Merry Christmas to all!
This I suppose is the last game in The Orange Box. It’s really interesting that Team Fortress fans told people to avoid the Xbox 360 version in particular. At the time, Microsoft imposed strict patch limits on Xbox 360 games (with regard to file size and maybe even frequency), and the game was being updated all the time on PC. I played more than 17 hours on PC. Though it may never be my favorite multiplayer shooter, it has a way of sucking you in until you completely lose track of time.
I counted one-hundred and fourteen maps total for TF2 at the time of this writing (a map is like a multiplayer level). It’s kind of funny that I’ve spent most of my time in Team Fortress 2 playing on the map “2Fort.”. It’s really just Capture the Flag, like you played as you were a kid, but now you’re trying to steal enemy intelligence. There are quite a few characters. I would play as the Pyro or the Medic. The Pyro is good defense on the bridge, a direct route to the enemy’s base. The Medic, however, can heal players on his team: The obvious teammate to heal is the Heavy, who has 300 hit points instead of, say, 100. The Pyro is a good second choice. If you charge a teammate long enough, you get an Uber. Once an Uber is triggered, you and your teammate are temporarily invincible. This works best right inside the enemy’s base, clearing an entire room for your teammates.
Meanwhile, the Snipers love being Snipers. There is a second-story on 2Fort for each base, and Snipers go in and out of cover sniping all within the clear path. Engineers can building sentry guns in the lower level where the intelligence is located. Scouts are extremely fast, and, if decent, get two or three kills before they themselves are killed. There’s the soldier who is a lot like the Heavy, and the Spy, who does some sort of trickery and disguises himself as a teammate of the enemy. Finally, the Demo knows where to place grenades.
The team that communicates well has the best chance for victory. You have no idea who you will be paired with unless you’re on a private server, but talking (with a gaming headset) can make a big difference. I think it was Patrick Klepick who said just saying “Hey guys, what’s up?” at the start of the match is enough to get the team talking. If you’re a little more expendable (like a Scout), just say what you saw in enemy territory. An Engineer can say how many sentry guns are by the intelligence, and an Uber with a Medic should give warning for those that follow.
Outside of 2Fort, I’ve played another Capture the Flag match on a different map, and played a fun one where you push a minecart as far into enemy territory as you can. I remember when the game became free, and I truly don’t know much about the microtransaction stuff. I think it’s still free after all. I will warn you the game is easy to modify, and the further down the server list you are, the more you get weird stuff like graffiti art and custom sound effects. If for no other reason play Team Fortress 2 for 2Fort. It deserves an award.
4/5
Blimps Go 180 