Team Fortress 2, one of the most popular online shooters in the industry characterized by its cheesy cartoonish antics, distinctive art style, and ludicrous gibs, is now completely free and will be fueled by microtransactions. Valve has tried several pricing models for Team Fortress, and now it’s a free to play model. The game can be downloaded from Steam free of charge. It’s a 10 gigabyte download so put the coffee on.
For those not familiar with Team Fortress, I’ll describe it. First off, take your average class-based first-person shooter and add a theme to it that would remind you of tongue-in-cheek spy movies or spoofs. After that it has the gameplay modes you would expect in a first-person shooter, such as seizing control points and more unusual ones such as Medieval Mode where you’re restricted to melee weapons and bows.
The game itself encourages aggressive gameplay, with critical hits that rapidly increase in their chances, ammo refilling universally, AI bots that are surprisingly competent, and several balance factors that make for a genuinely fun game experience. The large amount of classes means that you’ll quickly find your exact specialty and playing style. The game lacks a manual, but you can learn it easily enough. In addition, when you’re dead and the respawn counter is ticking, your view shifts to someone of your class who is still standing so you can see how it’s done.
If you want a good FPS that is over the top and just all-round fun, go for Team Fortress 2 on Steam while Valve is enjoying their free to play idea. I couldn’t say much since I’m new to it myself, but it genuinely is amazing.
