is its art style, which, while eye-catching in itself, is a humongous departure from the development team initially had in mind. Granted, the game was announced to the public in 1999, eight years before its actual 2007 release, but it's still cool to see how much it has transformed in the development process. In the end, players have been treated to a bright and colorful graphics style, leaving all of the players and environments looking like they're straight out of an episode of Looney Toons, which juxtaposes hilariously with the game's over-the-top violence and gore.

As great as TF2 is when players actually work together as a team (hence the name of the game), it can be downright infuriating when they don't. Certain matches can end up horribly lopsided when one team is focusing on the objective and has divvyed up its members among the classes as they see necessary, while the other team has completely abandoned all pretense, playing with an "every man for himself" mentality and not pursuing the objective at all. Regardless of what side you're on in this scenario, it's just no fun. Either it's too easy and your team has won the match a couple of minutes into the round, or it's too hard and you can't even get out of your base without being blown to smithereens. It should be noted that this lack of cooperation is quite common, so be prepared to deal with it.

As long as you're a fan of strictly multiplayer titles ("Counter-Strike", "Unreal"), then this is a must-have for your library. Sure, there's no beginning, no end, but with its absorbing, team-based gameplay and unique classes, you'll log more hours into it than any other game. Thanks to Valve's continued support of the game, there now tons of different game types, maps and weapons to choose from, along with the nine distinctive classes. It's just a game of which you will never grow tired.

Score: 9.4/10