ARTICLE - Insurgency 2.4.0.9

Hello again! My summer has kinda slowed down now, so hopefully I’ll be able to get into a somewhat regular schedule with this. At the very least, I’ll post every so often, after I get into a different game!

Anyways, for this week: New World Interactive’s Insurgency!

The Designated Marksman class. I'm watching the point with my FAL and
waiting for an unsuspecting insurgent to enter my line of sight.

Insurgency is a first person shooter developed by New World Interactive that focuses on delivering a realistic experience with tactical team-based gameplay. The game features two teams in each match, the Security Forces and the Insurgents. Both teams are tasked with eliminating enemy presence on the map by destroying caches, capturing objectives, or by simply eliminating the opposing team.

Lots of options when customizing your loadout.
Some weapons and classes have more choices than others.

Smoke is an absolutely vital part of
any push into an objective.

As far as the gameplay goes, Insurgency is unique from most shooters in that the time-to-kill is incredibly short, with most weapons having the potential to kill in one to two shots. This single difference causes the entire game to play much differently than similar games, like CS:GO, by forcing players to rely on positioning to win firefights rather than relying solely on reflexive skill shots. Players will find themselves slowly crawling through a map, checking every conceivable corner, and carefully watching the dark windows of surrounding buildings, all in the hope that they will be ready for the ambush that is always just around the corner. The game also features a number of classes for each faction, ranging from Breachers, who are armed with rocket launchers, to militants, armed with assault rifles and grenades. The classes are fairly specialized, with, for instance, the Machine Gunner being clearly intended for denying an area to the enemy, with them being particularly good at keeping streets and fields empty. The game also provides the player plenty of choices as far as how they play the game, even if they cannot get the class they want. Wanted to play Sniper but got stuck on Rifleman? Just grab an FAL and stick a 4x scope on it, no problem.

Pick a door and watch it.
Camping is a good life.

Insurgency does a really good job of delivering tight tactical gameplay to the player, in both defense and offence. For both teams, the game can get really intense as they fight over a central objective. Both teams have all the tools that they could possibly need to present the enemy a challenge, and neither has any clear advantages as far as raw firepower goes. Additionally, despite clear advantages in some aspects of different weapons, all weapons are viable. Although the RPK, for example, fires much more quickly and has the same one-shot-kill potential as your AKM, the RPK must be set up in advance to be accurate, and your AKM can have a lot more attachments. In the end, the player’s choice of weapon comes down to preference and what map is being played on. The one problem the game really has is its harsh learning curve. The player’s ability to do well on a match comes down often to knowledge of the map: knowing where the spawns are, what the fastest routes are, and where the best sightlines are. This map knowledge can only feasibly come from hours of gameplay, and while the player is learning the map they are basically guaranteed to die hundreds of times. And of course, the player must also learn how the game itself plays as they do this.

Despite Insurgency’s steep learning curve, the game is thoroughly worth playing, given you are willing to go through a few hours to learn the game. The gunplay is excellent, and every gun is worth giving a try. The graphics are quite nice, and the game is really well optimized, and is capable of running even on integrated graphics. The sum of Insurgency’s parts make a wonderful whole capable of standing it’s own in the flood of FPS games that vie for a place in the market.

P.S.

The American Springfield rifle.

Insurgency’s sister game, Day of Infamy, is also really, really good. It’s practically the same game, but in WWII, and with a few added mechanics. What’s really cool about this is it is pretty accurate to the period, with most classes actually using bolt-action rifles, instead of everyone carrying around machine guns. Despite the change in weaponry, the game is still fun, with bolt action weapons feeling just as good as their full-auto counterparts. If bolt action doesn't feel good to you, there are other options; the BAR gun, MG-42, or even flamethrowers! If you think Insurgency looks cool, but would prefer a WWII setting, Day of Infamy is your game.

Dog Red is, like, way overrated.