While Orange Box does feature perhaps the best single player game in recent memory in Half-Life 2 (along with it’s offshoot chapters – Episode 1 and 2) along with Portal, the most daring, addicting and original game of the modern age, it also takes it’s action online in Team Fortress 2. Fortress 2 is the sequel to the original Fortress, which took the world by surprise back in 1996, and while it does go miles ahead of it’s older brother, there are certain setbacks that may delay the game from joining the rest of it’s orange box brethren in such high critical acclaim.
Only being able to be played online, Team Fortress 2 is all about action. From the moment players log on, they are immediately placed into a war zone that can only be described as chaotic and fast moving. The game features two different modes – a capture the flag style mode and a mode called control where the object is to occupy all of the enemies supply points.
Oddly, it seems that some of the character’s weaknesses are more apparent in each map. For instance, due to the small size of the majority of the maps, the sniper character is almost useless, especially to new gamers. While this will curb the sniper-dominance seen in other games, it can feel very daunting to newer gamers.
Players are split up into teams of 12 and asked to pick a class, or they’re character’s specialty. The amount of class ranks players can choose from is nothing short of amazing. There are three different groups, offense, defense and support, each with at least four characters. For instance, if a player chose the offense group, they would be able to choose between a Scout – a wiry little guy who shoots quick and seems to have had ingested too much caffeine, Pyro or Demo-man (think explosives).
Team Fortress' art style is nothing short of breathtaking.
What makes this class system work above anything else is the fact that there is no one dominant class. Each has their own strengths and definitely their own weaknesses. Take our old friend the Scout for instance – sure he’s quick and can fire of quick shots, but from the start he has a significant less amount of health than one of the bigger characters. Who in turn may have the strength and firepower to blow take out massive amounts of enemies, but their large weapons take a while to start up, and they move like boulders and roller-skates.
This virtual chess game sets Team Fortress 2 apart from other class-based shooters. Players are almost forced to work together as a team, as going it alone and trying the Halo strategy of going in guns blazing will get you nowhere. In the interest of victory, players are encouraged to communicate with their teammates and develop strategies.
While most games go for realism and photo-reproduction graphics, Team Fortress 2 is presented in a cell-shaded, cartoon style that gives it a unique and novel look. This less than realistic style allows characters to portray more facial animations that separates Team Fortress 2 from many other shooters. This is especially evident in the game’s most mentally daunting character - the Spy. While other characters us strictly firepower to take control of situations, spies must rely almost solely on their mental prowess. The animations of the spy as they sneak around, take out enemies and even puff on cigarettes when they’ve achieved points is simply amazing to watch.
Sure, it has a few downfalls, but what game doesn’t? Team Fortress 2 is a solid online shooter that requires some more mental strength than firepower; a welcome change in the Halo era of video games.
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