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Sep 22

Team Fortress 2: First Impressions

For the past couple of days, I have spent much of my free time playing the “beta” version of Team Fortress 2. Over ten years in the making, the full game is about to be released to the public. While I haven’t played much of the original, I was excited to try out the sequel.

One of the things that first got me interested was the unique look of the game, which resembles a cartoon and apparently uses a process known as Phong shading. This seems like an odd decision for Valve, a company that usually prides itself on realistic graphics, but it works well. The game runs great; my computer is just over a year old, but every now and then playing games like Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 I have lag issues. With Team Fortress 2, I consistently have at least 40-60 FPS and for the many hours I’ve put in this week I haven’t had a single lag issue. For sound, each playable class (nine in total) has a unique voice for the voice commands. Also, as you play, your character will randomly shout out statements to your teammates and the enemy. One of my favorites was when the Heavy Weapons class would taunt enemies as he mowed them down, saying that they should have sent babies in their place.

Even though I don’t have that much experience with the original game, there were a couple of differences I immediately noticed in the sequel. The first is that grenades are not available for any class (besides the Demoman of course, who uses grenade launchers.) In my discussions with other players, it seems that many feel grenades will be put in at a later date, although I don’t believe this is necessary as each class is unique enough that they can survive with the three weapons they are provided. The weapons system seems more simple than the original, as each class has a primary weapon, a secondary weapon (usually a shotgun or pistol,) and a interesting selection of melee weapons (a bat for the Scout, a bone saw for the Medic, etc.) Another difference I noticed was the addition of a respawn time. This seemed to bother some of the people I was playing with but I felt it helped to balance out the levels.

The two main game modes available are capture the flag and multiple versions of “point control” maps similar to Day of Defeat. There are six maps available currently, and the only capture the flag map is a remake of 2Fort. Of the other point control maps, some are linear where each team starts on a different end with five total capture points. After the middle point is captured, the capturing team can move up to the next point, or the opposing team can capture the middle point and push the capturing team back. What is interesting is that aside from these points, the other ones are locked until the next point is captured (you couldn’t skip a point and go straight for the one in their base, for example.) On these maps, if there is no winner when the clock runs out, there is a sudden death where respawning is disabled until one team is completely dead or the time runs out. If the time runs out, there is a draw, and the game humorously informs you that everyone is a loser. Other map types put one team on offense and one team on defense, where the defense team has to hold two or three areas during the time limit. If the offense team captures a point, the time is extended, and the defense team can not capture the point back.

For the classes themselves, there are some definite imbalances I noticed right away. The Spy class is fun to play as, but they are too powerful. They are able to disguise themselves as an enemy almost instantly, and the addition of a cloaking feature allows the Spy to turn nearly invisible for around 15 seconds (there is a longer cooldown so you can’t just re-cloak all the time.) The Spy also has the ability sap the Engineer’s turrets and dispensers, as well as backstab an enemy while disguised, which kills the enemy instantly but also removes the Spy’s disguise. One weakness that I like about the Spy is that if you see an enemy spy who is disguised, it looks like a teammate, but the name displayed will be the name of another member of your team. This means that if you see another player with your name, or you know that player is different class than the name you see, you are looking at a Spy.

The Medic has some imbalances as well. Instead of a secondary weapon, the Medic has a ray gun of sorts (think Ghostbusters) which can heal teammates from a short distance. This is an interesting method for healing, but Medics can heal teammates from around corners, so you may be shooting at the same enemy for a long time and not be able to take the Medic down (this issue is addressed in Penny Arcade here.) Multiple Medics can also be healing the same person at once, and a few times I saw a Heavy Weapons guy mowing down enemies with three Medics right behind him. In my opinion, only one Medic should be able to heal a person at a time. Another option would be that Medics have some sort of ammo for their med pack gun, or there is a renewable energy that refills slower than you can use it up. One interesting feature of the Medic is that once you heal enough of your teammates, you have an “Ubercharge” option, which makes a teammate and the Medic invulnerable for a small amount of time. This was useful when trying to capture points along with a Heavy Weapons player. The Medic’s main weapon is an automatic gun that shoots syringes, by far the most interesting of all the classes. As cool as this gun seems, it is mostly useless since it is wildly inaccurate unless you are targeting an enemy directly in front of you.

These were the main classes I had issues with. However, when playing as the Demoman class, I originally felt they were too weak. The main grenade gun takes a couple of seconds to explode unless you hit an enemy with it, and the secondary weapon is sticky grenades that need to be triggered. This makes it hard to face enemies like the Scout or Soldier in close quarters as you can not shoot them fast enough. However, after playing for a while, I was able to adapt, and found that they were better at laying traps and destroying enemy turrets than attacking enemies head-on. I also had some issues playing as the Pyro initially, as the flamethrower has a short range, which quicker enemies have no problem dodging. However, once you do hit somebody with it, you can often kill them in a few seconds as it is very powerful. A humorous aspect of the Pyro is that since he is wearing a gas mask, whenever he says anything you can barely make out what he is saying. My favorite classes are the Scout and the Engineer. The Scout is the weakest class, but also the fastest. He is able to double jump, which provides quicker ways through levels that other classes do not have. It also makes it easier for you to avoid fall damage, as you can jump again right before you land. The Engineer is fun to use in capture the flag or defense maps, as you use your turret to defend the area, and can build dispensers which refill ammo and health for your teammates. To build these, you need to collect metal, either by picking up dropped weapons or collecting it from dispensers. The Engineer can also build teleporters, useful for getting your teammates up to the front of the battle. Other classes available are the Soldier (armed with a rocket launcher,) Heavy (who is the strongest class and armed with a powerful chaingun,) and the Sniper.

Overall, this is definitely another fine multiplayer first person shooter from Valve. Each class offers a unique style of gameplay, and even with the issues I had it is easily one of the most balanced multiplayer games ever released. Combine this with the quirky graphics and low price, this is a game you cannot afford to miss if you are a fan of first person multiplayer or strategy games.

You can play Team Fortress 2 beta right now by pre-ordering The Orange Box on Steam for 10% off at $44.95. For this price you will get Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 & 2, Portal, and the final version of Team Fortress 2 when it is released on October 10th. Otherwise, you can buy it on Steam or in stores when it is released. See you online!

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