2Forts

Description

This map is a port of one of the oldest TF maps ever made, 2fort4 (and 2fort5). The original 2forts was made by John Cook, a member of the TFS team. The object of the map is to take the enemy's flag from their basement and capture it by bringing it to your battlement. The basic layout is 2 symmetric bases that face each other, connected by a bridge and a waterway. Each base has 2 entrances, the front door and a set of stairs that leads from a water tunnel. In the basement of each base is a small room with a flag. There are 2 ways to the basement, a set of ramps leading down and an elevator shaft. That is the basic setup of 2forts, but of course there are hundreds of intricacies involved in learning and taking advantage of any map.

What's New?

There isn't anything drastically new with TFC 2forts compared to the originalTF1 version. This is a port of 2fort5r, not 2fort4 however, and most of the changes are aesthetic. New textures give rise to a more metallic, military-base feel to the whole map instead of the brick and stone "castle" motif of the original. The spiral stairs from the water entrance are now actually cylindrical, instead of the boxy, orthogonal look of old.

The hands down best improvement on this map is the addition of turrets built into the respawn rooms. The turrets are server-side and built into the map, so they are completely automated. The sentries will pop out and mow down any enemy that enters your respawn room! No more respawn camping!

I think this is another side effect of the Half-Life engine, but everything seems a bit shorter in TFC than in TF1. I think that this is because of the size of the players and the placement of the player's FOV. Specifically, the height of the players in Half-Life are higher than in Quake, so everything else seems smaller. If you've ever played Airquake, you make know what I mean. Everything in Airquake seemed really large, but that was only because the size of your vehicle was very small. The overall effect in TFC is that the rooms seem shorter and narrower.

Verdict

I think I should leave my personal verdict concerning this map out. I never really liked 2forts, mainly because the map was made when the maximum number of players a server could support was 16. Unfortunately most of the matches now played are 12 on 12 or 10 on 10. This basically means a lot of spam and visible players, and it was very difficult to capture the flag.

However, if you do like 2fort5r from TF1, you will probably like the TFC version, 2forts. The new map is bright and nice to look at, and it may even sway some people back to playing 2forts. I can't say it wasn't fun, but I have a sinking feeling that it will wear on me quickly.