As We Play offers the thought strands of the reviewer as they’re going through the game. This offers unique content for the reader so they can come to understand the conflicting feelings of the reviewer as they’re playing a game for the very first time. All feedback on this concept is welcome.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we know in our hearts that the home of the tactical shooter will always be on the PC. We saw the peerless hardcore military sims like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series and the epic Operation Flashpoint at the turn of the millennium. The Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike, gave the world its first real taste of competitive play, bringing ultra-refined game balance and make-or-break teamwork. We watched the Battlefield series mature with mil-sim mods like Project Reality. Through Counter-Strike: Source and Red Orchestra, history lead up to where we are now, Insurgency.
What started life as a total conversion for Valve’s Source Engine, the game was taken on by New World Interactive – the development studio set up by a group of modders famous for another total conversion, Red Orchestra. Insurgency is very much in the vein of that tactical goliath, Counter-Strike, with mostly online-only play and brutal, unforgiving gameplay. But that doesn’t mean this is yet another “me-too” total conversion. It has some stand-out features and some unique takes on what we expect.
After loading the game up, you’re presented with a minimal menu screen, with your usual options button, a training tutorial and a ‘play now’ menu. Gameplay is broken down into three different strands, ‘Tactical Operations’, featuring three different spawn-wave/objective game modes; ‘Sustained Combat’, instant-respawn deathmatch-style games; and ‘Co-operative vs AI’, a survival-style mode. There are plenty of servers up, and finding a lively game is no problem at all, whatever game mode you might choose. You can choose to do some ‘Training’ or ‘Practice’ nonsense, but who reads the manual?
Once in, and able to soak up the visuals, you’ll soon notice the current Source Engine looks a bit long in the tooth compared to other recent releases (even those released on older engines). The graphics are competent and have a consistent style, but are certainly not ground breaking. There are two things worth remembering: this started life as a mod, and it’s an indie game.
The HUD is stripped down to the bare minimum, almost to the point where it’s hard to know who’s on your team or not. In practice, this adds another layer of real life to the game, giving you pause before pulling the trigger on what could be a buddy. You get icons to show which team has taken which objectives, ammunition and what fire mode your weapon is set at.
The audio is generally decent, with some aspects perhaps a bit sparse and others excelling. Sounds and music in the menus are absent, but come alive in-game. Insurgency has some of the meatiest gunfire I’ve heard, with good ballistic sounds as you move around. Bullets zip past you and you find yourself using the different types of audio to zero the direction of the shot. Ambient sounds help set the mood.
Weapons feel substantial, and need controlled use to be effective. Reloading takes a bit of time, creating tense moments in firefights, and encourages you to keep track of your ammunition count. Since the HUD only displays the number of magazines you have, this becomes ever more important.
Team based gameplay is slow paced and quite tense. The game pulls no punches, sticking with “realism” in both movement and interaction (though doesn’t come close to the Arma series). Firefights are short and fierce, with a lot more tactical manoeuvring than many people might be used to. Voice communication is integrated fully into the game, using 3D spatial audio, meaning not only team mates, but the opposition can hear your chatter.
The three game modes in the ‘Tactical Operations’ strand mainly revolve around achieving objectives which provide you with reinforcements via your fallen comrades. ‘Firefight’ has you capturing points around the map, and ‘Search and Destroy’ has you blowing them up. Both of these are standard fare, but with the pacing of Insurgency, can be long, drawn-out affairs punctuated by sharp, intense firefights. The ‘VIP Escort’ mode is produced some of the most intense and fast paced gameplay, particularly on the map ‘Ministry’, a close-quarters layout based on some sort of embassy. Escorting the vulnerable VIP through the offices and down into the bowels of the car park was very satisfying, and harkens very much back to the fun times had in Rainbow Six: Raven Shield.
The two sides, “Security” and “Insurgents” are broken down into two fire-teams, consisting of specialised classes. It’s an interesting, albeit inflexible, take on the class-based team play made popular in games like the Team Fortress series. From snipers to spec-ops to men with bazookas, each of the classes has a role to play, and some are more useful than others in different game modes.
There’s no levelling up, no unlocks, no gimmicks preventing you from using whatever weapon you want.
The loadout screen has a point based weight system. Your character starts with an amount they can carry, and different equipment will count towards that total in different ways. If you’re hoping to load up on everything and go in guns blazing, you’re in for a disappointment.
The weapon selection is succinct, but suffers a bit of disparity between the sides. The insurgents inevitably have mainly clunky ancient hardware which goes up against the shiny Security ordinance. This is partly balanced by the fact the security forces have more close-quarters sub-machine guns which are pretty useless outdoors.
Many of these games are built on a strong and mature community, but I found my games were often full of swearing teens, parents in the background yelling at people and our very own radio station playing the very latest in annoying pop music. While this isn’t the fault of the game itself, reaching for the mute button on players impacts the overall experience. It is certainly possible to have a mature community and still be popular, but I think it’s something the players themselves need to address, to a certain extent, by ostracizing this behaviour.
The last thing I tried (after almost forgetting it), is the Co-operative vs AI play and I’m so glad I did! This play style changes things up, pitting eight players against waves of AI as you try to take checkpoints progressing around the map. There is almost a zen-like, serene experience as you slowly work your way around the map, checking corners and working as a team. I had a friend tag along who was reticent at first, but the next day sent a message asking if I wanted to play again… always a good sign!
Areas for development
- A few more maps
- A little bit more environmental detail
- Co-operative AI could use some work
Final analysis
Slick, distilled realistic gameplay and an accessible learning curve make Insurgency a good option if you’re hungry for tactical shooting. The game pulls no punches, taking away many of the elements FPS players might expect and leaving you with the bare minimum. The only real let downs are the annoying voice-comm trolls that force you to reach for the mute function and the slightly dated visuals.
Technical Competency – 6/10
Graphic/Sound Quality – 7/10
Network Stability – 9/10
Overall – 7/10
(These grades assess our playthrough, taking into consideration how many (if any) bugs were encountered, whether there were any interruptions in gameplay, and the product’s final technical state. These scores, coupled with the Final Analysis and Areas for Development, are suggestions for future patches and updates which the developers could (and in our opinion, should) explore. These scores are separate to our DLC/Expansion Reviews but link into our Patch/Firmware Reviews.)
(These scores are not designed as a grading system to determine the entertainment value of a product and should not be treated as such.)
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