This makes learning the ins and outs of where you can and cannot go in a particular portion of a particular map on a particular mode total guesswork. The problem is that there is usually no visual language in either the map design or HUD that distinguishes where these boundaries are, and many can simply be ignored to unfairly access a legal area. The six maps are at their best in this small-scale setting, but even here the unintuitive boundaries managed to frustrate me ever so often.Īrtificially imposed “restricted areas” announce their presence with bright-red on-screen text and an angry AI callout when you step over their invisible borders. The tension is similar to that felt in Counter-Strike’s Bomb Defusal or Hostage Rescue, but with the chance for redemption after death. The catch is that because dead players can only respawn if their team takes an objective, the ensuing high-stakes strategy makes each match enjoyable and replayable. The objective is deceptively simple: kill everyone on the other team or take all three uncontested capture points, whichever comes first. All three are enjoyable in their own right and offer sufficiently unique experiences, but Firefight stands well above the rest.
“The non-competitive versus playlist contains two modes that support up to 32 players: Push, Skirmish, and Firefight which supports up to 12. While some of these examples may have a real-world analog, they feel to me like solid choices that were made for the sake of better gameplay, and I appreciate them. Kicking in a door has the effect in instantly killing anyone on the other side, and you can even jump on a grenade to reduce or prevent the damage dealt to nearby allies.
Other compromises are even less subtle, like HUD elements that display the position of allies through walls. And while its commitment to realism is apparent throughout, Insurgency: Sandstorm also knows when gameplay should come first.For instance, even in the absence of enemy hit indicators I was rarely left pondering an enemy’s fate thanks to the impressively large and (hopefully) exaggerated mist of blood that landing a shot produces. And while such scenes eventually become secondary to the fixation on gameplay, a few particularly unsettling scenarios managed to evoke an audible “oof” from me, even well after the 30-hour mark. This brutal, at times tragic depiction of war certainly makes an impact at first. To boil it down: pronounced but manageable recoil, a near-instantaneous time to kill, percussive sound, impactful graphics, and an obsessive understanding of firearms come together to make SMGs, LMGs, shotguns, and especially assault rifles feel truly special. That surprisingly elusive feeling isn’t a result of any one factor but rather a marriage of several.
If ever there was an example of outstanding FPS gunplay, Insurgency: Sandstorm is surely it. Still, Insurgency: Sandstorm punches well above its weight, offering phenomenal gunplay that shows up much of its big-budget competition. Elsewhere, though, things aren't quite as glamorous: I found most of its maps to fall into the “just okay” category due in part to poorly defined restricted areas that, on top of being annoying to encounter, are easily exploited. Its arsenal consists of some of the best-realized firearms in any video game to date thanks to stellar sound design, punchy animations, and obsessive attention to detail. Insurgency: Sandstorm is an excellent multiplayer shooter that successfully avoids the common pitfalls of military simulation, but still manages to deliver an immersive, at times disturbing, sense of realism to its modern, Middle Eastern setting.