Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is the long awaited team based first person shooter developed by valve. Built on the source engine, famous for the Half-life 2 franchise, TF2’s graphics stray from the traditional realistic look of most modern first person shooters, and take a hand from the CGI styles of movies like Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles. What sets TF2 aside from other team based first person shooters is its unique character classes. Each class has their own personality and specializes in different areas; this really brings the team aspect to life in TF2. Since character classes have their own individual talents, players are urged to work together to achieve success.

Snipers are a defensive class; the longer a Sniper stays zoomed in on the rifle the more damage it does when fired, and can usually kill any class with a single head-shot. Although the Sniper’s rifle is powerful, it also emits a laser dot visible by all players, which can reveal your position. A sub-machine gun, and a machete is also included in the Snipers arsenal for close range combat.

Engineers, while equipped with shotgun, are most valuable in their ability to create turrets, health dispensers, and portals, and are a key element to defending control points and bases.

Soldiers wield a shotgun, shovel, and a rocket launcher that is powerful, but can prove difficult to aim. Along with blowing enemies to smithereens, the rocket launcher, while being fired at the ground can propel the Soldier into the air, making it easy to reach ledges and ascend stairs quickly.

Spies can disguise themselves as any enemy class, and have the ability to turn invisible for a brief amount of time; they carry a butterfly knife, magnum, and an Electro-Zapper which is used to destroy Engineer’s creations.

The Pyro class, if one couldn’t guess, are equipped with flamethrowers, and are best used in closed quarter scenarios where they can easily ignite many enemies in a short amount of time, enemies will remain engulfed in flame until they perish or seek medical attention. The Pyro also carries a shotgun, and a fire axe for further protection.

The Heavy class lugs an extremely large and powerful mini-gun, and although he has the most health points of all classes, he is also the slowest, making him a vulnerable target for snipers. The Heavy is also equipped with a shotgun, and can use his hefty mitts for melee attacks.

The Demo-man has two launchers for obliterating enemies, one deploys sticky bombs which are detonated upon command, and the other launches grenades which explode after a short delay. If used wisely the demo can create a trap with sticky bombs, and lure enemies into it. Also at the Demo’s disposal is a scotch bottle for… you know, hitting people.

The Scout moves faster than all other classes, yet also has the least health of all, so he relies heavily on his evasion skills to stay alive, while also equipped with a under lever shotgun, pistol, and a bat, the Scout is best utilized to quickly capture control points.

Medic, the most relied upon by all classes, is equipped with a health gun that has the ability to not only revive players to full health, but charge them to 150% of their original health. Once powered up, the health gun can “Ubercharge” both Medic and target (team-mate) making them invulnerable for 10 seconds. Although the health gun cannot be used as a offensive weapon, the Medic also carries a syringe gun which fires poison needles, and a bone-saw.

TF2 Game-play on the PC supports up to 32 players, while console versions will only support 16. TF2 ships with 6 maps, mission objectives include Territorial Control, Capture the Flag, and Capture Point. Capture the flag is the traditional fun you’ve come to know and love, except with intelligence briefcases instead of flags, and for any who don’t know the goal of capture the flag, here’s the shakedown; teams simultaneously try to infiltrate opponents’ base, steal the enemy intelligence, and return it to their base. The catch is that your intelligence briefcase must be at your base for the capture to count. Territorial control is played on a huge map, each team starts with 3 control points, during a round only 2 points are accessible, and teams compete to gain control of their opponents point, once accomplished, another 2 points of the map will be loaded for teams to compete over control of, the game is won once a team controls all territory on the map. Capture Point is much like territorial control, except all points are available during the round, teams will either have a assignment to defend their point, or capture their opponents point. Maps are played with an objective time limit, if neither team achieves an objective a stalemate occurs, and teams are forced into a sudden death round where the last team standing wins, if however another draw occurs, neither team is awarded points, and the map is restarted.

Characters are done very well, each with their own facial expressions, antics, and remarks. Overall the game feels highly polished and the graphics, while cartoonish, should appeal to even the most hard core gaming fanatics. Thanks to the visuals, and characters humorous personalities TF2 creates a more friendly and light-hearted atmosphere than most online multi player first person shooters, while not leaving competitive players in the dark. Looking at Valve’s track record, and the endless possibility of user created content via the Source SDK tool, PC gamers should expect to see this title around for quite a while.

SCORE: 9/10