Team Fortress 2

[Delbin]

You can only play it before release if you pre-order the bundle, but it's quite good. I'd say it's worth the money if you haven't played half-life 2 or episode 1.

I've been having loads of fun playing the game. There are 9 classes to play and each fill a classic role in team shooters.

Medic: Has a healing gun with limitless ammo. The gun has an added bonus of adding 50% to the maximum health of whomever you're healing. Every once in a while he can turn himself and a teammate invulnerable for 10 seconds. If both players know what's going on, this can be enough to heavily damage the teams defenses and break a turtle.

It's one of my favorite classes. It's satisfying to rack up kill assits with a teammate that knows what he's doing.

Heavy: Minigun that shoots shotgun shells. What more do you need? He's slow, but he has a lot of health. He's the most dangerous class when paired with a medic (he gets more than double the health of any other class.) The gun has a medium-short effective range, but can still provide covering fire and do periodic damage to snipers.

Engineer: The engineer is there almost solely to provide defense. He builds a stationary, automated turret that kills most classes in just a couple of seconds. It takes a couple of minutes to set up and upgrade a turret, but the time is well-spent if put in the right area. They can build an ammo/health dispenser and a single teleporter. The teleporter helps on large maps for bringing slow units right to the front lines.

I like the engineer on some maps. I've gotten 10 kills in the first two minutes of a match by setting up a turret in a great position right in the middle of the fight. They can be boring since they have mediocre weapons and need to stay near the turret to protect and repair it.

Spy: This class is great if you like pissing people off. They disguise themselves as enemy units and can spend a good amount of time with them without being noticed. They can also become invisible to get behind enemy lines and run away, but can't attack while stealthed. People generally know better if they see a teammate coming the wrong way out of an enemy base.

Once they're in the enemy base they can destroy enemy turrets and kill single targets. The sapper charge destroys a turret in about 10 seconds and can be removed by an engineer's melee weapon. Turrets won't attack disguised spies but the spy can't kill the engineer without losing the disguise. It takes some luck to sap a turret and kill an enginner before he can fix the turret. Spies can backstab and kill units in one shot. This usually means killing a medic/heavy pair in a suicide run, but I've also seen single spies take out a group of advancing enemies without being noticed. It's very fun to use the sniper disguise to run up to the enemy sniper post and kill them while they're staring intently away from you.

It took me a while to learn how spies work and how to play well with them. They're very satisfying once you get the hang of the playstyle.

Demolitions Man: He specializes in indirect fire. His main weapon is a grenade launcher with medium range. He's useful in harassing the enemy defense while staying out of turret and sniper line-of-sight. They're good all around, but they don't often excel.

Scout: He specializes in speed. They're best used to run ahead and take control points or flags. They're good to use early in the fight, but their weak weapons and low health make them more of a liability in the heat of battle.

Pyro: They're supposed to be an ambush specialist used to break up enemy offense, but they still need some tweaking. Their main weapon is a flame thrower with a very short range. It doesn't do enough damage to justify the near-melee range he has to be to use it. They're generally used to flush out spies since there's a slight AOE element to the attack.

Soldier: Typical offensive unit. Has a long-range rocket launcher with some AOE. He moves more slowly than the rest, but has bonus health. The splash damage from his rocket launcher is helpful in close range and hurting grouped defenders. Once again he's well balanced, but doesn't really shine.

Sniper: The sniper is difficult to play well. The sniper rifle has minimal effectiveness when shot from the hip or when freshly zoomed. He has to stay zoomed for about 10 seconds to get one-shot kills. The timer resets after every shot, so each one needs to count. They can be highly effective in certain maps and certain situations, but they have a lot going against them.

[ZeroSum]

Except for the medic having a ranged heal ability and invulnerability it sounds more or less the same as TFC, yes? Just updated to add more awesome, of course.

Can you still rocket and conc jump? (Do concs still exist?)
Have you tried running backwards while disguised as a medic as a spy? (Running backwards is one of the old trickses to keep "teammates" from noticing you're going the wrong way.)

[Delbin]

stuff.

I played the original just a few times a looong time ago. I'm not sure of all the nuances. One big difference is that the only person with grenades now is the demo man.

Oh, you can still rocket jump as a soldier. I haven't seen much opportunity to do so and I'm still not quite sure how to do it best. The demo man can jump using his grenades, but I don't think it's as effective. I forgot to add that the scout has a double jump, but there aren't too many obsticles to use it on.

I've run backwards when I'm finally in their base. It's still safest to use invisibility until you're out of sight.

[Tetelestia]

Rocket jumping took me some time to get used to, jumping and shooting needs to be done simultaneously. I don't know if it's true or not, but it seems like when I crouch+jump+rocket I go higher and further.

I use it the most in 2fort, up through the gap in the center entrance, there are a lot of options from that point in.

Sadly I've already logged 25 hours playing this week. I couldn't be happier with it.

[Morphing Ball]

I think it's fantastic, and I don't think I've logged in nearly enough hours. I play as the Soldier mostly, and I think I'm getting quite good at rocket-jumping. I'm not really any good with the other classes yet.

[eliteeggnog]

I love TF2, was a big fan of TFC when it came out and Fortress Forever is neat too (and looks nice), but I like TF2 better for some reason.

I'm mainly switching between spy, sniper and medic. Not being so fabulous at the first two, but they're still fun. Any other class I attempt to play is a disaster, though I switch between them quite often.

[Amnesiasoft]

I certainly find it to be a lot better than TFC. I played it once and didn't find it the least bit fun. TF2 just seems to be better overall. Except now my wireless network is going ballistic so I can't actually play online with anybody, an 800ms ping is not good for sniping...or anything else for that matter.

[Tetelestia]

You might not repair it as fast with that ping, ok..definitely not, but sentries do their work without latency I think.

[b.i.o]

I'm just downloading it now...40KB/s download speeds are painful. My school throttles Steam . Just 14% more...

[davej]

Anyone know whether this can also be bought seperately? I already have Half-life 2 (in a box) bought when that first came out. I don't know if I have one of the special boxes that said they'd come more with it, but probably not. I want the game, but don't care to spend 50 dollars for it alogn with some other junk.

[mosc]

Anyone know whether this can also be bought seperately? I already have Half-life 2 (in a box) bought when that first came out. I don't know if I have one of the special boxes that said they'd come more with it, but probably not. I want the game, but don't care to spend 50 dollars for it alogn with some other junk.

There's one product and it has 5 games, three of which have never been released before. Even if you own the other two, $50 for three games is pretty good.

You get with the "Orange Box":
Half Life 2
Half Life 2: Episode 1
Half Life 2: Episode 2
Portal
Team Fortress 2

Sounds like you have the first one, maybe the second one on that list. The other three, as I said, have never been released before.

In the day and age where ppl pay $60 for a single-player only console game that is <5 hours long, I can't see the orange boxas anything close to a good value.

[davej]

So what I am getting from your message, is that Team Fortress 2 will not be a stand-alone game that I can pay $20 or 30 for? It's just that I do not care about the episodes nor the portal game that much and really just want TF2.

[Okita]

So what I am getting from your message, is that Team Fortress 2 will not be a stand-alone game that I can pay $20 or 30 for? It's just that I do not care about the episodes nor the portal game that much and really just want TF2.

You can probably buy it separate from Steam.

[Amnesiasoft]

Don't forget that if you already own Half-Life 2 (Ep1), you will be able to give those extra copies as gifts to another Steam user. Why not just find a friend who doesn't have HL2 (Ep1) and have him buy the gifts from you?

[AbNo]

Good idea, Amnesia.

Too bad I don't know anyone else with enough of a beefy computer to run it...

[Amnesiasoft]

Good idea, Amnesia.

Too bad I don't know anyone else with enough of a beefy computer to run it...

It can run just fine on low settings on an integrated card...it's certainly not pretty, and the water was opaque when I tried...but it ran XD

[zigdon]

So what I am getting from your message, is that Team Fortress 2 will not be a stand-alone game that I can pay $20 or 30 for? It's just that I do not care about the episodes nor the portal game that much and really just want TF2.

It will certainly be available as a standalone game once it's released.

[davej]

Don't forget that if you already own Half-Life 2 (Ep1), you will be able to give those extra copies as gifts to another Steam user. Why not just find a friend who doesn't have HL2 (Ep1) and have him buy the gifts from you?

Don't know anyone around my town that plays Half-Life 2, or any computer games for that matter. Too many people playing the console games.... Then again, I really don't know anyone anyways.... Want to be my friend? J/k

Anyways, I just never saw anything about it being sold standalone so that is why I asked. I've only seen it advertised with The Orange Box. Thanks for the responses.

[Lucien]

I remember fond days of my childhood spent playing TFC.

I decided I would play a solly until I got good at it, and eventually I did.

Rocket jumping is a must for TF2. Nothing suprises a sniper like the solder hopping in front of him and blocking his scope. He unsccopes, steps back, and catches another rocket.

[davej]

I remember fond days of my childhood spent playing TFC.

I decided I would play a solly until I got good at it, and eventually I did.

Rocket jumping is a must for TF2. Nothing suprises a sniper like the solder hopping in front of him and blocking his scope. He unsccopes, steps back, and catches another rocket.

Have you tried Fortress Forever? Its pretty fun and I think it is pretty close to the original TFC (from what I can remember). I don't understand how those soldiers do their super rocket jump though, expecially on 2fort. Any idea?

[b.i.o]

To clarify: you can buy TF2 for $30 on Steam as a stand-alone.

My favorite classes so far have been Sniper and Demoman (mining the center walkway in 2fort and watching people repeatedly walk right over my mines is such a good feeling).

[DrStalker]

I'm really enjoying TF2. There are a few classes I simply can't do anything decent with (pyro, I'm looking at you!) but that's just my limitations... overall it feels nicely balanced and I love the art style. I think the games timers need a bit of tweaking; some maps seem near impossible to win in the the allocated time, and some hydro combinations end up in an unbreakable standoff due to only one access road between sides.


And $45 for Tf2, HL2:Ep2 and Portal is amazing value for someone in Australia, where most new games sell for $90 to $110.

[Axman]

My PC is down for upgrades. Currently I have:

TF2
Portal
Bioshock
Call of Juarez
World in Conflict

...and I haven't played a Goddamn minute of any of them.

[DrStalker]

Is Call of Juarez any good? I tried a demo some time ago, and was unimpressed.

[Lucien]

Unforunately, it's been about 5 years since I've played TFC.

And there won't be any TF2 action for a while. I'm stuck in halo 3 (F***ing scarabs!)

[Axman]

Is Call of Juarez any good?

Well, like I said, I haven't played it yet. Oh, I also have Warhammer 40K: DoW, and NWN2; haven't played (it's been a while and I keep having HDD deaths) but, according to the reviews it is:

short
pretty
ugly
long
hard
easy
and the gameplay modes change to dictate the story, which is:
surprising
entertaining
boring
unoriginal

So, no one knows, apparently. But there seems to be a consensus that it's (sometimes unnecessarily) difficult and (sometimes nonsensically) story-driven.

[aerojad]

one of my roommates ordered The Orange Box, the game looks just as awesome as the previews did, which is to say awesome to a significant degree.

[DrStalker]

Click for bigger version

Anyone else managed to kill themselves with their own sentry gun yet? Or am I just displaying my talent for unique and creative screwups once again?

[Tetelestia]

The hell...?

I'm trying to imagine a scenario where your own sentry gun could kill you... it doesn't make sense.

[DrStalker]

Look in the top right. It fired rockets into a confused melee, helping kill Wildo and finishing me off.

That was the first time I'd ever gotten a sentry gun to 10 kills though, so I forgave it.

[Delbin]

It's happened to me before. A spy, if he's feeling evil, can pop where the engineer is between him and the turret.

[luxera]

that was the last time i tried to repair my sentry from the front. Always stand behind the sentry when making repairs. Or on top of it.

[b.i.o]

My roommate got 11 kills with a sentry the other day (and 3 more with his shotgun) and I've yet to come close to beating it with anything. I usually play sniper or demoman.

[Vekter]

>.> Dropping a turret next to the enemy spawn room and sitting there, shotgun out=massive kills. Cheap? Sure. Fun? You bet your sweet ass.

EDIT: Oh, and don't get me started on how pissed everyone gets when you upgrade it to Rockets.

[Delbin]

Been playing the other classes a bit more. Found an interesting strategy. If the enemy has a lot of turrets in an area, a demo man can be Uber'd and he can use his secondary weapon to blow them all up at once. I've both won and lost a game from someone doing this.

[DrStalker]

Some tips that are not obvious, but are very powerful if used right:


Spies can disguise themselves as members of their own team. This makes it a lot easier to not alert the enemy team that you have a spy as you approach the front lines.

The demoman can hold fire when laying sticky bombs and build up incredible range. Stickybomb sniping on 2fort == fun!

[Delbin]

My key bindings are off I think. I haven't been able to switch teams as a spy.

[Amnesiasoft]

I've not found the friendly disguise to be of much use. I find running to the other base disguised as a spy works best. That way it's less suspicious if you do uncloak while in their presence (because, well, spys can cloak, duh), and they'll be less suspicious as to why you are running back from the enemy base (maybe you've been discovered?)

Anyone up for getting together to raid an empty server for the Friends like These achievement?

[DrStalker]

Personally, if I see a spy without a mask I shot them until they do something a disguised spy can't. It's too suspicious, since most spies will always be in disguise unless attacking.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but spies are very easy (and satisfying!) kills. The good ones don't even fight back since they hope you'll just hit them once or twice and move on if they ignore you.

Anyone up for getting together to raid an empty server

I am, although lets wait until release since I suspect the achievements will reset (Head of the Class is definitely bugged at the moment, I keep jumping between 4/9 and 8/9 complete at random when I check it)

[Amnesiasoft]

Personally, if I see a spy without a mask I shot them until they do something a disguised spy can't. It's too suspicious, since most spies will always be in disguise unless attacking.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but spies are very easy (and satisfying!) kills. The good ones don't even fight back since they hope you'll just hit them once or twice and move on if they ignore you.

<snip>

I am, although lets wait until release since I suspect the achievements will reset (Head of the Class is definitely bugged at the moment, I keep jumping between 4/9 and 8/9 complete at random when I check it)

I tend to find the disguises as rather useless when I'm retreating, because usually the person who finds me is who I'm disguised as as (and good pyros, but at this point, I'm probably doomed anyway). Since spies are so weak also, I'll usually try getting off a few shots at my attacked too, and if I'm running for my life, I'm going to be too busy trying to not get killed to redisguise myself.

And you may be right about the achievements being reset, it's a possibility, a very annoying one since I have all but Hardcore and Friends like These, but hey, we've got a little less than a week to get organized about it. My steam id is amnesiasoft, gasp, who would've guessed?