Team Fortress 2 (2007)

TF2 is like online gaming's cockroach: every few years people assume it's dead, players come and go, substantial updates become non-existent and with the passage of time other companies chip in to try and replicate that special recipe Valve cooked up. Yet, TF2 comes back, again and again, bringing back old heads and raining in new ones. Why is this?

It's loud, chaotic, occasionally unfair, and somehow all the better for it. Code that feels like it's being held together by expired 2007 chewing gum. You'll encounter bugs, weird moments, and design decisions that feel like they survived purely because nobody dared touch them in the past 15 years.

Rough edges and unfair team advantages usually break games like this however TF2 never feels sterile. Modern multiplayer games are often so obsessed with balance, rankings, progression systems, battle passes, currencies, and seventeen different menus that they forget the most important thing: being fun. TF2 just catapults you into the deep end and trusts the gameplay to do the heavy lifting.

Skill, creativity, luck, and absolute stupidity are all equally valid paths to victory. It's not a perfectly balanced competitive experience. It's not trying to be.

It's a perfect mess, and that's exactly why people are still playing it. And after more than 5,000 hours, I can confidently say TF2 is one of the greatest multiplayer games ever made, bar none.

I don't know what happened exactly, but from all the Deathmatch classic games, I really hated Team Fortress 2. The graphics and ascetics, the gameplay loop and the combat itself.

Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer only game in which 2 teams battle it out in different game modes. You got all the classics like King of The Hill, Capture the Flag, Deathmatch and some unique ones like Medieval Mode and Special Delivery.

The principle is always the same. Blow up members of the enemy team and score the most points. There are different classes available, each with their own purpose and abilities. You got a Scout, Pyromancer, Medic, Engineer and many more.

In theory, these classes and the way the game is supposed to be played, revolves around a balanced team with different members that, together with clever teamwork, can overpower the opponent. The medic heals teammates; the Heavies guard a certain exit etc. However, this game is all over the place. You pick a certain class, just go with the flow, and try not to die.

I have a special dislike for the cartoonish and jolly graphics in Team Fortress 2. Normally I can write whole lectures about what I didn't like, how bad the animations are etc. but with this game, I can't. I just think it looks ugly and that's it.

The sound effects and music are fine; they could be a lot worse.

The controls are fluent, although sometimes it feels a little unresponsive. This, however, is mainly me who is not that great in Deatmatch shooters in general.

My biggest personal complaint about this game is the sheer chaos. I try to reach a place, follow an enemy or simply walk around and BAM, I am dead. Some turrets on a ledge pumped my @ss full of lead. After respawning, my screen is obstructed with the fires of hell and a Pyro just burned me into a crisp.

Sure, I am not that great at Team Fortress 2, just like I am not that great at Call of Duty, CSGO and many others. The only difference is, I can enjoy those games, unlike Team Fortress 2.

In the end, I personally hated Team Fortress 2 and knew that this is not the game for me. It is too chaotic, blend, unrewarding and straight up boring (in my opinion).

I don't even know where to start with you. I mean, do you even know who you're talking to?

This game is amazing. Despite its iffy community, despite Valve doing next to nothing with it for 8+ years, despite everything its been through, this game is still one of my favorites of all time.

So much personality shoved into every aspect of it, the characters, the weapons, the voicelines, the designs, the maps. This game is the epitome of a company, devs, and community that cared. This game shaped early youtube with SFM and gaming youtubers, and shaped many peoples lives. I genuinely think there will be nothing quite like Team Fortress 2 ever again.

I played the shit out of TF2 on 360, which was never really updated. Stock weapons, maps, everything.

Playing it now - or five years ago, even - is and was daunting. I feel like Red after leaving Shawshank. Demoman is running around at 600MPH with a sword, Heavy is eating, pee jars are everywhere. I know all the stuff I'm listing has been around for years, but similarly to Overwatch, I just don't want to dedicate myself to learning what weapons make my enemies run 20% faster but will ALSO reflect every third Medic syringe, or where all the healthpacks are.

Regardless, I understand the commercial realities of F2P, and I know people love hats. I think I'm just nostalgic for standard 2fort(which is there is probably a server running 24/7. But I'm lazy.)

Still love the gunplay + movement/physics.

(What happened to the creamy white HUD elements? Readability as Medic was worse than I remember.)

There is a 12 hour video of someone talking about a single TF2 map and 450.000+ people watched it. I can't think of a single whole game I could talk about for that long. Am I even a gamer (tm)? mid-life-gamer-crisis

Honestly, is there a game out there you could talk about for that long? Would you watch a video like this and which game/map would it be about? I need to know.

I've been popping into TF2 recently to try and nab some of the remaining achievements I never was able to get before. It's mostly the ones for winning ~140 times on a couple different maps and some of the very situational ones like killing and being killed by a rocket-jumping soldier while you also rocket-jump. It feels good to be playing again, even if it's mostly grinding stuff out by myself.

Don't think I'll ever be able to nail down those ones that require playing with 5 friends on your friends list at once though...

You, my dear friend TF2, were a blast for me. I was just getting into PC gaming when I encountered an old Muselk video, watched some Meet The Team videos, and immediately fell in love with the game. Oh, my dear friend, I have been playing since I got my first laptop because your requirements were so low, and were probably the thing that pushed me the most to build myself a gaming computer. So much to talk about, so little time. This game is, by far, the best class-based team shooter of all time, in my opinion. Overwatch, regarded by the community as "TF2's killer", is actually a way different game, not really my cup of tea, but I am sure some people will enjoy it.

For now, I have only praised Tf2, but have not given any reasoning at all. So, here they come:

+PROS: The skill ceiling: It is basically inexistent. Finish mastering one class (already hard enough), there is 8 more to go! The movement in this game is absolutely fantastic. The ability to dodge projectiles and bullets is so useful and raises the skill ceiling. The guns, most of them 2 shot players, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that feeling when you two shot the enemy medic cannot be described. The sound they make is also fantastic, I usually shoot my shotgun around just because it sounds good. The huge variety of choices. Want some weapons to change the way you play? We have got plenty of those. Want to play competitively or casually? We got both modes differentiated. It makes you feel like you are in control. This is not a feeling you get in Overwatch. The community. It's so damn big and talented. We have cosplayers, we have pros, we have mappers, we have artists, we have SFM artists, we have so many great people. The game itself is just so much fun. Sometimes you go on a 10 killstreak. Some times the entire enemy team dominates you. Sometimes the server gets into a huge conga line. Sometimes, it's just a relaxed, plain, balanced game. Those are the moments I am looking for.

-CONS The lack of content updates and attention. Valve, please. Random crits and random bullet spread in casual. It's useless and confusing. Valve, please. The number of hackers. Valve, please.

FINAL RATING: 11 out of 10. Godlike.

Dear Team Fortress 2, you will always have a place in my heart. To all the memories and fun times, to all the random crits, to GabeN, to all the conga lines, to all the backstabs and headshots. To you, Team Fortress 2.

-Tommaso