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Team Fortress 2

First impressions are good - very good

While there are only a few maps, each of them feels uniquely different, yet very polished and carefully designed. Three game types make an appearance - Assault-style "Control Point" maps where one side defends while the other side is on the attack, a modified "Territorial Control Point" map style where both sides try to capture the other side's control points, and the classic "Capture The Flag" - except in TF2 the flag is a briefcase full of secret intelligence.

Each map is accompanied by a WW2-style black-and-white introductory movie.

TC_Hydro is the only Territorial Control Map, and the most complex of the lot.

The biggest change to the gameplay is definitely the loss of grenades and explosive packs - and I have to agree with Valve's team, it is a good decision. Combat is already very "spammy" with grenade launchers and rocket launchers, and this way as most of the classes have no access to indirect fire, combat becomes far more fast-paced and in-your-face. The Doctor also loses the ability to infect people, but you don't really miss it, as healing has been moved up as a very worthwhile job with the ÜberCharge acting as the ultimate tool to break stalemates.

The ultimate defense breaker - invulnerability using the medic's ÜberCharge.

Rocket launcher gives that nice 'sploitch'-effect with body parts flying around.

Everything about Team Fortress 2 speaks of quality and attention to detail. Funny animations, unique art style, tons of oddball humor - everything done like a PC game should be done. At the same time the Xbox 360 version looked pretty much identical when I played it at Leipzig, while being properly developed with that platform in mind.

We'll get into more detail with a full review closer to the Orange Box release, but I can already say that Team Fortress 2 alone is almost worth the price tag of The Orange Box, and it's just one of the three new games included. The beta is currently ongoing, using Steam, Valve's online content distribution system, and all who pre-purchase The Orange Box online can immediately play. Go. Buy. Now. [Sir yes sir! - Ed with money]

While the current version is labeled as Beta, it's far more polished and "final" than most of the crud being pushed today as complete, final games on the store shelves. The only noticeable bug I've seen is that your ragdoll-animated corpse sometimes has the tendency to fall underground when you die. There are probably some compatibility glitches still to be ironed out, and that is probably the main reason for wide demo-style "betas" like this in any case, but the game ran flawlessly on our systems, peaking over 100fps at 1600x1200 with everything except AA and AF maxed out (using an  ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT), and rarely dipping below 60fps even in the thick of things. In any case, other developers (Blizzard excluded) should take notes - this is how you do a proper and polished PC game.

Feeling the heat, looking for some first aid.	Pushing forward with a heavy weapons guy.
In close quarters, that minigun becomes fairly lethal.	Demoman giving some grenade launcher love to a heavy weapons guy.

The Orange Box is currently scheduled for release on 10th of October on the Xbox 360 and PC in stores, and on the PC online using Steam, and I can already predict that it's going to sell like hotcakes. The Playstation 3 version is scheduled for a bit later, with the current date set at 13th of November.

Update: For those already with the beta - YouGamers has set up a temporary TF2 server where you can sometimes run into YG staff (and their rockets, sentry guns and other assorted painful things). Just look up "YouGamers.com Team Fortress 2 beta" on your server browser, or check out details from here. Who knows, you (or at least what's left of you after being hit by a rocket) might end up in a screenshot for our upcoming review...

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: First impressionsPage 3: Additional screenshots

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