Team Fortress 2’s newest replace, Jungle Inferno, is proof that the magic remains to be alive.
Every 12 months there’s discuss of TF2 working out of steam (no pun meant), and yearly it continues to attract a crowd (additionally no pun meant – or, certainly, current). During the latest four-day Jungle Inferno occasion the variety of concurrent gamers spiked to its highest degree since 2014. It has dropped off a bit since, positive, nevertheless it seems to be like it would stabilise round 70,000, which is roughly the identical as in 2013.
Find out what else was added to the Team Fortress 2 with the Jungle Inferno update.
The replace provides new maps, rebalances weapons that lengthy wanted consideration, and throws in crates of cosmetics, however it’s the new weapons that stand out for me. New gadgets are the yardstick by which I at all times choose TF2 updates: when maps fall out of favour and beauty costs rise and fall on the sport’s group market, the most effective weapons rapidly turn into staples whether or not you’re pushing payloads or capturing management factors.
Jungle Inferno added 4 new Pyro weapons and one for the Heavy, however it’s the Hot Hand and the Thermal Thruster that I wish to concentrate on, each going to our favorite arsonist. The Thruster is a jetpack that, like the most effective TF2 gadgets, creates a totally new playstyle that you just by no means knew you wanted, whereas the Hot Hand is a novelty glove that you just slap enemies with. It embraces the silliness that has at all times set TF2 other than different shooters.
Combine them and you have an ultra-mobile Pyro that loves a swift backhander. To unlock them it’s a must to full new weapon contracts. Some of them appear all however not possible until you have got an enemy staff keen that can assist you out, however collude with the suitable folks (I’ve discovered 2Fort servers within the sport’s ‘Casual’ mode to be the friendliest) and you’ll circumvent this mountainous climb. Once I’d achieved this, nevertheless, and unlocked the entire weapons, I made a decision to restrict myself to jetpack and slaps solely, maintaining my flamethrower stashed in my belt.
The Hot Hand is clearly the star of the present: for each slap you get a slot within the kill feed in the identical manner you do with the Scout’s fish, and a kill flashes up as a SLAP KILL together with an icon of a hand. It delivers swift humiliation to the particular person on the receiving finish – on one event I slapped a Heavy 9 instances earlier than he went down, and I might nearly really feel his satisfaction crumble a bit extra with every strike.
It is hardly essentially the most highly effective weapon, then, however you may deal out the slaps quickly and each hit nets you a pace enhance. So after you stand up in an enemy’s face and tag them as soon as, you may whizz and scoot round them, usually getting behind them and whacking them on the again earlier than they’ve had an opportunity to react.
I’d like to say that I’ve that method down and can provide enemies the run-around. But I’m nonetheless perfecting my, err, methodology – more often than not I’m simply randomly altering course, wildly jerking the mouse in the direction of my foes and clicking like mad. Hey, typically it really works. Time it proper and you’ll bag some first rate double kills, and sending somebody sprawling with a slap is so satisfying – the accompanying sound impact is ideal. Even when you don’t pull off the total dance, you continue to get some killfeed recognition.
What might presumably enhance on this lunacy? A jetpack, in fact. Strap it onto our completely happy slapping pyromaniac and he is ready to attain new heights. The Thermal Thruster is nice for reaching sniper perches (there’s little extra satisfying than walloping a man who has sat in a single spot popping heads for the entire sport), or getting behind the enemy staff.
The jetpack would possibly even have some sensible makes use of within the sport’s aggressive mode, too. Yes, the shotgun is extra versatile in your secondary slot and the flare gun will get you extra kills, however having a jetpack will get you out of conditions in which you’d in any other case have died.
What enjoyable. It shouldn’t be laborious to see why TF2 stays so well-liked: if a dev is including jetpacks and novelty slapping fingers to its sport greater than ten years after it got here out, then you already know it’s rather more than nostalgia that retains followers hanging round.
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