The last column that I wrote on crossfire got more of a response than I expected, so I decided to write another just to see if anyone wanted to hear my opinions. It is a little long so bear with me.
Recently I purchased the blessing to mankind that is knows as The Orange Box. I bought this not just for the amazing new chapter in the Half-Life series, not just for the quirky puzzle game that I love to death, but also because I wanted to try out Team Fortress 2. As you might have gathered from my previous column, North American competitive ET is for the most part dead. Because of this I am looking for a new game to move on to, and I figured I should give TF2 a try because I was basically getting it for free. I must admit, I had never played the original Team Fortress or Team Fortress Classis, but I had heard about them from friends. I knew that TF had a reputation for being a very good game with a loyal fanbase, so I had high expectations for the game. I booted up Team Fortress for the first time and gave it a try.
The very first thing that I noticed as I started playing was this was nothing like ET. I figured the class-based system might make it ET-like, but that is about as far as the similarities go. ET is a game that requires precise aiming. With almost every gun (excluding the obvious example of the panzer) you must lock onto the head and aim exactly in order to pull off a nice kill. Most classes in TF2 hardly involve any precise aiming. The understanding that I gained from playing it was that the only time that a headshot ever really matters is when you are sniping. As I played for longer, I started to ask myself "is this really all there is to TF2?" When I go into a game I expect a learning curve. I expect that once I learn the basics, I can steadily get better and better until I have "mastered" the game. With TF2 there is almost no learning curve, -and no skill factor involved.
First off, is the learning curve. In regards to individual play, once you master the basics of the game there is not much further that you can go. In a game like ET, if you are a better aimer than another person you will win almost every time. In TF2 there is little skill involved in aiming. Let me explain to you what I mean by this:
-The first class is the pyro. It is just like the flamethrower from ET. No aiming involved
-Next is the engineer. His main ability is to set up turrets that shoot for him. No aiming involved.
-Next is the spy. His job is to turn invisible, or become disguised. After he does that he sneaks up behind an enemy and stabs him in the back. No aim necessary.
-Fourth we have the heavy. The heavy has a massive machine gun that has more spray than a sprinkler. As long as you are anywhere near an enemy with your crosshair you will ventilate him with wildly flying bullets.
-Next is the demoman. This is my favorite class. He has a gun that shoots very similarly to the Rnade in ET, but of course it takes multiple hits to kill someone. I like this gun because if you arc the shot so that the grenade actually hits your enemy, it explodes on contact doing a lot of damage. Some aiming, but it sure as hell isn't the same type of aiming you see in ET.
-Sixth we have the medic. His main job is to take out a big healing ray and constantly heal his teammates. He has a secondary weapon but it isn't even worth mentioning because it is so useless. He doesn't even need to shoot let alone aim.
-Seventh is the scout, and here is a class that might involve some skill. He is extremely fast and he is equipped with the weak shotgun that most classes use as a secondary weapon. If you can shoot while jumping around like a monkey then this class might be fun, but in my experience the scout has such a lack of health that he is pretty much raped on the battlefield.
-Eighth is the soldier who shoots big quake-style rockets. For quake players who liked rockets, this is a good class, but for someone who likes guns there is not much here.
-Finally we have the sniper. He is probably the most useless class in the game, but hey, if you get a headshot while zoomed then it is an instant kill!
There we have it, the nine classes of TF2. As you can see, not one has a gun that actually takes much skill to aim. I like a game like CSS, ET, Quake, or anything that has something remotely like a learning curve or aim factor. Further killing the process of aiming is critical hits. If you are shooting someone, and you get lucky, Boom! critical hit, and they lose. That's right, you get critical hits completely at random. I have heard some people say that this abomination might be removed in competitive TF2 play, so we'll see how that turns out.
Now you've heard my gripes, but I also do have some good things to say about TF2. While individual skill might not matter, team strategy and teamwork is extremely essential. While the learning curve for individual play might be low, the learning curve for teamwork can go limitlessly high. This game is so deep on team play, and the NINE classes help accentuate this. Imagine playing ET with 9 classes, that would make it a whole new game. For those who can bear to actually play this game competitively, I think it would be fun. The team element looks to be very deep and complex, but alas I will probably never play it competitively enough to ever experience this.
Finally, don't get me wrong, this is a good game to play for fun. If you are looking for a good time late at night, by all means boot up TF2 and have a little fun. If on the other hand you are looking for a game to play competitively, I would look somewhere else.
(I really hope there are no hardcore TF players on this site that I have just offended)
Recently I purchased the blessing to mankind that is knows as The Orange Box. I bought this not just for the amazing new chapter in the Half-Life series, not just for the quirky puzzle game that I love to death, but also because I wanted to try out Team Fortress 2. As you might have gathered from my previous column, North American competitive ET is for the most part dead. Because of this I am looking for a new game to move on to, and I figured I should give TF2 a try because I was basically getting it for free. I must admit, I had never played the original Team Fortress or Team Fortress Classis, but I had heard about them from friends. I knew that TF had a reputation for being a very good game with a loyal fanbase, so I had high expectations for the game. I booted up Team Fortress for the first time and gave it a try.
The very first thing that I noticed as I started playing was this was nothing like ET. I figured the class-based system might make it ET-like, but that is about as far as the similarities go. ET is a game that requires precise aiming. With almost every gun (excluding the obvious example of the panzer) you must lock onto the head and aim exactly in order to pull off a nice kill. Most classes in TF2 hardly involve any precise aiming. The understanding that I gained from playing it was that the only time that a headshot ever really matters is when you are sniping. As I played for longer, I started to ask myself "is this really all there is to TF2?" When I go into a game I expect a learning curve. I expect that once I learn the basics, I can steadily get better and better until I have "mastered" the game. With TF2 there is almost no learning curve, -and no skill factor involved.
First off, is the learning curve. In regards to individual play, once you master the basics of the game there is not much further that you can go. In a game like ET, if you are a better aimer than another person you will win almost every time. In TF2 there is little skill involved in aiming. Let me explain to you what I mean by this:
-The first class is the pyro. It is just like the flamethrower from ET. No aiming involved
-Next is the engineer. His main ability is to set up turrets that shoot for him. No aiming involved.
-Next is the spy. His job is to turn invisible, or become disguised. After he does that he sneaks up behind an enemy and stabs him in the back. No aim necessary.
-Fourth we have the heavy. The heavy has a massive machine gun that has more spray than a sprinkler. As long as you are anywhere near an enemy with your crosshair you will ventilate him with wildly flying bullets.
-Next is the demoman. This is my favorite class. He has a gun that shoots very similarly to the Rnade in ET, but of course it takes multiple hits to kill someone. I like this gun because if you arc the shot so that the grenade actually hits your enemy, it explodes on contact doing a lot of damage. Some aiming, but it sure as hell isn't the same type of aiming you see in ET.
-Sixth we have the medic. His main job is to take out a big healing ray and constantly heal his teammates. He has a secondary weapon but it isn't even worth mentioning because it is so useless. He doesn't even need to shoot let alone aim.
-Seventh is the scout, and here is a class that might involve some skill. He is extremely fast and he is equipped with the weak shotgun that most classes use as a secondary weapon. If you can shoot while jumping around like a monkey then this class might be fun, but in my experience the scout has such a lack of health that he is pretty much raped on the battlefield.
-Eighth is the soldier who shoots big quake-style rockets. For quake players who liked rockets, this is a good class, but for someone who likes guns there is not much here.
-Finally we have the sniper. He is probably the most useless class in the game, but hey, if you get a headshot while zoomed then it is an instant kill!
There we have it, the nine classes of TF2. As you can see, not one has a gun that actually takes much skill to aim. I like a game like CSS, ET, Quake, or anything that has something remotely like a learning curve or aim factor. Further killing the process of aiming is critical hits. If you are shooting someone, and you get lucky, Boom! critical hit, and they lose. That's right, you get critical hits completely at random. I have heard some people say that this abomination might be removed in competitive TF2 play, so we'll see how that turns out.
Now you've heard my gripes, but I also do have some good things to say about TF2. While individual skill might not matter, team strategy and teamwork is extremely essential. While the learning curve for individual play might be low, the learning curve for teamwork can go limitlessly high. This game is so deep on team play, and the NINE classes help accentuate this. Imagine playing ET with 9 classes, that would make it a whole new game. For those who can bear to actually play this game competitively, I think it would be fun. The team element looks to be very deep and complex, but alas I will probably never play it competitively enough to ever experience this.
Finally, don't get me wrong, this is a good game to play for fun. If you are looking for a good time late at night, by all means boot up TF2 and have a little fun. If on the other hand you are looking for a game to play competitively, I would look somewhere else.
(I really hope there are no hardcore TF players on this site that I have just offended)
scout is very high sens snap based aim.
you are very correct in the fact the game doesn't require much aim however the fundamental point you missed is that of teamwork.
this game is ALL about teamwork, and that is where the learning curve comes into it imo. in scrims that i have played you have to work as a unit whether it be defending attacking holding middle ground.
it is a lot of fun in scrims and such
I wouldn't call that missing a fundamental point :)
had like 4 hours sleep and been to uni and studying all day.
brain is kinda awash :<
melbourne>*
:)
Completly agree, TF2 is too little about aiming for me :/ But still think the game is great, just not for me :) If I could say one thing I felt was poor it is the map design, its too much of the same.
Good read :)
I disagree though as imo, the demoman,soldier,scout,sniper all require skilled aim. just because its not the same aiming as ET doesnt make it less skilled. With soldier/demoman you have to be able to predict where they will be when the rocket lands, which is a skill on its own.
Theres also being able to use the rocket for jumping, and tactically a good player can use it to take out any class from any range. If a pyro is flaming from point blank, 1 shot @ his foot to send him in the air then time the 2nd shot to kill him when he lands for example.
Then we have the scout who doesnt have a weak shotgun. its weak from DISTANCE, like any shotgun. and lethal from upclose. This gun is most like et in the fact you dont predict, you just aim and shoot. Then the double jump is implemented to dodge rockets etc. On the surface its not got adeep learning curve, but to master it it does
Little skill is required on pubs because there is no teamplay but im confident this game will be awesome for scrims.
BACKFUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lame flame lolololol
+ btw TF2 is kinda good game imo but why the hell they use cartoon graphics its so annoying
you will never get inside the enemies def unless they are retarded, if I'm deffing a "teammate" comes towards me and doesnt knife/shoot the floor on his way, I'll just kill him. Simple.
+ who the fuck runs towards someone thats megaretarded
Theres plenty of aiming. A lot of it is just aiming ahead, not at the head.
Great game :D
also I can imagine that if jackaz and reload tried to play tf they would get pwned, since tf (not tf2) requires far more than just aim
and the game is quite fun imo
I for one do not like reading huge articles like Pedro wrote, I would rather read something short and more concise like this. I wanted to share my individual opinions which may or may not be different than Pedro's.
Portal: Way to few levels and fun for only few ours
halflife series : HL2 done, playing HL2 EPS 1 atm
TF2: A fun game and very tactical.
1 addition: i never played on steam, but in fact I like it and i would suggest --> cheat on 1 steam game ... get banned from all the games connected to your steam.
flame on
more please.
@ that lame tf2
Mayni Should/Should not purchase TF2.
gogogo ty
edit: n1 review
Anything I start just gets boring.
Another good reason why RTCW 2 may disappoint a lot of people as its developed primarily console.
Stick with FPS games developed primarily for PC.
It's sad to see all these ET players hate it so much because every class isn't all about aim. Any of you guys every play something besides medic in ET? I doubt it. Also, I've never heard of you torrent so how much you actually know about competitive gaming is definitely a question.
The game is not as good as ET is. I don't think a team based game will ever be that good again, but it's good enough to try playing competition in. Way fucking better than quakewars thats for sure.