Fox's Review: Team Fortress 2 (PC, 360)

[Fusion]

So here we are with Valve's Team Fortress 2, which has been like, a decade or so in the making.  Way too long for what it ended up as, I would think.  The concept and characters are interesting, but...


(Graphics 9/10):

In an unusual turn, Valve has sacrificed the realism they are known for in their games for a cartoony appearance that, when animated and given professional touches, looks very close to what Pixar puts out in it's CGI movies.  The animation, models, and effects in this game are simply amazing, and even though nothing's quite exactly realistic, there isn't a need for it to be because if it were, there'd be nothing special about this game.  The effects are fairly normal, the difference between normal attacks and critical attacks is easy to spot, and the cloaking effects on Spies are interesting enough.  Though even though there's supposed to be a red aura around enemy spies who are disguised as your players, I find that I'm shooting at actual players on my team due to bloom and HDR or whichever it is showing off so much red all over the place that it's not even fair.


(Sound 6/10):

The voice acting, while good at first, is kinda ear-hurting to listen to, the voices get dull and old and the sound is typical Valve with not much change.  Then again, Valve hasn't changed the basic set of sounds they use for Source engine games since Half-Life 2.  There's too much rumbling bass in the gun shots, not enough diversity.  That's right, the voices get annoying after a period of time, which just should not happen.  The music is only in sparse bits, you rarely hear any music at all.  Most of the time you're either hearing a scout whining about a dispenser, the rest of your team spamming battle cries, or yelling over the voice chat because some I AM A FUCKING n00b TO THE INTERNET BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW THAT n00b IS SPELLED WITH A ZERO AND PRONOUNCED "NOOH-BEE" glitched into a wall.


(Gameplay 7/10):

While the concept of having many classes to choose from is good at first, it drives away from the fact that this game is not any better than any other shooter.   When compared to other team-based games that use the same concept, like the Battlefield series, it is rather crippled in features.

Let's do a general overview of the classes\characters:

- Scout: Fastest runner, wields double shotgun, pistol, and bat.  Can double-jump.
- Demoman: Explosives guy.  Wields grenade launcher, sticky bombs, and bottle.
- Soldier: Long-range fighter.  Wields rocket launcher, shotgun, and shovel.
- Heavy: Can't class him.  Wields "Sasha" (a Minigun), a shotgun, and fights with his own fists.
- Medic: Healer.  Wields a healing gun, a needle gun, and a bonesaw.  Also has an "ubercharge" which renders him and the person he's healing invincible for a short time.
- Engineer: The Builder.  Wields a Shotgun, Pistol, and Wrench.  Can build Sentries, Teleporters, and Dispensers.
- Sniper: The Sniper, duh.  Wields a Sniper Rifle, an SMG, and a long knife.
- Pyro: Pryotechnics Inc.  Wields a Flamethrower, Shotgun (seriously...), and Axe.
- Spy: James Bond only cooler.  Wields a Revolver, a Butterfly Knife, and a cloak as well as a disguise hit.

Every one of them is excellent, and at the same time, shallow in their own way because usually their tactics can never vary, and my god, why does every other character need a shotgun?  I mean, I'd have expected the Heavy to carry another automatic weapon with him.  Seems like a traitorous affair with Sasha if he ends up carrying a shotgun too.

I just happen to dislike Team Fortress 2, which I really did think I'd like.  Oh well, guess I've gotta spam more Aura Spheres in Brawl.