Oh my, what a game.
They’ve really done Team Fortress Classic justice. TFC was one of the first games I played seriously, and probably my first real ‘online gaming’ experience. I hadn’t even played Starcraft online, the prospect of fighting against people that could be better than the AI was daunting.
TFC was different though, something you could only play online, so there was nothing to compare myself to. To my surprise, armed with my 56k modem and lighting-quick 14 year old reflexes I could actually kill people in this game. Learning the well practiced maps (2Fort, Well, Rock2) that everyone else knew like the back of their hand was exciting. I’d trail people around as a scout and see what they did, see what shortcuts they took, and what classes were best for each job.
I fell into different roles that I felt I was best at. On CTF maps my role was a defensive engineer and an offensive medic. I eventually became so well versed at these few maps that I was scooped up by a clan (=BD= – Blood Drawers) and went on regular practice sessions and games, I had to keep track of how long I spent playing and hand over money for the dial-up connection to my parents once I’d finished.
I learnt more and more, studied where the best place for sentries were, and what angle to jump off slopes to minimise fall-damage when carrying the flag. I even professed as an offensive engineer, capturing flags and returning to repair my gear.
And now here’s TF2 Beta.. I can experience this all over again, with beautiful new graphics, new abilities, new maps (which for the best part stay true to their origins). I can say I’m truly looking forward to playing this regularly.
(I’m even enjoying the Heavy, ssh.. Don’t tell anyone.)
