Coming Up: FTL: Faster Than Light

Coming up: FTL: Faster Than Light

Check back later this week as we review FTL: Faster Than Light, a roguelike space sim.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 Price (at time of posting): Free Style: First Person Shooter, Action, Team, Multiplayer Developer: Valve Publisher: Valve Released: 10th Oct 2007

Description

Nice hat

A staple for LAN parties worldwide, Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a fast-paced team-based first person shooter. With a 9 year production schedule, this much awaited sequel to Team Fortress (a team-based multiplayer mod of Half-Life that eventually stood on its own as Team Fortress Classic, or TFC for short), keeps the same elements that made the original great and added the source engine (released with Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source). Pepper in some cartoony caricatures based on the original "cast" and you have one of the most played free games (if not the most) in today's gaming culture.

Let's do this!

Classes

Pretty standard as far as FPS's go, having a familiar feel allows you to master the controls easily enough. The tough part is deciding which of the nine unique classes work best for your playing style. Divided into 3 types (offensive, defensive and support), each class has its advantages and disadvantages to make the whole gaming experience feel balanced (except when it's n00b vs pwner). Sprint past everyone as a Scout, hand out lead poisoning with the Heavy's (Heavy Weapons) Gatling gun, disguise yourself as an opposing layer as a Spy, light your buddy on fire with the Pyro's flamethrower, throw the Demoman's sticky grenades on your enemy's

I heart you

face, construct the Engineer's turret, ubercharge your teammate as a Medic, rocket jump as a Soldier, or pick off rebels from a perch as a Sniper. Mastering a class will take time and dedication (and plenty of junk food to fuel your game binge), but you'll eventually pick a favorite and laugh in your friends' ear holes as you get that one perfect shot.

Doing it just for the classic sound FX

Game Modes

If you think there are too many classes to ever make up your mind, you'll need to take a deep breath before you decide which game mode you'll pick up first. An FPS classic (especially because of TFC), Capture the Flag... errr, Briefcase... is fast-paced, scramble your ass off, grenade/rocket jumping (if you're good enough) action. Payload is an interesting twist on "advance and conquer" style of game, while Control Point and Territorial turn you into prey as you stand in the open while trying to capture points. You'll probably need to take a break (if you've even made it this far) before you try the other four game modes: King of the Hill, Arena, Medieval and MvM (Mann vs Machine).

Review

Meehandlebars Rating: 9 I really enjoy this game. This franchise will always rank among my favorites, partly because TFC (TF2's predecessor) is the game that got me into gaming. Even without the extra sentiment, TF2 is an exceptionally exciting game at LAN parties, and it should be added to your game list. I have to admit, I felt a rollercoaster of emotions when this game was announced (because of my love of TFC). First, I was excited that a sequel game was coming out, then I was bummed that the cartoon-like approach wasn't that similar to the original gameplay. When I eventually got TF2, I was upset for being so stubborn and missing out on some great TF2 playing time. When it came out, it wasn't free. I waited a year and bought it for $30 (and thought I was getting a steal then!). This game for free?! As far as free FPSs go, this game is THE benchmark (perhaps because the production level is that of a paid game?). As Steam's first game in the "Free to Play" genre, the proverbial floodgates were opened to a deluge of free and freemium games. This game was the catalyst, and you should thank Steam for the amount of free games today. Play this game if: You like fast-paced team-based FPS's or you like campy humor from animated characters (pun intended). Don't play this game if: You don't play well with others, or if thinking games are more your speed.

Unsalted38 Rating: 8 Having played (and paid) for this game when it first came out I can perhaps tell you a little more about its  overall progress than your average person downloading it right now. First of all this is the free-to-play (F2P) model game that every other F2P game should be compared against. You may say, well that's not really fair since the game started as a traditional (buy from a store) game but I say that's part of  its story in that they already paid off the development with their most likely customer base (people like me and Meehandlebars). Then instead of letting the community fade until they turn the servers off they opened the game up to their customers' friends under the free to play model. This move ensures the customers who paid money for the game continue to enjoy it years afterward with a vibrant community.  My hat (pun intended) is off to Steam for this crossover success. I may not have shared my counterpart's excitement when I first started playing, but now, I really enjoy getting a group of friends together and playing a few rounds between other games. Play this game if: You are at a LAN party searching for a game to maintain the gaming momentum.  Don't play this game if: You are looking for a game to play in your basement by yourself.

Links

Get the game: http://www.teamfortress.com/

Information about the game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2

Strategy Guide: http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Main_Page

Welcome to DualReviewal

Welcome to DualReviewal:

At DualReviewal, we are always on the lookout for free and affordable PC games that we can satiate our gaming desire without removing the ability to save for retirement (where we will be able to play games longer without pesky work getting in the way).

Check back next week as we review our first game: Team Fortress 2.

We know it's a hugely popular game, but as far as free games are concerned this is one of the obvious starting points.

If you already know and love the game: congratulations, you're not a total n00b. Just remember to subscribe and come back to check out more reviews of free and affordable games. You might just find a few gems you otherwise wouldn't have known existed.

If you don't know this game, (you should question your gamer cred and then) check out our review coming up. If it sounds like something you'd enjoy, give it a try. If not, just remember to subscribe and come back to check out more reviews of free and affordable games for all you budget conscious gamers (I feel like I'm starting to repeat myself).