Team Fortress 2

In a bid to mimic reality, most multiplayer games focus more on gun physics and realistic visuals to make the action seem as authentic as possible. But here’s a game that goes right past all of that and doesn’t care about how realistic it feels.

Team Fortress 2 is a class-based multiplayer game that features some over-the-top gameplay that’s enhanced by exaggerated character design, and extremely stylized cel-shaded look. We’ve been playing it ever since the beta was released, so please run through Nash’s Beta Impressions before you read this review, since I’m not going to bore you by repeating what he’s already said.

Unlike other multiplayer games like Counter-Strike and Battlefield, Team Fortress 2 shifts its focus from mastering your gun, to mastering your class. Even the most powerful weapon has absolutely no recoil; instead of balancing the power of its weapons with mechanics such as recoil, the game balances itself class by class, making for a very well-rounded experience.

You can choose any one of the nine classes the game has to offer, each of which – unlike most other class based multiplayer games (Battlefield 2142, Quake Wars) – is vastly different from the other both visually and gameplay-wise.

If you see a Scout at a distance, you’ll know he’s a Scout (the same for other classes too), thanks to the great cel-shaded character design merged brilliantly with the 3D cartoony surroundings of the game that makes each character stand out from the backdrop.

This is a big plus for the game, since it allows you to distinguish a Heavy from a Demoman or a teammate from an enemy even at a long distance, taking away the meaningless challenge of spotting enemies (that most games task you with) when you’d rather be killing them.