"Class-based action never felt so good!"

After an extremely long wait, the sequel to one of the best multiplayer action games of all time has finally arrived. Despite a couple of minor bugs at launch, the game plays wonderfully and definitely lives up to the hype after a prolonged development.

Graphics (9/10): Although some people may hate the cartoon graphics Team Fortress 2 opted for, they just seems appropriate considering the comical nature of the game. And despite the nature of the graphics, they can still look impressive running on a high resolution and with the settings turned up. Personally, I run it off my laptop with the graphics turned way down, but the game still manages to play well and look good.

Audio (10/10): The audio for Team Fortress 2 is extremely well done. The songs played at the main menu are appropriate for the game, and the voices of all the characters are hilarious. All of the ambient sounds and guns also sound great, so there are really no complaints here. The sound was well done.

Controls (10/10): For any computer gamer, Team Fortress 2 sports pretty standard controls and you should know what to expect. The default layout of the controls is well put together, and all of the action commands are easier to reach in a pinch. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but everything works the way it should. If you've played any Half-Life game or Half-Life mod, you should know what to expect.

Gameplay (10/10): The gameplay of Team Fortress 2 is simply amazing and is where the game really shines. There are a total of 9 nine classes in the game: 3 for offense, 3 for defense, and 3 for support. The classes are well balanced and each one is fun to play. It is clear that a lot of work was put in to developing each class.

The maps in Team Fortress 2 are equally impressive. Each is well designed and offers several different play styles including a capture the flag style game, a game involving controlling strategic points, and progressive games.

As mentioned before, the classes in Team Fortress 2 are well balanced, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each class has 3 weapons, one of which is always a melee weapon of some sort. Since each class is so fun to play, it's not uncommon to see people switching classes several times during a match. You can start out by barraging opponents with rockets as a Soldier, and then switch to a Demoman and defend your base with some sticky mines. Some classes have special uses like Engineers who can build and upgrade sentry guns to kill enemies and dispensers to heal allies and provide ammo. The spy is even trickier, allowing you to disguise yourself as an enemy player and then back stab them for an instant kill.

The game really lends itself to teamwork, and the online community thus far has been pretty solid. There are always plenty of games running and teams will usually work well together for the most part. Also, you would think that one or two classes would be overpopulated, but every game seems to have any even spread of classes represented. It just goes to show you how balanced the game is and how fun each class can be.

Conclusion: I would say that if you are a fan of multiplayer action games, especially class-based ones, I would seriously consider getting Team Fortress 2. It's really a blast, especially playing with friends. The game definitely won't get old for quite a while because of the variety of the classes. In short, Team Fortress 2 is definitely an instant classic!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 10/16/07

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