Tech: Team Fortress 2 review

"Team Fortress 2" is the long-awaited sequel to the original "Team Fortress" mod for Quake. The game sports stylized graphics and a sharp sense of humor:



It's a team-based multiplayer shooter that features 9 distinct classes, all with wildly different abilities. You'll quickly come to recognize your weaknesses as a particular class. The Scout might be great at capturing flags, but face him off against an Engineer's sentry gun and he's toast; A Pyro is the ultimate close combat class, but he has no chance against a Sniper at long range.

These changes were put in place to keep one expert player from dominating everyone else with a single class. They really do force you to work as a team and to split up your roles, or at least your targets. The gameplay is polished and sharp as a result, and matches between well-organized teams have an ebb and flow that is very satisfying.

A few things keep it from perfection. The initial release only contains 6 maps (and among those, only 1 CTF map), so you could get tired of it after awhile, though it's not likely. More vexing is the fact that the game just isn't that fun with small groups - even 6 on 6 matches feel a bit empty. For a real lively battle, you're going to need at least 9 on 9, which is a fairly significant drawback.

Rating - 87/100