Hello again, everybody. So for the past couple of weeks I have been spending some quality time with a free-to-play game from Steam. Fortress Forever is a mod of Half-Life 2 which was very popular upon its release. The mod had a thriving community and lasted well beyond its expected lifespan. What is Fortress Forever? Well, calling it a Source engine remake of Team Fortress Classic would be a great disservice. This is no remake. This is the game Team Fortress 2 should have been. That's a bold statement, I know, but for anyone who played the original back in the day, you'll know exactly what I mean.
On the surface, the game appears to be TFC with improved graphics. That's true to a certain extent. You get the same classes, same weapons, even the same maps all in the glorious beauty *cough cough* of the Source engine! OK, so maybe upgrading to the Source engine isn't cutting edge, but it does look and feel much more polished than its 1998 counterpart. The graphics are an interesting point, and even a bit tricky. You see, realism is not what this game is going for. Characters are dressed in ridiculously vibrant reds, blues, yellows, and greens, models are cartoonish, and the animations are almost comical. However, all these things that would normally be considered problems actually contribute to the game's style.
You see, Fortress Forever is a very fast-paced game. If you thought Team Fortress 2 was fast, then think again. If you took the TFC formula and combined it with elements from Quake 3, then you've pretty much got an idea of what Fortress Forever feels like. You'll be running at very high speeds with most of your classes, and even the Heavy Weapons Guy is faster than his TF2 iteration. The game has streamlined some of the clunky elements from TFC such as controlling your engineer's buildings and requesting backup via hotkeys. Everything is much more smooth. The game also has an auto-reload that gives even more speed to the gunplay. If you don't like reloading automatically between shots, don't worry; this can be disabled. However, I think it blends in well with the pace of the game. But don't go into this game expecting an easy string of frags. The players currently online are very adept and weapons like shotguns and nailguns don't do a whole lot of damage, even with headshots. But don't think the community is hostile to newcomers. In fact, this game has one of the friendliest communities I've ever seen. Tell the guys it's your first time and you get a lot of cheerful welcomes. Every match generally ends with people congratulating each other. Occasionally you'll even hear someone say "good shot" after getting sniped. I ran into no screaming 11 year-olds and very few vulgar mic spammers. I did get one guy who blasted "Snake Eater" over his mic, which ticked some people off, but I loved. Then he started playing the song "I'm 100% Nigga" and some other racist song I'd never heard before. Things got a little heated after that.
The game is welcoming to new players in other ways. Do you remember having trouble learning to rocket jump in Team Fortress Classic? Remember how frustrating it got? Well new players are now graced with a tutorial mission that teaches them all the tricks of the game. It's well made and informative. I learned a couple new things, myself, and I'm a veteran. Since the game is a bit older, the community is full of empty servers, which is a real shame. If you have a PC, then get this game off of Steam. It's 100% free with no pay-to-win, no microtransactions, and (praise be the name of the Lord) no hats! Get this game for yourself, tell your friends to do the same, and build up that community again. You won't find fun like this in any other title. Except the original, but that will cost you 5 bucks. Worth it, but there's a free version with better graphics, gameplay, and overall design. So what are you waiting for? Leave a like, comment, or both and go get this game! You'll be stealing the enemy flag like a pro in no time. Happy fragging!
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