Developer: New World Interactive
Publisher: New World Interactive
Platform: PC
Insurgency is a realistic tactical first-person shooter. In this first-person shooter you will not be able to spray and pray your way to victory. You have to keep in mind of your surroundings and work closely with your teammates if you want to achieve victory.
Story
There is no story in Insurgency this game about all about it multiplayer experience. You will have two sides pitted against each other in online matches with Security Forces against Insurgents. Though you will have access to going against AI computer opponents with online friends if you choose.
Gameplay
Teamwork and tactics is the core of this first-person shooter. Going lonewolf will not only get you killed, but put your team at a disadvantage. This game balances between being realistic and fun. All the realism built into the gameplay is designed to make force you to work with your teammates.
One lucky bullet can kill you if you are not careful and if you die you will have to wait for a while till you spawn in the next wave or until your teammates capture a point. If you are reckless you will find yourself frequently in spectator mode or worse accidently killing your teammate. If you work with your teammates to complete objectives though you will dominate the game.
All game modes revolves around completing objectives with some modes having more emphasis on killing the enemy team. Objectives could be capturing spawn points or assassinating the enemy VIP, but no matter you will have a fierce enemy team trying to make sure you don’t complete those objectives.
While killing your enemy team is important it is not the only important tactical decision. Capturing all enemy spawn points will mean you only have to kill the enemy forces left on the map since they can not receive reinforcements.
There is a massive learning curve though to play this game correctly. Much of it is common sense such as being cautious and not sprinting everywhere. Those that are very used to Call of Duty type of games will have a hard time adjusting since you can not just turn your brain off and expect a good outcome.
The game excels at the mechanics forcing you to actually think and challenging yourself in a first person shooter. By working with your teammates to achieve a hard fought victory makes the victory feel much more satisfying. For someone like me just surviving the round and getting a kill felt like a major accomplishment.
Graphics
Insurgency looks great and fits the theme of having a realistic shooter. Effects in the world are done very well where the smoke from a firefight can obscure vision in the area a bit. Also the fact that your gun barrel smokes after firing many consecutive shots in a row adds to the realism.
This is no Battlefield 4 level of graphics, but it doesn’t need to be. It focuses on providing a sense of immersion by having the effects of the world be as realistic as possible. The night levels are truly dark causing me to accidently even killing my team mates thinking it was the enemy.
Audio
The audio add a great sense of immersion to Insurgency. I could tell the difference when a gun was being fired at me or being fired around the corner. That level of detail added a level of strategy when trying to be careful and deciding where I needed to dive for cover.
There isn’t much dialogue of in the game since it just a multiplayer experience, but if you play it does provide microphone support. Talking to your teammates make all the difference so communicating without typing will give you and your team a huge advantage.
Downsides
The community in Insurgency can be very brutal. All online communities suffer from this, but it is amplified when teamwork is crucial to victory and just having fun. When I was learning how to play for this review I made lots of mistakes and the people on the other end were not so understanding about it.
I remember one match was in the night and I saw a shadowy figure suddenly come to the right of me and I panicked and fired killing a teammate. Even though this was my first time and I apologized, he still quickly tried to ban me from the match. This can put off many new players from enjoying the game.
Pros
– Challenging tactical environment
– Realistic visual and sound effects
– Balanced between realism and gameplay
Cons
– Difficult learning curve
Conclusion
Insurgency provides a first-person shooter experience where you will need more than just skill to win games. Working with teammates and carefully executing the right tactics will be the only way to do well. If you are up for that sort of challenge and Insurgency provides a great deal of value.
8 out of 10
