A Class Act (Half-Life Team Fortress Classic (PC))

Member Name: Moominpapa

Product:	Half-Life Team Fortress Classic (PC)
Date:	02/01/01 (215 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic team based gameplay

Disadvantages: Runs very slow if you don't have a super-computer

Play Team Fortress Classic – it’s free and it kicks ass. It’s a remake for the Half-Life engine of one of the most popular Quake mods ever – Team Fortress. A sequel to Team Fortress was expected for Quake II when it was released, but to the disappointment of many it never happened. The developer, TF software, eventually announced that it was merging with Valve software and that team Fortress 2 would be based on Valve’s Half-Life game engine instead.

Some way into the development of Team Fortress 2, it was made known that this sequel was no longer going to be a free download, but a full commercial title in its own right, and a port of the original Team Fortress running on Half-Life was to be released for free instead. This promise was been kept – Team Fortress Classic was released as a downloadable, free modification for Half-Life.

Since its release, every available Team Fortress Classic server has been jam-packed full of delighted players, many of them new to the unique delights of this classic game. So what’s all the fuss about?

Team Fortress was created for the original version of Quake as a team strategy game for LAN competitions. Later versions became internet-enabled with the release of the online-optimised QuakeWorld and were released to a starved online community as a free download. Later versions added more variety in the number of ‘player classes’, and map creators took the additional features Team Fortress offered to create some imaginative maps. Team Fortress Classic takes all of the player classes from the original game, plus updated versions of the best maps and missions together with many enhancements brought over from the impressive Half-Life engine.

The attraction of Team Fortress Classic is the variety and complexity of tem game styles and character classes – it’s widely considered to be a more cerebral game compared with standard deathmatch. There
are 10 classes to choose from, all from the original Team Fortress and they are:

PRESIDENT

Only available in the ‘hunted’ level, the president is a very weak character who must be protected by the stronger soldiers and Heavy Weapons guys. Very low armour and health, armed with nothing but and umbrella.
Uses: Staying alive!

SNIPER

Attacks with a powerful zoom rifle, complete with a red aiming dot. The only class that can inflict locational damage, the sniper will kill any class instantly with one shot to the head, but his rifle will need to be fully charged first.
Uses: Sneaky base defence.

SOLDIER

Equipped with shotguns and a powerful rocket launcher. Runs at medium speed and has heavy armour. A versatile work horse.
Uses: Versatility can be put to many uses.

PYRO

Uses a flame thrower or incendiary cannon to torch the bad guys. Although this doesn’t inflict much damage, it will confuse and disable your opponents leaving them open to other attacks.
Uses: First line of defence, weakens incoming enemy for other defenders.

ENGINEER

The dull but essential engineer can create and maintain mobile automatic gun turrets on any flat surface. He can also make ammunition and armour dispensers to assist his team.
Uses: Team support.

SCOUT

Light and a fast mover but rather vulnerable owing to low armour. Carries a nailgun and concussion grenades. The Scout’s speed makes him useful – without even having to fire a shot.
Uses: Flag running, recon enemy positions.

MEDIC

Carries a Medpack that heals your players and will also heal other symptoms like concussion. Has the power to infect the enemy with a virus, slowly draining their health until they are cured or die. Which is nice.
Uses: Team support.

HEAVY WEAPONS GUY

A human tank. Very slow moving but armed to the teeth and very heavi
ly armoured. Lugs around the awesomely powerful auto-cannon and MIRV grenades. Meet this guy planted in a tight corridor and you’ll certainly have a lot to think about…
Uses: Strictly defence.

SPY

This guy can disguise himself to look like any class and can change his colour to the other team’s. Armed with a dagger that is particularly lethal when used from behind.
Uses: Infiltrate defences and provide information about the enemy.

DEMOMAN

Uses explosive weaponry such as grenades and pipe bombs. His timed detonation mine is extremely powerful and can be used to blow away doors and other obstructions.
Uses: Clearing barriers. Setting traps with pipe bombs.

Each class has been carefully balanced and updated, having a trade-off between weapon strength, movement speed and durability. Five of the most popular original maps have been updated, some completely redesigned from scratch. Each map plays quite differently – the ‘in the line of fire’ style Hunted in particular is almost a separate game in its own right. Everything has been remodelled using the mean Half-Life style character art and realistic level textures, giving Team Fortress Classic a fresh and authentic new look. The Half-Life engine alone has given the game many great enhancements. You can now duck, which is great for Snipers. Weapon switching uses the Half-Life ‘menu’ style rather than the instant switch of Quake, making the close combat quite different. New damage indicators give you a visual clue to where the enemy fire is coming from, and when you hit an opponent the amount of blood splattered is proportional to the amount of damage inflicted. Half-Life’s custom ‘spray symbols’ are also available in Team Fortress Classic – house-proud players can decorate the team’s base with their own custom logos or taunts.

A successful game of Team Fortress relies on good teamw
ork. The capture-the-flag-style levels require an even spread of classes working together in the appropriate attack or defensive positions. Keeping the President alive and protected from attacking Snipers in Hunted is impossible without a good Medic and a squad of defending Soldiers pulling together as a team. The President’s objective(escape in an armoured car) cannot be achieved with out one of his teammates nipping up a ladder to open the garage doors. Features have been included to actively encourage team play, like when the President enters a building the team is informed of his new location automatically, or when someone shouts for a Medic’s assistance, a red cross appears above their head. The new maps have visual assistance for new players too, key locations such as the flag room, opposing base and re-supply points are cleverly signposted, which is particularly useful on some of the larger levels.

Unfortunately there are some downsides to using the Half-Life engine for online play. The pace of the game is significantly slower now. Half-Life has also been criticised as having poor networking code, and although Team Fortress Classic has a patch that eliminates most of the problems, it’s still not as smooth online as many other 3D shoot-em-ups have been.

These problems aside, Team Fortress Classic is a remarkably well-made product, especially for a free download. If you play Half-Life online, you should certainly download team Fortress Classic. And if you don’t even have Half-Life, buy it for this. The single player game is an absolute gaming gem.

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