GamerNode: News - Team Fortress 2 haunted with Halloween special

Team Fortress 2 haunted with Halloween special

Category: PC, Posted: 10/29/2009 at 05:03PM EDT by Omri Petitte, Reporter

Boo!

The denizens of Valve's Team Fortress 2 appear to have gotten themselves transported to a very scare-tacular place. As the game's first Halloween-themed content pack, frightening new achievements, items and a brand new map are available to those who seek them out...if you dare!

A fresh KOTH map entitled Harvest sticks players into a haunted farmland area complete with shambling zombies and restless ghosts. These poltergeists aren't there just for parlor tricks, either; one good look at their ghoulish faces and you'll be frozen in fear, unable to move for a few seconds. What could be better than a (supposedly) fearless Heavy cowering at the sight of the wandering ghost of Zepheniah Mann?

In conjunction with the spectral hijinks of Harvest, Valve has continued the entertaining meta-game of collecting headgear by adding in some Mildy Disturbing Hats that can be obtained if all five of the new Halloween achievements are completed.

The new achievements focus on specific events that transpire within the holiday event; "Scared Stiff," for example, might involve surviving being chilled to the bone by a wandering ghost.

Heavies wearing scruffled top-hats? Scouts wearing flimsy paper bag masks? Exploding pumpkins? I don't think I can resist the fear much longer.

For more information on the event and a full list of the new achievements, check out TF2's official website here.

[Kotaku]

Posted by Matt John on 10/30/2009 at 07:25AM

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to Valve's previous Team Fortress Classic, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360.[1] A PlayStation 3 version then followed on November 22, 2007.[2] The game was later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008. Team Fortress 2 was distributed online through the Steam system, while retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts. The development of Team Fortress 2 was led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the Team Fortress modification for Quake in 1996.

The game was announced in 1998, powered by Valve's GoldSrc engine, but has since been through various concepts and designs. In 1999, the game appeared to be deviating from its predecessors by pursuing a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, a+ practical exams but the design metamorphosed over its nine-year development period. The final rendition sports cartoon style visuals influenced by the art of J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell[7] and powered by the Source engine. The game itself revolves around two teams, each with access to nine distinct characters, battling in a variety of game modes set in evil genius environments.

The lack of information or apparent progress for six years of the game's development caused it to be labeled as vaporware, and it was regularly featured in Wired News' annual vaporware list among other ignominies.[8] Upon its release, the game received critical acclaim and several awards, being praised for its graphical style,[9] balanced gameplay,[10] comedic value[11] and for its use of full character personalities in a dedicated multiplayer game.