Valve Showcases Creativity with Team Fortress 2 Scout Update

Team Fortress 2 is well over a year old now but Valve certainly hasn't forgotten about it. The Scout Update, being released late February 2009, really shows how much Valve cares about their games and the communities that build up around them. Most importantly, though, it shows Valve's creative dominance in a first-person shooter market saturated with stale old ideas.

It's All About the Unlocks

The Sandman has to be the first time a fully functioning baseball bat and ball have been included in a multiplayer FPS. Valve could have just slapped on a new skin to the original Scout bat but instead they coded in a vastly different weapon that presents lots of new and amusing opportunities. The stun effect makes sense for the Scout, since it allows him to exploit his already superior speed even more.

And the Energy Drink brings in lots more gameplay/comedy to an already hilariously entertaining experience. The beverage is introduced like Brawndo from the fine film Idiocracy, with various catch phrases and warnings that it is obviously bad for you in the long run. The Heavy Update included another consumable item, The Sandvich, which was also cleverly presented.

But the Energy Drink is perhaps even more exciting, as it allows the Scout to move so fast that he "dodges" bullets! This update will decrease the Scout's offensive potential in exchange for more longevity; a much needed boost especially since the Spy is no longer the flag carrier he used to be after a recent patch stopped Spy from picking up the flag while cloaked.

Delivering on Promises

Even if it takes another year for the rest of the class updates to roll out, fans of the game and PC gaming in general should be excited about what Valve is doing with Team Fortress 2. The developer continues to surprise us. Let's hope they are able to release Half-Life 2: Episode 3 this year so we can find out what madness they have in store there.