I played this game obsessively from 2007 to 2012, more or less, but i haven't kept up with updates ever since. At its peak, this game was incredible, and its enduring popularity is a testament to its excellent original design. They absolutely nailed making each merc unique and instantly recognizable, and giving each their own personality. Furthermore, they developed a lot of extra stuff around the game (the "Meet" videos, the Saxxy awards, the tie-in comics....), which contributed to cementing those characters.

From a game design perspective, as far as i can tell some of the more recent decisions feel... questionable, if not predatory. TF2 has joined the ranks of the many games that are free to play but aggressively monetized. Not big surprise coming from a game that modernized the notion of in-game economy (remember when they hired economists to better understand what was happening with early hat trading?) and basically invented NFTs (let your computer run and burn electricity all night for a chance to mine a rare hat!).

In its current state, i think this game deserves less than four stars. But i played it years ago, back when it was good, and that's how i remember it, hence this rating.

(Oh, also, one time, on Dustbowl, as BLU, we all picked Spy, and all disguised ourselves as BLU heavy, medic, demomen... when the game started, RED saw all of us leave the spawn... and turn invisible. Confusion and hilarity ensued. That's the kind of shenanigans that make this game shines.)