Gameplay

 

Team Fortress 2 in play: a group of RED players attack a BLUE base on the map "Well"

Like its predecessors, Team Fortress 2 is built around two opposing teams competing for an objective. These two teams are meant to represent a demolition and a construction company: Reliable Excavation Demolition (RED) and Builders League United (BLU). Players can choose to play as one of nine classes in these teams, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Although the abilities of a number of classes have changed from earlier Team Fortress incarnations, the basic elements of each class have remained. The game was released with six official maps, although five extra maps have been included in subsequent updates. When players join a level for the first time, an introductory video shows how to complete its objectives. Player limits are 24 on the PC, although the player limit has been altered on some servers to reach as high as 32, and 16 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In addition, a number of community assembled levels have been released.

Team Fortress 2 is the first of the Valve's multiplayer games to provide detailed statistics for individual players. They include the time spent playing as each class, most points obtained and the most captures or objectives achieved in a single round. Persistent statistics tell the player how they are improving in relation to these statistics, such as if a player comes close to their record for the damage inflicted in a round. Team Fortress 2 also features numerous "achievements" for carrying out certain tasks, such as scoring a certain number of kills or completing a round within a certain time. New sets of class-specific achievements have been added in updates, which add new abilities and weapons to each class once unlocked by the player. Achievements unlocked and statistics from previously played games are displayed on the player's Steam Community or Xbox Live profile page.

Game modes

The objective of the game is defined by the game mode in use. In capture the flag maps, the objective for both teams is to obtain a briefcase of intelligence from the enemy team's base and return it to their own base while preventing the opposing team from doing the same. Control point modes are more varied in their objectives, but share the common aim of capturing a particular point on the map.In some levels, the objective for both teams is to secure all the points on the map. On other levels, one team already holds all the points and must defend them from the other for a set amount of time. A third variation, introduced with the map "Hydro", is based on territory: each team must capture the other team's single active control point to secure that section of the map. Once all sections have been captured by one team, they are then able to attack the other team's base directly. A further game mode, payload, was introduced in April 2008 with the map "Gold Rush". In payload maps, one team has to work to escort a rail cart carrying a bomb along a track through a series of checkpoints, eventually detonating the bomb in the other team's base. The other team has to defend their positions and prevent the cart from reaching the end within a set amount of time.

Classes

From left to right: pyro, engineer, spy, heavy, sniper, scout, soldier, demoman, medic

There are nine player classes in Team Fortress 2, categorized into offense, defense or support roles. Each class has at least three weapons, a unique primary weapon, a secondary weapon such as a shotgun or pistol and a distinct melee weapon in keeping with the character, such as a liquor bottle for the demoman, a kukri for the sniper and a fire axe for the pyro.

The three offensive classes are the scout, the soldier and the pyro. The scout is portrayed as an arrogant baseball fan from Boston, Massachusetts, and is a fast, agile character armed with a scattergun and capable of performing double jumps; however, the scout cannot sustain much damage. The soldier is more durable, but is consequently slower in his speed. A stereotypical American military man, the soldier is armed with a rocket launcher which can be used to rocket jump to higher positions. The final offensive class is the pyro. Clad in a fire-retardant suit and a gas mask that muffles the pyro's voice, the pyro carries a flamethrower that can set other players on fire, as well as being able to produce a blast of compressed air that knocks nearby enemies and projectiles away.

The demoman, the heavy and the engineer make up the defensive classes. The demoman is a black, one-eyed Scotsman, who is frequently shown inebriated. Armed with a grenade launcher and a sticky bomb launcher, the demoman can use his equipment to provide indirect fire onto enemy positions. The heavy can sustain more damage than any other class, but is slowed down by the weight of his minigun. The heavy is a stereotypical Russian character, depicted as a big brute with a heavy accent who is obsessed with his gun to the extent of even naming it. The engineer is the last defensive class, portrayed as a relaxed and intellectual "good ol' boy" from Texas. The engineer is capable of building a number of structures to support his team: a sentry gun to defend key points, a health and ammunition dispenser and a teleporter system.

The final category, support, consists of the medic, the sniper and the spy. The medic is a German doctor, and is responsible for keeping his teammates alive. The medic is accordingly armed with a "medigun" to heal teammates, and can make teammates temporarily invulnerable or enhance their firepower after the medigun has been used for a brief time. The sniper is a cheerful Australian character who enjoys his line of work, equipped with a laser sighted sniper rifle to attack enemies from afar and a submachine gun for close combat. The last support class is the spy, who in addition to a revolver is equipped with covert tools, such as a temporary cloaking device, an electronic sapper to sabotage engineer's structures and the ability to disguise as enemy players. The spy can also use his butterfly knife to backstab and instantly kill enemy players