I tried out Team Fortress 2 when I got the Orange Box on Xbox, but there weren’t many people playing and the game seemed way too crazy to learn without help. TF2 just went free to play on Steam, so I decided to try it again and give it a whirl. It definitely still is crazy, but a good kind of crazy. Medic!

A Shooter with Class
The most unique thing about Team Fortress 2 is it’s finely balanced class system. A lot of the big name shooters allow you to customize the way you play with loadouts and the like, but TF2 takes this customization to the next level. It features nine different classes split up into three categories: Attack, Defense, and Support.

The classes are incredibly well balanced: different classes can be used to counteract different strategies. There are typical classes like your soldier and sniper, and more interesting classes like the engineer, who can build turrets and other support devices. It’s tough to explain without playing it, but all you need to know is that everything seems almost perfect balance wise.

The drawback of having this many classes in a game is that it’s pretty hard to pick up what’s going on. A friend recommend that I just play as a medic and follow people around healing them, and doing so has given me a feel of what the different strategies for different classes is. The game on Steam also comes with some handy tutorials that help as well.

Learning the Ropes
The tutorials are pretty important, because there is a lot more to learn past just the classes. There are seven game types, and none of them are your typical death match. There is the popular 2 Fort, which is like capture the flag, and Attack/Defense which has one team defending certain control points. There are also interesting game types like Payload, which has two teams essentially racing mining carts against each other. It’s all quite fun.

With 10+ people per team, the games can get pretty hectic. It’s also important to understand the strategy behind the different game types. Needless to say, I don’t understand all of it, but I’m learning and having a lot of fun doing so. I can definitely see how people put 100+ hours into this game, it’s addicting and there always seems to be something new.

Characters Welcome
The last thing to note about Team Fortress 2 is that it has a lot of character. Each character has its own unique voice, and some of them are pretty funny. You also pick up a lot of drops, like hats (which you can also buy, accursed microtransactions!) and weapons which you can switch out to further customize your character.

The cartoony graphics are pretty different than most shooters, but don’t let that fool you: there’s still a lot of blood. The presentation is great and the gameplay feels very tight. All in all, Team Fortress 2 is a heck of a lot of fun to play, plus it’s free. What are you waiting for?

cmfl3x’s article this week had me thinking more about computer gaming lately. Not so long ago, I felt that a lot of game companies decided that they wanted to move towards the console market due to the inherent piracy involved with computer gaming. Yet today, computer gaming is stronger than ever. I’d love to use the term PC gaming instead of computer gaming, but the truth of the matter is, companies like Valve and Blizzard have really been supporting Mac gaming.

The current gaming landscape on the computer is strong enough that I could take a vacation from both my 360 and PS3 and still be quite entertained. Hit the jump for what I consider the games that are keeping computer gaming still relevant in this supposed “console age”.

Starcraft 2
Considering how many articles cmfl3x and I have put out on Leveling Down these past few months, it should come as no surprise how big a game Starcraft 2 is. This was the game that actually got me to come back to spend more than an hour at a time gaming on my PC. The campaign is excellent, the multiplayer addicting, and it works on a variety of different computer specs for both PC and Mac. Blizzard has been supporting Mac for as long as I can remember, with their retail release discs being playable on both PC and Mac.

Starcraft 2 is the sequel to the best RTS of all time. Is it better than the first? Time will tell, but it’s easy to say that it is at least the best RTS out on the market today. With Blizzard releasing the Zerg and Protoss campaigns hopefully sooner rather than later, perhaps we may see new multiplayer units as well in these “expansions” – keeping the game relevant for years to come.

Civilization IV & V
Making big news these days is the recent release of Civilization V. Reviews have been favorable, and while the game isn’t as complete as the current Civilization IV and all its expansions, fans of the 4x strategy games can have fun with the newer Civilization V or the more polished Civilization IV. Sadly, only Civilization IV is available on Mac at this time, but V should release in the future.

If you love strategy games but find it difficult to compete in the real-time nature of Starcraft 2, consider either Civilization IV or V. I remember discovering the Civilization series with Civilization III several years ago. I would play that game and suddenly it would be time for bed. Those of you that have yet to try out Civilization, definitely check out either Civilization IV or V. Steam often puts the complete Civilization IV pack on sale for about $15, so look for that if you can’t afford Civilization V yet or can only game on a Mac.

Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is in such an interesting position for me. This is a game I own on both the 360 and the PC, yet the only experience I really have with the game is from earning all of the Achievements on the 360 version. From what I’ve read, there’s no comparison between the console version and the computer version of Team Fortress 2. While no changes have been made to the original release of the console version, the computer version continues to get support and free updates. These updates include new maps, class changes, new weapons, new gear, random drops, crafting, and most recently, the ability to actually buy items with real money. What Valve has done is taken the computer version of Team Fortress 2 and added all sorts of MMORPG elements to the game for an even more addicting experience while not charging players anything. Some may grumble at the new storefront that Valve has created for selling items, but the strongest argument in favor of this is that without a store, players would just end up selling their items on eBay anyway so might as well let Valve make the money instead of the players themselves.

The Mac version of Team Fortress 2 was just released, and Team Fortress 2 continues to go on sale very often at the Steam Store – sometimes $5 and sometimes $10. Even its $20 price tag is well worth the price. For those gamers that miss the days of PC FPS gaming where you actually connected to servers and got to know the players on a server, the computer version of Team Fortress 2 is what you should call home. Console FPS games and even the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 do not allow for dedicated servers, so consider looking into the computer version of Team Fortress 2 if you want to be more social in your FPS gaming.

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 both continue to get new campaigns and updates on both the 360 and PC. However, while you have to often pay for this DLC on the 360, it’s always free on the PC. Valve just released the Mac version of Left 4 Dead 2, and is planning to release the Mac version of Left 4 Dead 1 by this Halloween. With them both on sale this past week for a little over $10 together, each game is practically cheaper than the DLC that you have to pay for on the 360.

There is no other FPS series out there that relies on co-op as much as the Left 4 Dead games, and only the computer versions allow players to continue downloading all sorts of new maps for free courtesy of the map-making community. While the difference between the console and computer versions of the Left 4 Dead games isn’t as stark as the Team Fortress 2 comparison, if you enjoy getting new content for free and playing on new maps created by fans of the game, the computer version of this series is the way to go.

World of Warcraft
How could I write an article marveling at how strong computer gaming still is today without the behemoth that has always kept computer gaming relevant? World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG in the world, and for good reason: it’s very well designed, enjoyable for gamers of all types, does not require high-end computers, is playable on both PC and Mac, and continues to provide new content. The newest expansion, Cataclysm, is set to launch on December 7, and with the expansion going back to changing the original gameplay world, many ex-World of Warcraft players such as myself are intrigued.

Seriously – the only thing holding me back from jumping back into World of Warcraft these days is that I don’t think I could maintain a good “game and life” balance were I to start World of Warcraft again. Considering you don’t have to really ever play anything else if you start playing World of Warcraft, I feel that the only way I could probably play World of Warcraft again is if I somehow won the lottery and did not have to work any more. My day job would probably end up being to play World of Warcraft. The expansion looks great, and having played the game for a couple years, I have to say that it’s quite addictive. Too addictive is the problem, and it’s not a game I recommend if you want to have a life outside of gaming as well.

Computer Gaming Not Dead Yet
So there you have it – the best RTS game, the best MMORPG, the best 4x strategy games, the best co-op FPS series, and arguably the most addicting teamplay adversarial FPS game are all either only available on the computer or are better supported on the computer. With this heavy lineup of computer games still going strong, if you were interested in playing 1 or 2 of these games, how would you have time to even play games on the console?

World of Warcraft & Team Fortress 2 continue to give PC gamers updates

It’s interesting for me to see the “evolution” of the PC gaming landscape. Growing up on Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem, I’ve lived through the rise and decline of the PC gaming scene, from the introduction of first person shooters, real-time strategy games, online multiplayer, 4X strategy games, and now MMORPGs. If you’ve also grown up with fond memories of Doom & Quake, I highly recommend checking out the book, Masters of Doom. It’s a well-written book that chronicles how John Romero and John Carmack met, formed id Software, and completely shook up the gaming industry. Having said that, today’s entry will contain my more general thoughts on the PC gaming landscape, and why I’m still excited for its present and future.

It’s funny to see how the last twenty or so years in gaming went – PC games spawned new PC games such as FPS and RTS games, and introduced multiplayer gaming. I remember the days of 3DFX, Voodoo cards, and OpenGL. Since then, consoles have really grown up. FPS gaming and multiplayer on consoles have pretty much caught up to PC games, albeit the lack of certain extras among many of them such as free content updates, dedicated servers, etc. RTS games and 4X strategy games are still in their infancy on the consoles, and I can’t really see them taking off too much due to the fact that while the lack of a mouse for a FPS game is not nearly as bad as a lack of a mouse in a RTS/4X game where you’re just navigating around a map. Still, games like Halo Wars and Civilization Revolution are trying. I’ve yet to see a true console MMORPG yet on the 360 outside of Final Fantasy XI (ugh), so maybe we have a ways to go before that starts happening.

In any case, it looks like the PC gaming scene has changed drastically, forming silos around specific companies and their storefronts. Whereas the 360 has the Live Marketplace and the PS3 has the PSN store, there is no real unifying Windows store. Microsoft finally released a Windows Live Gaming store this past week, but it’s far too late and the Windows “Live Gaming” scene is practically dead anyway. I’m appreciating what each of these major PC companies are doing to not only keep PC gaming alive, but to really set themselves up to be the saviors of PC gaming.

The first and most prominent company to keep things going is Valve. If you’ve played Half-Life, Counter-Strike, etc. then you’re probably someone that  can’t dislike the company. Nowadays PC gamers have Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 to play, and while Valve has not quite delivered what they promised in their support for the Left 4 Dead franchise, Team Fortress 2 just continues to ridiculously grow. You can pick up Team Fortress 2 for only a couple dollars these days on the PC, and yet the developers keep adding more and more content. I played through Team Fortress 2 on the Xbox 360, and that was just a barebones version. On the PC, new updates come out all the time, with new weapons and customizable gear for each class, maps, hundreds of new Achievements, and all sorts of gameplay/balance changes. With the newest update, Valve is giving players the ability to customize their hats and weapons for their equipment slots, bringing this FPS game more and more into the realm of MMORPG. It’s fantastic and if you’re a Team Fortress 2 PC gamer, this is a game that just keeps on giving. Kudos to Valve, as Team Fortress 2 on the PC really demonstrates the difference between a PC FPS and a console FPS.

The other company that has been keeping PC gaming relevent for as long as I can remember is Blizzard. People still play Starcraft, Diablo II, and Warcraft III today, and excitement continues to build for the future releases of Starcraft II and Diablo III. While I’ve mentally moved on past World of Warcraft, the newest patch and the upcoming expansion are really making me reconsider jumping back into the game, as the most recently released patch adds full-on matchmaking for dungeons, which means you can easily find a pickup group through an easy to use in-game interface rather than going to town and shouting “LF1M healer”. The upcoming expansion has the developers revisiting the core gameplay world and changing many aspects of that rather than adding in a new continent like Lich King did. In a sense, it is going to bring the WoW population back to the core world, which has been a ghost town since the Expansions. Perhaps when the Cataclysm expansion hits, I may have to check WoW out again.

Stardock is a company that isn’t as strong as Valve or Blizzard but still has PC gaming relevance. In fact, outside of Blizzard, Stardock may be among the last major PC gaming companies that has not started making console games. I’m playing through Galactic Civilizations II Ultimate now, and while it’s not exactly a new game, it’s one of the best 4X strategy games I’ve ever played and I can’t imagine seeing a game of this depth and strategy on a console. The competition that Stardock’s Impulse store gives to Valve’s Steam storefront is a boon for us gamers, as it not only makes the two storefronts compete for our gaming dollars, but each store continues to introduce new features that make you feel more like part of its community. While I didn’t feel that Sins of a Solar Empire had as much depth as Galactic Civilizations II, Stardock continues to work on expansions to this game, to the pleasure of its many fans.

Another company that seems to support the PC gaming scene surprisingly is EA. Of course, the entire Sims franchise has been a huge moneymaker for EA, so they can’t be that against PC gaming. I have the new Command & Conquer 4 Beta installed on my PC, perhaps the last of the franchise that will be coming out in March. Also in March is Battlefield Bad Company 2, a PC FPS game that will support servers – something that the Modern Warfare 2 PC version took away. Let’s also not forget about Dragon Age: Origins, the new RPG game that supposedly plays a lot better on the PC than either of the console versions. So as much as anyone may dislike EA, we can see that the company is still keeping the PC hardcore gaming thriving with their string of varied PC titles: a RTS game, a FPS game, and an RPG game.

Finally, this past week I’ve written about a couple different DotA games, and aTOM boomb has shared his impressions on a couple as well. In any case, I feel like the DotA genre will continue to grow like the Tower Defense genre did. Both genres originated as custom mods in Blizzard’s RTS games, and they will most likely do quite well for PC gaming. I would be interested in seeing a FPS + DotA combination game on the 360, but that may be a few years out.

In any case, while I do tend to spend more time on the 360 than the PC for my gaming, the PC gaming scene is far from dead and I have not only these major companies to thank, but all of the others that still recognize PC gaming and continue to provide us with solid titles that not only play best on the PC, but make use of the PC’s strengths as a gaming platform as well. 2010 looks to still be a big year with PC gaming, as Starcraft II has to come out…right?!

One of my friends asked me last night if I was going to trade in Halo 3: ODST now that I had the 1000 in it. He was saying it gets something like $35, which is pretty good considering we ended up getting it for around that (or even less) when it first came out. In the past, I used to trade in practically any game I got all the Achievements I wanted in and moved onto the next game in my queue.

Over just this past year alone, I’ve started winding down on my gaming tendencies (yes, it’s hard to believe but I’m less hardcore today than I was years ago), and actually started missing games I had gotten rid of. So I started rebuying games that I knew I would want to replay again at some point, just for fun. Looking at my 360 collection today, I’ve realized that more than half of the games I currently own I’ve sold and reacquired.

Nowadays, I’ve decided that no matter how good of a deal it is to trade in/sell a game that I enjoyed, I won’t get rid of it since the amount of work it takes to reaquire the game just doesn’t make up for the nice little “deal” I got when I sold it. What majorly sucks is that several of the games I end up wanting to reacquire turn into Platinum Hits titles, and I hate that design. Therefore, I’m forced to scour used game bins or find people online to buy from that can get me non-platinum hits versions that are not all scratched like crazy. I feel like I’m in some sort of game rebuying netherworld where I’m paying for my mistakes. I owned these games in mint condition and now I’m spending time trying to track these same games down that will no way be in as good condition as when I owned them. Why couldn’t I just have been happy with my original copies and not sell them in the first place?

Currently, I’ve been spending the last few weeks trying to rebuy the following games:

Mass Effect – I actually want to replay through this before playing the sequel coming out early next year, but the tough part is of course finding a non-platinum hits version in great condition.

Assassin’s Creed – Like Mass Effect, I do want to play this game again before the sequel releases next month but have to find a non-platinum hits version in great condition.

Fable 2 – Platinum hits was announced to be released in January, so I still have time to reacquire this game and I know I will want to play through it again before Fable 3 releases.

The Orange Box – I actually have cravings from time to time to play Team Fortress 2, and while I own it on the PC, people on the PC are too hardcore (clans and whatnot) so I just want to play it casually with my 360 controller. Plus, I figure I will want to play Portal again from time to time.

Once I successfully repick up these titles, I’ll only have a few left to go. Good thing I didn’t sell Halo Wars since I do have cravings to play that game too. In any case, that’s my simple warning to you – if you feel like at some point you may want to replay a game (just because it was amazing, you’ll miss it, or a future sequel gets you to want to replay its predecessor, etc.), consider holding onto it. I want to spare you this ordeal that I’m going through today…

The new updates for the Sniper and the Spy have released recently, which include new weapons, gameplay changes, and Achievements for the two classes (the sniper gets a bow?!). Valve has not only made the game free to play for the public this Memorial Day weekend, but also put it on sale for $9.99. Just hop on Steam and give it a download if you’re curious.

Sadly, even though I own it, I still haven’t had a chance to get around to playing it yet, but if any of you do end up getting it, it’ll give me more of a reason to dive into it sooner since I’ll have someone else to play with.

Team Fortress 2 50% off this weekend only! [Steam]