Team Fortress 2

Ever been punched in the face? It's an experience nothing can prepare you for, the first time it happens. There's a fist and the flash of impact. Pain hits a second or two later, followed by the salty/coppery taste of blood and the numb, swelling feeling.

It only takes being hit in the face once to know what it feels like. It's not the kind of thing you're anxious to repeat. However sometimes you'd be mistaken for thinking otherwise when it comes to us gamers. If we get belted in the chops with a shoddy game, we'll often come back for the sequel. Get uppercut by purchasing a crappy console? We'll grab the next one. And wait in breathless anticipation for a long promised game only to be pummelled by constant delays and misinformation - yeah we'll ***** and moan, but we'll also keep waiting and hoping.

So when it comes to talking about Team Fortress 2 - a game virtually a decade in the making - surely we have a prime example of this phenomenon. For every punter who long ago disregarded this game as another Duke Nukem Forever or worse, Daikatana, there's been those who have kept the faith through the succession of blows - some development related, many we suspect, market related.

At the end of the day (or decade), however, in Team Fortress 2 we finally have a game we can say was worth waiting ten years for. Something you play and hope that non-gamers, non FPS fans can embrace because it's worth the effort. Even though really, they probably won't because the second they go online they will get massacred. But so - at least they will have a smile on their face seeing what's happening.

Okay, so why is this game so darn great that I should drop Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Halo 3 and god-knows-what-else is on the radar to play it? Easy. Because it's amazing. Want more detail as to why: well that's what we're here to tell you about.

Whatever people were expecting originally, from a design perspective this completely blows the doors off of what we anticipated. Instead of taking the realism route, Team Fortress 2 opts for a deliberately cartoony look. It's staggering to see in operation. Bold colours, caricature models packed with character, and layouts deliberately, vividly Spartan. Go look up the old No One Lives Forever games, and imagine that design motif taken to a spectacular, The Incredibles-style extreme.

It's immediately engaging and like no "core" game that has gone before it's immediately apparent to anyone watching the action what is going on. Blue team. Red team. The team modes vary, but essentially its capture the flag, or capture the object, or defend/invade, or just... lay waste to the enemy.

You do of course, have to choose a class. And while human nature dictates everyone wants to be a sneaky Spy (dress up as the enemy, one shot melee kill from behind), you'll quickly realise mastery of all the rest is essential if you're to be the kind of person who flashes up on your victim's screens as their #1 adversary.

You've got the Sniper, who in a nice touch does more damage the longer you stay zoomed on a target. Which in turn encourages the enemy to sneak up on you and humiliate you, courtesy of your poor peripheral vision.
Apart from our sniping friends, the most mobile classes - the speed demon Scout, rocket launcher toting (and therefore rocket jumping) Soldier and the flamethrower wielding Pyro are probably the most generic FPS classes in the game. They're ultra fun, and great for newcomers wanting to get their heads straight around the game.

The Demoman is somewhat an anomaly; can be played as a support class just fine but the allure of sticky bombs and bouncing grenades sees many players rolling with it deathmatch style.

People wanting to be a little more supportive will enjoy the Medic class - which Battlefield players might ruefully discover isn't nearly as much a point farming machine in this game. Good medics will forget about deathmatching and be aiming to unleash the temporary invulnerability that constant survival and healing can offer. Engineers are one of the most important classes in the game. A well placed sentry gun will make mincemeat out of anyone, but just as importantly, the health and ammo supply capabilities of the class - as well as the ability to create teleport points close to the fray mean a good engineer will often be the difference between success and failure.

This leaves us one final class, the Heavy Weapons Guy. Whoa mama. Different strokes for different folks, but who doesn't like the idea of being a burly tank guy spewing out molten death with a snarl on his face? Spin up the mini-gun you're toting and your movement speed slows to a walk, but whose going to stop you? Certainly not the puny scout trying to outrun your bullets.

Each of these characters are obvious a mile away when you play, and are brimming with character. It's so refreshing to play a game which just nails personality so effectively without losing other elements.

Whatever game mode you're in, you have a sweet video that will explain what you're meant to be doing. The in-game interface - the most user friendly ever seen in a video game - will further assist you. In-game voice comms is often so freakily crystal clear sometimes I've had trouble distinguishing in-game effects from team mates. Both you'll find will help you get on top of whatever objective is at hand.

So the game looks amazing, and anyone can figure out what they're supposed to be doing. But where TF2 shines is how it plays. Get on most online servers and you're going to get served. But there's no FPS in recent memory which minimises the frustration level quite like this one. If you die, it's most likely due to the fact you were outclassed or outthought. You cannot stay angry at this game. If you bolt around a corner as a super-fast scout and a maniacally laughing heavy weapons guy pours a stream of lead into you, the flash of anger following your death just isn't nearly as virulent as other FPSes. Maybe that's cos you immediately get treated to a sharp zoom of the character who nailed you, maybe it's the stream of encouraging bubbles that pop up at death telling you that's the second longest you've stayed alive as Scout, or maybe it's the design, but TF2 is the kind of game where getting emo is almost impossible.

That's not to say it's not tough. There's no shortage of hardened FPS experts out there who can and will be handing your arse to you on the regular. Our point - however tortured it's expressed - is no other game we can think of will make you enjoy getting owned so much. That's TF2 in a nutshell right there. So good that even if you suck, you'll dig it.

Look, no beating around the bush. Get this game. Just one man's opinion, but even in a year where Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Halo 3 have dropped, only Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat can challenge this for first person shooter of the year; heck, we'd even argue this is a game of the year candidate. Four words: tough, gorgeous, brilliant, buy.