Hewn from the trials and tribulations of a difficult birth and a painfully long gestation, what was previously known as vapourware has become a legendary multiplayer game in Team Fortress 2. Team Fortress Classic, its popular padrй, was released in 1999 as a free mod for Half-Life. TF2 won plenty of awards at E3 for a blend of barrier-breaking technological advances in texture and animation and a gritty representation of real war and tactics.

There has been, you could say, quite a change.

That's because while the game we see today hasn't lost any of the tactical subtlety, there's been massive changes elsewhere on every front and huge amounts of development. The Team Fortress 2 of today has been released in Valve's hugely acclaimed, and massively generous Orange Box pack along with Half Life 2, two episodes of downloadable content and Portal - a title which has won plenty of game of the year awards in its own right.

The graphics are created thanks to a technique called Phong Shading, and they're hugely evocative and striking - much more so than the rafts of realistic games on the market today, or ones that throw aliens at you - because it looks like you're in the middle of a violent Toy Story film. And it's not just the characters, either, with their weapons being just as oversized and exaggerated for comic effect; or the environments, even though they're not crawling with detail that you might see in Crysis or Call of Duty 4. It all just works: dripping with comic atmosphere and evocative areas that are made for gibs.

Each of the 9 character classes from Team Fortress Classic return so you'll still be able to pick your favourite from all those years ago. The high quality of character balancing and development is such that you'll fit right back in. Each choice of character has weaknesses and strengths, and they're all made to exploit someone else and be exploitable by other players. It's a rock-paper-scissor system, sure, but it works hugely well and guarantees that each team member will become vital over the course of a match and that it's important not to leave anyone behind. You're integrated into the game relatively easily, then, because of this and the light-hearted atmosphere: quite a change from most online games with intimidating, cliquey communities.

Only six maps are included initially, and it's a boon that they're pretty well designed so you won't get bored too quickly - although new content would, given Valve's track record, be forthcoming. The maps are divided between Team Fortress 2's pair of game modes: Capture the Flag revolves around stealing a briefcase full of sensitive enemy information, and Control Point maps concern occupying and securing more territory than the enemy. Both modes galvanise the team more than traditional deathmatch modes too - although it's still a shame these have been overlooked, as has the inclusion of bots: it's online or nothing for Team Fortress 2.

A genuinely worthwhile couple of inclusions are the rampant statistics that are gathered about your performance and the achievements that you can earn off of the back of them. It's possible to analyse your efforts and find classes with which you play badly or perform miraculously, and will surely become a prime tool for clans looking to streamline their gaming in what will be a hugely popular - and very accessible - online blaster.

It's an addictive mix, and one that works very well indeed. Faultless character creation and balancing is mixed with indulgent, cartoon graphics and furiously gunplay that's swathed around an absorbing collection of maps. It's one of the finest - and purest - multiplayer gaming experiences out there, and I urge you to try it. You won't regret it.