Team Fortress II

So I mentioned that I've been playing a lot of games. The Orange Box has been the focus of my attention since I got it, and let me tell you. Steam is amazing. Steam is like AIM for gamers. But the big difference is that you don't need to Alt-Tab out to talk to people while you're gaming. You can just Shift-Tab, and it doesn't hog enormous system memory. It also includes a chat program, but it can be flaky and vent is more reliable. But I love being able to see what games your buddies are playing, and chatting to them while they are playing them. (We had an idea to build a chat program that worked while gaming at one point, but not the time or the funding to build it. Watch someone go and start offering text message orders from a fast-food restaurant and steal that idea from us too. Curse needing to pay the bills...)

So in the Orange Box comes Team Fortress II. It is like Unreal Tournament gameplay-wise. There are different maps, with capture the flag (intelligence), or domination (node-holding) or assaults (attack and defend). But here's the biggest difference between Unreal Tournament and TF2. Classes.

Much like WoW, TF2 has 9 classes. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Scouts are fast and can pack a punch up close, but lack survivability and the ability to destroy enemy turrets easily. Demolition men have a grenade launcher and sticky-bomb gun, but lack a true gun. Medics can heal others and become invulnerable for a short time, but cannot heal themselves and barely stand a chance in a 1-1 situation.

Here's the fun thing. You can change your class every 3 seconds if you want to. If there's a sniper pissing off your whole team, sneak in there with a spy and pwn his backside. If there's an engineer building tons of turrets, be a soldier and rocket them to smithereens. If there's a whole group of pyromaniacs on a flag node, mow em down with a heavy. I've been each one for a good bit of time, and managed to get 4 points with all of them. By no means am I an expert at any one. (Though I think I'm a pretty good medic....who would have thunk it, huh?) but you don't need to be an expert to enjoy it.

With different classes, and different maps, it's easy to adapt to another team's strategies quickly. As a result, once you've gotten the hang of the game and have learned the basic layout of the maps, you learn quickly how to avoid death.

The game is very fast paced. When you start out, you feel like you're dying every 20 seconds. That's because you are. For the most part, that's how it goes. Unless you're a sniper in the back or a medic behind a wall healing people in line of fire, you'll likely get pinged by a sniper or blown up by rockets and grenades quickly. So what? Wait 12-15 seconds to spawn and do it again.

Some of the downsides include hacks for people. Some people seem to never die, some seem to move faster, and others even seem to be able to get a head shot even if you're jumping around like a maniac. It happens....players are either very skilled, very cheating, or very both. It still doesn't take too much away from the game. Join another server if it's bothering you too much. Another downside is the learning curve. It took me around 10 minutes per class before I learned how to work them properly. Not to mention the need to learn the maps and learn the strengths/weaknesses of each class in particular situations.

TF2 is a great team-oriented game that you can enjoy by yourself too. And my favorite part, is you can pick up a game immediately, and leave at any time...someone will come along to replace you. It's endless fun learning the different classes and how they operate. Your first backstab as a spy or your first head shot as a sniper are just as fun as the last one you did.

If anyone wants to chat and has Steam, add me to your friends list. My name is killerrobot007. Hopefully I'll see you there!