The title points to an existence of a rare species. Yes, we still exist. In this day and age of gaming being a pro sport, where DPI is of more importance to gaming mice than printers, where stats play a big role in one’s e-peen, there are those remnants who play games for what they were meant to offer – fun. Playing online versus a ton of folks has always been more fun than pitting your wits against a witless AI opponent. Though the novelty of being ‘head shot central’ (and I mean I was the one receiving them) wore off pretty soon. Modern Warfare, Resistance, Killzone 2… the list of stuff I’ve gotten bored with is endless. And it is thus that we come to a title that puts the fun back in the game.
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Two or three years ago, a cousin handed me an orange box on my birthday. Yes, the box was orange but that’s what the big letters on it said too- Orange Box. And I’ve been hooked to one particular title – Team Fortress 2 – ever since. Having been used to Counter Strike’s fast paced and serious shooting action, TF2 was a refreshing (and much needed, in my opinion) change. The strength of the game obviously lies in its classes. And thus a closer look at what makes TF2 something that you’ll want to keep coming back to.
The Spy’s knife, ability to disguise and cloak are all typical characteristics you’d associate with the “spy” moniker and TF2 does not give any huge advantage to its use either since the spy’s disguise fails when he’s shot a bit by an enemy and he’s revealed to the opposition once he uses the knife to back stab. Making him British was a touch of class. The Soldier has that perfect “American Sarge” look to him and the Minigun-wielding Heavy being Russian (not to mention a bit of a dunce) adds to the character. Every class has a perfect foil, a complete enemy. For instance, the Engineer might appear all powerful – what with his Sentry Guns and teleporters. But, the Spy is the answer to dominating the Engineers. No class can thus claim to be superior. The Scout’s speed balances out his relative lack of firepower. I liked it a lot that Valve spent the time hyping each class, making them correspond to different regions of the World (eg. The Aussie Sniper, the German Medic, Scottish Demoman), giving them intro videos (and they still keep it coming).
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Even though the Pyro was a bit less powerful initially, the addition of the Backburner by Valve fixed it. It’s great that Valve keeps supporting the game all through the last 2 years with new updates that give the game new life and players the zeal to give new additions a go. Every advantage they give to one class is countered by another update to the other classes (the Razorback served as a defense for the sniper for instance). The Medic’s role is highly important in the battle too, with his few seconds of invulnerability for him and a comrade being able to break the deadlock in the face of an almost perfect defense. I’ve enjoyed that ability countless times while playing as a Heavy. Recently, the Soldier vs Demoman duel (along with the recent comics by Valve) on TF2 made me WANT to play the game for more than just stats. Adding an unlock to whichever class won the duel made it even sweeter.
The graphics are great even two years on, and it doesn’t take a very high-end rig to run it. The cartooney effect is not at all overdone, and it helps that every class is visually distinct from every other one even from a distance. I’ve also noticed how the Heavy smiling more as he racks up more kills. Everything is pretty easy to see and you don’t need to memorize the maps to know where the control points are or Intel is. The sound is simply awesome too, with automatic cries from each character like “Fire, Fire, Fire”, “Here I come”, “God save the Queen”, “Hey Look at me ma!”, “We must stop little baby” and “KABOOM” adding to the hilarity. The sound of silly stuff happening like the Scout’s ball going Bonk on someone’s head and hitting people with the baseball bat are all so well done. Body part labeling after your character dies, using piss to put out a fire, the good looking critical hit and “Bonk” animations all add to the laughs. The way they marketed the game with the “Meet the Team” videos was wonderful too!
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While in CS and other Multiplayer-oriented FPS’s I usually felt frustration at dying repeatedly sometimes, here things like getting points for Revenge made it all the more fun, getting stabbed in the back is more hilarious than annoying. The addition of bases into which you can go to get away from the fast paced action and resupply quickly is also quite nice. The ability to send quick tips like “Spy” or “Thanks” to a teammate using just 2 keys from the keyboard without having a headset to communicate with has also helped me greatly. This was one game that got me off of my usual habit of looking for bots, and now I’m ever ready to go online and kick some a** (or get mine kicked).
I love games like Halo and Modern Warfare, but the thing is this game has always had me going back to it no matter how many times I decide “Alright I’ll go try something else for a while”. It’s a game that one can play both competitively as well as just pick up and play for the fun of it. Every time I play, there’s some new and funny event I experience that I can’t wait to tell my fellow gamers. After the endless hours spent sniping from the balcony on 2Fort, frantic overtime runs and the many days of standing next to the cart with a medic in support, I can confidently say this is the most I’ve enjoyed any game and the longest that joy has lasted.