Team Fortress 2: A Basic Review

TF2 is definitely a team oriented game. Whenever I join a team where the bulk uses voice chat and diversify the classes the end usually result in us winning. On the other hand, when the team isn't communicating, it usually ends up in a slaughterfest. I haven't read many previews or reviews of this game so I might just be rehashing some, or all, of what already has been side.

Games Types
Games types are pretty generic but map layouts are usually pretty fun. I don't know the official type of game play, so I'm just making them up as I go.

Capture the Flag:
There is only one map of this type. The teams start on opposite sides of a river/sewer system inside a barn. Under each barn is a briefcase with intelligence data that the other team wants. Enemies can enter from the sewer system or straight through the barn. Probably the most popular game type since there are already 24/7 CTF servers up.

Capture or Defend:
I believe there are two maps with this type of gameplay. Pretty much red team will defend and blue team will attempt to capture. One map only has two points of interest. Upon capturing the first point, it will become locked for the blue side and the second red point will become unlocked for capture. The second map of this type has three points where blue must capture both point A and B in order to unlock point C.

Capture AND Defend:
There are three maps of this type, with two being slightly different. This has the same ideas as capture or defend but applied for both teams. Blue and Red both start with one capture point and which ever team captured the enemy point first wins. The variation of this type of gameplay is a linear, five capture point map layout. Both sides start with two points that are locked with the middle one being neutral. In order to advance, a team must capture the middle point, thus unlocking the next point. This is probably the better type of game play since both team are required to have a good offense and good defense without the "turtling" mindset of Capture the Flag.

Just checked out the maps in game, and apparently, any map that have lockable control points fall under the CP category. So, it's one CTF map, five CP maps, and one TC map.

Classes
You can't have a Team Fortress game without classes. Classes fall under three catagories, Offense, Defense, and Support. Only classes that I have a better understanding of are Sniper, Spy, Scout, Medic, and Engineer.

Offense-
Scout
Soldier
Pyro

Defense-
Demoman
Heavy
Engineer

Support-
Medic
Sniper
Spy


General Info:
All classes can get critical hits. I'm not positive what the requirements are, but there will be a static discharge sound when you fire and the bullet(s) will glow with whatever color your team is. Scout is the fastest class, Soldier being the slower, heavy being the slowest, and everyone else being roughly average.

Scout:
Considered two people when capturing a control point. They can double jump which allows them to get to places some other classes can't and avoid enemy fire mid air. They come with a special shotgun(which I hear does more damage at point blank), a pistol, a baseball bat, and 125 health. Very good for the twitch shooter guys. Got a New York/Philly accent.

Soldier:
Can rocket jump by shooting the ground and get up to spots even scouts can't get to. Comes with a rocket launcher, a shotgun, a collapsible shovel, and 200 health. You spinfuser guys might like this. Very satisfying to snipe someone jumping with a rocket. A proud American soldier.

Pyro:
Hrm, what to say about this guy. Probably best for guarding tight choke points since their flamethrower has VERY short range. Better for defense in my opinion since they easily find spies(spies burn no matter their disguise). Comes with a flamethrower, a shotgun, an axe, and uh, 150 health? Best used by setting people on fire and finishing them off with the shotgun. Can't understand half of what he's saying because of the gas mask.

Demoman:
Definitely a good defense class. Comes with a grenade launcher, a mine launcher, a broken bottle of booze, and 175 health. Grenades can one shot 125 health classes if they hit directly. They can bounce around corners to take out pesky turrets. The mines can be laid out at important choke points or control points and detonated with right mouse click. No idea about his accent.

Heavy:
Why are these guys consider defense. Comes with a mini-chaingun, a shotgun, his fists, and 300 health. The chaingun requires a second of warm up(also sets you to a walking pace instead of running) before it actually fires. Right mouse click sets the spin going without firing. The chaingun fires four rounds per actual bullet fired and can lay down a lot of damage very fast. inaccurate at range. A Heavy with a Medic has his health buffed to a whopping 500(!) and becomes a walking doomsday weapon. Has a Russian(maybe) accent.

Engineer:
These guys are going to be your main defense. Comes with a shotgun, a pistol, a wrench, 200 metal, and 125 health. They can build a turret, a dispenser, a teleporter entrance, and a teleporter exit. Metal are used to build so usually, a dispenser will be the first thing built. Dispensers will slowly replenish health, give ammo, and give metal. Turrets, after being built, can be upgraded twice for 200 metal each time. First upgrade turns your turret into a dual chaingun turret, and the second upgrade adds a quad missile launcher to the top. While the turret only has a 90 degree shooting range, it will also shoot anything that gets close to it. Will not shoot spies in disguise. With the teleporter, an Engineer or two can easily set up a forward base. Slightly redneckish.

Medic:
You want these guys on your team. Comes with a syringe shooter, a health gun, a bone saw, and 175 health. The health gun, on top of healing, will also give a health buff that fade with time. while healing, a ubercharge bar will slowly fill. Upon filling, the Medic can activate it with the right mouse button to cause himself and whoever he is healing to become invulnerable. Players in ubermode can not pick up intelligence or capture points. A German doctor.

Sniper:
My favorite class, can easily stop an enemy offense. Comes with a submachine gun, a sniper rifle, a kukri, and 125 health. Alt fire with the sniper rifle uses the scope. When in scope mode, a energy bar will start to fill and takes a couple of seconds to full charge. In order to do full damage with the sniper rifle, a player must allow the charge to fill before firing. A full charge headshot will kill anything, including a Medic buffed Heavy. A full charge body shot will kill anything with 125 health. While in scope mode, a dot with the color of your team will appear where you aim and can give away your position if the enemy sees it. An Aussie.

Spy:
Hard to play, but worthwhile. Comes with a revolver, an electrosapper, a butterfly knife, a disguise/cigarette case, and 125 health. Alt fire with any item will put the spy into cloak. Cloak is completely invisible unless the spy bumps into another player or gets shot. A spy can not do ANYTHING will cloaked and must be completely out of cloak in order to shoot, stab, electrosap, etc. There is a power bar for cloak and will slowly refill. Disguise takes a second or two before it activates. Electrosapper is used to disable and destroy anything that an Engineer can build and does not break disguise or have a cooldown. An Engineer can hit whatever is electrosapped with his wrench to destroy it. A disguised spy's pistol will look like the main weapon of whatever class he is disguised as. Backstab with the knife is an instant kill and will break disguise. A spy can literally kill an entire offense team in seconds by backstabbing one person after another. Sounds French.

All in all, a very fun game. It can be frustrating when playing on a team that doesn't know what they are doing or comprised of five million spies. But it is definitely one of the better online, team oriented FPS to come out in a long time. (Psst, go get it.)

 

Yeah, the team kill system is great, that way you actually get credit for helping to kill. I've seen medics get top score just by constantly assisting the frontline battle.