Ok, I said I was going to give my $.02 on this, and here it goes. Things to keep in mind, when you evaluate Q3F yourself, is foremost that this is Beta1. There were 3 Alpha playtesting versions prior to this, but this is very much STILL a work in progress. As it comes along things WILL change, and possibly some of the changes may not be to your, or my liking. Such is the way that things happen. Also, that this was done by talented members of the TF community - not by paid professionals. These people have jobs, classes and other obligations in Real Life, so that things may not be fixed as quickly as we want them to. Another thing to remember is that they are most likely getting all sorts of "input" from all over the places - suggestions, complaints, abuse, whining, etc. Just because you send them an idea, don't expect it to be used, and don't feel offended if they don't take your ideas. There's a LOT of people that have been waiting for this for a while, and many with different ideas of what they might call the true spiritual successor to QWTF should be like. Ok, disclaimers over, let's get on to the meat of it.

Install/Setup

Installing Q3F isn't all too hard if you come from a QWTF background. For those people used to being spoonfed, a la TFC, sorry, no fancy installer version yet - which is fine by me. Perhaps in a future version, since that seems to be the "professional" thing to do. But I prefer meat, not garnishes, personally. They include a fairly good README in the archive, in ascii text and Gatesified (.doc) format. This is definitely worth reading and studying, because if *I* had done so in the first place, I wouldn't have asked a coupla stupid questions on the PF forums myself. :| They give some good, clear and concise explanations of some of the advanced feature available in Q3F, How to script the aliases most TFers live and die by, even a basic intro to TF, the class, weapons and how to play this game. All in all, good stuff, especially at this early stage.

General Gameplay

This is still built on the Q3A engine - which is characterized by the fast, frantic fragging style that it brought back in after the lethargic place of Quake2 - a return, to a point, to the style of Quake itself - but with all the enhancements a few years have added to gaming technology. One of the biggest disatisfactions with TFC was it's slower paced game (along with other less constructive comments I won't repeat here). I can assure you that Q3F is not a slow-paced game, not in the least. In fact, I do not remember QWTF being quite this fast-paced, but perhaps it's only because I've been playing TFC for a while now, and am used to it's more leisurely speed. Those of us familiar with the TF-style of gameplay will take to it with only a small acclimation period, but those coming from a CTF/DM background will have problems, I am seeing. I've seen a lot of comments about "that damned sniper rifle" already - and they warm that evil heart of mine. ^_^ The gameplay is still fast-paced, but there still is the time for strategy and coordinated team actions, rather than the "all for me" style of pure DM.

Specific Gameplay observations

Let's run down the classes, and I'll touch on my opinion. Remeber, these are only MY opinions, you don't like them, you know where to send the flames to. That's right, to /dev/null :P~~ Or to my inbox, if you really feel the need to disagree with me. Onwards!!
Scout: Called the "Recon" for various reasons I'll not go into here, this guy is once again often just a blur passing you on the way to grab your flag. With the return of the flash grenade, instead of the caltrops, his annoyance factor is exponentally increased. Lemme tell you, being flashed AND conced by one of these guys SUCKS. The Q3F conc is nothing to sneeze at, either. One of my fave classes is back in all it's glory.
Sniper: Oh baby, I've missed you SOOOOOOO much! The class that was feared/hated so much is back with a vengeance in Q3F. Much of the same feel from QWTF is here, and the LPB sniper on the 2forts deck will be a thing to be ph34r-ed once again. Oh yes, life is good for the snipers again.
Soldier: My read is that the rocketboy is, for now at least, NOT as dominating a class as he is in past itenerations. The soldier was the majority of the force fielded in QWTF, and a good portion in TFC as well. And his Nailgren in Q3F is once again something to fear, thank goodness.
Demoman: called the "Grenadier", he's basically very similiar to previous incarnations, but I don't recall that long of a delay between launching a pipe, and being able to det it, in QWTF. Perhaps someone will comment on it to me. And seeing 4 MIRVs again warms my heart, especially as since the maps are not the typically overcongested and undersized things we see in TFC, the MIRV doesn't quite have the same "SPAM factor".
Medic: called the "Paramedic", this is an evil bastard to play, especially with the newbie factor on servers so high - they don't know NOT to go back to the resupply room and not infect teammates. Big Fun! He also seems to run a touch too fast to my best recollection as well. The green bubbling infection effect absolutely rules! However, that syringe is just downright STUPID! I dated a lab tech for a while, and lets face it, those needles are too flimsy to be used in anything other than "clinical conditions". Even the needles in the Nerve Agent treatment kits we had in my time in the US Army were good for ONE dose, that's it. When you needs to use something repeatedly for injections, you use an AirHypo gun. I believe that the medic should have some kind of rehash of the old Bioaxe - I'd like to see a reskin/remodel of the gauntlet itself, with a "medkit" sort of look to it. Or once they redo the axe, make another Bioaxe, geez. Anything but this completely ludicrous syringe. :P
HWGuy: called the "Minigunner"(please, no flashbacks to the one time I tried Weapons Factory for Quake2 - Oh, the humanity!), I'm hoping the skin/model gets worked on a bit more, cause he's just fugly now. And the Assault Cannon does not seem to be powerful enough to me, like in the version of QWTF where an oversight was made, and for the longest time he wasn't doing the proper amount of damage. And to quote my compadre Possum: When he starts that gun up, the sound should make EVERY scout within hearing range go" OH SHIT!". But at least he's not as weak as the final QWTF Heavy, nor as lame as the TFC one.
Pyro: called the "flametrooper"(excuse me while I go vomit in a corner), he's finally become a worthwhile class to play again! I'm not sure of the specific tweaks done, but a decently-skilled Pyro in Q3F can be a genuine pain in the arse, lemme tell you. I just hate the barrel of the flamer model - it's WAY too thin, and I've seen real military flamethrowers as well. I know it's a "carbine-format" weapon, but from the player's view, it looks like a toothpick! Beef the thing up, eh?
Spy: called the "Agent" (I keep hearing the old song "Secret Agent Man" in my head when I see that), this is a class that's near and dear to this rotten old heart of mine as well. Only thing better than sniping people from across the map, is assknifing a pesky sniper who's been pwning your team. ^_^ The skin rocks, except for the pants - kinda ruins the tux effect, hope they fix it. I'm going to miss the feign ability, but the invisiblity definitely has potential. muhahahahah. I forsee many fun hours of spying for Tot.
Engineer: oh yeah, he's back and he's badass. The pathetic excuse for a "railgun" in TFC(what I called "the flashlight") ain't here, instead a macho-looking *GRUNT* weapon that looks like it can do real damage. I personally think that model is a tad oversized, but not bad. The Sentry Gun is downright EVIL at level 3, and boy can it ever reach out and touch someone. I think it locks onto target WAAAY too quick, but we'll see as the mod matures in development, eh? The dispenser needs some work, I think. It's kinda weak-looking, skinwise, but filled up it's still the nice bomb I remember it to be. *BOOM*

Grenades: I'm not fond of the models of the most of the grenades, themselves, but I think their effects in gameplay itself are dead-on. Damn good job there, people. It makes the fine art of Grenade-Fu a pleasure again. And these ones don't have the annoying tendency to stick to you till they go off, either. ^_^

Maps: We have some mighty fine looking maps here, with some very impressive eye candy. But all the eye candy in the world won't help if the maps isn't bug-free, and FUN to play. Do these measure up? Let's go thru them.
q3f_2machse: Well, I REALLY wanted to like this map. REALLY I did. I've got oodles of respect for Llama2000, I think he totally rocks. But this map just leaves me cold. From the gameplay I've had on it so far, it's just too easy for people to wander in at ground level and abscond with the flag. Perhaps when people learn how to play Q3F better, and learn about simple things, like DEFENSE, I'll like it more. It's a damned good-looking map, but I'm only lukewarm about it. Sorry Llama. :( You still rule, tho....
q3f_forts: I'll tell you right now, I've absolutely HATED the map 2forts, in it's various incarnations, for a LONG time. Until now. This version fixes what I always hated about the old hag - in that it's UGLY. FUGLY, even. But this thing is sha-weet! And best of all, a skilled Scout...errr, Recon....sorry - can still do the trimp in the RR, and befuddle unobservant defenders. Gotta love that to death, heh. I've only got two big gripes about this map - it's too bloody BRIGHT, and the overhead scaffolding and lights make it look like a Discotheque, or a concert stage. But whereas in the past I would go look for a server running a different map with 2forts came up, with this one, I'll stay - for a while, at least. ^_^
q3f_chaos3: Out of the perversity of chance, I've NEVER gotten to play this map on a server with real people, I've only walked around on it by myself. I was surprised at first to see that the Scout was not an allowable class on this map, but walking around, I found out why. With one disorganized team, using scouts would be a disgusting relay race. Another great-looking map, but this one leaves me completely cold. Sorry, but from a prelimary walkaround, I wouldn't want to play on this map, and I'm underwhelmed. :|
q3f_cbases: Frankly, I think Midori is/was one of the best mappers for TF. I've always liked every map he made, to include ones that never got popular due to the fact that 2forts was running on 75% of QWTF servers at any given time. This is a great port of Bases, and I love it to death. I'll play this one bunches, definitely. It gets Tot's "Kickarse award", definitely.
q3f_2night3: What can I say about this GREAT map, except for some STUPID reason it never caught on over here in America. GRRR! I would regularly go hop on the Barrysworld servers just to play this map. Another personal fave of mine, and one I love to play. Not the tired old "2 forts across water/lava, spanned by a bridge" concept, and now "with added Mallard!" LOL! I love it! Kudos to including this in the selection. I give this one my vote as my personal fave of the bunch.
q3f_2stag2: Well, this strikes me as an odd fish. It's definitely a really good-looking map, with some intriguing features to it. But it just feels WRONG. It feels more like a CTF map to me, than a TF one. *shrug* Bonus points to what I like to call the "Jagermeister billboard" in the flag area - it definitely adds a distinctive touch of personality. And I definitely like the obstacle course that is the outside area. I'm hoping to see more map designs using that idea, myself. A bit more of a chance to make it across without a sniper giving you the dreaded third eye, y'kno? This map feels odd, like I said, but I like it.

Gameplay speed and latency: Well, let's face it, It is built on the Quake3 engine, in which the fragging is fast and furious. Personally, I think it feels a touch TOO fast, but for right now I'm assuming that's caused by the months of playing TFC. After an adjustment period, I should be doing fine. As for latency, it's tough for me to make an effective evaluation. I use RoadRunner cablemodem service, in a rather unsaturated area. I don't suffer from bad PacketLoss that some @Home users on the West Coast of the USA report, which is really messing up their Q3 play. For me, it's rather smooth, but I can definitely see from the netgraph and scoreboard when a server is underpowered, or when their connection into it is having problems. Overall, it plays a LOT smoother and more fluid than TFC, and unlike Q3A-DM, everything does not seem to glitch when a new player joins the server. Overall, I'm rather impressed - haven't seen this since QWTF.

Assorted Notes:
Master Server: A thousand thanks for the people who had the presence of mind to put up a Master server (or 2) for Q3F. One of the most annoying things about TFC is the complete lack of that, and you have only a coupla options when it comes to finding servers. The presence of the Q3F master servers for GameSpy remove the hassles from finding servers playing this mod, so you don't have to sort thru the hordes of useless DM servers.

Scripting: Q3A's scripting is powerful, but John Carmack can rot in hell for removing the "alias" command. Fortunately Q3F put one back in, and explain how to use it in the README. However, with the possibility of making user-customizable menus, commo scripts, etc can become VERY good, as we learn how to use it. I'm really excited by this.

Customisability: One strike to this, is the fact that so far they plan to run this in "pure mode", so that 3rd party skins/models/sounds will NOT be possible (as it stands now). This displeases me greatly, as I had much enjoyment with the paks that DoX made for QWTF. I understand this is a measure to try to prevent rampant cheating, but it's obvious that even Carmack couldn't find a balance between security and customisability. Perhaps this will change in the future, but I'm not optimistic.

Sound: I don't like many of the sounds, but since this is Beta1, I'm not going to harp on it much. I'm just hoping that the annoying "doink" sound you hear when you damage something goes away. If you're a medic, and you infect many people, it overrides the other, more important, ambient sounds. Doink, indeed. :P

SUMMARY

To wrap everything up, despite this mod ONLY being a Beta1 version, I am incredibly impressed. I loved the hell outta QWTF, and despite it being ugly as hell, I only retired from it, and the clan I was a longtime member of, when Carmack released the source code, and the hordes of cheaters filled the server. Accusations of cheating flew in league play for a while. I went to TFC, and for a while I really liked it. However, it was fraught with bugs and other issues, and whereas I enjoyed the pub play aspect (of course with a great of other like-minded, teamplay-orientated regulars), I could never get myself interested in clan side of TFC. It just did NOT grab me like QWTF did - most likely because of what I saw as glaring deficiencies.

However, the debut of Q3F has once again filled this tired old warrior with enthusiasm for the mod that stole so many hours of his life, playing it. Right now, I plan to wait until the promised patch for TFC comes out, give it a hard evaluation, compare TFC and Q3F beside each other in all aspects - and decide what I plan to do. But right now it's really looking like HL/TFC will be evicted from my system, and I will dive into Q3F headlong. To the Q3F team, I challenge you to maintain your excellence you have demonstrated here, and to show the world what you can do, and what you can give them.

I'll see all you folks on a Q3F server somewhere. In my gunsights, that is. ^_^

Totentanz