Difference between revisions of "Team Fortress 2"

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Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Source engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360.^[1] A PlayStation 3 version then followed on November 22, 2007.^[2] The game was later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X two years later. Team Fortress 2 is distributed online through the Steam system, while retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts. In June 2011, the game became a free-to-play title, supported by microtransactions for unique in-game equipment through Steam. The development of Team Fortress 2 is led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the Team Fortress modification for Quake in 1996.

The game was announced in 1998, powered by Valve's GoldSrc engine, but has since been through various concepts and designs. In 1999, the game appeared to be deviating from its predecessors by pursuing a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, but the design metamorphosed over its nine-year development period. The final rendition sports cartoon style visuals influenced by the art of J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell^[3] and is powered by the Source engine. The game itself revolves around two teams, each with access to nine distinct characters, battling in a variety of game modes set in evil genius environments.

The lack of information or apparent progress for six years of the game's original development caused it to be labeled as vaporware, and it was regularly featured in Wired NewsTemplate:' annual vaporware list among other ignominies.^[4] Upon its release, the game received critical acclaim and several awards, being praised for its graphical style,^[5] balanced gameplay,^[6] comedic value^[7] and for its use of full character personalities in a dedicated multiplayer only game.^[8]

Gameplay

File:Team Fortress 2 Screenshot.jpg

Team Fortress 2 in play; a group of RED players attack a BLU base on the capture point map "Well". The player, a RED Medic, heals a Soldier as he and a Scout attack a BLU Pyro.

Like its predecessors, Team Fortress 2 is focused around two opposing teams competing for a principal objective. These teams, Reliable Excavation & Demolition (RED) and Builders League United (BLU), are meant to represent two holding corporations that between them secretly control every government on the planet.^[9] Players can choose to play as one of nine classes in these teams, each with his 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.^[10]^[11] The game was released with six official maps, although 25 extra maps, 9 arena maps, and four training maps have been included in subsequent updates.^[12]^[13] In addition, a number of community assembled maps have been released. When players join a level for the first time, an introductory video shows how to complete its objectives. During matches, "The Administrator",^[14] an eternally dissatisfied woman voiced by Ellen McLain, announces various game events over loudspeakers.^[15] The player limit is 16 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[16] On the PC, a vanilla server can hold 24 players, but in 2008 Valve updated Team Fortress 2 to include a server variable that allows up to 32 players.^[17] Third party modifications have made it possible to host up to 36 players on one server.

Team Fortress 2 is the first of 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 life. Persistent statistics tell the player how he or she is improving in relation to these statistics, such as if a player comes close to his or her record for the damage inflicted in a round.^[12] 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. This unlockable system has since been expanded into a random-chance system, where the player can also obtain the items simply by playing the game.^[18] 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.^[19]

Control point modes are more varied in their objectives, but share the common aim of capturing a particular point on the map.^[19] In some levels, the objective for both teams is to secure all the points on the map. On other levels (attack/defend), one team already holds all the points and must defend them from the other for a set amount of time. A more complex variation (territorial control), 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.^[19] In an update on August 13, 2009, Valve included a fourth control point variation: King of the Hill. In this mode, both RED and BLU have to capture the center point and defend it for a set amount of time before the opposing team does.^[20] When a team gains control of the point, their timer starts to count down. If the other team captures the point, the former team's count down is stopped, and the latter team's starts. In an update on December 17, 2010, another control point variation, Medieval Mode, was added. In this mode, players are restricted to using melee weapons and bows for combat.^[21]^[22]

In payload maps, one team has to work to escort rail cars 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. In the payload race variation, both RED and BLU attempt to escort a payload along symmetric (either parallel or opposing) tracks. The payload mode was introduced in April 2008 with the map "Gold Rush";^[23] payload race was released in May 2009 with the map "Pipeline".^[24]

Arena is a team deathmatch mode. Arena maps focus on smaller environments and no respawning after the death of a player's character. A team wins in arena by eliminating all of the other side's members in the arena or capturing the map's central control point. Arena was introduced in the August 2008 update.^[25]

Classes

There are nine unique player classes in Team Fortress 2, categorized into offense, defense, and support roles.^[12] Each class has at least three weapons: a unique primary weapon, a common or unique secondary weapon such as a shotgun or pistol respectively, 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.^[26]

The three offensive classes are the Scout, the Soldier, and the Pyro. The Scout (voiced by Nathan Vetterlein) is portrayed as a fast-talking baseball fan from Boston, Massachusetts,^[27] and is a fast, agile character armed with a scattergun, a pistol and a baseball bat. The Scout is capable of performing double jumps and also captures control points and pushes payloads as fast as two teammates doing the same; however, the Scout cannot sustain much damage. The Soldier (voiced by Rick May) is more durable, but is consequently slower in his speed. A stereotypical American military man,^[28] the Soldier is armed with a rocket launcher, shotgun, and a shovel. The rocket launcher can be used to rocket jump to higher positions. The final offensive class is the Pyro (voiced by Dennis Bateman). Clad in a fire-retardant suit and a voice-muffling gas mask, 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 and extinguish friendly players who are on fire. The Pyro carries a shotgun as its default secondary weapon but is able to unlock a Flare Gun, and uses a fire axe for melee combat.^[26]^[29]

File:TF2 Group.jpg

From left to right: Pyro, Engineer, Spy, Heavy, Sniper, Scout, Soldier, Demoman, Medic

The Demoman, the Heavy, and the Engineer make up the defensive classes. The Demoman (voiced by Gary Schwartz) is a black, one-eyed Scotsman who drinks heavily.^[30] Armed with a grenade launcher and a sticky bomb launcher, the Demoman can use his equipment to provide indirect fire onto enemy positions.^[26] The Heavy (also voiced by Schwartz) is a stereotypical Russian character, with a huge figure and heavy accent, obsessed with his guns to the point of giving them human names. The Heavy can sustain more damage than any other class, and can gain more health by eating food like the Sandvich or the Dalokohs Bar (chocolate bar), and put out immense amounts of firepower, but is slowed down by both his own size and that of his minigun.^[31] The Engineer (voiced by Grant Goodeve) is the last defensive class, portrayed as a relaxed and intellectual "good ol' boy" from Texas.^[32] 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.^[26]

The final category, support, consists of the Medic, the Sniper, and the Spy. The Medic (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes) is a German doctor from Stuttgart with little regard for the Hippocratic Oath,^[33] 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 Medic's ÜberCharge is full. The Medic is also equipped with a syringe gun and a bonesaw.^[23]^[26] The Sniper (voiced by John Patrick Lowrie) is a cheerful Australian ocker style character who rationalizes his line of work,^[34] equipped with a laser sighted sniper rifle to attack enemies from afar, a submachine gun for close combat, and a kukri for melee attacks.^[26] The last support class is the French, deadpan Spy (also voiced by Dennis Bateman): in addition to a revolver, he is equipped with covert tools, such as a temporary cloaking device, an electronic sapper to sabotage Engineers' structures, and a device hidden in his cigarette case that gives him the ability to disguise as other players. The Spy can also use his butterfly knife to stab enemies in the back, which instantly kills them.^[26]

Valve has stressed their focus on game balance when considering new improvements to the character classes. Every class has its own strengths and weaknesses which leads to reliance on other classes in order to be efficient. This forces gameplay into more strategic thinking and an increased utilization of teamwork than would be found if one class had inherent superior advantages. Each of the classes in the three categories have shared strengths and weaknesses, while each individual class also has its own advantages.^[35]

Development

Template:Video game requirements

Origins

Team Fortress originally began life as a free mod for Quake. Development on Team Fortress 2 switched to the GoldSrc engine in 1998 after the development team Team Fortress Software—consisting of Robin Walker and John Cook—were first contracted and finally outright employed by Valve Corporation.^[36] At the point of Team Fortress Software's acquisition production moved up a notch and the game was promoted to a standalone, retail product;^[36] to tide fans over, work began on a simple port of the game which was released in 1999 as the free Team Fortress Classic.^[37] Notably, Team Fortress Classic was built entirely within the publicly available Half-Life Software Development Kit as an example to the community and industry of its flexibility.^[38]

Walker and Cook had been heavily influenced by their three month contractual stint at Valve, and now they were working full-time on their design, which was undergoing rapid metamorphosis. Team Fortress 2 was to be a modern war game, with a command hierarchy including a commander with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield, parachute drops over enemy territory, networked voice communication and numerous other innovations.^[39]

File:Tf2 oldstyle.jpg

The game's visual style changed drastically over its development.

Early development

The new design was revealed to the public at E3 1999, where it earned several awards including Best Online Game and Best Action Game.^[40] By this time Team Fortress 2 had gained a new subtitle, Brotherhood of Arms, and the results of Walker and Cook working at Valve were becoming clear. Several new and at the time unprecedented technologies on show: Parametric animation seamlessly blended animations for smoother, more life-like movement,^[41] and Intel's multi-resolution mesh^[41] technology dynamically reduced the detail of on-screen elements as they became more distant to improve performance^[41] (a technique made obsolete by decreasing memory costs; today games use a technique known as level of detail, which uses more memory but less processing power). No release date was given at the exposition.

In mid–2000, Valve announced that development of Team Fortress 2 had been delayed for a second time.^[42] They attributed the delay to development switching to an in-house, proprietary engine that is today known as the Source engine. It was at around this time that all news ran dry and Team Fortress 2 entered six years of silent development.^[43] During that time, both Walker and Cook worked on various other Valve projects—Walker was project lead on Half-Life 2: Episode One^[44] and Cook became a Steam developer^[45]—raising doubts that Team Fortress 2 was really the active project that would be repeatedly described.

Final design

The next significant public development occurred in the run up to Half-Life 2's 2004 release: Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi claimed that Team Fortress 2 was still in development and that information concerning it would come after Half-Life 2Template:'s release. This did not happen; nor was any news released after Lombardi's similar claim during an early interview regarding Half-Life 2: Episode One.^[46] Before Episode Two's release Gabe Newell again claimed that news on Team Fortress 2 would be forthcoming, and Team Fortress 2 was re-unveiled a month later at the July 2006 EA Summer Showcase event.^[10]

Template:Imageframe

Walker revealed in March 2007 that Valve had quietly built "probably three to four different games" before settling on their final design.^[47] Due to the game's lengthy development cycle it was often mentioned alongside Duke Nukem Forever, another long-anticipated game that had seen many years of protracted development and engine changes.^[4] The beta release of the game featured six multiplayer maps, of which three contain optional commentary by the developers on the game design, level design and character design, and provide more information on the history behind the development.^[48]

Team Fortress 2 does not attempt the realistic graphical approach used in other Valve games on the Source engine such as Half-Life 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source. Rather, it uses a more stylized, cartoon-like approach "heavily influenced by early 20^th century commercial illustrations"^[3] and achieved with extensive use and manipulation of phong shading.^[11]^[49] The development commentary in the game suggests that part of the reason for the cartoonish style was the difficulty in explaining the maps and characters in realistic terms. The removal of an emphasis on realistic settings allows these explanations to be sidestepped.^[48] The game debuted with the Source engine's new dynamic lighting, shadowing and soft particle technologies, among many other unannounced features, alongside Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Team Fortress 2 was also the first game to implement the Source engine's new Facial Animation 3 features.^[50]

The art style for the game was inspired by J. C. Leyendecker, as well as Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell.^[3] Their distinctive styles of strong silhouettes and shading to draw attention to specific details were adapted in order to make the models distinct, with a focus on making the characters' team, class and current weapon easily identifiable. Silhouettes and animation are used to make the class of a character apparent even at range, and a color scheme that draws attention to the chest area brings focus to the selected weapon.^[51] The voices selected for each of the classes were based on imagining what people from the 1960s would expect the classes to have sounded like, according to writer Chet Faliszek.^[52]

The map design has a strong evil genius theme with archetypical spy fortresses, concealed within inconspicuous buildings such as industrial warehouses and farms to give plausibility to their close proximities; these bases are usually separated by a neutrally-themed space. The bases hide exaggerated super weapons such as laser cannons, nuclear warheads, and missile launch facilities, taking the role of objectives. The maps have little visual clutter and stylized, almost impressionistic modeling, to allow enemies to be spotted more easily. The impressionistic design approach also affects textures, which are based on photos that are filtered and improved by hand, giving them a tactile quality and giving Team Fortress 2 its distinct look. The bases are designed to let players immediately know where they are. RED bases use warm colors, natural materials and angular shapes, while BLU bases use cool colors, industrial materials and orthogonal shapes.^[51]

Release and ongoing development

During the July 2006 Electronic Arts press conference, Valve revealed that Team Fortress 2 would ship as the multiplayer component of The Orange Box. A conference trailer showcasing all nine of the classes demonstrated for the first time the game's whimsical new visual style. Managing director of Valve Gabe Newell said that the company's goal was to create "the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game".^[10] A beta release of the entire game was made on Steam on September 17, 2007 for customers who had pre-purchased The Orange Box, who had activated their Black Box coupon, which was included with the ATI HD 2900XT Graphics cards, and for members of the Valve Cyber Café Program.^[53]^[54] The beta continued until the game's final release.

The game was released on October 10, 2007, both as a standalone product via Steam and at retail stores as part of The Orange Box compilation pack, priced at each gaming platform's recommended retail price. The Orange Box also contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, and Portal. Valve offered The Orange Box at a ten percent discount for those who pre-purchased it via Steam before the October 10, release, as well as the opportunity to participate in the beta test.^[55]

Since the release of Team Fortress 2, Valve has continually released free updates and patches through Steam. In addition, the game is also being expanded by fans with the tools used by Valve to create the game. Valve has included some of the most popular community-created levels in the official updates.^[29] In January 2010 Valve started allowing users to submit additional content, such as hats, weapons and Steam avatars, through a contribution site.^[56]^[57] The first such update with community-made content was released in March with several new hats and weapons.^[58]^[59] A current series of updates sees the classes gaining alternate weapons with different abilities, while putting in certain drawbacks to each unlockable weapon to maintain balance. The Medic, Pyro, Heavy, Scout, Sniper, Spy, "Classless", "Hallowe'en", Demoman, Soldier, and Engineer updates have been completed, together updating all nine of the classes.^[23]^[29]^[60]^[61] Later updating included the ability to craft new equipment in game,^[62] trade items with other players,^[63] purchase in-game items through funds in Steam,^[64] and save and edit replay videos that can be posted to YouTube.^[65] Valve has also occasionally released new game types as part of their updates, such as the aforementioned Payload^[23] and Payload Race,^[24] a Training mode for practicing,^[66] Highlander which restricts each team to nine players with each member playing a different class,^[67] and a Medieval mode where players are restricted to melee weapons and era projectile weapons like longbows.^[68] Valve has created a blog to keep players up to date with the ongoing developments in Team Fortress 2.^[69]

Development of the new content has been confirmed for the Xbox 360, while development for the PlayStation 3 was deemed "uncertain" by Valve.^[70] However, the PlayStation 3 version of Team Fortress 2 received an update that repaired some of the issues found within the game, ranging from graphical issues to online connectivity problems; this update was included in a patch that also repaired issues found in the other games within The Orange Box.^[71] The updates released on PC and planned for later release on Xbox 360 include new official maps and game modes, as well as tweaks to classes and new weapons that can be unlocked through the game's achievement system.^[72] The developers attempted to negotiate with Xbox 360 developer Microsoft to keep the Xbox 360 releases of these updates free,^[73] but Microsoft refused and Valve announced that they would release bundles of several updates together to justify the price.^[74]

On June 10, 2010, Team Fortress 2 was released for Mac OS X, shortly after the release of Steam for the Mac OS X.^[66] The release was teased by way of an image similar to early iPod advertising, showing a dark silhouette of the Heavy on a bright green background, his Sandvich highlighted in his hand.^[75] Virtual earbuds, which can be worn when playing on either Mac or Windows once acquired, were given to players playing the game on a Mac before June 14,^[76] though the giveaway period was later extended to August 16.^[77]

Free-to-play

On June 23, 2011, Valve announced that Team Fortress 2 would become a free-to-play title; the core game could be enjoyed for free, while unique equipment, character outfitting, and the like would be available as microtransactions through the in-game store tied through Steam.^[78] Though Valve will continue to add items to the store to support the game, Walker asserted they will continue to provide new features and items for free.^[78] Walker noted that through various promotions, Valve has come to understand the wide range of players that continue to play the game, and that for the multiplayer title, "the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer".^[78] The move came a week after Valve introduced several other third-party free-to-play games to the Steam service, and commented to journalists that they were working on their own free-to-play title.^[79]

Marketing

File:Meet The Scout.jpg

The Scout talks about himself in his entry into the "Meet the Team" series.

To promote the game, Valve has released an ongoing video advertisement series entitled "Meet the Team" since May 2007. Constructed using the game engine and slightly more detailed character models, the series consists of short videos on individual characters, displaying their personalities and tactics. The videos are usually interspersed with clips of the character in combat in the game. The manners which these are presented have varied drastically: the first installment, "Meet the Heavy", depicted an interview with the gun-obsessed Eastern European^[31] while "Meet the Soldier" showed the Soldier giving a misinformed lecture on Sun Tzu to a collection of severed heads as if to raw recruits.^[28] The videos are generally released through Valve's services, though in one notable exception, the "Meet the Spy" video was leaked on YouTube during the Sniper/Spy update week.^[80]^[81] The "Meet the Team" videos are based on the audition scripts used for the voice actors for each of the classes; the "Meet the Heavy" scripts is nearly word-for-word a copy of the Heavy's script. More recent videos, such as "Meet the Sniper", contain more original material.^[82] The videos have been used by Valve to help improve the technology for the game, specifically improving the facial animations, as well as a source of new gameplay elements, such as the Heavy's "Sandvich" or the Sniper's "Jarate".^[82] As of now, the only character class that does not have it's own video is the Pyro, whom has been announced for a 2012 release. Newell has stated that Valve is using the "Meet the Team" shorts as a means of exploring the possibilities of making feature film movies themselves. Newell believed that only game developers themselves have the ability to bring the interesting parts of a game to a film, and suggested that this would be the only manner through which a Half-Life-based movie would be made.^[83]

In more recent major updates to the game, Valve has presented teaser images and online comic books that expand the fictional history of the Team Fortress 2, as part of the expansion of the "cross-media property", according to Newell.^[84] In August 2009, Valve brought aboard American comic writer Michael Avon Oeming to teach Valve "about what it means to have a character and do character development in a comic format, how you do storytelling".^[84] "Loose Canon", a comic associated with the Engineer Update, establishes the history of RED versus BLU as a result of the last will and testament of Zepheniah Mann in 1890, forcing his two bickering sons Blutarch and Redmond to vie for control of Zepheniah's lands between them; both have engineered ways of maintain their mortality to the present, waiting to outlast the other while employing separate forces to try to wrest control of the land.^[85] This and other comics also establish other background characters such as Saxton Hale, the CEO of Mann Co., the company that provides the weapons for the two sides and was bequeathed to one of Hale's ancestors by Zepheniah, and the Administrator, the game's announcer, that watches over and encourages the RED/BLU conflict.^[86] The collected comics were published by Dark Horse Comics in Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories, a volume along with other comics created by Valve for Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead, and released in November 2011.^[87]

Valve had provided other promotions to draw players into the game. Valve has held weekends of free play for Team Fortress 2.^[88] Through an early update, hats and accessories can be changed or added to any of the classes, giving players some ability to customize the look of their character. Hats can be gained as a rare random drop, through the crafting / trading systems, or via cross-promotion: Limited-edition hats have been awarded for pre-ordering or gaining Achievements in other content from Steam, both from Valve (such as Left 4 Dead 2^[89]^[90] and Alien Swarm) or other third-party games such as Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Worms Reloaded or Poker Night at the Inventory (which features the Heavy class as a character). According to Robin Walker, Valve introduced these additional hats as an indirect means for players to show status within the game or their affiliation with another game series simply by visual appearance^[91] (although a chosen few hats provide stat bonuses when combined with certain equipment).^[92]

Reception

Template:VG Reviews

Upon release, Team Fortress 2 received widespread critical acclaim, with an overall score of 92% on both Metacritic and GameRankings.^[93]^[94] Many reviewers praised the cartoon graphics approach and the resulting light-hearted gameplay,^[7] and the use of distinct personalities and appearances for the classes impressed a number of critics, with PC Gamer UK stating that "until now multiplayer games just haven't had it."^[8] Similarly, the game modes were received well, GamePro described the settings as focusing "on just simple fun",^[95] while several reviewers praised Valve for the map "Hydro" and its attempts to create a game mode with variety in each map.^[6]^[8] Additional praise was bestowed on the game's level design, game balance and teamwork promotion.^[5] Team Fortress 2 has received several awards individually for its multiplayer gameplay^[96]^[97] and its graphical style,^[98]^[99]^[100] as well as having received a number of "game of the year" awards as part of The Orange Box.^[101]^[102]

Although Team Fortress 2 was well received, Team Fortress 2Template:'s removal of class-specific grenades, a feature of previous Team Fortress incarnations, was controversial amongst reviewers. IGN expressed some disappointment over this,^[6] while conversely PC Gamer UK stated "grenades have been removed entirely — thank God".^[8] Some further criticism came over a variety of issues, such as the lack of extra content such as bots^[6] (although Valve have since added bots in an update^[103]), problems of players finding their way around maps due to the lack of a minimap, and some mild criticism over the Medic class being too passive and repetitive in its nature.^[8] The Medic class has since been re-tooled by Valve, giving it new unlockable weapons and abilities.

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References

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External links

Template:Commons category Template:Wikiquote

Template:Official website
The Team Fortress 2 page at the official site of The Orange Box
Official Team Fortress Wiki
Team Fortress 2 Official YouTube Channel

Template:Valve games Template:Source engine games

Template:Good article

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zh:絕地要塞2

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↑ {{{author}}}, "About Team Fortress Classic". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ Dawson, Ed, "Team Fortress 2 Q&A". Published November 11, 2000. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Past Winners". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b ^c {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2: Technology". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ Park, Andrew Seyoon, "New Engine for Team Fortress 2". Published June 21, 2000. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Orange Box Interview". Published August 29, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Half-Life 2: Episode One Hands-On, Details, And Extensive Video Interview". Published May 26, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Friends 3.0 Pre-beta Interview". Published January 26, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ OnboardError, "HL2World's Interview With Doug Q+A". Published November 17, 2005. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ Berghammer, Billy, "The History Of Team Fortress 2". Published March 26, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b Template:Cite video game
↑ Roper, Chris, "Team Fortress 2 Teaser Impressions". Published July 14, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Face-to-face with TF2Template:'s heavy". Published May 14, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b Hellard, Paul, "Visual Design, Comic Game Action, with a purpose". Published December 1, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Writer's Block: Portal 2 Writers Roundtable". Published March 12, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Beta Begins Next Week". Published September 11, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 beta now available". Published September 18, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 beta now open". Published September 18, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Yo, a little help here?". Published January 13, 2001. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Contribute". Published April 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Update Released". Published March 18, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Nice goin', pardner". Published March 18, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Steam announcement of updates (Meet the Sniper and Pyro unlockables)". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Wave goodbye to yer head, wanker". Published April 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Brings Crafting to Team Fortress 2". Published December 14, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Getting Item Trading, Oodles of New Items Next Month". Published August 10, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "'Team Fortress 2' In-Game Store Launches, Here's How It Works". Published September 30, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "[ww.gamasutra.com/view/news/34538/Team_Fortress_2_Update_Adds_Replay_Editor.php Team Fortress 2 Update Adds Replay Editor]". Published May 6, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 adds training mode, Mac support". Published June 11, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Adds Highlander Mode to Team Fortress 2". Published February 4, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Celebrates the Miracle of Australian Christmas". Published December 21, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Steam News — Team Fortress 2 Blog Available". Published June 19, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 360 DLC Details Due 'Pretty Soon,' Fate of PlayStation 3 Content Uncertain". Published May 21, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box PS3 Patch Released". Published March 20, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Updated Hands-On — Goldrush, New Achievements, New Items". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve wants free Team Fortress 2 expansions". Published March 5, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Bringing Team Fortress 2 Updates to Xbox 360, Being Forced to Charge Gamers". Published August 22, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Teases Announcement with Mystery Images; Steam Coming to Mac?". Published March 3, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Wow, you guys are GOOD". Published June 10, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - The Mac Update! - Earbuds". Published June 1, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b ^c {{{author}}}, "Valve: Team Fortress 2 is free forever". Published June 23, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Says It's Working on a Free-to-Play Game". Published June 20, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Meet the Spy, Quite The Ladies Man". Published May 16, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Getting to the bottom of things". Published May 18, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b {{{author}}}, "Valve Dreams Of Team Fortress 2 Movie, Divulges 'Meet The Team' Origins". Published May 31, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Newell: Game-Makers Are Best Equipped To Turn Games Into Movies". Published August 30, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ ^a ^b {{{author}}}, "Valve Talks Team Fortress 2 Comic Book Plans, Movie and TV Show Possibilities". Published August 14, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "TF2 Update: The Engineer With the Golden Wrench". Published July 5, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Teases TF2 Demoman and Soldier Updates". Published December 9, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Comic Book Based On Valve Strips Coming This November". Published July 11, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve Interview Part 2: Left 4 Dead Demo Potential, the Evolution of Steam, and More". Published May 23, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Pre-Order Giveaway Madness!". Published November 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Free Hats!". Published October 6, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Valve on the future of Team Fortress 2. Part Two". Published August 20, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - The Mann-Conomy Update - 5 new item sets for 5 classes". Published September 1, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 (PC: 2007): Reviews". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Reviews". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box Review". Published October 10, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Team Fortress 2". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "2007 1UP Network Editorial Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "GameSpy Game of the Year 2007: Multiplayer". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Special Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "IGN Best of 2007: PC — Best Artistic Design". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Spike TV Announces 2007 'Video Game Awards' Winners". Published December 8, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..
↑ {{{author}}}, "Erectin a dispenser". Published December 21, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[release-1] {{{author}}}, "Orange Box Goes Gold". Published September 26, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[PS3_release-2] {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[illustrativepaper-3] Mitchell, Jason; Francke, Moby; Eng, Dhabih, "Illustrative Rendering in Team Fortress 2". Published August 6, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time.. Video summary (WMV, 75.4MB)

[wired-vaporware-4] {{{author}}}, "Vaporware: Better Late Than Never". Published February 6, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[GameSpot-5] {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box Review". Published October 11, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[IGN-review-6] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Review". Published October 9, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[GameDaily-7] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Review". Published October 12, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[PCGUK-8] {{{author}}}, "PC Review: Team Fortress 2". Published October 10, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Team-9] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Team". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gamespot_2006-07-13-10] {{{author}}}, "Half-Life 2: Episode Two - The Return of Team Fortress 2 and Other Surprises". Published July 13, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gameinformer_2007-03-28-11] Berghammer, Billy, "Team Fortress 2 Hands-On Preview". Published March 28, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gameinformer_2007-03-27-12] Berghammer, Billy, "The Team Fortress 2 Interview: The Evolution". Published March 27, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[badlands-13] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Badlands preview". Published January 14, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[administrator-14] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - The Administrator". Published December 9, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[15] {{{author}}}, "Ellen McLain". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[ign_2007-04-10-16] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Interview". Published April 10, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[patchnotes_2008-02-28-17] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 February 28, 2008 Team Fortress 2 update". Published February 28, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[PC_Gamer_UK_2008-01-22-18] Francis, Tom, "Team Fortress 2 Gets Unlockable Weapons". Published January 22, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[euro_2007-05-22-19] Bramwell, Tom, "Team Fortress 2 First Impressions". Published May 22, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[ClasslessUpdate-Valve-20] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - Classless Update". Published August 12, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[21] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - Australian Christmas". Published December 17, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[22] Michael McWhertor, "Team Fortress 2 Descends Into Medieval Madness For Holidays". Published December 17, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Gold_Rush-23] {{{author}}}, "Gold Rush Update". Published April 29, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[SpyUpdate-Valve-24] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - Sniper vs. Spy Update". Published May 13, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[HeavyUpdate-Valve-25] {{{author}}}, "Heavy Update: Arena Mode". Published August 18, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[IGN-classes-26] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Goldstein, Hilary, "Team Fortress 2: Class Warfare". Published May 23, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Scout-27] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Scout". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Soldier-28] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Soldier". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Pyro_Update-29] {{{author}}}, "Pyro Update". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Demoman-30] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Demoman". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Heavy-31] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Heavy". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Engineer-32] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Engineer". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[33] {{{author}}}, "TF2 Trading Cards – Part 2". Published July 3, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Meet_the_Sniper-34] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Sniper". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[35] {{{author}}}, "TF2 Official Blog: A Heavy Problem". Published July 1, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gamespot_1998-06-01-36] Dunkin, Alan, "Team Fortress Full Speed Ahead". Published June 1, 1998. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[phl_tfc_overview-37] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress Classic (overview)". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[ptf_tfc_overview-38] {{{author}}}, "About Team Fortress Classic". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gamespot_2000-11-11-39] Dawson, Ed, "Team Fortress 2 Q&A". Published November 11, 2000. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gamecritics_awards_1998-40] {{{author}}}, "Past Winners". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[ptf_tf2_tech-41] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2: Technology". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gamespot_2006-06-21-42] Park, Andrew Seyoon, "New Engine for Team Fortress 2". Published June 21, 2000. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gametrailers-orangeboxinterview-43] {{{author}}}, "Orange Box Interview". Published August 29, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[44] {{{author}}}, "Half-Life 2: Episode One Hands-On, Details, And Extensive Video Interview". Published May 26, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[45] {{{author}}}, "Friends 3.0 Pre-beta Interview". Published January 26, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[46] OnboardError, "HL2World's Interview With Doug Q+A". Published November 17, 2005. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[gameinformer_2007-03-26-47] Berghammer, Billy, "The History Of Team Fortress 2". Published March 26, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[commentary-48] Template:Cite video game

[ign_2006-07-14-49] Roper, Chris, "Team Fortress 2 Teaser Impressions". Published July 14, 2006. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[50] {{{author}}}, "Face-to-face with TF2Template:'s heavy". Published May 14, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[cgsociety-51] Hellard, Paul, "Visual Design, Comic Game Action, with a purpose". Published December 1, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[portal_2_writers-52] {{{author}}}, "Writer's Block: Portal 2 Writers Roundtable". Published March 12, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[53] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Beta Begins Next Week". Published September 11, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[54] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 beta now available". Published September 18, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[55] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 beta now open". Published September 18, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[56] {{{author}}}, "Yo, a little help here?". Published January 13, 2001. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[57] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Contribute". Published April 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[58] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Update Released". Published March 18, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[59] {{{author}}}, "Nice goin', pardner". Published March 18, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Steam_announcement-60] {{{author}}}, "Steam announcement of updates (Meet the Sniper and Pyro unlockables)". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[TF2_blog_April_2-61] {{{author}}}, "Wave goodbye to yer head, wanker". Published April 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[62] {{{author}}}, "Valve Brings Crafting to Team Fortress 2". Published December 14, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[63] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Getting Item Trading, Oodles of New Items Next Month". Published August 10, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[64] {{{author}}}, "'Team Fortress 2' In-Game Store Launches, Here's How It Works". Published September 30, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[65] {{{author}}}, "[ww.gamasutra.com/view/news/34538/Team_Fortress_2_Update_Adds_Replay_Editor.php Team Fortress 2 Update Adds Replay Editor]". Published May 6, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[macosx_release-66] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 adds training mode, Mac support". Published June 11, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[67] {{{author}}}, "Valve Adds Highlander Mode to Team Fortress 2". Published February 4, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[68] {{{author}}}, "Valve Celebrates the Miracle of Australian Christmas". Published December 21, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[69] {{{author}}}, "Steam News — Team Fortress 2 Blog Available". Published June 19, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Shacknews_360_updates-70] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 360 DLC Details Due 'Pretty Soon,' Fate of PlayStation 3 Content Uncertain". Published May 21, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[71] {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box PS3 Patch Released". Published March 20, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[72] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Updated Hands-On — Goldrush, New Achievements, New Items". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[73] {{{author}}}, "Valve wants free Team Fortress 2 expansions". Published March 5, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[74] {{{author}}}, "Valve Bringing Team Fortress 2 Updates to Xbox 360, Being Forced to Charge Gamers". Published August 22, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[75] {{{author}}}, "Valve Teases Announcement with Mystery Images; Steam Coming to Mac?". Published March 3, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[tf2mac-76] {{{author}}}, "Wow, you guys are GOOD". Published June 10, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[earbuds-77] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - The Mac Update! - Earbuds". Published June 1, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[f2p-78] {{{author}}}, "Valve: Team Fortress 2 is free forever". Published June 23, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[79] {{{author}}}, "Valve Says It's Working on a Free-to-Play Game". Published June 20, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[80] {{{author}}}, "Meet the Spy, Quite The Ladies Man". Published May 16, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[81] {{{author}}}, "Getting to the bottom of things". Published May 18, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[kotaku_meet_videos-82] {{{author}}}, "Valve Dreams Of Team Fortress 2 Movie, Divulges 'Meet The Team' Origins". Published May 31, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[83] {{{author}}}, "Newell: Game-Makers Are Best Equipped To Turn Games Into Movies". Published August 30, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[tf2_comics-84] {{{author}}}, "Valve Talks Team Fortress 2 Comic Book Plans, Movie and TV Show Possibilities". Published August 14, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[85] {{{author}}}, "TF2 Update: The Engineer With the Golden Wrench". Published July 5, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[86] {{{author}}}, "Valve Teases TF2 Demoman and Soldier Updates". Published December 9, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[87] {{{author}}}, "Comic Book Based On Valve Strips Coming This November". Published July 11, 2011. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[shacknews_lombardi_interview_pt2-88] {{{author}}}, "Valve Interview Part 2: Left 4 Dead Demo Potential, the Evolution of Steam, and More". Published May 23, 2008. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[billhat-89] {{{author}}}, "Pre-Order Giveaway Madness!". Published November 2, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[elliscap-90] {{{author}}}, "Free Hats!". Published October 6, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[91] {{{author}}}, "Valve on the future of Team Fortress 2. Part Two". Published August 20, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[itemsets-92] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 - The Mann-Conomy Update - 5 new item sets for 5 classes". Published September 1, 2010. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[Metacritic-93] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 (PC: 2007): Reviews". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[GameRankings-94] {{{author}}}, "Team Fortress 2 Reviews". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[GamePro-95] {{{author}}}, "The Orange Box Review". Published October 10, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[96] {{{author}}}, "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Team Fortress 2". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[97] {{{author}}}, "2007 1UP Network Editorial Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[98] {{{author}}}, "GameSpy Game of the Year 2007: Multiplayer". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[99] {{{author}}}, "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Special Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[100] {{{author}}}, "IGN Best of 2007: PC — Best Artistic Design". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[AIAS-101] {{{author}}}, "11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards". . Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[spike-102] {{{author}}}, "Spike TV Announces 2007 'Video Game Awards' Winners". Published December 8, 2007. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

[103] {{{author}}}, "Erectin a dispenser". Published December 21, 2009. Retrieved Error: Invalid time..

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Difference between revisions of "Team Fortress 2"

Revision as of 09:38, 1 March 2012

Contents

Gameplay

Game modes

Classes

Development

Origins

Early development

Final design

Release and ongoing development

Free-to-play

Marketing

Reception

References

External links

Navigation menu

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

More

Search

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Tools

Languages

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress Classic

Valve Wiki Network

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{pp-move-indef}}
-{{Game infobox
+{{Infobox video game
-| boxart-image = TF2 Boxart.png
+|title=Team Fortress 2
-| developer = [[Valve]]
+| image = [[File:Tf2 standalonebox.jpg|250px]]
-| publisher = [[Valve]]
+| caption = <small>The box art for the standalone PC version of ''Team Fortress 2'' depicts the Heavy class in the foreground with his teammates including the Engineer, Pyro and Sniper in the background.</small>
-| distributor =[[Steam]]
+| developer = [[Valve Corporation]]
-| engine = [[Source engine]]
+| publisher = Valve Corporation
-| designer = John Cook, Robin Walker
+| distributor =[[Electronic Arts]] <small>(retail)</small><br />[[Steam (software)|Steam]] <small>(online)</small><br /><!-- Sierra/Activision/Blizzard/Vivendi had nothing to do with this game -->
-| released =
+| engine = [[Source (game engine)|Source]]
-*Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360 (Retail - [[The Orange Box]])'''
+| designer = John Cook<br />Robin Walker
-**NA: October 10, 2007
+| composer = [[Mike Morasky]]
-**EU: October 18, 2007
+| released ={{collapsible list|title=October 9, 2007|'''Windows/Xbox 360:'''<br /><small>(''[[The Orange Box]]'' retail)</small><br />{{vgrelease|JP=October 9, 2007|NA=October 10, 2007<ref name="release" />|EU=October 18, 2007|AU=October 25, 2007}}{{vgrelease|United Kingdom|UK|October 19, 2007}}'''Windows:''' <small>(download)</small><br />October 10, 2007<br />'''PS3:'''<br />{{vgrelease|AUS=November 22, 2007<ref name="PS3 release" />|EU=November 23, 2007}}{{vgrelease|NA=December 11, 2007}}'''Windows:''' <small>(retail standalone)</small><br />{{vgrelease|NA=April 8, 2008|JP=April 4, 2008|EU=April 11, 2008|AUS=April 24, 2008}}'''Mac OS X:''' <small>(download)</small><br />June 10, 2010<br />}}
-**UK: October 19, 2007
+| genre = [[First-person shooter]]
-**AU: October 25, 2007
+| modes = [[Multiplayer video game|Multiplayer]]
-*Microsoft Windows (Steam)
+| ratings = {{vgratings|BBFC=15<ref name="BBFC">{{cite web |title=British Board of Film Classification |url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/888E8C1FF222CBF4802573E50046C9F9?OpenDocument |work=[[British Board of Film Classification|BBFC]] |date=2008-11-09}}</ref>|ESRB=M|OFLCA=MA15+<ref name="OFLC">{{cite web |title=Office of Film and Literature Classification |url=http://www.classification.gov.au/special.html?n=46&p=156&sTitle=Team+Fortress+2&sMediaFilm=1&sMediaPublications=1&sMediaGames=1&sDateFromM=1&sDateFromY=1970&sDateToM=11&sDateToY=2008&record=226557 |work=[[Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia)|OFLC]] |date=2008-11-09}}</ref>|PEGI=16+<ref name="PEGI">{{cite web |title=Pan European Game Information |url=http://www.pegi.info/de/index/global_id/505/?searchString=Team+Fortress+2 |work=[[Pan European Game Information|PEGI]] |date=2008-11-09}}</ref>}}
-**International: October 10, 2007
+| platforms = [[Microsoft Windows]]<ref name="Steam App 440" /><br/ >[[Xbox 360]]<br />[[PlayStation 3]]<br />[[Mac OS X]]<ref name="Steam App 440" />
-*PlayStation 3
+| requirements = See [[#Development|Development]] section
-**NA: December 11, 2007
+| media = [[Optical disc]]<br />[[Digital Distribution|Digital download]]
-**AU: November 22, 2007
+| version = 1.1.9.2 ({{date|2011-12-23}})<ref name="tef2_update">{{cite web | url=http://www.teamfortress.com/?tab=updates | title = Team Fortress 2 Update Released  | accessdate = 2012-01-06 | date = 2011-12-23 | work = [[Valve Corporation]] | publisher = Valve Corporation}}</ref><!-- Please update version and date after each update, version number and corresponding date can be retrieved from typing "version" into the console. -->
-*Microsoft Windows (Retail - Standalone)
-**NA: April 9, 2008
-**International: April 11, 2008
-*Mac OS X (Steam)
-**International: June 10, 2010
-| modes = Multiplayer
-| genre = First person shooter
-| ratings =
-*ESRB: M
-*PEGI: 16+
-*BBFC: 15
-*OFLC: MA15+
-| platforms = Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X
-| media = Download, DVD, Blu-ray disc
-| requirements =
-*Windows
-*Minimum: 1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX® 8.1 level Graphics Card (Requires support for SSE), Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection
-*Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection
-*OS X
-*Minimum: OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection
 }}
-'''''Team Fortress 2''''' is a team-based multiplayer first person shooter developed by [[Valve]] Software as part of the game bundle [[The Orange Box]]. It was first released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on October 10, 2007. Following suit, it was released as a standalone title on April 9, 2008, and on June 10, 2010, ''Team Fortress 2'' was released for Mac OS X. The PC and OS X versions of ''Team Fortress 2'' adopted a "Free to Play" model on June 23, 2011 with all revenue being generated from micro transactions in the [[Mann Co. Store|In-game Store]].
+'''''Team Fortress 2''''' is a [[free-to-play]] team-based [[first-person shooter]] [[multiplayer video game|multiplayer]] video game developed by [[Valve Corporation]]. A sequel to the original [[mod (computer gaming)|mod]] ''[[Team Fortress]]'' based on the [[Source engine]], it was first released as part of the video game [[bundled software|compilation]] ''[[The Orange Box]]'' on October 10, 2007 for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and the [[Xbox 360]].<ref name="release">{{cite web|url=http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=17582|title=Orange Box Goes Gold|publisher=GameDaily BIZ|accessdate=2007-10-22|date=September 26, 2007}}</ref> A [[PlayStation 3]] version then followed on November 22, 2007.<ref name="PS3 release">{{cite web| url=http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/action/halflife2episode2/similar.html?mode=versions|title=The Orange Box|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|accessdate=2007-10-22}}</ref> The game was later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X two years later. ''Team Fortress 2'' is distributed online through the [[Steam (software)|Steam]] system, while retail distribution was handled by [[Electronic Arts]]. In June 2011, the game became a [[free-to-play]] title, supported by [[microtransaction]]s for unique in-game equipment through Steam. The development of ''Team Fortress 2'' is led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the ''[[Team Fortress]]'' [[mod (computer gaming)|modification]] for ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'' in 1996.
-The game was first announced in 1998 as a sequel to the original ''[[Team Fortress]]'' mod for ''Quake'', but has since been through various concept and design periods. In 1999, the game appeared to be abandoning the art styles of the original ''[[Team Fortress Classic]]''  by transitioning toward a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay. However, the design continued evolving over the game's nine-year development period and game engine switch. The final art style rendition of ''Team Fortress 2'' resembles that of the original ''Team Fortress'' and ''Team Fortress Classic'' games, and also features a cartoon-like visual style based on the art of Dean Cornwell, J. C. Leyendecker, and Norman Rockwell. ''Team Fortress 2'' follows a popular trend in recent CGI films, in particular, films recently made by {{w|Pixar Animation Studios}}, such as ''{{w|The Incredibles}}''.
+The game was announced in 1998, powered by Valve's [[GoldSrc|GoldSrc engine]], but has since been through various concepts and designs. In 1999, the game appeared to be deviating from its predecessors by pursuing a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, but the design metamorphosed over its nine-year development period. The final rendition sports [[cartoon]] style visuals influenced by the art of [[J. C. Leyendecker]], [[Dean Cornwell]] and [[Norman Rockwell]]<ref name="illustrativepaper" /> and is powered by the [[Source engine]]. The game itself revolves around two teams, each with access to nine distinct characters, battling in a variety of game modes set in [[villain|evil genius]] environments.
-The absence of media information or apparent development progress for six years of the game's development caused it to be labeled as vaporware, and it was regularly featured in the ''Wired News''' annual vaporware list, among gaming news outlets. Since its release, however, the game has received critical acclaim and several awards.
+The lack of information or apparent progress for six years of the game's original development caused it to be labeled as [[vaporware]], and it was regularly featured in ''[[Wired News]]''{{'}} annual vaporware list among other ignominies.<ref name="wired-vaporware">{{cite web|url=http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/02/70143?currentPage=2|title=Vaporware: Better Late Than Never|publisher=[[Wired News]]|date=2006-02-06|accessdate=2007-05-23}}</ref> Upon its release, the game received critical acclaim and several awards, being praised for its graphical style,<ref name="GameSpot" /> balanced gameplay,<ref name="IGN-review">{{cite web|url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/826/826080p1.html|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Review|publisher=IGN|first=Charles|last=Onyett|date=2007-10-09|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref> comedic value<ref name="GameDaily">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamedaily.com/games/team-fortress-2/pc/game-reviews/review/6055/1798/|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Review|publisher=[[GameDaily]]|first=Steven|last=Wong|date=2007-10-12|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref> and for its use of full character personalities in a dedicated multiplayer only game.<ref name="PCGUK">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=173003|title=PC Review: ''Team Fortress 2''|publisher=[[ComputerAndVideoGames.com]]|work=[[PC Gamer UK]]|first=Tom|last=Francis|date=2007-10-10|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref>
-__TOC__
 ==Gameplay==
-[[Image:Team Fortress 2 Screenshot.png|250px|thumb|left|''Team Fortress 2'' in play: a group of [[RED]] players attack a [[BLU]] base on the map "[[2Fort]]", whilst showing [[Scout]], [[Engineer]], [[Heavy]], and [[Spy]] from the first person perspective of a [[Medic]].]]
+[[Image:Team Fortress 2 Screenshot.jpg|thumb|left|''Team Fortress 2'' in play; a group of RED players attack a BLU base on the capture point map "Well". The player, a RED Medic, heals a Soldier as he and a Scout attack a BLU Pyro.]]
+Like its predecessors, ''Team Fortress 2'' is focused around two opposing teams competing for a principal objective. These teams, Reliable Excavation & Demolition (RED) and Builders League United (BLU), are meant to represent two [[holding company|holding corporations]] that between them secretly control every government on the planet.<ref name="Meet the Team">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/movies.htm|title=''Meet the Team''|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|work=[[Steam (software)|Steam]]|accessdate=2009-01-29}}</ref> Players can choose to play as one of nine classes in these teams, each with his 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.<ref name="gamespot 2006-07-13">{{cite web|url=http://gamespot.com/xbox360/action/halflife2episode2/news.html?sid=6154006|title=''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' - The Return of ''Team Fortress 2'' and Other Surprises|date=2006-07-13|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref><ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-28">{{cite web|url=http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0328.1722.34101.htm|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070406033849/http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0328.1722.34101.htm|archivedate=2007-04-06|publisher=[[Game Informer]]|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Hands-On Preview|author=Berghammer, Billy|date=2007-03-28|accessdate=2007-04-13}}</ref> The game was released with six official maps, although 25 extra maps, 9 arena maps, and four training maps have been included in subsequent updates.<ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-27" /><ref name="badlands">{{cite web|url=http://shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=741|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Badlands preview|publisher=[[Shacknews]]|date=2008-01-14|accessdate=2008-01-21}}</ref> In addition, a number of community assembled maps have been released. When players join a level for the first time, an introductory video shows how to complete its objectives. During matches, "The Administrator",<ref name="administrator">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/|title=Team Fortress 2 - The Administrator|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2009-12-09|accessdate=2011-12-29}}</ref> an eternally dissatisfied woman voiced by [[Ellen McLain]], announces various game events over loudspeakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1655889/|title=Ellen McLain|publisher=[[Internet Movie Database|IMDB]]|accessdate=2009-07-26}}</ref> The player limit is 16 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.<ref name="ign 2007-04-10">{{cite web|url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/779/779677p1.html|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Interview|publisher=IGN|date=2007-04-10|accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref> On the PC, a [[vanilla software|vanilla]] server can hold 24 players, but in 2008 Valve updated Team Fortress 2 to include a server variable that allows up to 32 players.<ref name="patchnotes 2008-02-28">{{cite web|url=http://store.steampowered.com/news/1464/|title=''Team Fortress 2'' February 28, 2008 Team Fortress 2 update|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2008-02-28|accessdate=2009-10-16}}</ref> Third party modifications have made it possible to host up to 36 players on one server.
-Like its predecessors, ''Team Fortress 2'' is centered around two opposing teams competing for an objective. These two teams are meant to represent a demolition and a construction company as a part of the backstory: 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, weaknesses, abilities, and roles. Although the abilities of a number of classes have changed from earlier ''Team Fortress'' incarnations, the basic elements of each class have remained.
+''Team Fortress 2'' is the first of 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 life. Persistent statistics tell the player how he or she is improving in relation to these statistics, such as if a player comes close to his or her record for the damage inflicted in a round.<ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-27">{{cite web|url=http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0327.1745.51023.htm|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070406214738/http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0327.1745.51023.htm|archivedate=2007-04-06|publisher=[[Game Informer]]|title=The ''Team Fortress 2'' Interview: The Evolution|author=Berghammer, Billy|date=2007-03-27|accessdate=2007-04-13}}</ref> ''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. This unlockable system has since been expanded into a random-chance system, where the player can also obtain the items simply by playing the game.<ref name="PC Gamer UK 2008-01-22">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=180201|work=[[PC Gamer UK]]|publisher=[[Computer and Video Games]]|title=Team Fortress 2 Gets Unlockable Weapons|author=Francis, Tom|date=2008-01-22|accessdate=2008-03-02}}</ref> Achievements unlocked and statistics from previously played games are displayed on the player's [[Steam Community]] or [[Xbox Live]] profile page.
-''Team Fortress 2'' is the first of [[Valve]]'s multiplayer games to incorporate detailed statistics for players. These statistics include the time spent playing as each class, the average point score, and the most captures or objectives achieved in a single round (See [[Valve statistics]]). 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 were added in updates after main release. These have added new abilities and weapons to each class once unlocked by the player. Unlocked achievements 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.
-===Maps===
+* In [[capture the flag]] maps, the objective for both teams is to obtain a briefcase of [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] from the enemy team's base and return it to their own base while preventing the opposing team from doing the same.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76691|publisher=[[Eurogamer]]|title=''Team Fortress 2'' First Impressions|author=Bramwell, Tom|date=2007-05-22|accessdate=2007-05-23}}</ref>
-{{main|Maps}}
-On the PC and OS X versions of ''Team Fortress 2'', the initial release only included six official Valve [[maps]], with several dozen more being added to the game over the years by Valve and the Team Fortress 2 community. On the console versions, however, these original six maps, all released by Valve, are still the only maps available. The official maps are commonly themed with an evil genius or retro-spytech mentality, with secret bases that are concealed within industrial warehouses, as well as exaggerated super weapons such as laser cannons and missile launch facilities taking the role of objectives.
+* Control point modes are more varied in their objectives, but share the common aim of capturing a particular point on the map.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22" /> In some levels, the objective for both teams is to secure all the points on the map. On other levels (attack/defend), one team already holds all the points and must defend them from the other for a set amount of time. A more complex variation (territorial control), 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.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22" /> In an update on August 13, 2009, Valve included a fourth control point variation: [[King of the Hill (game)|King of the Hill]]. In this mode, both RED and BLU have to capture the center point and defend it for a set amount of time before the opposing team does.<ref name="ClasslessUpdate-Valve">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/day02_english.htm|title=Team Fortress 2 - Classless Update|date=2009-08-12|publisher=Valve|accessdate=2009-05-21}}</ref> When a team gains control of the point, their timer starts to count down. If the other team captures the point, the former team's count down is stopped, and the latter team's starts. In an update on December 17, 2010, another control point variation, Medieval Mode, was added. In this mode, players are restricted to using melee weapons and bows for combat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/australianchristmas/|title=Team Fortress 2 - Australian Christmas|publisher=Valve|date=December 17, 2010|accessdate=December 18, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://kotaku.com/5714757/team-fortress-2-descends-into-medieval-madness-for-holidays|title=Team Fortress 2 Descends Into Medieval Madness For Holidays|author=Michael McWhertor|publisher=Kotaku|date=December 17, 2010|accessdate=December 18, 2010}}</ref>
-When players join a map for the first time, an introductory video shows them how to complete map objectives. Map player limits are twenty-four on the PC and OS X, although the player limit has been altered on some servers to reach as high as thirty-two, while the player limit on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is sixteen.
+* In payload maps, one team has to work to escort rail cars 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. In the payload race variation, both RED and BLU attempt to escort a payload along symmetric (either parallel or opposing) tracks. The payload mode was introduced in April 2008 with the map "Gold Rush";<ref name="Gold Rush">{{cite web|url=http://www.steampowered.com/goldrush/|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Gold Rush Update|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2008-04-29|accessdate=2008-05-01}}</ref> payload race was released in May 2009 with the map "Pipeline".<ref name="SpyUpdate-Valve">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day02_english.htm|title=Team Fortress 2 - Sniper vs. Spy Update|date=2009-05-13|publisher=Valve|accessdate=2009-05-21}}</ref>
+* Arena is a [[deathmatch (gaming)|team deathmatch]] mode. Arena maps focus on smaller environments and no [[Spawning (computer gaming)|respawn]]ing after the death of a player's character. A team wins in arena by eliminating all of the other side's members in the arena or capturing the map's central control point. Arena was introduced in the August 2008 update.<ref name="HeavyUpdate-Valve">{{cite web|url=http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/arena.htm|title=Heavy Update: Arena Mode|date=2008-08-18|publisher=Valve|accessdate=2008-08-19}}</ref>
+===Classes===
+<!-- Do not add extensive detail on the classes here. Nothing more than a brief summary is required.
+Please do not add images for individual classes. The group shot that also forms the title art is all that is permissible under fair use.
+PLEASE DO NOT ADD INFORMATION REGARDING THE GENDER OR NATIONALITY OF THE PYRO OR THE ACCENT OF SPY
+Speculation and original research is not encyclopedic and WILL be removed. -->
+There are nine unique player classes in ''Team Fortress 2'', categorized into offense, defense, and support roles.<ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-27" /> Each class has at least three weapons: a unique primary weapon, a common or unique secondary weapon such as a shotgun or pistol respectively, and a distinct melee weapon in keeping with the character, such as a liquor bottle for the Demoman, a [[kukri]]<!-- see FAQ on talk page regarding kukri vs machete stuff --> for the Sniper, and a fire [[axe]] for the Pyro.<ref name="IGN-classes">{{cite web|url=http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/791/791200p1.html|publisher=IGN|title=Team Fortress 2: Class Warfare|date=2007-05-23|author=Goldstein, Hilary|accessdate=2007-09-21}}</ref>
+The three offensive classes are the Scout, the Soldier, and the Pyro. The Scout (voiced by Nathan Vetterlein) is portrayed as a fast-talking baseball fan from [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]],<ref name="Meet the Scout">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/scout.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Scout|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2008-04-20}}</ref> and is a fast, agile character armed with a [[Sawed-off shotgun|scattergun]], a pistol and a baseball bat. The Scout is capable of performing [[wikt:double jump|double jump]]s and also captures control points and pushes payloads as fast as two teammates doing the same; however, the Scout cannot sustain much damage. The Soldier (voiced by Rick May) is more durable, but is consequently slower in his speed. A stereotypical [[United States|American]] [[Soldier|military man]],<ref name="Meet the Soldier">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/soldier.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Soldier|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> the Soldier is armed with a [[Rocket-propelled grenade|rocket launcher]], shotgun, and a shovel. The rocket launcher can be used to [[rocket jump]] to higher positions. The final offensive class is the Pyro (voiced by Dennis Bateman). Clad in a fire-retardant suit and a voice-muffling gas mask,<!-- Keep this gender neutral. Do not add speculation as to the Pyro's gender. --> 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 and extinguish friendly players who are on fire. The Pyro carries a shotgun as its default secondary weapon but is able to unlock a Flare Gun, and uses a fire axe for melee combat.<ref name="IGN-classes" /><ref name="Pyro Update">{{cite web|url=http://www.steampowered.com/pyro/?pw=presspreview|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Pyro Update|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2008-06-18}}</ref>[[Image:TF2 Group.jpg|thumb|250px|left|From left to right: Pyro, Engineer, Spy, Heavy, Sniper, Scout, Soldier, Demoman, Medic]]
+The Demoman, the Heavy, and the Engineer make up the defensive classes. The Demoman (voiced by [[Gary Schwartz (actor)|Gary Schwartz]]) is a black, one-eyed [[Scottish people|Scotsman]] who drinks heavily.<ref name="Meet the Demoman">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/demoman.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Demoman|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> Armed with a [[grenade launcher]] and a [[sticky bomb|sticky bomb launcher]], the Demoman can use his equipment to provide indirect fire onto enemy positions.<ref name="IGN-classes" /> The Heavy (also voiced by Schwartz) is a stereotypical [[Russians|Russian]] character, with a huge figure and heavy accent, obsessed with his guns to the point of giving them human names. The Heavy can sustain more damage than any other class, and can gain more health by eating food like the Sandvich or the Dalokohs Bar (chocolate bar), and put out immense amounts of firepower, but is slowed down by both his own size and that of his [[minigun]].<ref name="Meet the Heavy">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/heavy.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Heavy|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> The Engineer (voiced by [[Grant Goodeve]]) is the last defensive class, portrayed as a relaxed and intellectual "[[good ol' boy]]" from [[Texas]].<ref name="Meet the Engineer">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/engineer.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Engineer|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2007-11-10}}</ref> 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 [[Teleportation|teleporter]] system.<ref name="IGN-classes" />
+The final category, support, consists of the Medic, the Sniper, and the Spy. The Medic (voiced by [[Robin Atkin Downes]]) is a [[Germans|German]] doctor from [[Stuttgart]] with little regard for the [[Hippocratic Oath]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=1678|title=''TF2'' Trading Cards&nbsp;– Part 2|work=Team Fortress 2|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|first=Jakob|last=Jungels|date=2008-07-03|accessdate=2008-07-05}}</ref> 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 Medic's ÜberCharge is full. The Medic is also equipped with a syringe gun and a bonesaw.<ref name="Gold Rush"/><ref name="IGN-classes" /> The Sniper (voiced by [[John Patrick Lowrie]]) is a cheerful [[Australia]]n [[ocker]] style character who rationalizes his line of work,<ref name="Meet the Sniper">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper.htm|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Meet the Sniper|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2008-06-17}}</ref> equipped with a [[laser sight]]ed [[sniper rifle]] to attack enemies from afar, a [[submachine gun]] for close combat, and a [[kukri]] for melee attacks.<ref name="IGN-classes" /> The last support class is the [[French people|French]], deadpan Spy (also voiced by Dennis Bateman): in addition to a [[revolver]], he is equipped with covert tools, such as a temporary [[cloaking device]], an electronic sapper to sabotage Engineers' structures, and a device hidden in his [[cigarette case]] that gives him the ability to disguise as other players. The Spy can also use his [[Balisong (knife)|butterfly knife]] to stab enemies in the back, which instantly kills them.<ref name="IGN-classes" />
+Valve has stressed their focus on game balance when considering new improvements to the character classes. Every class has its own strengths and weaknesses which leads to reliance on other classes in order to be efficient. This forces gameplay into more strategic thinking and an increased utilization of teamwork than would be found if one class had inherent superior advantages. Each of the classes in the three categories have shared strengths and weaknesses, while each individual class also has its own advantages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=1670|work=Team Fortress 2|title=TF2 Official Blog: A Heavy Problem|date=2008-07-01|accessdate=2008-09-28}}</ref>
 ==Development==
+{{Video game requirements
+|useminandrec = yes
+|platform1    = [[Microsoft Windows]]<ref name="Steam App 440">{{cite web | url = http://store.steampowered.com/app/440/ | title = Team Fortress 2 | accessdate = 2010-08-10 | work = [[Steam (software)|Steam]] | publisher = [[Valve Corporation]]}}</ref>
+|os1          = Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000
+|cpu1         = 1.7 [[Hertz|GHz]]
+|cpu1rec      = 3.0 [[Hertz|GHz]]
+|memory1      = 512 [[Megabyte|MB]] [[RAM]]
+|memory1rec   = 1 [[Gigabyte|GB]] [[RAM]]
+|gpu1         = [[DirectX]] 8.1 video card; 256MB minimum video card memory. (NVIDIA GeForce 5 / ATI x1500 or higher)
+|gpu1rec      = [[DirectX]] 9.0 video card; 512MB recommended video card memory. (NVIDIA GeForce 5000 or higher / ATI Radeon or Sapphire w/ HD support)
+|network1     = Internet Connection; minimum 128kbps with low latency.
+|platform2    = [[Mac OS]]<ref name="Steam App 440" />
+|os2          = [[Mac OS X Leopard|Leopard]] 10.5.8, [[Mac OS X Snow Leopard|Snow Leopard]] 10.6.3
+|memory2      = 1 GB [[RAM]]
+|gpu2         = NVIDIA [[GeForce 8 Series|GeForce 8]] / [[Radeon R520|ATI X1600]] or higher
+|network2     = Internet Connection
+}}
 ===Origins===
-Originally developed as a freeware mod for ''Quake'', ''Team Fortress 2'' switched to the GoldSrc engine in 1998 after the development team of Team Fortress Software – consisting of Robin Walker and John Cook - was first contracted and employed by Valve. At the time, ''Team Fortress 2'' was called ''[[Valve's Team Fortress]]''. At the point of Team Fortress Software's acquisition, production moved up a notch and the game was promoted to a standalone, retail product to tide fans over since, as well as time issues, much of the ''Team Fortress'' player base had purchased ''Half-Life'' solely in anticipation of the free release of ''Team Fortress 2''. Work began on a simple port of the game which was released in 1999 as the free ''Team Fortress Classic''. Notably, ''Team Fortress Classic'' was built entirely within the publicly available GoldSrc Software Development Kit (SDK) as an example to the community and industry of its flexibility.
+[[Team Fortress]] originally began life as a free mod for ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]''. Development on ''Team Fortress 2'' switched to the [[GoldSrc]] engine in 1998 after the development team Team Fortress Software—consisting of Robin Walker and John Cook—were first contracted and finally outright employed by [[Valve Corporation]].<ref name="gamespot 1998-06-01">{{cite web|url=http://gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/news.html?sid=2463316|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|title=''Team Fortress'' Full Speed Ahead|author=Dunkin, Alan|date=1998-06-01|accessdate=2006-06-12}}</ref> At the point of Team Fortress Software's acquisition production moved up a notch and the game was promoted to a standalone, retail product;<ref name="gamespot 1998-06-01" /> to tide fans over, work began on a simple port of the game which was released in 1999 as the free ''[[Team Fortress Classic]]''.<ref name="phl tfc overview">{{cite web|url=http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/tfc/|title=''Team Fortress Classic'' (overview)|publisher=[[Planet Half-Life|Planet ''Half-Life'']]|accessdate=2006-12-02}}</ref> Notably, ''Team Fortress Classic'' was built entirely within the publicly available ''Half-Life'' [[Software development kit|Software Development Kit]] as an example to the community and industry of its flexibility.<ref name="ptf tfc overview">{{cite web|url=http://www.planetfortress.com/tfc/about.shtml|title=About ''Team Fortress Classic''|publisher=PlanetFortress|accessdate=2006-12-02}}</ref>
-Walker and Cook were heavily influenced by their three-month contractual stint at Valve, and began working full-time on their design, which was undergoing rapid metamorphosis. ''Team Fortress 2'' was to be a modern war game, with a command hierarchy including a commander, with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield; parachute drops over enemy territory; networked voice communication; and numerous other innovations.
+Walker and Cook had been heavily influenced by their three month contractual stint at Valve, and now they were working full-time on their design, which was undergoing rapid metamorphosis. ''Team Fortress 2'' was to be a modern war game, with a command hierarchy including a commander with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield, parachute drops over enemy territory, networked voice communication and numerous other innovations.<ref name="gamespot 2000-11-11">{{cite web|url=http://gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/news.html?sid=2652476|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Q&A|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|author=Dawson, Ed|date=2000-11-11|accessdate=2006-12-02}}</ref>[[Image:Tf2 oldstyle.jpg|thumb|left|The game's visual style changed drastically over its development.]]
-===E3 1999===
+===Early development===
-[[Image:Tf2oldstlye.jpg|thumb|left|The original build of Team Fortress 2 had a more realistic style.]]
+The new design was revealed to the public at [[History of E3#1999|E3 1999]], where it earned several awards including Best Online Game and Best Action Game.<ref name="gamecritics awards 1998">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamecriticsawards.com/1999winners.html|publisher=GameCriticsAwards.com|title=Past Winners|accessdate=2008-03-24}}</ref> By this time ''Team Fortress 2'' had gained a new subtitle, ''Brotherhood of Arms'', and the results of Walker and Cook working at Valve were becoming clear. Several new and at the time unprecedented technologies on show: [[Parametric animation]] seamlessly blended animations for smoother, more life-like movement,<ref name="ptf tf2 tech">{{cite web|url=http://www.planetfortress.com/tf2/gameinfo/technology.shtml|title=''Team Fortress 2: Technology|publisher=PlanetFortress|accessdate=2007-04-05}}</ref> and [[Intel]]'s multi-resolution mesh<ref name="ptf tf2 tech" /> technology dynamically reduced the detail of on-screen elements as they became more distant to improve performance<ref name="ptf tf2 tech" /> (a technique made obsolete by decreasing memory costs; today games use a technique known as [[level of detail]], which uses more memory but less processing power). No release date was given at the exposition.
-The new design was revealed to the public at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) where it earned several awards including Best Online Game and Best Action Game. By this time ''Team Fortress 2'' had gained a new subtitle, [[Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms|"Brotherhood of Arms"]], and the results of Walker and Cook working at Valve were becoming clear. Several new, and at the time, unprecedented technologies were on show: parametric animation; seamlessly blended animations for smoother, more life-like movement; and Intel's multi-resolution mesh technology dynamically reducing the detail of on-screen elements as they become more distant to improve performance (a technique made obsolete by decreasing memory costs, since today's games use a technique known as level of detail, which uses more memory but less processing power). No release date was given at the exposition.
+In mid–2000, Valve announced that development of ''Team Fortress 2'' had been delayed for a second time.<ref name="gamespot 2006-06-21">{{cite web|url=http://gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/news.html?sid=2592192|work=[[GameSpot]]|title=New Engine for ''Team Fortress 2''|author=Park, Andrew Seyoon|date=2000-06-21|accessdate=2006-07-12}}</ref> They attributed the delay to development switching to an in-house, proprietary engine that is today known as the [[Source engine]]. It was at around this time that all news ran dry and ''Team Fortress 2'' entered six years of silent development.<ref name="gametrailers-orangeboxinterview">{{cite web|url=http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24305.html|publisher=[[GameTrailers]]|title=Orange Box Interview|date=August 29, 2007|accessdate=2007-08-29}}</ref> During that time, both Walker and Cook worked on various other Valve projects—Walker was project lead on ''[[Half-Life 2: Episode One]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200605/N06.0526.1422.35562.htm|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080516082810/http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200605/N06.0526.1422.35562.htm|archivedate=2008-05-16|title=Half-Life 2: Episode One Hands-On, Details, And Extensive Video Interview|publisher=[[Game Informer]]|first=Billy|last=Berghammer|date=2006-05-26|accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref> and Cook became a [[Steam (software)|Steam]] developer<ref>{{cite web|url=http://steamreview.org/posts/friends3interview/|title=Friends 3.0 Pre-beta Interview|publisher=The Steam Review|date=2006-01-26|accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref>—raising doubts that ''Team Fortress 2'' was really the active project that would be repeatedly described.
-In mid-2000, Valve announced that ''Team Fortress 2'''s development had been delayed for a second time. They put the news down to development switching to an in-house, proprietary engine that is today known as the [[Source engine]]. It was at around this time that all news ran dry, and ''Team Fortress 2'' entered its notorious six-year vaporware phase, which was to last until July 13, 2006. During that time, both Walker and Cook worked on various other Valve projects – Walker was project lead on ''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' and Cook became a [[Steam]] developer among other things – raising doubts that ''Team Fortress 2'' was really the active project that was being repeatedly described.
+===Final design===
+The next significant public development occurred in the run up to ''[[Half-Life 2|Half-Life 2's]]'' 2004 release: Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi claimed that ''Team Fortress 2'' was still in development and that information concerning it would come after ''Half-Life 2''{{'}}s release. This did not happen; nor was any news released after Lombardi's similar claim during an early interview regarding ''[[Half-Life 2: Episode One]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hl2world.com/bbs/here-vt41914.htm|title=HL2World's Interview With Doug Q+A|publisher=hl2world.com|author=OnboardError|date=2005-11-17|accessdate=2008-03-26}}</ref> Before ''Episode Two'''s release [[Gabe Newell]] again claimed that news on ''Team Fortress 2'' would be forthcoming, and ''Team Fortress 2'' was re-unveiled a month later at the July 2006 EA Summer Showcase event.<ref name="gamespot 2006-07-13" />
-=== "Invasion" design ===
+{{Imageframe|width=200|align=right|content=
-{{see also|Invasion}}
+[[Image:TF2 RED base.jpg|200px|The exterior of a RED base, showing warm colors, angular shapes and wooden construction materials]]
+[[Image:TF2 BLU base.jpg|200px|The exterior of a BLU base on the same map, using cooler colors, orthogonal shapes and metal construction]]
+|caption=Both teams sport their own art style to help players navigate the levels.}}
-[[File:Invaliencommando.png|thumb|80px|left|Alien commando.]]
+Walker revealed in March 2007 that Valve had quietly built "probably three to four different games" before settling on their final design.<ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-26">{{cite web|url=http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0326.1849.05812.htm|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070403160515/http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0326.1849.05812.htm|archivedate=2007-04-03|title=The History Of ''Team Fortress 2''|publisher=[[Game Informer]]|author=Berghammer, Billy|date=2007-03-26|accessdate=2007-04-05}}</ref> Due to the game's lengthy development cycle it was often mentioned alongside ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'', another long-anticipated game that had seen many years of protracted development and engine changes.<ref name="wired-vaporware" /> The beta release of the game featured six multiplayer maps, of which three contain optional commentary by the developers on the game design, level design and character design, and provide more information on the history behind the development.<ref name="commentary">{{cite video game|title=Team Fortress 2|developer= [[Valve Corporation]] |date=2007|platform = PC|level= In-game development commentary}}</ref>
-[[File:Invhumancommando.png|thumb|80px|right|Human commando. See [[Concept art#Other_art|concept art]].]]
-When the infamous ''Half-Life 2'' source tree was leaked in late 2003, two ''Team Fortress 2'' models were included along with the ''Team Fortress 2'' source code – which was fully compilable. They consisted of an alien grunt and a very stylized, out-of-proportion human soldier. The code was interpreted by fans as making references to parts of the ''Half-Life'' backstory; however, the two leaked player models did not resemble any known style from the ''Half-Life'' series, leading many to think it was meant for ''Team Fortress 2''.
+''Team Fortress 2'' does not attempt the realistic graphical approach used in other Valve games on the [[Source engine]] such as ''Half-Life 2'', ''[[Day of Defeat: Source]]'' and ''[[Counter-Strike: Source]]''. Rather, it uses a more stylized, cartoon-like approach "heavily influenced by early 20<sup>th</sup> century commercial illustrations"<ref name="illustrativepaper">{{cite web |author=Mitchell, Jason; Francke, Moby; Eng, Dhabih |url=http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2007/NPAR07_IllustrativeRenderingInTeamFortress2.pdf |title=Illustrative Rendering in ''Team Fortress 2'' |publisher=[[Valve Corporation]] |date=August 6, 2007 |accessdate=August 10, 2007 |format=PDF}} [http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2007/NPAR2007_IllustrativeRenderingInTeamFortress2.wmv Video summary] (WMV, 75.4MB)</ref> and achieved with extensive use and manipulation of [[phong shading]].<ref name="gameinformer 2007-03-28" /><ref name="ign 2006-07-14">{{cite web|url=http://pc.ign.com/articles/718/718838p1.html|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Teaser Impressions|publisher=IGN|date=2006-07-14|author=Roper, Chris|accessdate=2006-07-19}}</ref> The development commentary in the game suggests that part of the reason for the cartoonish style was the difficulty in explaining the maps and characters in realistic terms. The removal of an emphasis on realistic settings allows these explanations to be sidestepped.<ref name="commentary" /> The game debuted with the [[Source engine]]'s new dynamic lighting, shadowing and soft particle technologies, among many other unannounced features, alongside ''[[Half-Life 2: Episode Two]]''. ''Team Fortress 2'' was also the first game to implement the Source engine's new Facial Animation 3 features.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://steamgames.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=1039|title=Face-to-face with ''TF2''{{'}}s heavy |publisher=[[Valve Corporation]] |first=Jason |last=Ruymen |date=2007-05-14 |accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref>
-The [[Source SDK]] was released with the ''Half-Life 2'' source code, and also provided references to ''Team Fortress 2''. Some code merely confirmed what was already believed, but other segments provided completely new information such as the presence of NPCs in multiplayer matches, the possibility of the game taking place in the ''Half-Life 2'' universe, fixed plasma gun and missile launcher emplacements, and more.
+The art style for the game was inspired by [[J. C. Leyendecker]], as well as [[Dean Cornwell]] and [[Norman Rockwell]].<ref name="illustrativepaper" /> Their distinctive styles of strong silhouettes and shading to draw attention to specific details were adapted in order to make the models distinct, with a focus on making the characters' team, class and current weapon easily identifiable. Silhouettes and animation are used to make the class of a character apparent even at range, and a color scheme that draws attention to the chest area brings focus to the selected weapon.<ref name="cgsociety">{{cite web|url=http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4338|title=Visual Design, Comic Game Action, with a purpose|publisher=CGSociety|author=Hellard, Paul|date=2007-12-01|accessdate=2008-03-18}}</ref> The voices selected for each of the classes were based on imagining what people from the 1960s would expect the classes to have sounded like, according to writer [[Chet Faliszek]].<ref name="portal 2 writers">{{cite web | url = http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/03/12/feature-writers-block-valve-writers-talk-portal-2.aspx | title = Writer's Block: Portal 2 Writers Roundtable | first = Ben | last = Reeves | date =2010-03-12 | accessdate = 2010-03-13 | work = [[Game Informer]] }}</ref>
-None of the leaked information appears to have had any bearing on today's version of the game. This iteration was mentioned in an August 2007 interview with Gabe Newell by GameTrailers and [http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/09/interview-valve-on-13-things-theyve-failed-at/ a September 2010 interview with PC Gamer], in which he mentions "Invasion" as being the second phase of ''Team Fortress 2'''s development under Valve Software.
+The map design has a strong [[villain|evil genius]] theme with archetypical spy fortresses, concealed within inconspicuous buildings such as industrial warehouses and farms to give plausibility to their close proximities; these bases are usually separated by a neutrally-themed space. The bases hide exaggerated super weapons such as [[laser|laser cannons]], [[nuclear weapon|nuclear warheads]], and [[missile|missile launch facilities]], taking the role of objectives.  The maps have little visual clutter and stylized, almost impressionistic modeling, to allow enemies to be spotted more easily. The impressionistic design approach also affects [[texture mapping|texture]]s, which are based on photos that are filtered and improved by hand, giving them a tactile quality and giving ''Team Fortress 2'' its distinct look. The bases are designed to let players immediately know where they are. RED bases use warm colors, natural materials and angular shapes, while BLU bases use cool colors, industrial materials and [[orthogonality|orthogonal]] shapes.<ref name="cgsociety" />
-===Final design===
+===Release and ongoing development===
-[[Image:Tf2newstyle.jpeg|thumb|right|The final build of Team Fortress 2 goes for a highly stylized 'retro' design.]]
+During the July 2006 [[Electronic Arts]] press conference, Valve revealed that ''Team Fortress 2'' would ship as the multiplayer component of ''[[The Orange Box]]''. A conference trailer showcasing all nine of the classes demonstrated for the first time the game's whimsical new visual style. [[Managing director]] of Valve [[Gabe Newell]] said that the company's goal was to create "the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game".<ref name="gamespot 2006-07-13" /> A [[beta release]] of the entire game was made on Steam on September 17, 2007 for customers who had pre-purchased ''[[The Orange Box]]'', who had activated their ''Black Box'' coupon, which was included with the ATI HD 2900XT Graphics cards, and for members of the [[Valve Cyber Café Program]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/819/819447p1.html|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Beta Begins Next Week|publisher=IGN|first=Daemon|last=Hatfield|date=2007-09-11|accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/18/team-fortress-2-beta-now-available/|title=''Team Fortress 2'' beta now available|publisher=Joystiq|first=Justin|last=McElroy|date=2007-09-18|accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref> The beta continued until the game's final release.
-The next significant public development occurred in the run up to ''Half-Life 2's'' 2004 release: Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi claimed that ''Team Fortress 2'' was still in development and that information concerning it would come after ''Half-Life 2's'' release. This did not happen, nor was any news released after Lombardi's similar claim during an early interview regarding ''Half-Life 2: Episode One''. Near the time of ''Episode One's'' release, Gabe Newell again claimed that news on ''Team Fortress 2'' would be forthcoming – and this time it was. ''Team Fortress 2'' was unveiled again a month later at the July 2006 EA Summer Showcase event.
+The game was released on October 10, 2007, both as a standalone product via Steam and at retail stores as part of ''The Orange Box'' compilation pack, priced at each gaming platform's [[Suggested retail price|recommended retail price]]. ''The Orange Box'' also contains ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', ''Half-Life 2: Episode One'', ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'', and ''[[Portal (video game)|Portal]]''. Valve offered ''The Orange Box'' at a ten percent discount for those who pre-purchased it via Steam before the October 10, release, as well as the opportunity to participate in the beta test.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=1209|title=''Team Fortress 2'' beta now open|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|first=Chris|last=Bokitch|date=2007-09-18|accessdate=2008-05-05}}</ref>
-Walker revealed in March 2007 that Valve had quietly built "probably three to four different games" before settling on their final design. Due to the game's lengthy development cycle it was often mentioned alongside ''Duke Nukem Forever'', another long-anticipated game that went through many years of protracted development and engine changes before being released.
+Since the release of ''Team Fortress 2'', Valve has continually released free updates and [[patch (computing)|patches]] through Steam. In addition, the game is also being expanded by fans with the tools used by Valve to create the game. Valve has included some of the most popular community-created levels in the official updates.<ref name="Pyro Update" /> In January 2010 Valve started allowing users to submit additional content, such as hats, weapons and Steam avatars, through a contribution site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3327&p=1|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Yo, a little help here?|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2010-04-06|date=2001-01-13|first=TF2 Team}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/contribute/|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Contribute|work=Team Fortress 2|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2010-04-06|date=2009-04-02}}</ref> The first such update with community-made content was released in March with several new hats and weapons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://store.steampowered.com/news/3619/|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Update Released|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2010-03-18|accessdate=2010-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3618&p=1|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Nice goin', pardner|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2010-03-18|accessdate=2010-04-06|first=TF2 Team}}</ref> A current series of updates sees the classes gaining alternate weapons with different abilities, while putting in certain drawbacks to each unlockable weapon to maintain balance. The Medic, Pyro, Heavy, Scout, Sniper, Spy, "Classless", "Hallowe'en", Demoman, Soldier, and Engineer updates have been completed, together updating all nine of the classes.<ref name="Gold Rush" /><ref name="Pyro Update" /><ref name="Steam_announcement">{{cite web|url=http://store.steampowered.com/news/1627/|title=Steam announcement of updates (Meet the Sniper and Pyro unlockables)}}</ref><ref name="TF2 blog April 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2394|work=Team Fortress 2|title=Wave goodbye to yer head, wanker|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|accessdate=2009-04-03|date=2009-04-02|first=Greg|last=Cherlin}}</ref> Later updating included the ability to craft new equipment in game,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96836-Valve-Brings-Crafting-to-Team-Fortress-2 | title = Valve Brings Crafting to Team Fortress 2 | first = Andy | last = Chalk | publisher = [[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] | date= 2009-12-14 | accessdate= 2011-01-15 }}</ref> trade items with other players,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/65093 | title = Team Fortress 2 Getting Item Trading, Oodles of New Items Next Month | date = 2010-08-10 | accessdate=  2011-01-15 | first = Alice | last = O'Conner | publisher = [[Shacknews]] }}</ref> purchase in-game items through funds in Steam,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/09/30/team-fortress-2-store/ | title = 'Team Fortress 2' In-Game Store Launches, Here's How It Works | first = Russ | last = Frushtick | date =2010-09-30 | accessdate= 2011-01-15 | publisher = [[MTV]] }}</ref> and save and edit replay videos that can be posted to [[YouTube]].<ref>{{cite web | url = ww.gamasutra.com/view/news/34538/Team_Fortress_2_Update_Adds_Replay_Editor.php | title = Team Fortress 2 Update Adds Replay Editor | first = Mike | last = Rose | date =2011-05-06 | accessdate = 2011-05-06 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> Valve has also occasionally released new game types as part of their updates, such as the aforementioned Payload<ref name="Gold Rush" /> and Payload Race,<ref name="SpyUpdate-Valve" /> a Training mode for practicing,<ref name="macosx release">{{cite web | url = http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/06/11/team-fortress-2-adds-training-mode-mac-support/ | title = Team Fortress 2 adds training mode, Mac support | first = Jaz | last = McDougall | date = 2010-06-11 | accessdate = 2011-01-15 | work = [[PC Gamer]] }}</ref> Highlander which restricts each team to nine players with each member playing a different class,<ref>{{cite web|last=Bailey |first=Kat |url=http://www.1up.com/news/valve-adds-highlander-mode-team |title=Valve Adds Highlander Mode to Team Fortress 2 |publisher= [[1UP.com]] |date=2010-02-04 |accessdate=2011-01-15}}</ref> and a Medieval mode where players are restricted to melee weapons and era projectile weapons like longbows.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106325-Valve-Celebrates-the-Miracle-of-Australian-Christmas |title =Valve Celebrates the Miracle of Australian Christmas | date = 2010-12-21 | accessdate= 2011-01-15 | first = Andy |last = Chalk | publisher = [[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] }}</ref> Valve has created a [[blog]] to keep players up to date with the ongoing developments in ''Team Fortress 2''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://store.steampowered.com/news/1636/|title=Steam News&nbsp;— Team Fortress 2 Blog Available|date=2008-06-19|accessdate=2008-06-21}}</ref>
-The beta release of the game featured six multiplayer maps of which three contain optional commentary by the developers on game design, level design, and character design, and provide more information on the history behind the development.
+Development of the new content has been confirmed for the Xbox 360, while development for the PlayStation 3 was deemed "uncertain" by Valve.<ref name="Shacknews_360_updates">{{cite web|url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52789|title=''Team Fortress 2'' 360 DLC Details Due 'Pretty Soon,' Fate of PlayStation 3 Content Uncertain|publisher=[[Shacknews]]|date=2008-05-21|accessdate=2008-05-21}}</ref> However, the PlayStation 3 version of ''Team Fortress 2'' received an update that repaired some of the issues found within the game, ranging from graphical issues to online connectivity problems; this update was included in a patch that also repaired issues found in the other games within ''The Orange Box''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/51865|title=The Orange Box PS3 Patch Released|date=2008-03-20|accessdate=2008-12-23}}</ref> The updates released on PC and planned for later release on Xbox 360 include new official maps and game modes, as well as tweaks to classes and new weapons that can be unlocked through the game's achievement system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/news.html?sid=6189377&tag=nl.e579|title=Team Fortress 2 Updated Hands-On&nbsp;— Goldrush, New Achievements, New Items|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|first=Andrew|last=Park|accessdate=2008-04-23}}</ref> The developers attempted to negotiate with Xbox 360 developer [[Microsoft]] to keep the Xbox 360 releases of these updates free,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=166408|title=Valve wants free Team Fortress 2 expansions|publisher=[[GamePro]]|first=Jack|last=Loftus|date=2008-03-05|accessdate=2008-03-23|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080308083714/http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=166408|archivedate=2008-03-08}}</ref> but Microsoft refused and Valve announced that they would release bundles of several updates together to justify the price.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54351 |title=Valve Bringing Team Fortress 2 Updates to Xbox 360, Being Forced to Charge Gamers|publisher=[[Shacknews]]|first=Chris|last=Faylor|date=2008-08-22|accessdate=2008-10-16}}</ref>
-''Team Fortress 2'' does not attempt the realistic graphical approach used in other Valve games using the Source engine such as ''Half-Life 2'', ''Day of Defeat: Source'', and ''Counter-Strike: Source''. Rather, it uses a more stylized, cartoon-like approach "heavily influenced by early 20th century commercial illustrations." The effect is achieved using a special Valve in-house rendering and lighting technique making extensive use of 'Phong shading'. The development commentary in the game suggests that part of the reason for the cartoonish style was the difficulty in explaining the maps and characters in realistic terms. The removal of an emphasis on realistic settings allows these questions to be sidestepped. The game debuts with the Source engine's new dynamic lighting, shadowing and soft particle technologies, among many other unannounced features, alongside ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two''. ''Team Fortress 2'' was also the first game to implement the Source engine's new Facial Animation 3 features.
+On June 10, 2010, Team Fortress 2 was released for [[Mac OS X]], shortly after the release of Steam for the Mac OS X.<ref name="macosx release" /> The release was teased by way of an image similar to early [[iPod advertising]], showing a dark silhouette of the Heavy on a bright green background, his Sandvich highlighted in his hand.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62617 | title = Valve Teases Announcement with Mystery Images; Steam Coming to Mac? | first = Chris | last = Faylor  |date = 2010-03-03 | accessdate = 2011-01-15 | publisher = [[Shacknews]]}}</ref> Virtual [[Apple earbuds|earbuds]], which can be worn when playing on either Mac or Windows once acquired, were given to players playing the game on a Mac before June 14,<ref name="tf2mac">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3929&p=1|title=Wow, you guys are GOOD|publisher=Valve Corporation|date=2010-06-10|accessdate=2010-06-10}}</ref> though the giveaway period was later extended to August 16.<ref name="earbuds">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/macupdate/earbuds/|title=Team Fortress 2 - The Mac Update! - Earbuds|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2010-06|accessdate=2010-09-30}}</ref>
-The art style for the game was inspired by J. C. Leyendecker, as well as Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell. Their distinctive styles of strong silhouettes and shading to draw attention to specific details were adapted in order to make the models distinct, with a focus on making the characters' team, class, and current weapon easily identifiable. Silhouettes and animation are used to make the class of a character apparent even at range, and a color scheme that draws attention to the chest area brings focus to the selected weapon.
+====Free-to-play====
+On June 23, 2011, Valve announced that ''Team Fortress 2'' would become a [[free-to-play]] title; the core game could be enjoyed for free, while unique equipment, character outfitting, and the like would be available as [[microtransaction]]s through the in-game store tied through Steam.<ref name="f2p">{{Cite web | url = http://www.develop-online.net/news/38103/Team-Fortress-2-becomes-free-forever | title = Valve: Team Fortress 2 is free forever | first = Rob | last = Crossley | date = 2011-06-23 | accessdate=  2011-06-23 | work = [[Develop (magazine)|Develop]] }}</ref> Though Valve will continue to add items to the store to support the game, Walker asserted they will continue to provide new features and items for free.<ref name="f2p"/> Walker noted that through various promotions, Valve has come to understand the wide range of players that continue to play the game, and that for the multiplayer title, "the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer".<ref name="f2p"/> The move came a week after Valve introduced several other third-party free-to-play games to the Steam service, and commented to journalists that they were working on their own free-to-play title.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111168-Valve-Says-Its-Working-on-a-Free-to-Play-Game | title = Valve Says It's Working on a Free-to-Play Game | first = John | last = Funk | publisher = [[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] | date = 2011-06-20 | accessdate= 2011-06-20 }}</ref>
-Maps are designed with a neutral space between two bases. They are archetypal spy fortresses, but disguised as inconspicuous buildings to give plausibility to their close proximities. The maps have little visual clutter and stylized, almost impressionistic modeling, to allow enemies to be spotted more easily. The impressionistic design approach also affects textures, which are based on photos that are filtered and improved by hand, giving them a tactile quality and giving ''Team Fortress 2'' its distinct look. The bases are designed to let players immediately know where they are. The RED base uses warm colors, natural materials, and angular shapes, while the BLU base uses cool colors, industrial materials, and orthogonal shapes.
+===Marketing===
+[[Image:Meet The Scout.jpg|right|thumb|The Scout talks about himself in his entry into the "Meet the Team" series.]]
+To promote the game, Valve has released an ongoing video advertisement series entitled "Meet the Team" since May 2007. Constructed using the game engine and slightly more detailed character models, the series consists of short videos on individual characters, displaying their personalities and tactics. The videos are usually interspersed with clips of the character in combat in the game. The manners which these are presented have varied drastically: the first installment, "Meet the Heavy", depicted an interview with the gun-obsessed Eastern European<ref name="Meet the Heavy" /> while "Meet the Soldier" showed the Soldier giving a misinformed lecture on [[Sun Tzu]] to a collection of severed heads as if to raw recruits.<ref name="Meet the Soldier" /> The videos are generally released through Valve's services, though in one notable exception, the "Meet the Spy" video was leaked on YouTube during the Sniper/Spy update week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kotaku.com/5257925/meet-the-spy-quite-the-ladies-man|title=Meet the Spy, Quite The Ladies Man | publisher = Kotaku | first = Mike | last = Fahey | date = 2009-05-16 | accessdate = 2009-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2515|title=Getting to the bottom of things|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|first=Robin|last=Walker|work=Team Fortress 2|date=2009-05-18|accessdate=2009-05-20}}</ref>
+The "Meet the Team" videos are based on the audition scripts used for the voice actors for each of the classes; the "Meet the Heavy" scripts is nearly word-for-word a copy of the Heavy's script. More recent videos, such as "Meet the Sniper", contain more original material.<ref name="kotaku meet videos">{{cite web | url = http://kotaku.com/5273555/valve-dreams-of-team-fortress-2-movie-divulges-meet-the-team-origins | title = Valve Dreams Of Team Fortress 2 Movie, Divulges 'Meet The Team' Origins | publisher = Kotaku | first = Stephan | last = Tolito | date = 2009-05-31 | accessdate = 2009-05-31 }}</ref> The videos have been used by Valve to help improve the technology for the game, specifically improving the facial animations, as well as a source of new gameplay elements, such as the Heavy's "Sandvich" or the Sniper's "Jarate".<ref name="kotaku meet videos" /> As of now, the only character class that does not have it's own video is the Pyro, whom has been announced for a 2012 release. Newell has stated that Valve is using the "Meet the Team" shorts as a means of exploring the possibilities of making feature film movies themselves. Newell believed that only game developers themselves have the ability to bring the interesting parts of a game to a film, and suggested that this would be the only manner through which a ''Half-Life''-based movie would be made.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30146/Newell_GameMakers_Are_Best_Equipped_To_Turn_Games_Into_Movies.php | title = Newell: Game-Makers Are Best Equipped To Turn Games Into Movies | first = Simon | last = Parkin | date = 2010-08-30 | accessdate =2010-08-30 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref>
-===Release===
+In more recent major updates to the game, Valve has presented teaser images and online comic books that expand the fictional history of the ''Team Fortress 2'', as part of the expansion of the "cross-media property", according to Newell.<ref name="tf2 comics" /> In August 2009, Valve brought aboard American comic writer [[Michael Avon Oeming]] to teach Valve "about what it means to have a character and do character development in a comic format, how you do storytelling".<ref name="tf2 comics">{{cite web | url = http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/59993 | title = Valve Talks Team Fortress 2 Comic Book Plans, Movie and TV Show Possibilities | first = Alice | last=  O'Conner | date = 2009-08-14  | accessdate=  2010-07-08 | publisher = [[Shacknews]] }}</ref> "Loose Canon", a comic associated with the Engineer Update, establishes the history of RED versus BLU as a result of the last will and testament of Zepheniah Mann in 1890, forcing his two bickering sons Blutarch and Redmond to vie for control of Zepheniah's lands between them; both have engineered ways of maintain their mortality to the present, waiting to outlast the other while employing separate forces to try to wrest control of the land.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101872-TF2-Update-The-Engineer-With-the-Golden-Wrench | title = TF2 Update: The Engineer With the Golden Wrench | date = 2010-07-05 | accessdate = 2010-07-08 | first = Andy | last = Chalk | publisher = [[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] }}</ref> This and other comics also establish other background characters such as Saxton Hale, the CEO of Mann Co., the company that provides the weapons for the two sides and was bequeathed to one of Hale's ancestors by Zepheniah, and the Administrator, the game's announcer, that watches over and encourages the RED/BLU conflict.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96688-Valve-Teases-TF2-Demoman-and-Soldier-Updates | title = Valve Teases TF2 Demoman and Soldier Updates | first =John | last = Funk | date = 2009-12-09 | accessdate= 2010-07-08 | publisher = [[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] }}</ref> The collected comics were published by [[Dark Horse Comics]] in ''Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories'', a volume along with other comics created by Valve for ''Portal 2'' and ''Left 4 Dead'', and released in November 2011.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35767/Comic_Book_Based_On_Valve_Strips_Coming_This_November.php | title = Comic Book Based On Valve Strips Coming This November | first = Mike | last=  Rose | date = 2011-07-11 | accessdate = 2011-07-11 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref>
-During the July 2006 Electronic Arts press conference, Valve revealed that ''Team Fortress 2'' would ship as the multiplayer component of ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two''. A conference trailer demonstrated the game's new graphical style featuring all of the original ''Team Fortress'' classes, pointed towards a more light-hearted and whimsical visual style as opposed to the dark, somewhat more traditional, military simulation that had originally been shown. Gabe Newell, the managing director of Valve, said that their goal was to create "the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game."
-A beta for ''Team Fortress 2'' was released via Steam on September 17, 2007 for customers who pre-purchased The Orange Box and for those who activated their "Black Box" coupon, which was included with ATI HD 2900XT Graphics cards. In addition to The Orange Box customers, LAN gaming centers using the 'Steam for Cafe' system had the game installed and ready to play.
+Valve had provided other promotions to draw players into the game. Valve has held weekends of free play for ''Team Fortress 2''.<ref name="shacknews_lombardi_interview_pt2">{{cite web|url=http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=874|title=Valve Interview Part 2: ''Left 4 Dead'' Demo Potential, the Evolution of Steam, and More|publisher=[[Shacknews]]|date=2008-05-23|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> Through an early update, hats and accessories can be changed or added to any of the classes, giving players some ability to customize the look of their character. Hats can be gained as a rare random drop, through the crafting / trading systems, or via [[cross-promotion]]: Limited-edition hats have been awarded for pre-ordering or gaining [[Achievement (video gaming)|Achievements]] in other content from Steam, both from Valve (such as ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]''<ref name="billhat">{{cite web|url=http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=3045|title=Pre-Order Giveaway Madness!|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=November 2, 2009|accessdate=September 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name="elliscap">{{cite web|url=http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=4441&p=1|title=Free Hats!|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=October 6, 2010|accessdate=October 6, 2010}}</ref> and ''[[Alien Swarm]]'') or other third-party games such as ''[[Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse]]'', ''[[Worms Reloaded]]'' or ''[[Poker Night at the Inventory]]'' (which features the Heavy class as a character). According to Robin Walker, Valve introduced these additional hats as an indirect means for players to show status within the game or their affiliation with another game series simply by visual appearance<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/20/valve-on-the-future-of-team-fortress-2-part-two/ | title = Valve on the future of Team Fortress 2. Part Two | publisher = [[PC World (magazine)|PC World]] | date = 2010-08-20 | accessdate=  2010-08-20 | first = Tom | last = Francis }}</ref> (although a chosen few hats provide stat bonuses when combined with certain equipment).<ref name="itemsets">{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/item_sets/|title=Team Fortress 2 - The Mann-Conomy Update - 5 new item sets for 5 classes|publisher=[[Valve Corporation]]|date=2010-09|accessdate=2011-07-23}}</ref>
-''Team Fortress 2'' was released October 10, 2007 as both a standalone product via Steam and at retail stores as part of The Orange Box – a game bundle pack priced at each gaming platform's standard price. The package also contains ''Half-Life 2'', ''Half-Life 2: Episode One'', ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two''. and ''Portal''. Valve offered The Orange Box at a $5 discount for those who pre-purchased it via Steam before the October 10 release, as well as the opportunity to participate in the final beta test of ''Team Fortress 2''.
+==Reception==
+{{VG Reviews
+|state =
+|1UP = A<ref name="1UP">{{cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3163581|title=''Team Fortress 2'' PC Review|publisher=[[1UP.com]]|first=Shawn|last=Elliot|date=2007-10-10|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref>
+|EuroG = 9/10<ref name="EuroG">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=83375|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Review|publisher=[[Eurogamer]]|first=Tom|last=Bradwell|date=2007-10-10|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref>
+|GSpot = 8.5/10<ref name="GSpot">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews|title=''Team Fortress 2'' for PC review|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|first=Chris|last=Watters|date=2008-05-03|accessdate=2008-05-06}}</ref>
+|GSpy = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="GSpy">{{cite web|url=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/team-fortress-2/826482p1.html|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Review|publisher=[[GameSpy]]|first=Sal|last=Accardo|date=2007-10-10|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref>
+|IGN = 8.9/10<ref name="IGN-review" />
+|PCGUK = 94%<ref name="PCGUK" />
+|
+|rev1 = [[GameDaily]]
+|rev1Score = 9/10<ref name="GameDaily" />
+|rev2 = [[MobyGames]]
+|rev2Score = 90%<ref name="mobygames">{{cite web|url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/team-fortress-2/mobyrank|title=''Team Fortress 2'' for Windows|publisher=[[MobyGames]]|accessdate=2008-09-01}}</ref>
+|
+|MC = 92%<ref name="Metacritic" />
+|GR = 92.60%<ref name="GameRankings" />
+|
+|award1 = [[IGN]]'s Best of 2007 Awards: <nowiki></nowiki>
+*Best Artistic Design
+|award2 = 2007 [[1UP.com]] Editorial Awards:<nowiki></nowiki>
+*Best Multiplayer Experience
+*Best Artistic Direction
+|award3 = [[GameSpy]]'s 2007 Game of the Year Awards:<nowiki></nowiki>
+*Best Multiplayer Game of the Year
+*Most Unique Art Style
+}}
+{{see also|The Orange Box#Reception|l1=Critical reception of ''The Orange Box''}}
-==Critical reception==
+Upon release, ''Team Fortress 2'' received widespread critical acclaim, with an overall score of 92% on both [[Metacritic]] and [[GameRankings]].<ref name="Metacritic">{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/teamfortress2 |title=''Team Fortress 2'' (PC: 2007): Reviews|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|accessdate=2008-09-01}}</ref><ref name="GameRankings">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/437678.asp?q=Team%20Fortress%202|title=''Team Fortress 2'' Reviews|publisher=[[GameRankings]]|accessdate=2008-09-01}}</ref> Many reviewers praised the cartoon graphics approach and the resulting light-hearted gameplay,<ref name="GameDaily" /> and the use of distinct personalities and appearances for the classes impressed a number of critics, with ''[[PC Gamer UK]]'' stating that "until now multiplayer games just haven't had it."<ref name="PCGUK" /> Similarly, the game modes were received well, ''[[GamePro]]'' described the settings as focusing "on just simple fun",<ref name="GamePro">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/games/reviews/139449.shtml|title=''The Orange Box'' Review|publisher=[[GamePro]]|first=Andy|last=Burt|date=2007-10-10|accessdate=2008-05-02|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071011012505/http://gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/games/reviews/139449.shtml|archivedate=2007-10-11}}</ref> while several reviewers praised Valve for the map "Hydro" and its attempts to create a game mode with variety in each map.<ref name="IGN-review" /><ref name="PCGUK" /> Additional praise was bestowed on the game's level design, game balance and teamwork promotion.<ref name="GameSpot">{{cite web|url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2episode2ob/review.html?page=2|title=''The Orange Box'' Review|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|first=Jeff|last=Gerstmann|date=2007-10-11|accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref> ''Team Fortress 2'' has received several awards individually for its multiplayer gameplay<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goty.gamespy.com/2007/multiplayer/10.html|title=GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: ''Team Fortress 2''|publisher=[[GameSpy]]|accessdate=2007-12-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3165432 | title = 2007 1UP Network Editorial Awards | publisher = [[1UP.com]] | accessdate = 2008-02-18}}</ref> and its graphical style,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://goty.gamespy.com/2007/multiplayer/11.html | title = GameSpy Game of the Year 2007: Multiplayer | publisher = [[GameSpy]] | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://goty.gamespy.com/2007/special/29.html | title = GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Special Awards | publisher = [[GameSpy]] | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://bestof.ign.com/2007/pc/12.html | title = IGN Best of 2007: PC&nbsp;— Best Artistic Design | publisher = IGN | accessdate = 2008-02-18}}</ref> as well as having received a number of "game of the year" awards as part of ''[[The Orange Box]]''.<ref name="AIAS">{{cite web |title=11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards |publisher=[[Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences|AIAS]] |url=http://www.interactive.org/awards.php?winners&year=2008 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080319003758/http://www.interactive.org/awards.php?winners&year=2008 |archivedate=2008-03-19 |accessdate=2008-04-24}}</ref><ref name="spike">{{cite web |title=Spike TV Announces 2007 'Video Game Awards' Winners |publisher=[[PR Newswire]] |date=2007-12-08 |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-08-2007/0004719089&EDATE |accessdate=2008-05-01}}</ref>
-''Team Fortress 2'' was very well received by critics and consumers alike. Charles Onyett of IGN awarded ''Team Fortress 2'' an 8.9/10 praising the quirky graphics and fun atmosphere, but criticizing the lack of extra content, like [[bots]], as well as the removal of class-specific Grenades which were one of the defining features of the original ''Team Fortress''. By contrast, ''PC Gamer UK'' praised ''Team Fortress 2'' for removing the Grenade, continuing to compliment Valve Software for the unique nature of each of the game's characters. Despite some mild criticism over map navigation and the Medic class, PC Gamer UK awarded the game 94%. X-Play awarded The Orange Box with its highest rating (5/5) with nothing but good things to say about ''Team Fortress 2''. Review aggregation site Metacritic ranks ''Team Fortress 2'' as having received "universal acclaim", with an average critic review of 92%, based on 12 reviews by game critic sites, and a 9.6/10 rating based on user ratings. As of January 21, 2008, The Orange Box has a GameRankings score of 96.2% on the Xbox 360, making it tied for the highest ranked Xbox 360 game, and a score of 96.2% on the PC.
-{| class="wikitable grid collapsible" width="100%"
-|-
-!class="header" width="6%" |Evaluation
-!class="header" width="14%" |Magazine / Website
-!class="header" width="80%" | View
-|-
-|100
-|[http://www.acegamez.co.uk/reviews_pc/Team_Fortress_2_PC.htm AceGamez]
-|The marriage of highly stylised retro-spy presentation, fresh, high octane action, deep and varied classes and the underlying twinkle of humour in its metaphorical eye make ''Team Fortress 2'' far more than just your average fragfest. Long after the novelty of the graphics wears thin, we are left with a refined and accessible multiplayer game that simultaneously cultivates new players whilst retaining enough depth to accommodate even the hardiest of veterans.
-|-
-|100
-|[http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/team-fortress-2/826482p1.html GameSpy]
-|At this point, it's a leading contender for our Multiplayer Game of the Year, and whether you pick it up as part of the Orange Box package or on its own via the Steam digital download service, it's worth every penny.
-|-
-|96
-|[http://cheatcc.com/pc/rev/teamfortress2review.html Cheat Code Central]
-|''Team Fortress 2'' is a must-buy. It's the most fun you'll have being shot at in a long time.
-|-
-|96
-|[http://www.yougamers.com/reviews/12623_team_fortress_2 YouGamers]
-|When the biggest flaw of the game is that it gets a bit repetitive after the first hundred or so hours of play, you know you have something special.
-|-
-|94
-|[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=173003 PC Gamer UK]
-|Rich, gorgeous and endlessly fun.
-|-
-|93
-|[http://computergames.ro/en/games/viewitem/id/1065/name/team-fortress-2/section/review.html Computer Games Online RO]
-|Watch out though, if you get the taste of it, eventually you might end up telling your boss, "Take it like a man, shorty!"
-|-
-|93
-|PC Zone UK
-|The perfect integration of classes, the character and level design, the visuals, and the level of accessibility. [Dec 2007, p.64]
-|-
-|92
-|[http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r15068.htm GameZone]
-|This game makes me laugh even when I'm losing… an impressive feat.
-|-
-|90
-|[http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=83375 Eurogamer]
-|The game also does a lovely job of framing your relationship with other players and nurturing them.
-|-
-|90
-|[http://www.gamedaily.com/games/team-fortress-2/pc/game-reviews/review/6055/1798/ GameDaily]
-|With a whacky, off-the-wall cartoon style, ''Team Fortress 2'' provides excellent class based multiplayer action. TF2's classes are unique from each other and stand out to fulfill specific roles, but flexible enough to adapt to changing situations.
-|-
-|90
-|Play (Poland)
-|The ideal online shooter: average player can enter the fray and even hurt somebody, while pros will be grinding away milliseconds from the time to carry the suitcase on 2Forts. And all thanks to the fact that among the nine classes there is exactly zero useless ones. The only serious drawback is the disgracefully low number of maps: only six. [Dec 2007]
-|-
-|90
-|[http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3163581 1UP]
-|I loved, loved TF2's cosmetic makeover. "Cartoon come to life" isn't compliment enough. Some cartoons are better animated, more distinctively stylized than others – and, by analogy, this is among the best.
-|-
-|90
-|[http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=8895&sid=7199a8efddca294119c3e596cb55f944 PALGN]
-|''Team Fortress 2'' is, at heart, a gloriously simple game that's been created with style, panache and an undeniable love of gaming. It's the kind of game that you want to show to people who don't play games so that they understand and then either get involved or go away. There is life before ''Team Fortress 2'', and there is life after. After is better.
-|-
-|90
-|[http://gamernode.com/Reviews/4669-Team-Fortress-2/index.html GamerNode]
-|The action is fast-paced and furious, the game's presentation is hilarious and exciting and the gameplay is very easily approachable. Experiment with a few classes or stick with one, but do anything to get your hands on TF2. It'll be an online experience you won't forget.
-|-
-|89
-|[http://pc.ign.com/articles/826/826080p1.html IC-Games]
-|It's one hell of a game. With its powerful artistic style and blazingly quick, yet accessible gameplay, it's enough to melt the icy cynicism imprisoning the hearts of even the most jaded among us. That being said, it's not the most complex shooter out there.
-|-
-|85
-|[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/circuits/25game.html?ex=1193976000&en=51dae43fa7ceed90&ei=5070&emc=eta1 The New York Times]
-|''Team Fortress 2'' is a beautifully designed game with a visual style reminiscent of old Warner Brothers cartoons, and battles that combine strategy with frenetic action. The only real flaw is the documentation, which is far too skimpy to be of any help at all in learning the intricacies of each soldier class.
-|-
-|85
-|[http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/review.html GameSpot]
-|''Team Fortress 2'' sets a brilliant stage for its signature brand of class-based multiplayer mayhem.
-|}
+Although ''Team Fortress 2'' was well received, ''Team Fortress 2''{{'s}} removal of class-specific grenades, a feature of previous ''Team Fortress'' incarnations, was controversial amongst reviewers. [[IGN]] expressed some disappointment over this,<ref name="IGN-review" /> while conversely ''PC Gamer UK'' stated "grenades have been removed entirely&nbsp;— thank God".<ref name="PCGUK" /> Some further criticism came over a variety of issues, such as the lack of extra content such as [[Computer game bot|bots]]<ref name="IGN-review" /> (although Valve have since added bots in an update<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3279|title=Erectin a dispenser|last=Booth|first=Mike|date=2009-12-21|publisher=Valve Corporation|accessdate=22 January 2010}}</ref>), problems of players finding their way around maps due to the lack of a [[Mini-map|minimap]], and some mild criticism over the Medic class being too passive and repetitive in its nature.<ref name="PCGUK" /> The Medic class has since been re-tooled by Valve, giving it new unlockable weapons and abilities.<!-- The other classes getting new weapons is irrelevant to this point, this sentence is a response to Medic criticism. -->
+<!-- Expand on reception for later updates, namely April 2008 update -->
+{{-}}
-===Awards===
+==References==
-''Team Fortress 2'' has won several awards since its release. In its "Best of 2007" awards, IGN.com honored the game with an award for "Best Artistic Design" for the PC. Additionally, ''Team Fortress 2'' received awards for "Best Multiplayer Experience (PC)", and "Best Artistic Direction (PC)" from 1UP.com in its 2007 editorial awards. The game also won "Best Multiplayer Game of the Year" both on the PC and on any platform in GameSpy's 2007 Game of the Year awards along with an award for "Most Unique Art Style".
+{{reflist|30em}}
 ==External links==
-*[http://orange.half-life2.com/tf2.html The ''Team Fortress 2'' page] at the official site of The Orange Box.
+{{commons category}}
-*[http://www.valvesoftware.com/ Valve Software] official site.
+{{wikiquote}}
-*[http://www.teamfortress.com/ The Official Team Fortress 2 Blog]
+<!--======================== {{No more links}} ============================
-'''Major game updates''' (oldest to newest):
+    | PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS IN ADDING MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. Wikipedia  |
-*''[http://steamgames.com/tf2/goldrush/ The Gold Rush Update]'' (04/29/2008)
+    | is not a collection of links nor should it be used for advertising. |
-*''[http://steamgames.com/tf2/pyro/ The Pyro Update]'' (6/19/2008)
+    |                                                                     |
-*''[http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/ A Heavy Update]'' (8/19/2008)
+    |           Excessive or inappropriate links WILL BE DELETED.         |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/scoutupdate/ The Scout Update]'' (2/24/2009)
+    | See [[Wikipedia:External links]] & [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.  |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day01_english.htm The Sniper vs. Spy Update]'' (5/21/2009)
+    |                                                                     |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/day01.php Classless Update]'' (8/13/2009)
+    | If there are already plentiful links, please propose additions or   |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/ Hallowe'en Special]'' (10/29/2009)
+    | replacements on this article's discussion page, or submit your link |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/part1/index.htm WAR! Update]'' (12/17/2009)
+    | to the relevant category at the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org)   |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/119/ 119th Update]'' (04/29/2010)
+    | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template.         |
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/macupdate/ The Mac Update]'' (06/10/2010)
+    ======================= {{No more links}} =============================-->
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/ The Engineer Update]'' (07/08/2010)
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/ The Mann-Conomy Update]'' (09/30/2010)
+* {{official website|http://teamfortress.com/}}
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/screamfortress/ Scream Fortress Update]'' (10/27/10)
+* [http://orange.half-life2.com/tf2.html The ''Team Fortress 2'' page] at the official site of ''The Orange Box''
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/australianchristmas/ Australian Christmas]'' (12/17/10)
+* [http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Main_Page Official ''Team Fortress'' Wiki]
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/hatless/ The Hatless Update]'' (04/14/11)
+* [http://www.youtube.com/user/teamfortress ''Team Fortress 2'' Official YouTube Channel]
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/replayupdate/ The Replay Update]'' (05/05/11)
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/ The Über Update]'' (06/23/11)
+{{Valve games}}
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/manniversary/ The Manniversary Update]'' (10/13/11)
+{{Source engine games}}
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/veryscaryhalloween/ Very Scary Halloween Special]'' (10/27/11)
-*''[http://www.teamfortress.com/australianchristmas2011/ Australian Christmas 2011]'' (12/15/11)
+{{good article}}
-{{Team Fortress series}}
+[[Category:2007 video games]]
+[[Category:First-person shooters]]
+[[Category:First-person shooter multiplayer online games]]
+[[Category:Multiplayer online games]]
+[[Category:PlayStation 3 games]]
+[[Category:Source engine games]]
+[[Category:Valve Corporation games]]
+[[Category:Comedy video games]]
+[[Category:Vaporware]]
+[[Category:Video games with commentaries]]
+[[Category:Mac OS X games]]
+[[Category:Windows games]]
+[[Category:Xbox 360 games]]
+[[Category:Internet memes]]
+[[Category:Video games set in the 1960s]]
+[[Category:Freeware games]]
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