TF2: Massive Mann vs. Machine update adds new Tours of Duty and loot

Mann vs. Machine, Team Fortress 2's robot-infested co-op mode, has been given its first major update - and, as mentioned earlier today , it's a doozy. The free patch adds two new Tours of Duty: Operation Gear Grinder and Operation Oil Spill, which Valve rate as "very hard" and "less hard" respectively. If you're wondering where Operation Steel Trap - the original MvM tour - falls on that scale, it's "hard", or somewhere in the middle.

The Tours come bundled with a bunch of new loot, which can only be acquired by braving Oil Spill or Gear Grinder. Squirreled away in the former are "rusty, blood-covered 'bot heads" (Valve buy the best gifts), while the latter boasts "24-carat diamond 'bot heads". You can see these delightful trophies below.

A smaller, but no less welcome, part of the humungo-update is the promise of improved matchmaking. Valve reveal that "you can now select multiple missions you'd like to play, to maximize the chances of finding compatible players as quickly as possible. We've also added some handy buttons that'll let you select all missions of a particular difficulty level, or all missions not yet marked off on a Tour of Duty." Which is nice. You can read the full update here , complete with brilliant Goldilocks analogy.

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

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