What Is Team Fortress 2?

Team Fortress 2 is the long-anticipated sequel to Team Fortress Classic (TFC), a popular add-on to the original classic game Half Life.  The Team Fortress series of games is unique in the way that fast action is mixed with strategy to provide a thinking man’s online shooter that also appeals to the hardcore ‘itchy trigger finger’ fans.  With unique graphics and improved technology, Team Fortress 2 has the potential to become the best class-based multiplayer game ever made.  This guide is meant to inspire more people to play Team Fortress 2 by telling you everything you need to know to get started playing today.

The Point of the Game

   Team Fortress drops you into an ongoing battle between the Reds and the Blues.  Each team starts off in their own base with the mission of capturing the opponents’ flag, which logically resides in a place known as the Flag Room, deep inside the opponents’ base.  The game is timed and the team that has captured the most flags is the winner. 

   Those familiar with another popular Half Life mod, CounterStrike, may notice some striking differences when they first go to play a Team Fortress game.  The most dramatic is that one shot will rarely kill you.  Unless you’ve been shot directly in the head by a sniper, a single hit in Team Fortress will only damage you.

   Another big difference from CounterStrike is that when you are killed, rather than sit out the rest of the game, you respawn back at your base.  I’m a huge fan of this, as you also then have the option to change your class and better attack the enemies weaknesses.

What You Need to Know to Play

When you first join a Team Fortress game, you will be prompted to choose which character, or class, you want to be.  The classes are:

Demoman – Lobs explosives
Engineer – Builds sentries
Heavy – Machine gun
Medic – Lethal injection
Pyro – Flamethrower
Scout –Speed
Sniper – Sniper rifle
Soldier – Rocket Launcher
Spy - Stealth

Each class has different strengths as well as weaknesses that can be exploited by other classes.  Experienced players will often start someone as a scout to try to steal the flag before the opponent’s defenses are set.  Even if the scout is unsuccessful, they can usually see how the opponent is planning to defend the flag and relay that to his teammates so that they can choose the proper player classes to take out the defense.

   If you’re inexperienced, I’d recommend going with the soldier as he is an all around character with equal amount of offensive and defensive skill.  In any case, once you’ve picked your class, it’s time to play.  To ‘capture the flag’, your team must pick it up from the opponents’ Flag Room and carry it back to your own Flag Room.  If the flag carrier is killed while carrying the flag, it will remain at the spot it was dropped for a set amount of time.  If no one on either team grabs the flag within a set amount of time, it instantly returns to its Flag Room.

Summary

That’s the basic information you need to play Team Fortress 2.  When Team Fortress 2 is finally released, this section will be enhanced to include al