The complete guide to Team Fortress 2

Posted at: Tuesday 9th October 2007 by Josh Blodwell

Team Fortress 2 is Valve's latest FPS and it's set to be just as fiercly competetive as Counter Strike. Don't go into the game unarmed - check out our full guide to TF2's gameplay and character classes, courtesy of Josh Blodwell

There’s no way to actively fire a critical shot – you’ve got to earn them. When you first spawn, you’ve got a relatively low chance of firing a critical shot. Every time you hit an enemy, your chance of getting a critical shot increases. The more aggressive you’re willing to be, the more dangerous you can become – and it allows you a greater chance of dominating other players or getting revenge.

Domination and Revenge

Domination and Revenge are used by TF2 to make the game more personal, in the hope of building relationships between players. If you kill a player four times in a row, you will be classed as ‘dominating’ that player. A Bondesque chord plays, and you are now officially their Nemesis.

When a player has a Nemesis, a pair of boxing gloves appears over the dominating player’s head. This makes the Nemesis stand out in a crowd of players, to give the dominated players a chance to seek revenge by killing the player who’s been picking them off - and it also means you can avoid players who consistently beat you in a fair fight. If you’re becoming particularly disheartened with a particular opponent, changing to Spy then backstabbing a Nemesis is both an effective and satisfying way to regain your honour.

Assists are TF2’s way of rewarding you for playing as part of a team. Even if you aren’t the one who kills an enemy, if you play a part in their destruction you will be awarded an assist point for helping to bring down the blaggard. If you hit an enemy and they escape to be healed, you will not be awarded an assist when they are finally killed.

*UPDATE, December 2008*
Unlocking weapons

Valve's updates to TF2 now allow you to unlock additional weapons some of the character classes. To get access to the new guns, you need to complete achievements for the respective class. The primary weapon is unlocked at 10 completed achievements, secondary with 16, and the melee weapon when you get the 22nd.


Alerts and Voice comms

TF2 makes great use of the voice shortcuts we’ve grown used to in most multiplayer games. The Z key opens a menu for standard sayings, such as calling a medic and then thanking them, X opens the status dialogues for reporting enemies or taking action, and C opens a general menu with jeer, cheers, taunts, and cries.

If you want to communicate effectively, though, you’re better off pressing V and using voice. Be clear and polite, and people will often respond either by doing what you ask of them, or having a chat. When you become comfortable you should start using voice to report spies: ‘There’s a spy going downstairs to the intelligence, disguised as a Pyro!” may save the life of any engineers snoozing in the control room.

Check out the in-depth guide to all the classes below: