Update at 6/26/11, 3:28 p.m. ET: Thanks to the readers who kindly pointed out Team Fortress 2 is a first-person shooter, not third-person. Apologies for the error.
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Ask any fan about Valve Software's team-based shooter Team Fortress 2, and they will probably share several reasons why it's such a fantastic game.
Here's one more: It's free.
The studio announced the online action title will be free to play four years after making its debut.
Team Fortress 2 was released as part of the compilation The Orange Box, which included titles from the Half-Life series and the classic puzzle game Portal.
The third-person shooter features team-based multiplayer matches, with players choosing between nine classes: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper and Spy.
The free-t0-play versions of Team Fortress 2 are available on PC and Mac using Valve's online service Steam. New players will have access to training and offline practice mode before diving into competitive matches, Valve says in a statement.
Readers, what do you think of Team Fortress 2? Any tips to share?
About Mike Snider
Mike Snider began covering the video game industry during the Super Nintendo-Sega Genesis clash in 1992. An original pinball wizard, he eventually was seduced by Robotron: 2084 and Tempest. These days he is a fan of action/shooters and lives out his Keith Moon fantasies playing a mean drum kit on music games. More about Mike.
About Brett Molina
Brett Molina has been writing about video games for USA TODAY since 2005. He is well-versed in Madden NFL, the fighting genre and first-person shooters. The first video game he played was Asteroids at a local arcade. He has been hooked ever since. More about Brett.
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