Alright, listen up. This will be my first official post so pay attention. I have for you a game that, if you have not heard of it, you need to start paying some serious attention to.
The game is valve's "Team Fortress 2", released alongside the orange box on steam. If you do not know of valve or steam, check the links ---v
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/
TF2 Website: http://tf2.com/
TF2 is a class based shooter that features several different modes such as capture the flag (or "intelligence"), control points, attack and defend, and king of the hill. There are others in development and the game is occasionally updated with new features, maps, and weapons and has been since its release in 2007. There are nine classes which include the scout(fast little guy with a shotgun), soldier(a WWII hopeful with a rocket launcher), pyro(burn stuff, what more do you want?), demoman(a "black Scottish cyclops" that makes things go boom), heavy(large russian with a chain gun), engineer (Texan with an automated turret), medic (healer), sniper(Australian with a gun), and spy(sneaky backstabbing jerks). Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, as you might have guessed, and feature unique personalities and quirky humor to boot.
The reason this is so fun is because it is very well balanced and it can be fun despite winning or losing. It is largely in the spectacle of the game itself and often the server features a host of interesting people that are more interested in having fun. On occasion you will find trolls or people who are too competitive, but you cannot give up. Some people will try the game and, after a brief time period of getting owned, will quit leaving themselves disappointed. All it takes is a little practice, you can and will get better once you find the class that suits you best and you familiarize yourself with the maps. This might sound like a commitment, but I have had some epic and truly enjoyable moments in this game and I would strongly encourage anyone who plays video games to get in on it while they going is still good (especially if there is a sale on steam, hint hint). Recently they (valve) have begun adding a bit of back story to the characters. These are largely inconsequential but add a rich lore to the game that has almost no effect on game play but still enriches the experience of being a tf2 player.
There are some downsides though. Spawn camping, the act of sitting outside of the enemy's starting room and killing them instantly, is a problem on some servers. This can be fixed by scrambling the teams or simply booting the offenders. There is also the "Mann Co." in-game store. This is where you can buy actual items in the game that would normally take a lot of random drops to get. All this might sound bad, but burning enemies as the pyro or defending your capture point as the engineer distracts from these and often leads to a sense of fun and accomplishment when done right.
The game has developed quite a following and has even spawned several podcasts. Two of interest come to mind. The first is "Control Point". This has since been dissolved as a podcast, but the community is still out there. The second is "Kritzcast". This is still very active and features four podcasters: Tempest, Agro, b00bies (yes, that is his name), and Chronos. They embrace a fun loving gaming philosophy and are willing to get down to the nitty gritty when it comes to game developments and recent news.
So buy this on steam (if you have a computer that can run it), play it, love it. Avoid the 360 version. It is still a fun game, but due to system limitations and Microsoft interference, they were unable to bring the updates to the consoles.
For now, I leave you with some good links for getting into the game. Stay classy and, if you see a guy disguised as you in the game, then he is a spy and you need to kill him ASAP.
Meet the Heavy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QM1eTAwOYc
A funny Medic video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7o2vSzxAKc&feature=related
Not sure what this is, not sure if it is mean to be understood, but the fans go crazy for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14
I do not take credit for these links, the respective posters are the awesome people who put them there. Credit to Valve software and here is to them making even greater games in the future (half life 3, hint hint).
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