I have never been one to stick around on a single game for long. Maybe I’m impatient, maybe I have to much cash to blow. Sure, I have dropped some ludicrous piles of hours into games. 100+ in Final Fantasy Tactics, 80+ in Xenosaga and 50 or so cruising around Vice City. I have never played a game for a full year. Sure I might go back and visit Street Fighter 3: Third Strike or Marvel vs Capcom 2. More or less since the day it came out Team Fortress 2 has been holding my interest. And it’s grip has only been getting tighter.
It’s practically a boon to someone like me in the press. I need to play all the new games ASAP. I can’t keep plopping down in front of my PC for two to three hours a night and settling into this year old game. As I write this I have a huge chunk of Far Cry 2 to still play, a few episodes of Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People left as well as countless Arcade titles and retail games I want. Even Valve’s other amazing game, Left 4 Dead (our game of the year mind you) hasn’t pulled me away from Team Fortress 2. Why is this? There are a multitude of factors that keep pulling me back and and making it an all consuming addiction.
It’s always a new game. One week I can drop 10 hours into Demoman and spend my nights joyfully turning my enemies into piles of meaty chunks. The next week a few hours carefully crafting the perfect defense as Engineer or some stealth play as the elusive Spy. Each class is so different and give you the option to play exactly the kind of game you want just by switching class. Not to mention updates, free updates. Not patches, map packs or bug fixes. Down right updates that refine and add depth. The force behind this is Steam. Which allows Valve to make all the changes they want for free pushed to everyone who plays. Pushing a bug fix to the 360 costs thousands of dollars. New content? Microsoft won’t let you put it up for free. I pity people who are playing on Xbox 360 who are stuck with only the most basic of patches and left running around on the same dozen maps the game shipped with. In the last month alone minor changes were made to 2 classes that gave them vastly improved play styles. If Valve continues on their pace for major updates we easily have another year of new exciting content coming. All told Scout is my least played class. Knowing that it’s the next to be updated has me racking my brain about what they are planning and how I can implement it and fight it.
The art. A lot of praise has rightfully been heaped on the game’s visuals for breaking the trend of gritty, photo realistic, military FPS style games. After a few games in Left 4 Dead’s dark scary depressing visuals nothing cheers you up like the brightly colored, down right silly presentation in TF2. People explode in colorful gory displays, crit rockets glow brightly as they sail to your target. Kill cams give you a nice mug shot of your murder seconds after you fell before him. Ridiculous taunts are handed back and forth as much kills. In my opinion every game needs a taunt button. The game drips personality, each class is more then a different weapon load out.
Constant additions to the “Meet the . . . ” video series inject loads of flavor into the characters. Too many games take themselves way to seriously. Sorry Fracture, in a world of magical terrain moving guns, I really don’t care about your gritty look and war torn story line. This is probably the reason World War Two games in general disinterest me. I play games to have a good time. There is place for deep compelling stories. Grand Theft Auto 4 had me putting down the controller ore then a few times. I was completely overwhelmed by the gravity of some of the decisions that were being asked of me. A human being can only take so much of the emotional abuse before we crack.
The community. Anytime ‘community’ is mentioned visions of 14 year-olds on Xbox Live start to dance in my head. Sure there are some jerks on here. People who mic spam, people who hack and use aimbots for perfect headshots. But more often then not everyone here wants to have fun. And the game is balanced for you to fairly easily get revenge on someone. Sniper pissing you off? Go spy sneak around and back stab him, problem solved. For some reason people playing this game are just nicer then in any other FPS i have ever played. Even the greifers seem to elevate their art here. If you don’t believe me, go check out Team Roomba on YouTube. Podcasts, guilds, custom maps are all facets of the TF2 community that thrive. Custom maps are one of the true gems that shine. When I i get tired of pushing payloads or capturing points I load up Wacky Races. This idea is simple, both teams have a big truck they can ride in and must drive faster then their opponents to the finish, while fending off attackers and attacking the opposing truck. This doesn’t play like anything else in the game. And it’s something Valve never would have come up with, it’s simply too outlandish. Do I want to play nothing but those silly maps? Of coarse not, but they serve as a great way to unwind after a fierce battle.
So come on down and check it out. Perhaps you have never played an online multiplayer only game and the idea of facing off with a dozen skilled foes intimidates you. Remember you have 11 other people backing you up. If your not a crack shot with a mouse, build a sentry gun as an Engineer or save some lives as a Medic. Maybe you played some back when it launched. A year of updates has made it a whole new game. There really is nothing like Team Fortress 2. And there is no reason not to play it.