With Team Fortress 2, you'll experience the thrill of battle while performing as part of a team or battle squadron. This approach more closely approximates real-life battle and enables new and experienced players to play together in a way that challenges each individual and enhances the overall experience. When you first log on for a game, you'll be recruited immediately by a team and cast in one of nine roles, or character classes, such as medic, spy, or even the machine gun-toting heavy infantryman. Once you join a team and pick a class, you'll function in that class as part of the team, working together to complete any number of map-specific objectives. The success of your team depends not just on the skill levels of each individual, but on your squad's cohesiveness and team play. The map objectives range from traditional capture-the-flag styles of play to spy missions and beyond, including complex missions similar to those found in real-time strategy games. Team Fortress 2 builds on the technology advancements that first appeared in Half-Life. For example, while Half-Life was the first game to use skeletal animation for realistic character movement, Team Fortress 2 pushes the envelope with parametric animation. This technology gives characters completely lifelike moves, such as heads that turn in the direction they are looking and leg strides that adjust depending on stance and condition.