Team Fortress 2 Review
Submitted By Greg on Jun 5 2008 at 10:16 PM
Intro, Graphics, Animations, Audio
Valve's Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is the multiplayer portion of Valve's much celebrated trifecta of videogaming bliss, The Orange Box. Being the successor to Team Fortress Classic (widely considered the “Father of Class-Based Shooters”), Team Fortress 2 has the daunting task of precipitating this much beloved franchise. With this sequel, instead of reinvisioning the TF formula (like the earliest known iteration of TF2, Brotherhood in Arms), Valve has taken the familiar Team Fortress concepts and levels and gave them a much needed update – both visually and mechanically. The end result is one of the best multiplayer games of 2007.
Team Fortress 2's visuals are a significant departure from the gritty, realistic art direction that most modern games strive for. Having been inspired by the colorful pallets and highlighting used by early 20th Century illustrators, especially J. C. Leyendecker, Valve has created a truly unique art style which adds a lot character to the game's world. This humorous, stylized look serves a purpose beyond aesthetics (and imbuing the player-classes and the environments with genuine personality). The art style allows for a suspension of disbelief, which would be prevalent in a 'realistic' videogame. Because of the visuals, otherwise nonsensical proposals – 'Mediguns' that shoot healing-rays, teleporters that spring out of toolboxes, and enemy factions that build sizable-bases a stone's throw from one another – become non-consequential when taking place inside Team Fortress 2's colorful universe. In terms of gameplay, the color schemes and exaggerated features of the player-classes allow for an almost instantaneous recognition of the character and the possible threat it poses. Team Fortress 2 also boasts nearly every Source-graphical improvement found in the Orange Box (including HDR and a subtle motion blur). All of the gadgetry and environments in TF2, have a whimsy and humor about them that really no other shooter could have accomplished.
Keeping with its lighthearted styling, Team Fortress 2 has a 'taunt' key (mapped to 'g' by default). When pressed, your character performs one of three class-specific taunt animations – the given taunt is determined by the weapon you have selected. These taunting animations cement the player-classes' character and personalities. For example, after seeing the big, menacing Heavy lovingly coddle his minigun (“You did well!”), you may never look at him the same way again. Beyond the wonderfully funny taunt animations, the game's general animations (running, reloading, jumping, etc.) are all very well done – they're functional, consistent with the art style, and still manage to keep the classes' personalities intact. Every word spoken by the characters – be it one of the aforementioned taunts, an option from the general dialog menu (“Thanks”, “HELP!”, etc.), or an instance of TF2's 'Response Rules' – is lipped-synced to satisfaction. On the subject of physics, like everything in The Orange Box, Team Fortress 2 utilizes the Havok Physics Engine. As such, what destructible objects you encounter (engineer assets, barrels) and the player-ragdolls will fly, roll, and flop in ways that only the Havok Physics Engine can produce. Additionally, Valve has reintroduced 'gibbing' with this title. So, if you're unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of an explosion, you'll be treated to your extremities flying to-and-fro (and lovingly labeled, in the death cam).
TF2 also excels in the audio department. The music, explosions, gun shots, sizzles, and splashes match the game's style perfectly. Valve has managed to strike a balance between their stylized-cartoony world, functionality, and what players would expect to hear. However, Team Fortress 2 does utilize a number of the generic Source-sounds – specifically impact sounds (bullets, ragdolls, debris). Though familiar to anyone who's played a Source-game, these audio effects manage to blend nicely into TF2's soundscape. The voice acting in Team Fortress 2 is truly noteworthy. This is beside the fact that the characters (and announcer) only speak in short, abrupt sentences. In fact, the longest diatribe only lasts for less than five seconds. Though short, it is the voice acting that sells Team Fortress's 'characters' – be it the lowly player-classes with their funny accents and one-liners or the omnipotent 'Announcer' whose judgment concludes a round. Team Fortress 2 also introduces 'Response Rules'. While playing the game, your character will speak lines depending on the situation. For example: automatically thanking a medic/engineer, taunting or laughing after getting a specific number of kills, calling for assistance when capturing/defending a capture point, an engineer announcing the status of his deployables, and so-on. These oft-overlooked quips serve to keep players aware of the goings-on of the game and to break up the monotony of constant death-sounds and explosions.
