Team Fortress 2

While having a fairly quiet and uneventful weekend I decided to jump into Team Fortress 2 . I have always been a fan of the original and played TF2 on and off for a month or so, not really getting into it. Late Saturday night / early Sunday morning changed all that.

Playing on a local ISP server (Game Arena) I stumbled into a room filled with a group of mature and very friendly gamers. The tactical style of play made this game so much more enjoyable. Every class had a purpose and was well supported by most team mates. I for instance was a spy, using my sap ability to destroy the enemy engineer gun turrets that were causing a nuisance to our spies and soldiers in the enemy intelligence room. It was just so much fun!

Fuelled by this TF2 fever I decided to read up on some of the TF2 developer material. The faction rivalry stems further than just team colours, the developers have created a rivalry through art. In the Red corner you have a very traditional and southern form of art work. The warm hues and wooden architecture really separates itself from the Blue faction. The Blue faction has an industrial feel with cool colours and very flat clean surfaces. I must commend Valve how they have pulled this off. The player models are identical on both teams, however both teams feel very different. I have hatred for the Red team, the brute hicks that they are! Why? I don't really know, its just the the Blue seems so much cooler to me.

The community is also starting to churn out some great looking maps. Just check out http://www.tf2maps.net/ and the remake of Rock by Buddikaman. Its shaping up to be a top notch and high quality project. Its even got me pulling out my old World Editor skills and building something in Hammer. I have plenty ideas already!

Late Saturday night I didn't think I would have a new addiction, but come Tuesday afternoon I am sitting here at work counting the minutes until I can get home check and get into whooping some Red arse! Thanks Vavle for creating another relationship killer...