The personality is still there, too. The special taunts each class gets are hilarious, as are the short videos you're able to watch before entering a map for the first time. When someone kills you, the game freeze-frames a view of the guy as he's firing the killing shot (if you're nearby, it points out your corpse, just in case you needed a reminder); a perverse homage to Guy Richie. It's like playing Spy vs. Spy, only you have rocket launchers, and there's a guy with a mini-gun whose grin gets bigger the longer he fires it. It's enough of a cartoon to remind you you're not in a war zone, but it's competitive enough that you hate losing, and the canned boos you hear when the teams tie are even worse. The game is just a blast. It's the best multiplayer I've played in years.
But it's not all perfect. I'm playing the beta version since I pre-ordered the Orange Box, so take these specifics with a grain of salt, but a few of the classes are unbalanced and stray from TF2's teamwork vision because of it. The most glaring at the time of this writing is the Scout, which is so fast it can outrun most people's mouse-tracking abilities and also does devastating close damage with a shotgun and baseball bat. And while it's funny to get brained to the sound of a soft metal tink the first few times, you too will be singing the "nerf the Scout" refrain sooner rather than later. Seriously. Nerf the scout.
The Sniper also needs a bit of tweaking. The rifle isn't quite powerful enough, like I mentioned before. The class itself has relatively low hit points, and since it's vulnerable to all sorts of attacks (the tunnel vision when you're zoomed in is killer), it could use a firepower boost. However, I've not been playing long and have already experienced a few patches, each one changing one thing or another. For instance, the Pyro was a joke a week and a half ago - its short range and low damage made it a sitting duck. But as of the last patch, they're the scariest thing on the map if you're within 10 feet of one. So chances are, Valve is still using the beta to actually test things in addition to market the game.
I now look back on TFC and see a primitive ancestor rather than unspoiled original, which is very rare for me. So often sequels miss the point, accentuate the wrong things, but TF2 doesn't pervert anything. When I choose to play a Sniper, I'm still a Sniper. I'm just a Sniper on a much better team with a more defined role. The game itself is available in Valve's Orange Box, which costs $44.95 on Steam, and will be available as a standalone purchase for $29.95 sometime later. Consider it highly recommended, either as part of the bundle or on its own. For a game you may find yourself playing for the next eight years, it's definitely worth the green.
