Given the current scarcity of new games in my Steam library, I have taken it upon myself to write down my thoughts on the newest free content addition to Team Fortress 2.
For those of you unaware of this game, it’s a free-to-play first person shooter (FPS) which has been very prevalent in the gaming community for a good few years and has a rather substantial audience.
It’s quite down to basics in terms of mechanics and I would certainly describe it as one of those ‘fast to learn, ages to master’ type of games.
The community is one of the biggest around and it prospers, especially due to the regular additions of content such as this. Few games of its age get this continued support, let alone a modern title.
Anyway, I should probably get on to mentioning the new game additions. The theme for it all is aliens in a very 1960s-70s retro style which I have to admit, I really do like. Something about poorly made props and weird special effects really suits the game’s already wacky approach to themes and settings.
I can pretty much narrow it down to only two new game mechanics being implemented despite there being four new maps. These new maps include a spaceship tractor beam and some beer bottles. It doesn’t sound like too much in the way of shiny new toys to play with but I think both have their merit.
The tractor beam is by far the better addition as a vacuum cleaner effect is created and all players are sucked up into a spaceship to fight and claim coloured portals to receive temporary power-ups. This is great for a team-based game because manic little events like this spice up stagnant games and make it much more enjoyable.
Secondly, the beer bottle thing I mentioned earlier should probably be elaborated on. Essentially, players drop bottles when killed which can then be collected and dropped in a spaceship; whichever team gets to 100 (or around there) wins. This is not too different from other games where the players drop points when they’re dead.
What I did like however, was firstly that the players with large amounts of bottles could be seen from anywhere on the map, but also that the player who was carrying them could passively heal their teammates if close enough. This encouraged some great teamwork moments and was very much enjoyable.
Before I round off the review I just wanted to give a mention to the fantastic community additions found in this update. Though I haven’t been lucky enough to actually obtain and play around with any of it, I can say for sure that the aesthetic of it all is spot on. It also fits in perfectly with the huge amounts of other items for the game and stands out as recognisable from this update.
In conclusion, the update certainly added some new mechanics that I think were a little on the light side (I’d love to see more stuff like the Australium rocket event). However, I have had great fun with all of it and the content added in the forms of weapons and hats is always a welcome sight. An update that wasn’t quite out of this world, but certainly an enjoyable one nonetheless.