Team Fortress 2 Celebrates "Smissmas" With a Brand-New Game Mode

[Steven Bogos]

Team Fortress 2 Celebrates "Smissmas" With a Brand-New Game Mode

The new "Mannpower" game mode channels Unreal Tournament into Team Fortress 2, with no random crits, map-based power ups, and a grappling hook.

Team Fortress 2 is going on 8-years old now, and hasn't shown the slightest hint of slowing down with its regular content updates. While the updates mostly consist of "Smissmas" update [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138972-End-of-The-Line-Team-Fortress-2-Short-Released-With-Game-Update?utm_source=] for the game.

Mannpower mode is essentially the standard CTF mode with a number of changes. First up, there's no random critical hits, and you can only capture the enemy flag if your own flag is currently in your base. Next up, players have grappling hooks that they can use to quickly traverse the terrain, and there are also nine "Mannpower" temporary power ups placed around the map, which give the player who picks them up boosts ranging from extra damage, to health and ammo regeneration.

If Unreal Tournament was the first thing to pop into your mind, you're not alone. With the focus on map-based power ups, as well as the return to the more "hardcore" CTF rules and the grappling hook as a replacement for the translocator [http://unreal.wikia.com/wiki/Translocator], it really does feel like this game mode is drawing inspiration from the genre's arena-based twitch-FPS roots.

The game mode is currently in beta, as the team is trying to collect as much feedback from its fanbase as possible before making it an official mode. To play, click on Play Multiplayer, enable Play Beta Maps checkbox, and then choose Mannpower Mode.

As well as Mannpower mode, the Smissmas update introduces three new weapons [http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=15304], and of course, a variety of new Christmas-themed hats.

Source: Valve [http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=15300]


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[Headsprouter]

I haven't tried out the new game mode, I've only sorta tried out the new weapons (barely tried out the new shotgun) but I gave Gaben an offering in exchange for his make-or-break (but mostly break) artifacts and I pretty much unboxed the best thing I could have, for me, personally, and in general for the crate (within reason). A strange festive shotgun. First crate of 3.

Thanks for the Christmas present, Gabe, it's about time you gave something back.

But outside of my personal experience, the update as a whole more than makes up for the overhyped let-down update, also known as End of the Line. It's not just the new content I appreciate, it's the nerfs and buffs to existing weapons.

 

[Darren716]

I was really happy with this update, it got me interested in TF2 again after months and after I thought the game was dead from seeing what happened to the End of the Line. The new game mode is fantastic, if there is one thing I love in games it's grappling hooks and the ones in TF2 lend to some hilarious moments. The powers are really fun too although some combos seem a bit OP like the heavy with vampirism. Also I was able to get a strange festive revolver on my first unbox so I'm really happy about that.

 

[Scribblesense]

Mannpower is obviously very early, as everything is either horribly unbalanced or broken. It feels like a badly modded server, the kind with ads and paid admin powers and whatnot. The increased manueverability provided by certain power-ups and the hookshots do not mesh at all with the weapons TF2 has on hand, and every class besides heavy and scout end up useless.

These aren't unsolvable problems, though. A few maps designed with this gamemode in mind would do wonders for its viability - something more vertical, perhaps funnelling players into smaller arenas where height and speed are mitigated and some of the other upgrades can be useful. Choosing to use an Agility upgrade and flank the enemy team, or use one of the Combat upgrades to face them head on could create interesting matches.

And sadly, the Hookshot doesn't work for all classes. Pyro, Engie, Medic, Sniper, and Spy have little use for it beyond putting yourself into a favorable position early in a fight or trying to pull off a pointless but cool looking ambush. Other action items for these classes would be a good fix.

For one, give Pyro a jetpack finally! It fits with the class, isn't out of tone with the gameplay seen here, and could open up some interesting new strategies. A wall-mounted turret for Engie has long been rumored and now would be a great time to implement it.

Because of all the healing power-ups, the only thing the Medic brings to the table is the default uber. He's in the same position as the early MvM game, and I feel giving him the projectile shield from that gamemode would be needed for him to be useful in Mannpower.

Sniper and Spy have the least limited uses for the hookshot. Sniper can camp with it, which isn't fun to play against, and all Spy can do is pretend to be Altair. The only useful ability I can think of at the moment would be tranq guns for the both of them, something to eliminate an enemy's strengths and bring them back down to earth.

It will be interesting to see how this gamemode evolves with community feedback.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

It looks and feels unbalanced as all hell, but it is a barrel of laughs. Certainly not a mode I'll play all that often, but when I'm in the mood for some silly gun, this'll be up there with smash and dodgeball for me to play.

 

[Alfredo Jones]

I've seen people rock house with the new grenade launcher for the Demoman. I'm not sure what it is that makes it so powerful though.

I also managed to get a strange festive backburner from my naughty crates. Unfortunately the rest were festive revolvers or bonesaws and I barely play as Spy or Medic at all. I would love a festive shotgun for my Engy.

 

[pokepuke]

Without seeing any action yet, the grappling hook could also be said to be a stand-in for Unreal Tournament's.... grappling hook. It was there, in the ChaosUT mod dating back to the original '99. You could slingshot yourself like crazy and basically be Spider-Man, even grabbing the skybox and camping up there until someone sniped you down. Plus, the mod had a gravity vortex bomb, which helped make for crazy times flying all around the rooftops of Dogtown.