Game link: http://www.playinsurgency.com/
Steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/222880/
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| this is not Insurgency screenshot |
The First Person Shooter genre is probably the most popular genre of video games in current times. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that, as you are likely aware of that already. The FPS genre dominates sales charts and the big names (Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc) command high numbers upon their releases. What can be said, though, is that the genre is slowly drifting into stagnation. The aforementioned big names rarely bring much new to the table on their yearly release schedule, and most other developers making FPS games tend to make clones of these franchises. It’s popular, it sells, why change?
Many modern FPS games also do not rely much on tactical combat or skill. Other than the “spinning jump-shot across-the-map no-scope” guys who brag about their ability, matches in these games usually come down to sprinting wildly across a map firing at whatever moves until you die, only to respawn seconds later and do it all over again. No tactics nor skill required.
Insurgency is an attempt at changing that trend. Originally released as a Half-Life 2 mod and met with critical praise, Insurgency was released as a full stand-alone game on January 22nd, 2014. The game is marketed as an FPS that absolutely relies on tactics and teamwork in order to not only win, but just to survive.
Insurgency is a strictly multiplayer/co-op game, with only a training mode available in singleplayer. This mode is not too bad for teaching you the basics, although I did hit a wall…literally…with the part about throwing grenades. I tried and tried, but could not get a flash-bang through the tiny hole and into the dumpster which would trigger the next part. After about 15 minutes of pure frustration, I gave up and just jumped into the game with the idea that I’d figure it all out on the fly. Curiously, I’m not sure I’ve neither thrown nor seen thrown a grenade in all my time playing the game proper.
The primary divider when it comes to Insurgency is going to be the hardcore aesthetic. Put shortly, if you’re used to all the frills and perks of more modern shooters like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty Ghosts, then this game’s minimalist approach will jar you. There’s not much of a UI to speak of–you don’t even get an ammo counter or crosshairs (thankfully, most modes will give you indicators of some kind as to who is friend and foe.) You instead have to rely on quick reflexes and careful, teamwork-minded movement throughout the various maps, and you have to pay much closer attention to the action. You rarely survive more than one or two direct hits, and in what is perhaps a step too far into this attempt at immersion, there’s also no indicator for when you’ve killed another player, either.
There are some genuinely cool design decisions that really push this emphasis on methodical team tactics–for example, joining a server means you’re offered any one of the empty roles on your team’s squads, but only the empty ones, i.e., you won’t be seeing more than one Support or Designated Marksman per squad, or more than two per team. This means you don’t have an entire squad of snipers camping one side of the map while the other team swarms the objectives willy-nilly, and forces players into more cooperative, coordinated mindsets.
Insurgency is all about the gameplay, and it’s clear that New World Interactive put their heart into it. The game is purely online multiplayer, so you will not be able to play it without an internet connection (although since it’s distributed on Steam, that shouldn’t be a problem for most players).
Many gameplay modes are offered, most being some variation on a “take and hold an area” kind of gameplay, with a few unique modes sprinkled throughout. The gameplay modes are divided into three categories. The first, “Tactical Operations,” only gives players one life. In Insurgency, it doesn’t take much to lose that life, as one or two good shots is enough to take a player out of the game. The only way to rejoin after death is if another member of your team completes an objective. The “Sustained Combat” category is slightly more lenient, giving each team a limited number of respawns to use, dependent on specific mode. The third category is “Co-operative,” where players must work together to secure and defend territories in one mode, and destroying an AI’s weapon cache in another mode.
There are about a dozen maps designed in the mold of CounterStrike; none of them are terribly large, but each has its share of multiple paths and choke points which have their own unique risks and challenges. They also are all pretty similar in tone and look: grubby, war-torn environments. The lack of visual variety is not necessarily a problem, but I can’t help but wonder if it would kill developers to show off a little bit of level diversity.
I spent most of my time jumping into a variety of game modes and interacting with strangers. For the most part, I found the community to be small but polite. There wasn’t a whole lot of communication going on, but, on the other hand, there wasn’t a lot of abuse either. It’s refreshing to play a competitive online game in which people don’t lose their minds about winning and losing, so here’s hoping that continues as the game becomes more popular.So in The end I will give this game a score 8.5 out of 10. So what about you guys, ready to play a FPS game without a crosshairs. Why don't you guys share it on the comment section below.
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