Joystiq hands-on: Team Fortress 2
We know that a lot of you who pre-ordered the game through Steam have already been playing around with the beta version of Team Fortress 2. We just wanted to put this message out to those of you who may still be on the fence. We've been enjoying the beta version of the game for a while now and, to put it mildly, we're extremely impressed.
Let us give you the quick version, if you're a complete TFC noob. Two teams, each competing for one objective. Each team is populated by very different classes of characters, each with their own special abilities. Team Fortress Classic is one of the all-time favorite multiplayer shooters, and as 1/3 (or 1/5, depending on your view) of the Orange Box, TF2 is looking to reinvent the game.
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What you'll first notice (what you've probably already noticed) is the graphical style, which is somewhere between a well-animated cartoon and spy shooter No One Lives Forever. In fact, with its pseudo 60s pastiche and retro sound cues, the game owes a lot to that series.
It's also similar to NOLF in its flair for the comedic. In addition to the genuinely entertaining narrator and character voices, each of the classes is just entertaining to watch. It's hard not to let a chuckle slip after you're killed by a heavy weapons guy and see the stupid grin on his face.
But once you get past those trappings, you'll notice that there's a really practical reason for the look: All of the character classes have a very distinct appearance, which is so refreshing, you'll wonder why more games don't do it. From a good distance away you can tell what sort of enemy you're facing, so you'll know what sort of tactic to employ, whether you should run or start blasting.
Though said running and blasting is satisfying for old hands at the game, where TF2 really shines is in the way in can accommodate new players. Though you have your traditional killing machines, there are also support classes, like a medic and an engineer.
Even if you can't snipe worth a damn you can still feel a part of the battle if you build a turret in the right place as an engineer. You can even have a more direct role if you wish as the medic, following your tank into the thick of battles and helping to keep him juiced with your health gun.
Other concessions are also made for accessibility's sake, like a little tutorial video that can play on each of the maps giving an overview of how they operate.
We haven't played the full game yet, so it's hard for us to give a final verdict. But between Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Portal, it's hard for us to see how this package won't be a required purchase when it ships today (or unlocks on Steam early tomorrow).
