Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 Impressions

I've been playing Team Fortress 2 for a few weeks now and I'm loving it. It might be the most fun multiplayer game I'm playing right now. For those of you not familiar with Team Fortress 2 it is a multiplayer only first person shooter. You can play as any of the 9 classes. Each class has its own weapons and abilities, but they all are really well balanced. For example, the big guy with the chain gun moves really slowly, but the little guy with the shotgun runs really fast. The best part of Team Fortress 2 is that the maps are designed specifically for certain game types. It makes them a lot more fun. You're not going to run into lame game types like you can have in Halo 3 (4 person slayer on Sandtrap I'm looking at you). The game gives you a good amount of stats at the end of each match including how many kills, how much healing, etc. The other great thing Team Fortress 2 does is that it alerts you in game when you've been killed by a person 4 times in a row, or if you kill someone 4 times in a row. When I get killed by the same guy's flame thrower over and over it lets me know and gives me the opportunity to hunt him down to get my revenge. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and that makes it a blast to play.

I also have been spending time with Half-Life 2. I beat the main game and Episode One this weekend. I really like the way the levels are laid out in Half-Life 2. For the most part it is a linear first person shooter, but there are these puzzle elements in the game that are really cool. You'll be running through a city and hit a dead end, and have to figure out how to lower a bridge or restore power to open a gate. None of these puzzle elements are too hard to figure out, but they help set the pace of the game really nicely. One thing I've found I like a lot is that Half-Life 2 lets you carry as many weapons as you find at one time. So, once I find them I can carry a rocket launcher, machine gun, shotgun, pistol, grenades, and a crossbow all at once. This is really nice because each weapon works best against a certain enemy type. Instead of always hunting down a weapon for the enemies I'm facing I just switch that one real quick. They also give you a gravity gun which is one of the best weapons in a shooter since the Shark Gun in Armed and Dangerous. The Gravity Gun lets you pick up items and launch then as a high powered projectile. Some of the most fun ones are barrels of gas and saw blades. It never gets old to cut a row of guys in half with a flying circular saw blade. Half-Life 2 has so many great little things that I've not touched on that keep popping up in my head to write about that I can't get them all listed fast enough. Instead I'm just going to tell you that you should definitely gut your hands on The Orange Box. In addition to Half-Life 2 (and both expansion episodes) it includes Team Fortress 2 and Portal. It is one of the best values for your money for an Xbox 360 game. If anyone disagrees I'm going to assume your either crazy or drunk.