FACEPOCALYPSE

I started playing Team Fortress 2 this week, in the form of maybe an hour or two in the evenings. I’ve consciously avoided getting hooked on ‘unfinishable’ games for awhile now, but as I posted a few weeks back Orange Box was on sale for US$10. That’s how much I typically spend on lunch!

However, it’s been consuming too much time and energy for my liking… I think when you get to the point that you dream about a videogame it’s probably dominating too much of your mindspace, and last night I dreamt I was a spy being hunted by 2 soldiers. Today I removed the TF2 steamapp files from my computer.

While I’m talking about TF2 I might as well give a little insight to those who haven’t played it.

It’s pretty cool, and very noob friendly. Maybe I hoped it wouldn’t be so noob friendly having come from Counterstrike, where you really need to aim to kill. They’ve loosened up the whole ‘aiming’ deal for most classes with all the spray and splash damage weapons. That’s not to say there’s no twitch factor, it just levels the playing field a bit more.

It’s meant to be a team based game though (surprise!), and support is just as important as offense. Especially medics. Medic support is the difference between killing 1 person or mowing down 5+ at the frontline. Alternatively, if you like to sit around and hit stuff with a wrench you could play as an Engineer for the match, and build machinery to kill for you. The only tough part about that is positioning, which I admittedly struggled with due to my limited map knowledge. I had the most success as the heavy with medic backup, but just felt cheap taking down people with my 400 buffed hit points vs most classes’ 125-200hp. Not to mention a machinegun that’ll decimate anyone that near you in a second, and people at range in a few seconds.

I also had a few sprees as the sniper, but meh… It didn’t feel like an accomplishment on most maps. It’s just too risk-free. I want to be more involved in the game than that. There are some maps that encourage twitchy sniper vs sniper action, but other scenarios just pave the way to finding a nook and camping. Boourns to camping, and hooray for the spy.

The spy I have a lot of respect for. This class is incredibly hard to master, but will cause havoc if played well. I love the psychological aspect encased by this class, when you’re trying to pass yourself as an enemy unit. It’s so satisfying when you breach their offense and stroll around, pretending you’re lining up some epic shot or need more health, only to stab a heavy in the back or bring down that lurking sniper. That kill is often met with death, but if you can sustain a good run it adds a whole new element to everyone’s gaming experience.