Team Fortress 2, a multiplayer team-based shooter from Valve, is one of the best multiplayer games I’ve played in quite a long while.  The original “Team Fortress” was released way back in 1996 as a free mod for id Software’s popular first-person shooter, “Quake.”  I’ll admit that I have had no experience with the original Team Fortress mod, but I will also say that Team Fortress 2 is an exceptional multiplayer first-person shooter.  Read on to learn why.

First off, as both you and your grandmother probably already know, the art style in Team Fortress 2 is both magnificent and unique.  The character classes are highly stylized and the visuals make you feel as if you are in a cartoon or comic book, as the vibrant colors and incredible character models and animations look as if they came straight from a Pixar film such as The Incredibles.

There are nine player classes to choose from, and the balance among them is perhaps some of the best yet in a multiplayer game.  The classes are as follows:  Scout, Pyro, Soldier, Heavy Weapons Guy, Demoman, Engineer, Medic, Spy, and Sniper.  It is absolutely imperative that a team mixes up these classes in order to overpower the opposing team.  Without teamwork, the over-abundance or lack of a single class can easily affect the outcome of a round. 

For example, the "Heavy" (Heavy Weapons Guy) is great at ripping up foes at close range with his minigun, but if he wades into enemy territory without a medic by his side, his slowness will make him a sitting duck for every projectile and melee attack you can imagine.  Equally, if he is not assisted by other combat classes, once he’s overwhelmed, the medic may have to try and engage in combat rather than proceed with the healing process, leaving the Heavy vulnerable and the Medic – who is not the greatest of combatants – in a sticky situation as well.

In the following paragraphs, I will further discuss each of the nine classes, sharing my thoughts as to their main roles and who they are best assisted with or matched up against.  If you already have some knowledge about these classes and want to move on to more about the gameplay itself, please feel free to skip the next nine paragraphs.

The Scout is the fastest class in the game and also the smallest.  What makes the Scout even more special is the fact that he can double-jump in order to avoid enemy fire and reach high places or jump from rooftop-to-rooftop.  He is equipped with a double-barreled shotgun, a pistol, and an aluminum baseball bat.  The shotgun and pistol are a great combination of short and long-ranged weaponry, enabling the scout to be fairly effective both up close and far away.  The shotgun can do plenty of damage when strafing and hopping around foes, the pistol is effective when retreating and firing at foes from afar, and the baseball bat, undoubtedly, is the ultimate weapon of embarrassment.  Because of the Scout’s low health, however, he is also one of the most vulnerable classes in the game.

The Pyro is one of the most annoying classes to deal with.  His main weapon is a flamethrower which can catch foes on fire and do amazingly high damage if the flame is concentrated on them even after they’ve been set ablaze.  Because his secondary weapon is a shotgun, he is limited to being effective in close encounters, so this is his downside.  Up close, however, the Pyro is just about any class’s worst nightmare.

The Soldier comes equipped with a rocket launcher and a shotgun – both of which can be quite dangerous.  The rockets cause splash damage and can send players up into the air, both throwing off their aim and leaving them wide open for other attacks.  Also, the Soldier can use his own rockets to jump higher by simply firing them at the ground while jumping at about the same time.  Of course, this damages the Soldier himself, but if the higher place is one of strategic importance, the payoff could very well be worth it.  After all, rockets are most effective when the player has the “higher ground” and can simply fire them at the feet of any incoming foes.

The Heavy, as mentioned earlier in this article, is a gigantic man wielding an equally large minigun that can rip up just about anything in its path.  He also is equipped with a shotgun which can be surprisingly useful at times due to the time it takes for the minigun to “spin up” in order to be prepared for firing.  Also, the Heavy is very slow – especially when the minigun is spinning up and firing – making him very vulnerable to concentrated attacks.  When paired up with a Medic, however, Heavies can dish out some major damage and wreak havoc both on defense and offense.

The Demoman is certainly one of the most formidable classes in the game.  He comes equipped with two deadly grenade launchers:  A launcher that fires out simple explode-in-a-few-seconds grenades, and a launcher which fires out “sticky” grenades which can be detonated by right-clicking.  The sticky grenades are unbelievably effective in almost any scenario and can even be detonated before they stick to something, allowing them to be detonated over opponent’s heads or even in their face.  His reliance on grenades is also the Demoman’s downfall, however, as he has no direct fire weapon such as a shotgun or pistol, making close combat something of a gamble and toughest to deal with when opponents are up in his face.

The Engineer is perhaps the most unique class in the game, accompanied only by the Spy.  He tends to rely more on construction and sentry placement than direct combat.  That’s not to say that his trusty shotgun isn’t quite an asset in close-quarters firefights, but his structures are certainly most beneficial to both him and the team.  He can construct teleporters (an entrance and exit), a dispenser (provides ammo, health, and metal – the latter which is used to create/repair structures), and a sentry (a turret which can be upgraded two times, making it larger and stronger.)  Level 3 sentries can be monsters to take down, especially if well-placed, and teleports can get your guys back to the front lines much faster so long as the teleport exit remains in-tact.  Dispensers are nice for refilling health, but even better at refilling ammo.

The Medic is one of the most helpful team-based classes in the game.  The class name pretty much speaks for itself.  His main item is his healing gun which, when connected to an allied player, refills their health and begins to build up an “uber” charge over time.  When the “uber” meter is fully charged, the Medic can right-click to activate the ability, making himself and the teammate being healed completely invincible for a limited amount of time.  This is perhaps one of the best methods in the game to break through chokepoints and stout defenses.  He also comes equipped with a needle-gun which shoots needles that arc downwards and a long bone saw that packs quite a nasty punch up close.

The Spy can be one of the toughest classes to deal with in Team Fortress 2, but it is also perhaps the hardest class to learn how to play.  His spy “gadgets” include a disguise kit that allows him to disguise as an enemy player, a cloak wristwatch that allows him to be completely invisible for a limited amount of time, a sapper which allows him to destroy Engineer structures, and a knife which allows for one-hit kills when stabbing an enemy in the back, sides, or top of the head.  The Spy is also equipped with a magnum pistol which can do devastating damage and works as an excellent sidearm if caught by the enemy and forced to retreat.  Spies who know what they are doing can easily turn the tide of a battle in only a few minutes.  Because sentries are such pains and are generally open targets for Spies, this allows the Spy class to be excellent at raiding enemy defenses and clearing out a path for the team.

Last but not least is the Sniper class.  This one is pretty much self explanatory, as snipers have been featured in most first-person shooters in our time.  The Sniper is armed with – wait for it – a sniper rifle, a sub-machine gun, and a machete.  The sniper rifle charges up when scoped in, making shots do more damage.  However, at the same time, whenever a Sniper is looking through his sights, a red or blue dot (depending on which team he’s on) will appear wherever he is looking, allowing opposing players to know when a Sniper is nearby.  Headshots, of course, are the main appeal for Snipers and will generally kill players in one shot even when a shot hasn’t been charged up.  The sub-machine gun is fairly weak and inaccurate, though it can be a decent option for taking on anyone who tries to move in close.

These nine classes, as I said earlier, are surprisingly well balanced and act as great counters for one another.  Spies can sneak behind enemy lines and take down pesky Snipers or slow Heavies, while Pyros can catch Spies – even cloaked ones – on fire, making them available to see, so that cloaked Spies aren’t always left with too many opportunities.  This is just one of many examples of the balance found in Team Fortress 2, and it’s certainly a good thing knowing that one class isn’t always the one solution for everything.

Something else unique in Team Fortress 2 is the gameplay element of critical hits, most commonly referred to as "crits."  Crits occur randomly and cause the weapon you're currently using to do triple the damage, allowing for surprise kills but also adding an element of frustration when, for example, you have the upper-hand in a battle only to have your enemy launch a crit rocket (or "crocket") at your feet, sending you back to the oh so pleasant "respawn" screen.  When you launch a crit, your weapon will make a sound similar to that of an electrical charge and your projectile will glow your team's color.

The maps in Team Fortress 2 are also surprisingly good, despite the fact that there isn’t a huge selection, and there are two different game modes:  Control Point and Capture the Intelligence. 

Control Point, or “CP” as many call it, involves the “RED” and “BLU” teams attempting to either capture or defend certain control points on the map.  As in most CP-style games, the more players that are standing on a point, the faster it will be captured.  It is also worth noting that there are some secrets to this – for example, Scouts count as two people capturing at once, and Spies can’t capture a point unless they’re both undisguised and uncloaked.

Capture the Intel(ligence), or simply “Capture the Flag” or “CTF” as most call it, involves the “RED” and “BLU” teams attempting to raid the opposing team’s base, capture the briefcase containing the intel, and bring it back to the home base’s intel.  This works like any standard CTF-style match and will be immediately familiar to anyone who played such deathmatch games as Unreal Tournament and Quake 3.

Although there are only eight maps and two game modes, the special thing about Team Fortress 2 is the way in which things are kept fresh by strategy and brilliant map design which allows for one map to appear as many.  For example, on Control Point maps such as Dustbowl, one round will feature teams taking one route through the map, and the next round will close off previously-available routes and open up completely new areas, making a single map seem like several different “mini” maps strung together.  This works remarkably well and really adds to the amount of replayability so that when you play one map, you aren’t taking the same routes and playing in the same areas over and over.

One of Team Fortress 2’s best features is its stat tracking, which allows you to easily follow your records, celebrate when you break them, pay attention to how much time you’ve spent playing each of the nine classes, compare stats, and more.  Never before have I been so intrigued with a system like this.  When you go on a killing spree, for example, you may fall just short of your all-time record for points/kills, but the game will still pat you on the back by saying, “Hey, at least you did much better than on your previous attempt!”  The variety of the stats makes things interesting, too.  Headshots, back stabs, “ubers,” sentry kills, and more are all constantly kept track of and allow you to more easily pay attention to the corresponding class which they represent.

Unfortunately, at this time, Team Fortress 2 doesn’t feature bots so it’s strictly an online-only experience, but it does feature developer commentary and new maps, game modes, and features are scheduled to be released in the upcoming future so that the options are even further expanded.  If you are a fan of team-based shooters, it goes without saying that this is certainly a title you should check out.  Whether it be the unique visuals, hilarious personality within every class, amazing map design, stat tracking, or remarkable gameplay balance, Team Fortress 2 does just about everything right and has enough variety in the classes to make it appealing for any first-person shooter fan out there.  You owe it to yourself to give this one a try, “bonk!”

Graphics - 9/10 - The colorful, creative art style makes Team Fortress 2 really shine.  Everything just fits together perfectly, and the performance is also good most of the time.

Sound - 8/10 - As players taunt one another, scream for Medics, and rockets go off and others die in agony, the battlefields found in Team Fortress 2 can be quite a journey for the ear.

Level Design - 8.5/10 - The maps are designed with teamplay in mind and even feature spots to benefit certain classes which can reach them.  There are only eight official maps available, but the presence of different routes in certain maps and the addition of user-made maps helps flesh it out a bit more.

Overall - 8/10 - Team Fortress 2 is one of the best multiplayer team-based shooters in years.  Despite the lack of content such as more maps and a single-player component, it's well worth trying and will keep you busy for a long, long time.