What can make or break a popular online multiplayer game is a gimmick. An element that is central to the gameplay, but not so important that it overwhelms the need to compete. This week?s Multiplayer Madness will look at a game that reached peak popularity through the collection and consumption of hats. This week, we dare delve into what makes Team Fortress 2 one of the most popular online games.
Gameplay
Team Fortress 2 gameplay is a class-based, two-sided affair with players taking the side of either Reliable Excavation & Demolition (RED) or Builders League United (BLU). From there, there are 9 classes of characters, 3 offensive (scout, soldier and pyro), 3 defensive (heavy, demoman and engineer), and 3 support (medic, sniper and spy) to choose from, with each class bearing strengths and weaknesses, creating comfortably balanced teams.
Game modes consist of standard types such as Capture the Flag, Control Points, and King of the Hill. However, the game mode Payload pitches one team to move a bomb on a rail track towards the enemy base, with speed depending on the proximity of players to the bomb, while the opposing team has to do their best to protect their base.
No matter what mode is played, the gameplay is fast and furious: with quick respawns, competitive combat and maps that ? while in the grand scheme of civic planning are linear ? are gifted with nooks and crannies waiting to be utilized by inquisitive players.
Mods
With TF2 being one of the many beautiful, golden haired children of Valve?s Source engine, mods are inevitable and plenty. On an entry level, mods include little changes such as skins, to bewilder and excite other players, and custom maps.
Yet, with TF2 being the comedic entity that it is, the game has its own array of hilarious and engrossing mods. Be it the joy of playing instant action Wario Ware mini games, guaranteed to bring out the creative expletives of the most irritable gamers; to the genius ?shoot-everything-and-waste-ammo-in-the-hope-of-winning hide and seek mod?, where one team play as regular classes and the other become inanimate objects, such as water coolers or drain hole covers, with the latter team having to do their best to survive the gun-toting, rootin? tootin? rampage of the opposing team.
However, by far the best mod in the game by three and a half furlongs is the 1812 Overture Minigun Mod. Fairly self explanatory, simply start firing and your spree is celebrated with Tchaikovsky?s masterpiece booming through speakers. It?s a uniquely brilliant mod that truly is the pinnacle of epic gaming.
Community
Much like other gaming communities where the online experience is enhanced and prolonged through mods, TF2?s community is one that seeks to increase what can be done with the game. There is a strong communal spirit, an almost ?we will fight them on the beaches etc? feel.
Valve?s ongoing caring attitude towards the game is one reason why the community continues to expand. Instead of giving the occasional update every few months and leaving it there, Valve are continually active on the TF2 website, keeping players informed on updates to the game, special occasions and ? most importantly ? the chance to acquire a new hat. The site also keeps their readership up to date with upcoming LAN tournaments, training sessions, ?pros vs community? games and a whole assortment of other aspects.
More than aware that the player community has been the reason TF2 has been so successful, Valve know through their fifteen years of experience that keeping your clients happy keeps you happy ? and boy do they make a good job of it! Valve run tf2maps.net where fan-made maps can be accessed and played by the community for feedback and improvements, before being completed.
Like most online communities, TF2?s fanbase has retained its integrity through hardcore fans, support and updates that go above and beyond the call of duty for most game developers.
Competitiveness
Due to TF2?s immense popularity, the game has become one of those online multiplayer titles that has formed its own competitive online leagues, such as ESL, Wireplay, Team Warfare League and ESEA. While it has not reached the same competitive level as the likes of Counter Strike or StarCraft, tournaments for cash prizes exist for the game.
Like most professional leagues, TF2?s leagues follow the standard competitive format. Matches are 6v6 and VoIP services are used to allow teams to communicate without compromising tactics and strategies through the games inbuilt communication service.
Five Control Points is the preferred game type for competitive play, as it is one of TF2?s unique gameplay modes that allow for competitive play, thus avoiding the possibility of being compared to other competitive FPS games ? like Counter Strike. The official maps Badlands and Granary are firm favourites, with unofficial maps Snakewater and Gullywash considered acceptable.
With only six players per team, organisation and class selection is carefully planned. The most standard team formation, nicknamed the Cookie Cutter, sees teams play with two soldiers, one demoman, two scouts and a medic, but (as it?s become something of a default setting) teams can mix things up to their strengths and weaknesses to really unleash havoc.
Finally, competitive TF2 gameplay prohibits a number of class-specific weaponry in favour of the explicit use of straight up default weapons, which allow for the smooth and continually balanced gameplay that has team members prove their skills with vanilla weapons, instead of getting lucky with upgrades that have a collection of bells and whistles. For example, the Heavy class has his two upgradable miniguns, Natascha and the Brass Beast banned in league conditions, as both upset the fair balance of playing with default weapons.
Legacy
TF2 has come a long way from its predecessor, Team Fortress. Where the original title was a military shooter in much the same way Counter Strike was developed from Half Life?s GoldSrc engine, Team Fortress?s reincarnation had to make an impact, and what makes a bigger impact than cartoon graphics, seamless gameplay, a sense of dark humour and bombastic characters? Perhaps a 2000lb bomb, but not much else sends so many ripples across the pond of 21st century gaming.
TF2 has been one of Valve?s most experimental games. Whether it is the use of micro transactions or making the full game free to play, TF2 established itself to be a fun game, where new players can jump into the fray and love what vast coves of hidden bounty lie inside.
In another instance, TF2?s marketing strategy was one that shook the foundations of how games could be advertised. Valve took the leap of creating tongue-in-cheek videos explaining the background history of the class personalities, with each one becoming entwined in the fabric of other introductory stories. It came down to the ?Meet The Spy? episode for the game?s popularity to really surge and, since then, no one has ever looked back.
Some game developers have a knack for coming up with ridiculous yet genius games, and Valve are at the top of their field. Alongside the continued success of the Half Life, Counter Strike, Portal and Left 4 Dead series?, Team Fortress 2 is one of a short list of quality games that have the replay value other developers can only dream of.
With no sign of cutting support or losing interest anytime soon, it appears that Team Fortress 2 will be a mainstay of PC gamers who want to play something colourful, cheeky, strategic and inspirational for years to come
Related posts:
- Multiplayer Madness
Category: Articles
Source: http://www.mashthepad.com/multiplayer-madness-team-fortress-2/
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