From TFC to TF2 - How does the preview stand up?

I nearly wet my pants when I saw on my RSS feed that there was a TF2 preview released and don't get me wrong, its not a "bad" preview by any means, I just wish the chap writing it put more emphasis on how it builds on the originals, specifically TFC (which I grew up with basically!).

I have gone through the preview and made a few "notes", just to appease myself more than anything! The original preview is quoted and indented, see the original here.

When it was unveiled to game journalists for the first time at an EA event last year, Valve’s Team Fortress 2 was greeted by roar the likes of which I hadn’t heard in quite some time. The fact that a simple (albeit intriguing) trailer was enough to make hardened (some might even say cynical) writers and editors cheer with delight was proof that the many years the game has been in development was time well-spent. My recent visit to Valve’s offices in Bellevue only reinforced that belief, as I had the chance to play a number of intense matches before the controller was forcibly pried out of my hands. After playing I can say that Team Fortress 2 is, without a doubt, my early favorite for the multiplayer game of 2007.

I have been looking forward to TF2 for many many years now, it was even on the cards back when I was playing TFC all day every day, in 2001 I think! The hype was unbelievable back then, especially as TFC was in its heyday. The community was literally, on fire.

Counter-Strike, Team Fortress was originally designed as a mod (using id’s Quake engine), and it didn’t take long for the gaming community to embrace the game, as it was one of the first to introduce class-based gameplay. After the software company that created it was purchased by Valve, development of Team Fortress 2 began, while the original game was ported to the Half-Life engine and re-released as Team Fortress Classic. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here is a little snippet from Wiki just to show you how long this game (or at least its idea) has been in development.

"Before TFC there was Team Fortress, a 1996 QuakeWorld mod. TF's developers were working on Team Fortress 2 as a standalone game, but later joined Valve Software and ported the original as a mod for Half-Life called Team Fortress Classic in April of 1999. Despite the company's 1998 statement that Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms would be released "soon," the game remained in development of one form or another for eight years and has been on Wired magazine's top ten vaporware list every year since 2001."

My time with Team Fortress 2 began with a brief chat with Robin Walker, the game’s designer and one of the creators of the original game back in 1996, who gave me a bit of insight into the design process. He explained that he believes TF2 to be the culmination of Valve’s years of experience in the multiplayer arena, as well as the best melding of art and gameplay in the company’s history. While many people only notice the quirky, cartoonish graphics, Walker told me that the team put a lot of thought into giving the player the best presentation possible. In many ways, the art style actually helped the team solve a lot of problems common to class-based multiplayer games. Each of the character was designed so that you can not only tell what team they are from afar (thanks to gradiant red and blue outfits that draw the player’s eye to the center), but also their class. They’ve all got iconic silhouettes, meaning you can quickly see what type of gear they’re carrying.

TFC at least has always been cartoony, although less so in its last years. I have personally always been able to tell the characters apart, they were always very distinct, with perhaps the exception of demos who didn't seem that distinctive at all. In my defensive rolls playing TFC, being able to tell an enemies class right away was important as tactics for dealing with different classes were vastly different. Not really like the general point and shoot deployed in most FPS games!

We also learned a bit more about the maps and gameplay types. While I was initially a little bummed to hear that the game would only be shipping with six maps, I perked up when I was told that they would definitely be releasing more after launch. Walker explained that all of the maps will have a similar theme: a rundown exterior that looks like it's been ripped right out of rural Australia (where the original members of the team are from) that's hiding a high tech center that looks like something from James Bond's "Dr. No." Each map will support particular objective-based gametypes (no deathmatch here), and we were happy to hear that they'd be introducing what sounds like some brand-new gametypes. We only had a chance to check out two maps, starting with Hydro, which was the one that we saw in the original trailer, and featured symmetrical bases and a hidden underwater tunnel. The other map took place in a dusty mining environment, where one team started at a higher altitude.

6 maps... Hmmmmm well I guess this isn't so bad especially if they do release more, and fast! It would have been good if Team Xbox asked about some remakes of the TFC maps, especially some of the classics like Well, Rock 2 and 2Fort. It is a little strange but "symmetrical bases and a hidden underwater tunnel" could apply to quite a few TFC maps! *sigh* Dustbowl for the other? Well now that would be very class! One of the only original maps that would be a crap load of fun, even on a server full of newbies ;)

Although the majority of our time was spend playing the game on a PC (with a 360 USB controller, naturally), we did have a chance to get our hands on the Xbox 360 version as well. The controllers are quite simple, even for a shooter, which should allow players to spend more of their precious time getting to know the classes. The developers are still fine tuning the controls, but from what we’ve seen the right trigger will fire your weapon, while the right bumper reloads it. The d-pad can be used to cycle through your character’s 3 weapons or items, as well as allow some of them to enable their special powers (more on that in a bit).

This worries me, a lot. Well I guess that Team Xbox are very Xbox biased so its no wonder that Valve gave them an Xbox 360 controller, even on the PC but as my flatmate Trip just said to me "Oh my God, I hope they have not developed TF2 for the consoles then just tried to make it work on the PC". That would be such a bad move, I am not against consoles but as an avid TFC player I can say that playing on a PC would be FAR more suitable for this game, the control needed simply requires a keyboard and mouse, I can't think of any argument about that! Please Valve, release this as a proper PC game, spend equal times making it work 110% on all platforms, it's not like you have not had time... That said, the Xbox controls seem simple enough and I know that in an FPS on a console, the control method can make or break the game in an instant!

Of special note is the Taunt button, which allows you to mock your opponent at anytime. The camera will switch from a first-person view that allows you to see your character full-on, at which point he will launch into a brief and hilarious animation designed to allow you to rub your foes’ incompetence in their face. The characters have a unique one for each of their three weapons, and all of the ones we saw made us laugh out loud. Seeing the hulking Heavy Weapons Guy kiss and caress Sasha (his uber-powerful minigun) after blowing away an enemy was one of the highlights of my visit.

Now this DOES sound fun! Lets hope its an easy button to press so we can get in one of these every time!

The first thing that struck me when playing in the large games (note: the Xbox 360 game will support 16 players over Xbox Live or system link) was how well the developers balanced the classes. As is the case in just about any class-based game, each of the characters has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. However, many of those games are tough to pick up and play with any class, as it’s usually easy to start playing with a “basic” class before moving into the more advanced ones. In designing TF2, Walker explained, the team wanted to make sure that you’ll have a great time with each and every character right off the bat.

I do agree with this, TFC was hard to pick up and there were classes noone played to begin with as it was just too difficult or simply you got killed far too often for it to be any fun! HWGuys and Snipers were always the most popular on the public servers, which was a shame as these got a bad name in clan circles for this reason. Both easy classes to pick up, point and shoot. Classes like scout, solider and medic which were the backbone of clan TFC play and although pretty easy to pick up, to play *well* it took a lot of skill and practice to do all the moves that came as second nature to the better players (conc jumping, bunnyhopping, airshots, quick switching weapons etc). I will mention engineers in a little bit!

There are a lot of things that will determine your success against a given foe, not the least of which is the gear you’re carrying. The Heavy Weapons Guy may have that big chaingun, but it takes a while to get it rolling (though you can charge it up at the expense of your foot speed) and isn’t very accurate from afar. The Scout, on the other hand, is devastatingly quick, but lacks the firepower of the more offense-minded characters. Walker explained that a showdown between a Pyro (who wields a flamethrower) and a Scout will play out different depending on the locale. In an open area, the Scout can run circles around the Pyro and dart in and out of the flamethrower’s range, but he’ll quickly be barbecued if they run into each other in a tight room. The outcomes of the game’s myriad showdowns are dependent on a wide range of variables, and should make the game one of the most balanced multiplayer titles ever.

Pretty much TFC there in all aspects, not that that is a bad thing, well done valve for sticking to some nice tried and tested methods!

I played (and watched people play) with each of the nine classes during my time with the game, so this might be a good time to break them down one by one:

I am going to list my reasons for playing these guys, with special focus on clan and a less public playstyle.

The Heavy Weapons Guy: As I mentioned above, the HWG’s minigun (he can also use his fists a shotgun) takes a while to charge up, but once it does anyone within 10 meters or so is in big trouble. When firing (or charging up the barrel), your foot speed will decrease dramatically, so you’ve got to decide which is more important. After all, what good is that powerful gun if you keep getting smoked by quicker or stealthier enemies?

This guy looks the same in both TFC and TF2 in my opinion and it a purely defensive class, best used in tight corridors of fire to stop or slow down enemy attacks. A perfect example would be protecting the underwater corridor on Well, whack him at the end of the tunnel and the enemy has no change to avoid his spray of bullets in such a confined space.

The Sniper: This character feels like your garden variety sniper, but one thing we really like is the inclusion of a power meter. Essentially, staying in a zoomed view will increase the power of your shot, which encourages the player to stay in one place and wait for enemies like a “real” sniper. No more running and quick-zooming for you!

Simply not used in clan matches, though I did see once someone employing the sniper on Rock 2 in the battlements picking of the enemy as they charged the courtyard. This didn’t really work. The sniper, though good at taking out single enemies, doesn't have the ability to take out multiple targets before the targets eliminate the sniper. If they are rushed, they are screwed, basically!

The Engineer: I was never really that interested in these character classes in other multiplayer games, but The Engineer is actually one of the cooler support classes in the game. While you’ll have some basic weapons at your disposal, you’ll likely spend most of your time running around the map, setting up upgradeable turrets and dispensers (they give players health and dispense metal to engineers). Metal is the currency of the engineer, as he can use it repair and upgrade turrets and build more dispensers. If you want to construct stuff faster, just whack it with your trusty wrench!

Never interested in engineers! Well wow.. that is just something I find hard to believe. After playing TFC for years and years more BF1942 after that, the engineer is usually the most important class in the game and I cant see it being any different for TF2, they are both a frontline and backline defence class, being able to be put into the role of slowing down emery incursions or being the last resort, their Sentry Gun protecting the flag (or whatever it is). In BF1942 they are extremely useful too, having mines to stop enemy advances and being portable repair stations. No mention is made of the TFC engineer ability, the EMP which is a small grenade that releases an Electro Magnetic Pulse, the blast went through walls, ceilings and obliterated anything technological, you even blew up if you got hit by one when carrying metal! This is one reason that the engineers in the TFC ere could be used as offence AND defence, build your SG then go kick some ass, help out the offence!

The Pyro: The most powerful offensive class in the game, this character is also hindered by the shortest attack range. If you’re within 10 feet of a Pyro, you’ll be turned into charcoal within seconds. This makes him positively deadly in the tight corridors of the indoor areas, where he can also wield a fireaxe if he wants to get messy. He loves the smell of napalm in the morning…

I had to suppress a giggle at this. I have a hatred for Pyros simply because as a class they sucked, their flamethrower was poor and flamed RPGs useless. The only thing they could do was blind a defender a little but that would only work if the defending player sucked! They certainly are going to have to go some to be on par with the other classes in TF2. The thing is that pyros are not a defensive class, so facing a scout just would not happen unless its a server where people just play deathmatch.

The Demoman: This cigar-chomping explosives expert is a dangerous foe, especially if you run into an area that’s covered with his sticky balls of C4. While a standard timed grenade launcher is his primary weapon, I had more fun firing a bunch of C4 balls into an area and waiting for some poor sap to come running through. With a simple press of the left trigger, all that was left of my foe was a few limbs and a cloud of pink mist.

The demoman was a funny creature in TFC and rarely used in clan matches. A good demoman *was* amazing though and I can see them being used a lot more in TF2, especially since they are the only character to have any type of grenade. I can see them being used for both defence and offence, a good all-rounder.

The Spy: There’s a lot to love about this character. He’s got a number of fun gadgets at his disposal, with the coolest being a device that let’s you indefinitely take on the form of any class on the opposing team. If your enemy isn’t paying attention, you can waltz right into their headquarters and complete the objective you’re tasked with. The Spy can also turn invisible for a little while, then sneak up behind an enemy and shank them with a blade.

This is a welcome addition to TF2, I used to love playing Spy and this new version of it seems very cool, now using invisibility instead of feigning death. I do wonder how this invisibility works, I guess it would be negated by firing or running, or maybe Sentry Guns could detect you? We will see! The spy class is one of the best offensive classes if used correctly, disguise as one of your own team on the way into the enemy base, say a soldier or medic, then once inside, change to one of their defensive classes and just wander in, hopefully, un-mithered! Sweet!

The Scout: While I didn’t get a chance to play with this class, I did see a lot of them hauling ass around the levels. The Scout is very quick, so it’s close to impossible to get a good bead on him. Naturally, that makes this class the best suited for a snatch ‘n grab style of play (the game has a CTF-like mode that requires you to grab intel).

The lightest offensive class and quick to boot, little weaponry and health, these pesky little buggers are easy to kill. They are quick though and in large areas are hard to kill without spending ages doing it. Hopefully we will see some of their plus points in TF2 to make them a little more beneficial to the team on the whole. Concussion grenades really helped the scout in TFC, not only to disorientate the enemy but also to give the scout a boost by shooting them into the air with the power of the concussion. We can only hope they have brought something similar to TF2 to make the scout a playable class!

The Medic: Another support character, The Medic has the ability to heal any character on the battlefield, so it’s not uncommon to see one running along with a squad. You’ve only got to get near your teammates to heal them, and your “gun” will emit a stream of crosses (you know, like that famous red one?) to let you know it’s working. The character also has our favorite of the melee weapons, a bone saw that should lead to some gruesome kills.

Well excellent, they left the medics in! These were the backbone of TFC offence and an amazingly versatile class. I really hope that in TF2 they have remembered just how useful this class should be, not only being able to heal teammates but a lovely shotgun to pick on the enemy and let's not forget the nail gun which was perfect for taking out Sentry Guns. One thing that does interest me is from what I have read, you can heal from afar, meaning you don’t have to be right next to the person you are healing as in TFC. This could bring in some nice new tactics...

The Soldier: Although these characters wield a rocket launcher as their primary, it’s not one of the overpowered ones that we’re used to seeing in many shooters. Sure, it packs quite a punch, but it’s actually the best way to get around in the game, as it’s seemingly been designed with rocket jumps in mind.

Soldiers, YES SIR! Fantastic defensive classes and probably the most versatile in the game. Happy in all positions and (hopefully) also armed with a shotgun for that quick kill. Rocket jumping is important when playing the soldier in an offensive position or getting in an interesting defensive one. I am looking forward to seeing how these guys are implemented, I used to love getting air shots back in the day.

At the end of every match, a leaderboard will appear that will break down the time you spent playing as each class (you can switch between them freely after each death or commit suicide on the battlefield to switch instantly). You’ll also be given a point total for each class, and we were happy to learn that the will be a ton of elements taken into account when tallying your score. Basically, you’ll earn points for doing what’s expected from you. As an example, I was told that a medic will earn many more points for healing his teammates than he would for getting a kill. You’ll also have personal “one life” bests for each class, such as how many kills you can get before dying or number of objectives completed.

I like this, a good addition to TF2 I feel. I always thought that medics should get more points because their primary purpose was never rewarded. Should promote teamplay on public servers I hope, and will stop people all going HWGuy in kill zones to get their names on the leaderboard.

On the achievement side, we learned that while the entire Orange Box will reward players with the maximum 1000 achievement points, Microsoft has allowed Valve to expand the total number of achievements to 100, twice the normal limit of 50. The company isn’t really sure yet how many achievements will be connected to each of the games, but it sounds like many of the TF2 ones will be tied into the number of kills you get as each class overall, in addition to some single-game achievements. Best of all, we learned that Valve has actually designed a new UI for the achievements menu that breaks the Orange Box achievements up by title. We’re not sure how this will work, but this achievement whore is definitely intrigued.

Well excellent, obviously this applies only to the Xbox 360 version of the game but I welcome achievements and I think they are a great part of the 360 experience. I remember Trip and Knifeh playing Gears of Wars for weeks just to unlock them all.

Simply put, the visuals in Team Fortress 2 are amazing. If you aren’t sold on the cartoonish qualities now, just wait until you play it for the first time. As was their goal, the designers have succeeded in making the characters look completely unique, so you likely won’t even confuse friend from foe. The game makes heavy use of a technique called Phong Shading, which has a Wikipedia definition that made my head hurt. Whatever it is, it makes the game look fantastic. The designers also included plenty of advanced lighting and particle effects, so don’t go thinking that this is just a XIII clone or something. The sound effects are top-notch, too, especially the screams that you’ll hear coming from Pyro’s roasting enemies.

YES the game looks pretty! It very much sold me the first time I saw it. I like the 70s feel to the characters and the use of bold and bright colours, very much like the original. It hasn’t tried to be realistic and hopefully wont need a hugely expensive PC rig to run it.

As I said at the beginning of the lengthy preview, Team Fortress 2 is shaping up to be the deepest multiplayer game of the year, as well as the most imaginative. The visuals may be the first thing that grabs you, but it’ll only take a game or two to get you hooked. The classes are varied, unique and (perhaps most importantly) perfectly balanced, ensuring a long shelf life. This is one game that we know we’ll still be playing for many, many months (if not years) to come.

I wholeheartedly agree and I will add that it's a game us TFC lovers have been waiting for 8 years... and counting!

On a final note I wish to thank Will Tuttle - "KingTut" from Team Xbox for the basis of this article, I don't mean to be harsh on some of his comments but I thought a more "PC" and "TFC Players" view was needed. Let's hope he is not offended!