Is TF2 the WoW of FPS’s?

by Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn

Holy acronym batman! I’m assuming that I’m merely slow and that this comparison has been made before. But, on the chance that it has not been, I’m writing it down. And on this fancy electronic paper so I don’t lose it!

Although I have a handful of games that I want to be playing right now, I only play for about an hour a night. Winter has finally come and I get real sleepy this time of year, and as per his twitter feed, apparently so does Gordon from We Fly Spitfires. This may explain why I’ve been having a hard time finishing my articles. Or maybe it’s because I get off on tangents and can’t remember what I’m writing about……so I digress. I’m currently devoting my time to two titles; Lord of the Rings Online, and Team Fortress 2. I’ll save my playing of the heartstrings for LotRO for another post (if I can ever finish the damn thing). Right now I want to express my love for TF2, and why I think I, and many others, hold it to such a high regard.

I really think Team Fortress 2 is the WoW of shooters. Some people may not like that comparison. To those people, I say…hello. Oh, and that I don’t mean to speak unkind about TF2 if you have reservations with my statement. I really think the correlations are good. Comparing the two is mostly an apples and oranges affair, but there are some things that they both have in common, and it works well.

So let’s break down the few key features that make Team Fortress 2 different from other first person shooters, and why it draws similarities to WoW;

It is unique in its style – It has a cell shaded look which runs insanely well on most gaming systems. It, like WOW, has aged to the point now that most people who have any kind of interest in gaming can run it on their PC, and maybe even laptop. In a world of gritty World War 2, futuristic, and modern day shooters ruled the roost, TF2 game into the farm flashing its retro yet sophisticated style. Much like how WoW came into the MMO scene with a certain Popeye-forearm having, hey look at the groovy colors man, “I-don’t-have to-look-like-everyone-else” flair. They both have people in the general audience who cannot get past this look, but even more who see it as uniquely beautiful.

Classes, and…alting? – Okay, this one could be compared to about any MMO, but the one thing Team Fortress does considerably well, is classes. Even since the first title, it was something that stood out of the crowd of simple deathmatch and capture the flag laden shooters. What’s cool about it in comparison to WoW, is that it’s a fantastic game for altaholics. Some MMO’s are not as convenient to the alt lover (looking at you Aion). WoW is, and to a weird similarity, TF2 is. Not happy with the class you’re playing? Keep getting pwned by that #$&%*&^ Sniper? Well, switch it up for the next respawn and go stab that mofo in the back. Not enjoying your pally, or see someone playing a Warlock and it makes you drool? Go roll one.

Community and Developer support – Pretty self explanatory, but I can think of no FPS, and no MMO with larger communities and support staff. Yeah, for every ten truly fantastic community members, there’s one D bag that brings down the room, but overall these are two games with some serious numbers of players behind them. You have to look no further than mods on either game to know that the people playing are passionate about this segment of their free time.

So that’s all I got. Did I leave anything out? Do you love/hate the comparison? Let me know in the comments!