Never has a military shooter been so strategic and complicated, and yet so fun and crazy, that it's so right.
-Soldier, when my team lost the battle.
As a veteran of the original Team Fortress Classic mod in the first engines used in Half-Life, I was more than excited to hear a sequel in development. There was something to team fortress that really made it stick out as a competitive online shooter. Something unique. Something that's usually tossed aside by other games in favor of useless flashy graphics and unnecessary variations of the same weapon.
As you will find out when playing, it is the class system.
Mainly deep balance between the classes and their abilities, which do far more impressive changes in gameplay than in other class-based games like Modern Warfare and the like. Team Fortress 2, like Team Fortress Classic, emphasizes the difference not only with different equipment, but with different abilities, ranging from running faster, taking more damage and surviving, healing, and even disguising yourself as the other team.
The changes are even more drastic in Team Fortress 2, and some things have been removed (namely, class-based grenades), but for a good purpose, and the game has never been better. Each class, now more than just a soldier, represents a person from somewhere all over the globe. Not only does a country of origin add to the character and bring them to life, but with the addition of the source engine and TF2's Pixar-esque art style, the characters all seem like living, breathing 3D cartoon characters, each with their own hysterical lines of dialogue, facial expressions, and taunt moves.
In addition to the already fantastic design, the characters all have unique personalities and characteristics, as well as great voice actors to back them up, and make the game much more fun when ranting to your teammates via the shout-out commands or insulting the other team, and even the battlecry.
The game's theme also presents an interesting concept to the red vs blue world that is TF2; all Capture the Flag/Intelligence are symmetrical on each team's side per map, except for one thing; one team has a high-tech base with steel walls, the other has a wooden barn with hay as a floor. Not that it has any role to play in gameplay; it's just fun to consider an army of farm-boys and pyro (presumably a girl by many fans) taking on a government military base of operations.
The actual gameplay focuses on class, and boy are they different.
There are nine classes in the game.
The first, Scout; a very, very fast and small shot-gun wielding ex-gangster who does well when capturing bases and intel, but is very weak and easy to kill.
Soldier; an all around class, who is armed with a rocket launcher, specifically designed to take down all forms of slower enemies, as well as use the infamous rocket jump developed in the previous game.
Pyro; With the flame thrower, none may escape the fiery wrath. Pyro is particularly useful as an attack support character and dealing with spies, who can't make the flames invisible when they are hidden and running.
Demoman; The Scottish Cyclops. Armmed with a grenade launcher of two types, the Demoman is a specialist with traps, using remote-detonated sticky grenades to catch enemies by surprise. Also a heavy drinker.
The Heavy Weapons Guy; The unstoppable, enormous moving wall. Impossible to miss, but by the time you see him, you won't be doing much shooting, as he will immediately rid you with his boxing talent and massive minigun. After that, he will snack away any pain delivered to him with a taste of the delicious Sandvich
The Engineer; Not much of a weapons guy; Engineer excels at what engineers are meant to do; build. From automated turrets, to ammo dispensers, to portals, Engineer focuses on support for and from his teammates, as well as sitting back and earning kills while his turret does all the work for him.
The Medic; Unique to Team Fortress in the sense that his best attribute is not to harm (although he can do plenty of that too), but instead heals injured teammates, and even going so far as to give them more health points than their own bodies can carry.
Sniper; Everyone's favorite class, as long as you're the one making the headshots Enough said.
The Spy; You will never see him coming. You may think you killed him, only to find out he was alive all along and standing right behind you. You may even think he was on your side. But no; the spy had you going all along. With the ability to turn invisible at will, fake his own demise, and pretend to be someone else, there's no guarantee that there isn't a spy sapping your sentry.
The Sandvich; Very, very tasty.
Each class plays an important role in the game, Valve would like to remind you that as the human race, teamwork is essential for survival. The slightest strategy gone wrong could turn the tables a full 180°. There is even an entire food chain of what class is best against another class, but that is something for you to figure out. Needless to say, the games experience varies incredibly depending on the classes chosen for each team and the equipment selected.
Speaking of equipment, there is a large range of unlockable content, even more coming now and then with free DLC. And who doesn't like free things? Each class can unlock handful of items ranging from guns, to melee weapons, and even hats, which can drastically change the way your character performs (not counting hats, but they're still awesome). Equipment usually changes things like rate of fire, damage, bullet count, and sometimes walking speed, for better or for worse. For example, the Sandvich can be used to heal the Heavy Weapons Guy, replacing his shotgun so he has no ammo to back him up after his minigun (surely) runs out.
All the maps in the game range from several different game modes; taking over bases, grabbing intelligence, and even arena modes, which is basically just killing the other team. Many maps are available for download, and many servers may rewrite the game rules.
Graphics 8/10
Great to look at and come to life with fantastic animations and a world which follows the same art style.
Gameplay 10/10
From the humor to the killing, the game is a barrel of fun, with immense amount of strategy becoming a key to winning, and plenty of action and balance in the game that the outcome is always unpredictable.
Controls 10/10
There is nothing complicated about the game. All buttons are where they should be, and communicating with shout outs is as easy as pie. Using the Source engine, it's also easily modifiable.
Sound 9/10
Fantastic voice acting, diversity of sound effects, ad the ability to track hidden enemies by listening to them making their shout-outs to their team fills this game with vivid atmosphere.
Overall 9.5/10
A great game for those who love strategy when it comes to team-based first person shooters. Loaded with content and even unlockables, this game is long-lasting and addictive.