Team Fortress has a huge following. You can see that when Valve pushes out new community maps and items, which they do on a regular basis. Game Maker Eric Ruth’s love for the game made him think about a 2D arcade version of the game. And so, Team Fortress Arcade was born.

The game is a typical side scrolling jump and run game set in the Team Fortress 2 universe. You can play all classes of the original game. Since it is 2D the designer hat to make compromises but more about that later on.

The game begins at the class selection screen where you and up to three buddies (hot seat for the win) can pick their classes. Some classes are better suited for a single player play through, but since you have got unlimited continues, you should not have problems completing the game with any class available.

You should take a look at the readme as it contains the controls for each player. Player one for instance uses WASD to move, H to shoot and U to jump. You can press both the shoot and jump button together for a powerful melee attack.

All characters have at least one special ability. The Soldier can rocketjump, the Scout double-jump and the Spy can cloak.

Probably the biggest let down of this game are the enemies. Instead of having to fight against characters of the Red team, you fight against red robots. While that’s nice and entertaining for a while, it does not motivate as much as beating the crap out of Team Fortress classes.

You have to battle a red Team Fortress 2 class at the end of each stage in a boss fight. These fights are usually not that difficulty to complete, even though the bosses have lots of life.

Stages include the good old attack maps where you just have to reach the end of the stage, but also payload and control point stages known from the game. The variety is good in this regard.

Team Fortress Arcade is most fun with at least one additional human player. You may have troubles playing the game with four players on one keyboard at the same time, especially if one of the player’s has big hands and fingers.

Playing with additional players opens up interesting options. You could go for a heavy medic combo for instance, or medic soldier for that matter. The medic’s ability to heal is invaluable in the game if you want to complete it without dying.

Team Fortress Arcade offers enough variety for Team Fortress fans to justify a play through. The game would shine if the developer would replace the robots with members of team red.

You can download the free game for Windows PCs from the developer website. Eric Ruth mentioned that he will update the game in the coming months with new modes, difficulty challenges, online co-op (awesome) and player versus player matches.

Recently Valve turned Team Fortress 2, which never cost more than $19.99 by the way, into a free to play game. Users who sign up can play the game for as long as they want, and if they make a purchase in the store get an upgrade to the full version of the game that gives them a larger backpack among other things. So, for less than $1 you get the full game which is an unbelievable price if you ask me.

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based shooter. Each player takes command of a class in the game which all have their specific purposes in the game (well almost). The Soldier and Heavy for instance usually are at the center of the battlefield, supported by Medics. Then you got an Engineer who can build defense turrets and so called dispensers to replenish health for teammates and teleporters to bring them quickly to the Battlefield. The spy can sap the engineers buildings and backstab anyone. Then you got the Pyro, which I believe is often played by gamers who only use the keys W for forward and left mouse button for fire.

The two remaining classes are the Demoman which is probably the best character in the game damage wise and the Sniper, which in my opinion is completely useless.

Valve has added maps and game modes to the game every since it was released. You get the standard capture the flag maps, so called capture point maps where both teams compete to win all capture points on the map, payload maps where one team has to move a bomb to the destination and others.

New players should start with easy to play classes like the Soldier or Engineer and move from there to more complex classes like the Spy or Demoman. Game wise I would suggest to start with CP type of maps as they are usually well balanced.

Part of the game are items that you find on a regular basis. You can find new class weapons which often act differently but are not inherently more powerful than the standard weapon. There are some exceptions though. Regardless, you will find items regularly. Each character has three weapon / equipment slots, a hat slot and two misc slots.

Let me give you an example. The Medic, the character who can heal team mates by firing the medic gun at them builds up a so called Ubercharge with the weapon whenever it is used. When it reaches 100% it can be used to make the medic and the team mate who is healed invulnerable for some time. You cannot capture or steal the flag in this time, but you can be sure that the other team is running. That is, unless they have clever players or a charge of their own.

The Medic can find a gun called the Kritzkrieg, which as the name implies swaps invulnerability for criticals. Your team mate fires crits with every shoot in that time.

I won’t get into trading or crafting that much. You can trade items with other players and craft items that you really want if you got the right ingredients.

Here is a short video demonstrating Simon’s inability to play the game :) [Simon is one of the guys from Yogscast]

Almost everything has been done the right way by Valve. The game is fun to play, it has a great server browser, you can enter and leave games in no time, and maps and classes for the most part are well balanced. It is also pretty easy to ignore the “commercial” aspects of the game. Yes, you can beat anyone with the basic weapons. If there is one thing to criticize it is the lack of proper capture the flag maps. You got some good ones like Doublecross or CP-maps that have been turned into CTF maps like Well, but the game lacks one that brings more gamers to that mode of play.

You need Steam to get Team Fortress 2. You can download Steam from the official website. Once you have installed steam open the Store in the interface and search for Team Fortress 2. Click on the first hit and then on Install this game to install it.

And if you are new to the game, you might want to take a look at this comic here which gives you a good understanding of what you will experience the first time playing the game.

Back in 2007 I published some Team Fortress 2 tips which can still help you in the game. Some functionality may have changed though in the meantime.

Have you played Team Fortress 2? If so, what are your thoughts?

The game has been developed by Valve, the company behind Half Life and Portal. Unlike those games, Team Fortress 2 was always offered for a bargain price. The retail price has been set to about 20 Dollars or Euros, with promotions dropping that price to less than 10 bucks for a game that entertained many for hundreds of hours.

Another thing that makes the game special is the humor, which you come in contact with not only while playing, but also in the excellent “Meet The” videos that introduce all available Team Fortress 2 classes.

When you open the Steam Store you are directly greeted with the Team Fortress 2 Free To Play announcement. If you have not purchased the game, you can now download and play it for free. The official Team Fortress 2 blog confirms the move to a free to play model.

There are however differences between free and premium members. A premium member is someone who purchased the game in the past. Here are the most important differences:

• Backpack: 50 slots 300 slots (expandable up to 1000)
• Items: Standard Standard, Rare and Cosmetic
• Crafting: Limited blueprints All blueprints
• Trading: Receive items only Full trading
• Gifting: Can receive gifts Can give and receive gifts

Those limitations are all item based, which are not needed to play the game. The backpack limitation could become a problem when items begin to fill it, but everything else is just not as relevant for playing the game. More important than that, “all game modes, classes, and maps are available”. Free players can turn their free account into a premium one by making a single purchase in the inbuilt game store. Players can buy weapons, items and other stuff in that store. The cheapest item cost well below a Dollar / Euro in the store, but you need to transfer at least 5 Dollars, Euro to your Steam Wallet as this seems to be the minimum amount. They can still buy an item for less than that, but will have leftover money then in their account.

To celebrate the free to play release of the game, the developers have created the long awaited “meet the medic” video. It is a bit stereotyping Germans, but who gives a xxxx.

So what are you waiting for? One of the greatest multiplayer games of all time, now free. You need Steam to download the game, should you not have it. If you have Steam, visit the Store and click on the Team Fortress 2 announcement there or search for the game in the store. The download links should appear there right away.

I therefore compiled a list of tips and tricks describing certain aspects of Team Fortress 2 that make the game more enjoyable and your character more competitive when competing against other players and teams online.

If you have more tips post them in the comments. This is not a complete collection of course but contains some good pointers for beginning Team Fortress 2 players.

General Tips:

Activate Fast Weapon Switching in the options to switch the weapons faster when using the mouse wheel.
A good teamplayer selects a class that is needed to play in a certain situation. That means you do not start as Sniper if your team already has 4 and no Engineer at all.
Every weapon makes less damage over distance except the rifle of the Sniper and the nades of the Demoman
You can almost walk through team members, if you meet someone that is blocking it is most likely a spy.
Hitting or coming close to an invisible spy reveals his location for a short time.
Players exit teleporters always facing the same direction
Water stops the flames if players have been hit by a Pyro if the character can swim in it. As does a Medic Gun and a Dispenser. This

Team Fortress 2 Classes:

A capping scout counts as two players
A medic boosts health of the player that he hits his medic gun with by 150 Hitpoints.
Overcharge lasts for ten seconds
Overcharge fills faster when healing injured team members. Use this to your advantage on maps where you have to wait 50 seconds before they start by healing either a Demoman or a Soldier who do Rocket / Bombjumps. Overcharge will be ready when the map begins, switch to a heavy then.
Use Rocketjumps and Bombjumps to reach roofs or places that other players can’t. This includes the houses in Gravelpit, the hole when entering the base in 2Fort or the balcony in 2Fort.
A good medic is able to make two players invulnerable with his medic gun by pointing it to each player alternately.
Don’t place Sentries, Dispensers or Teleporters in places that can be seen from a distance. This way everyone can take them out from that distance without getting hurt at all. The best place is behind or under objects.
A sentry gun can kill the Engineer who build it if he stands in the way of the rockets and bullets.
Pyros are less effective when running after someone.
Spies always use a nickname of the enemy team when disguised. Use this to your advantage
Spies: First the sentry, then the Engineer. (Attacking the Engineer reveals the true colors of the spy which means the Sentry gun will attack him.
Use your sapper while in disguise as a spy. Remember to change classes that you disguise as frequently.
Don’t disguise as classes that are either faster or slower than a Spy. This means no Heavy, no Soldier, no Scout. No Medic as well because it becomes obvious that you are a spy if you do not heal someone that requests it.
Engineer: First the Sentry, then the Dispenser. Reverse order in Sudden Death games unless the enemy is know for rushing your base.
Engineer: Build Teleporters. Start when the map begins by placing an entrance next to your base, run back in to get your metal filled up and continue. Move Teleporter entries and exits frequently if the situation changes.
Sentry Guns, Dispenser and Teleporters can be placed in the water as well. A Dispenser heals faster than staying to long in the water subtracts
Engineers: Hit anyone coming near your position, it could be a spy. Remove sappers and repair Sentries and other equipments with your Wrench. A good hit with the Wrench can kill a spy.
Don’t try to kill something from the distance with a Heavy. You crit far more often when close by because of the immense amount of bullets in your gun. Hit Sentries from close range only.
Heavy: A Medic is your best friend. Treat him better than your gun. That means have an eye on him and kill everything that attacks him. Use your body to block enemy bullets from reaching your Medic.Know when to retreat.
If you are injured and near your own base go into the cabinets in Resupply to heal completely.
Snipers do more damage when the lightning symbol is fully charged.
The Demoman is the best character to defend. Place sticky bombs around a capturing point or entrance / exit / way to stop the enemy advance
If the enemy is charging in with overcharge hide and concentrate on damage reduction. Try to hit other enemies that are vulnerable
The Scout is mighty powerful. They can take down Heavies with some shots from their Scattergun if close by.
Use the Double-jump ability to reach areas that other players can’t reach from there. An example is jumping from the bridge in 2Fort to the enemy balcony which is actually the fastest way in and out of the base
Pyros are great in buildings and winding hallways. Also great when a lot of enemies are standing in one place, e.g. when capping. Most players flee when they are ignited.

The default value is 0 which seems to reduce the sharpness of the textures somehow. Changing that to the value -0.9 which is the lowest value that you can choose without being kicked from servers that are protected against cheating is effecting the graphic quality of the game tremendously.

If you have troubles opening the console try the following: Right-click on Team Fortress 2 in Steam and select properties. Add -console to the launch options. This opens the console by default and will bring it back whenever you hit escape in the game to see the menu.

Take a look at some of the before after screenshots to see what I mean:

You need a software called GFCScape to do this. It’s just a small application that requires the Windows .net Framework 2 to run. Run GFCScape after installing it and click on File > Open in the menu. Navigate to your steamapps folder on your hardrive and select one of the files in the list.

All games benefit from defragmenting the files starting with source 2007 while defragmenting the files named like the games benefit only those games. GFCScape will load the file and display information about its contents. Click on View > Columns to add the Fragmentation column to the menu.

Every value greater than 0,0 means that the file is fragmented and will benefit from defragmentation. To be able to defragment the files you need to enable Write Access which can be done in Options > Write Access.

I had to load a new file afterwards to be able to defragment it. To start the defragmentation of the files click on Tools > Defragment. This should only take a matter of seconds and display the fragmentation score of 0,0 after loading the game again.

This way you are able to fragment games like Counter Strike Source, Half-life 2 and Team Fortress 2 resulting in a speed up.

Read More:

GCFScape Download

To fix this disadvantage German players can install a so called bloodpatch which works fine with the German version of Team Fortress 2. All you need to do is place a few files into one of the Team Fortress 2 directories to enable the patch. Unfortunately though the language of the game has to be changed to German as well if not already done so.

Download and unpack the file tf_german.rar from the first link given below and place all of its contents in your steamapps\account name\team fortress 2\ folder. This enables the blood in the game.

If you leave it that way you got German text, German menus and the blood. If you prefer to read and hear English text and voices you need to download the second file and place it into steamapps\account name\team fortress 2\tf\resource

This changes the voices and most menus back to English.

Read More:

Team Fortress 2 German Bloodpatch
Team Fortress 2 English

I got an 10% discount of the $49.95 retail price in October and was able to download Team Fortress 2 right away. This had another advantage: The rush on this game will be immense and it can very well be that the Steam servers will have bandwidth troubles in the first days of the release.

The other included games, Half-life Episode 2 and Portals have not been released as of now and have to be downloaded once the Orange Box comes out on October 10th.

I say that it is worth it. You pay less, get to play it early and can pwn all your friends once they get the game on October 10th.

I could tell you how great I think the artwork is, how I like the maps, the characters but to be honest, it comes all down to one element and that is fun. It looks to be fun to play, not taking itself that seriously like all those other WWII shooters and Good Cop Bad Terrorist ones. I played them all and find all new ones incredibly boring. They come with better graphics and the same shitty gameplay.

In Team Fortress 2 you take on the role of one of nice characters all with their distinctive strenghts and weaknesses. The following character movies have already been released that can be played in Team Fortress 2:

The Soldier:

Heavy Weapons Guy:

The Engineer:

Short Team Fortress 2 Teaser with all characters:

The movies are really incredible if you ask me but that is nothing compared to the gameplay movies. Take a look at some of the first Team Fortress 2 ingame movies that have been released:

I will definitely buy The Orange Box of Half-life 2 that contains Team Fortress 2 plus Half-life 2 Episode 2 and that portals game. Will be awesome for sure. What about you, will you buy Team Fortress 2 ?

I would never go there myself because you get overrun by fanatic teenagers who are filling the space in no time with their high pitched voices and never ending babbling. Press day seems to be the only day that could be nice actually because you have enough time to talk to the developers and ask them a few questions.

I decided to collect the best trailers of this years Games Convention – also known as GC 2007, GC 2k7 – and publish them here at ghacks. Part 2 will follow in the next days, enjoy the show:

Team Fortress 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Black Site (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Prototype (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Half-life 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)