TL;DR- TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS WAY BETTER THAN HALO 3 AND COD 4
Whenever I hear teenagers talking about the latest online shooter, I feel slightly disappointed for them, because they haven't played Team Fortress 2. Halo is a decent online shooter. DECENT. That's it. Anyone who says otherwise does not have a proper perspective on games as a whole. In my opinion, it's tedious to play Halo for extended periods of time because of all of the "crappy-player-compensation" (I.e, magic sniper bullets that hit your target like they were both polar opposites). But what about the others? COD4(and 2), for example? They're very fun, no doubt, and they're far more respectable than Halo 3 and its bastardized expansion. I still feel, however, that they lack that certain "something" that makes a good team-based shooter an amazing team-based shooter.
In games like Halo, COD, and even Counter-Strike (though to a lesser degree if the players are competent), gameplay consists of "teams" of opponents trying to kill one another and/or complete objectives. However, these "teams" are farcical. They're simply conglomerates of independent players who all want to kill anyone that isn't painted the same color as them. Honestly, unless with a large group of very good online friends, when's the last time you saw any actual teamwork going on in a shooter? Yeah, you may save a team mate accidentally by shooting a target that was gunning for him, but it's all based on chance encounters. You're almost encouraged to go solo in these games unless it means certain death. The only reason you care about your teammates in these games is because they can serve as distractions to the enemy so YOU can get away or remain unharmed while YOU kill them.
Team Fortress 2 (and its prequel, which is by now ancient, but very fun, history) does none of this. It does exactly what an online team-based shooter should do. First off, the art style is completely different from any other (good) shooter I know of. It's not cell shaded, but it's not realistic, either. It's a stylized, Pixar look that gives it its own identity. The art style also serves to GREATLY enhance visual information delivery to the game's players. Instead of everyone being a drab brown or gray, or (if they are two distinct colors) being impaired by all the lovely bump-mapping and environmental models. Every player is distinct in appearance. The models all display the teams color clearly, regardless of the lighting (with some very slight exceptions in small, shadowy corners). This means that players spend less time wondering WHO they should shoot and more time actually shooting the maggots. The art style, being obviously unrealistic, also allows for certain particle or texture effects that serve as announcements for certain players that would otherwise seem "unrealistic." (Blue explosions or red grenades in halo anyone? No.) All of these game-enhancing qualities are augmented by the fact that the game is gorgeous, both artistically and technically.
The second, big reason why TF2 > most other shooters in terms of multiplayer is the class system. Halo and Counter-Strike do not use class systems. Nor does Call of Duty. Any sort of "class system" in these games is an arbitrary set of weapons and/or perks. They may serve their purpose, but they're essentially just a quick buy button from a vendor. TF2, on other hand, is actually DEFINED as a class-based shooter. Each class is distinctly different in appearance, sound, abilities, weapons, speed, and hit points. This means that all of the classes are situational, and each serves a specifically-designed purpose, but this is actually not a drawback. Considering the fact that you can get in 15v15 games, you always have another member of your team that can bring his own unique abilities into the fight. Even small-scale games benefit from the class system by ensuring variety in terms of the way the player(s) approach(es) his(their) opponents. The class system gives the game a huge variety, which is something that most other shooters lack horribly after X amount of weeks have been played. Team Fortress 2 is always fun, and most of the time the combat is unexpected every time you play.
Because of the class system, there's no such thing as an "uberweapon." Every class has and can only use the weapons made for them, and all of them (with the exception of the shotgun) are distinct from each other in every way and, just as their respective classes do for the team as a whole, serve a specific purpose for the player wielding them. Because of this fact, there are no weapon spawns on any of the maps, only ammo/health. This means that you'll never encounter a situation where one player bum-rushes to the nearest rocket launcher and begins griefing the hell out of you and your wimpy, little pistol.
Anyway, I planned to write more, but I'm lazy and none of you will read it anyway.
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