T
he received wisdom is
that Team Fortress 2
has changed, and not
for the better. The
argument, often made
by former players, is that
everything Valve has added to the
game over the last 13 years—the
hats, the achievements, the jars of
human urine—has diluted the spirit
of what TF2 once was. I’ve fallen
into the same trap myself over the
years, bemoaning that the game I
once loved no longer exists.
It would be absurd to suggest that
Team Fortress 2 hasn’t changed; it
was arguably the poster child for
games-as-a-service design. It’s
evident in everything from the menus
to the way you start a match.
Nevertheless, returning after years
away, I’m struck by how much of the
core appeal remains. There is more
now: More maps, more weapons,
more customization options, more
effects. Sometimes there are lasers.
Sometimes you’ll be drenched in
milk. In a handful of ways, though,
this is still the TF2 that became one
of the most influential online
shooters of the 21st century so far.
Load into a match, and you’ll still
get teammates in your home spawn
accusing every player of being a Spy.
You’ll still get intractable 2Fort
stalemates, as players abandon the
objective in favor of an endless
deathmatch. You’ll still get sniper
wars and W+M1 Pyros. Most
importantly, you’ll still get the clarity
of purpose and personality of its nine
classes, who retain their role and
at-a-glance design, even as their
arsenals and accoutrements have
grown over so many updates.CLASS ACT
The classes are the heart of what
made TF2 such an enduring
phenomenon, and in retrospect laid
the path for the character-led
template of the subsequent hero
shooter craze. If a medic in Battlefield
2 was more uniform than man, the
Medic in Team Fortress 2 was an
actual person. We ‘met’ him, and the
other mercenaries, through a series
of vignettes released over a period of
years—each one increasingly
elaborate until Team Fortress 2 was a
full universe of relationships and
conflict; antagonistic administrators
and boisterous, technologically
advanced Australians.
Overwatch and its ilk would go
further, drawing on League of
Legends and Dota 2 to make actual
characters with names and abilities
to go along with their distinct
weapon sets. But Team Fortress 2’s
proto-style has merit. To modernTEAM FORTRESS 2
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASED
October 10, 2007
PUBLISHER
In-houseDEVELOPER
Valve
LINK
teamfortress.comThe more things change... By Phil Savage
EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING (^) I UPDATE I MOD SPOTLIGHT I HOW TO (^) I WHY I LOVE I REINSTALL (^) I MUS T P L A Y
8
The objective being played.