Team Fortress 2

"Let's go practice medicine."

“Team Fortress 2.” If you’ve ever been in the gaming scene, you’ve almost certainly heard the name of that title before.

Having been in 9 long years of development, “Team Fortress 2” (or just “TF2” for short) was finally delivered to the public on October 9, 2007 as a part of the “Orange Box” game collection. Unsurprisingly, it opened to rave reviews, and has been a vigorous part of the gaming community since.

But what makes it so acclaimed? From my standpoint, Team Fortress 2 is one of the most special first-person shooter games out there, and, today, I’m setting out to find out why.

First, let’s take a look at the aesthetics: “TF2” is a very visually attractive game. As you can see by the images in this article, it has a very cartoony vibe to its art style, which, at its core, fits very well with the tone of the game, despite its apparent violence.

So what? It’s certainly visually appealing, but I don’t think that lends a large enough hand to its popularity.

Well, secondly, with a wide variety of weapons, reskins, and hats/cosmetics under the game’s belt, there’s a heaping amount of variety to be had here, which leads me to my second point: you can almost never get bored playing “TF2.” Nearly endless weapon combos, customization, and other little details all combine to make you have a completely different experience every time you play the game.

Alas, while that certainly helps “Team Fortress 2’s” case, the best part about it lies within the aspect you would least expect it to dwell: the characters.

Characters in “TF2’s” kind of video game are stunningly simple; in a first-person shooter game, who would want to focus on the characters? While most people just want to shoot up things in games like this, VALVe (the studio behind “TF2”) had other plans: the inner personalities and style of “Team Fortress 2’s” characters are extremely strong.

If you hadn’t known, you can play as 9 different classes in “TF2:” some include Scout, Soldier, Pyro, and Engineer to name a few.

Are the personalities of these characters stereotypes? Yes. But are they comically exaggerated to the point of being non-offensive? Of course!

When you play as the class “Scout,” for example, you don’t feel like you’re playing ‘the one character that runs fast and can double jump,’ you’re playing ‘the titular, loud-mouthed, and obnoxious Bostonian.’

Simply put, the inner personalities of “TF2” are what make up the game to be a very special entity.

“Team Fortress 2” is almost 9 years old now, and is still being updated to this very day. Though, no matter what you think of “TF2,” there almost certainly has to be a good explanation for that.

10/10- Nearly flawless on all levels, “Team Fortress 2” is based upon a foundation of strong personality, great aesthetics, and an unbreakable style.