I’d put down both of Valve’s multiplayer offerings for a while, but after being prodded by a few friends on Steam, I picked both of them up again.

Left 4 Dead may be newer and more expensive, but I have to go with Team Fortress 2 as the better online game.

Left 4 Dead is a good game, don’t get me wrong. Assuming you’ve got three friends willing to play, it’s a fun way to spend an hour.

That’s assuming you’ve got three friends, though. L4D’s emphasis on teamwork is also its achilles heel.

One person alerting the horde at the wrong time can spell doom, and all it takes is a slip of the index finger to put a bullet into a car alarm. One inexperienced player can frustrate three others, and you can look forward to a cavalcade of ragequits.

Team Fortress 2, on the other hand, seems much more accommodating of those of lesser skill. Your aim isn’t precise? You can play a Heavy or a Pyro and still contribute. Got crazy twitch reflexes? Sniper and Scout cater to the skilled.

That’s not to say there aren’t incredibly skilled people at every class, but a team can soak up a fair amount of inexperience.

Plus, TF2 is way, way more polished compared to L4D’s versus mode, which still feels like a beta product. Sweeping changes and fixes to the infected are still being patched in, and there’s glaring design flaws in the maps that encourage the survivor team to stack up on top of each other and flail away like a gun-toting octopus instead of having to rely on strategy for crescendo events.

That said, I’m still spending more of my gaming time with both of Valve’s games than any of the newer offerings available to me. Second place is a good place to be if you’ve already got a game in first.

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