Why is TF 2 better than other FPS's?

[heyheysg]

So, just a question raised by friends. People really really like TF2.

What what makes it different in terms of gameplay or balancing that makes it 'better' or more fun than other FPS games?

For example, many games have the similar classes, medics, heavies etc. These games have unique art styles or the same type of weapons (grenade launchers, shotguns etc.)

Aside from being silly (which wouldn't matter if the game sucked) TF2 has really decent balance.

What do you think the difference is?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

TF2 has decent balance compared to most FPS games. Which is nice. It's not perfect, but it's more balanced that most of the shooter market. But if anyone actually claims the game requires teamwork, they are a liar.

It encourages teamwork, but it is entirely possible for a team of people working solely to fulfill their own goals, without a single thought to teamwork, to win regularly. Or even a medic-less team, too.

It's not...better...but it is different. And it's far from perfectly balanced. But you can't show me a perfectly balanced FPS. Because it doesn't exist

 

[mew4ever23]

I'd say the level of customization,

The larger than life characters and their personalities

The meticulous balance

And just the reputation it has from being by Valve.

Oh, also hats.

It's pretty much this. It is quite fun.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Simple: It isn't.

The question was asked in the Op, not the title.

OT: Lots of fun and so replayable. Plus the reasons you mentioned!

 

[DustyDrB]

It has colors, ditches realism, and is well-balanced.

It's pretty much the only FPS I like.

 

[Sephychu]

So much more work put into testing and balance. Combine that with utterly stellar post-release support and a genuinely great core formula for pure fun, and you've got a winner.

 

[ryai458]

Its not, basically its opinion based.

 

[PayneTrayne]

It encourages teamwork, in my experience has less 5 year old racists, looks cool, is pretty cheap, continues to be updated, has hats and has funny characters.

It is no longer the game it was when it came out, the weapons have changed it that much.

 

[rockingnic]

I say TF2 is only great on PC. On the consoles, there's barely anyone playing and those barely use teamwork. On PC, you get a much larger population and those people tend to actually use teamwork. I say it's the community that makes or break a game. IMHO, I prefer Halo: Reach and Killzone 3, atm, over other multipler shooters by miles. The only thing that gets at me about those games is that Halo has alot of immature players, more than I think any game should be allowed to have and only rivaled in that category by COD. Killzone 3 is much better but only 1 out of every 4 games I play actually has someome with a mic and even then, that's only about 2 out of 32 players that can play.

 

[Ampersand]

It looks nice but other then that it's not really that great.

 

[Awexsome]

I put up with a lot of technical trouble with my laptop just to try to get a few games in. And deal with a mouse and keyboard when I far prefer a controller in most any circumstance, but I still love it. The characters and variety each class brings to the table makes it a blast to play.

Not my favorite, Halo still takes that spot for FPS games... But I think I'd put TF2 at a close second.

 

[Plurralbles]

it's not...


I like it and it's a pretty cool thing, but it's not much better than others.

they also ripped it apart and turned it into a cash-in. Stupid hats...

 

[Vern5]

I think its funny that the people who like TF2 all have medium sized posts and the people who don't like TF2 mostly have 5-7 word posts.

OT: I think TF2 is fun because it can appeal to multiple ways of having that fun. During a game, you can pick a class and just do your own thing, if that's what you want, and still have a lot of mindless wacky fun. Or, you could be a good sport and help out your teammates so you can get a lot of "thx" and a modicum of fire support.

The multiple classes all support different styles of play, as well, instead of making everyone a soldier and then adding little tweaks depending on if you want to be a soldier with explosives or a soldier with a defibrillator. You can a be a medic if you're nice, a demoman if you like setting traps, a scout or soldier if you like being offensive (at varying speeds), a heavy or sniper if you like shooting (also at varying speeds and accuracies), a spy if you enjoy being clever and vindictive, or an engineer if you just want to build stuff that will do the heavy work for you.

Couple the diverse content with living, decent developer support and you have a great game that a lot of people will enjoy.

 

[kane.malakos]

There are a lot of different reasons, but the one that has made the most difference is support for the game. The sheer amount of new content that the game has gotten, most of it pretty well-balanced, is impressive. That's the main reason that the console versions are pretty mediocre by all accounts.

 

[Zaik]

No pathetic attempts at realism.

Your character specifically is still throwaway(as in you can die but not be out of the game entirely) without feeling pointless like I did playing the MW1 multiplayer. I was just going in circles around the level hoping I'd run into someone looking the other way, and when someone caught me looking the other way I was almost always dead.

I think that feeling of helplessness when you realize that it's more or less a matter of who sees the other guy first and that everyone can kill everyone else with little more than giving them a funny look is the worst. It's turned me off most multiplayer FPS games. Not an issue in TF2, the only class that can really chew people up is a heavy out in a very open coverless area vs like scouts and/or medics. And I guess any soldier that is good enough to use the direct hit as well as a normal rocket launcher, but that isn't me or anyone I know or have played against.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

For me it's a combination of the variety, the balance, and the utter unrealism of it all. The game is almost as high mobility as the old arena shooters, and would be equally high if bunny hopping hadn't been taken out of the Orange Box version of the Source engine. Further, it has a playstyle for everyone, and each of those playstyles is a hard counter for another one. Is there an engie on the flag? Go demo, soldier, or spy, and take out his nest. Unhappy about that spy that keeps killing you? Go pyro and spycheck the crap out of everyone. I've played plenty of well balanced games, but I've never played one before that has such a strong sense of rock-paper-scissors, at least not in an FPS. It really is a unique game.

All that aside, it's not better than all other FPS games, just the vast majority of them. I've been playing a lot more of the older Battlefield games in the past couple of months than I have TF2, and they're different but I wouldn't say one or the other is objectively better. Stugeon's law may say that 90% of everything is crap, but there's so many FPS games out there that a fair few are really good.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Mainly the balance, but more important is the focus on teamwork above super skills.

People like hats and stuff too I guess, but I've grown to not care at all about all this customisation and frankly, the paints are a pretty horrendous addition (except for the team coloured one, which fits a few hats.)

Plus, it has likeable characters, and just a general lighter feel compared to the super srs fps games everywhere else.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Customisable approach.
Clear objectives.
Clear differentiation.
Characterisation.
Simple to learn, Difficult to master.
Ongoing reward system.
Balanced characters.

Generally, it looks like it's loved by the people who made it and not thrown out to meet a deadline.