Team Fortress 2 now free-to-play

Valve has made its cartoon online shooter Team Fortress 2 free-to-play for PC and Mac.

The switch comes some four years after release.

The game changes alongside the “Über Update”, the largest of the 200-odd updates given to the game over its lifetime.

It provides new players with training and offline practice modes so they, Valve hopes, will find the online arena less intimidating.

Team Fortress 2 launched in 2007 as part of the superb The Orange Box compilation.

Eurogamer's Team Fortress 2 review fired a point blank 9/10.