By Valenka
Insurgency was originally an idea that came to the mind of Andrew Spearin twelve years ago, when he decided to create a modern, infantry first person shooter based on his experiences in the Canadian Army. It was originally to be titled Operation: Counter-Insurgency (OPCOIN). Jeremy Blum, the founder of the Red Orchestra mod and New World Interactive, joined the development team and shortly after, the project was officially renamed to Insurgency.
It’s primarily a team-based, online multiplayer experience focused on tactical, objective-based gameplay. Players are able to choose between the US Marines or the Insurgents, with teams structured around the two squads. Within the teams are customizable player classes, such as the Rifleman, Marksman, Engineer or Support Gunner. Insurgency is quite similar to modern first person shooters of the same niche, but it brings an overwhelming handful of originality and innovation to the proverbial table.
http://s2.n4g.com/media/11/...
Exclusive screenshot of new map, Panj, currently in Beta
Insurgency features over twenty weapons with numerous attachments, but unless you plan on using a red-dot sight or something like it, there is no crosshair to help you. You’ll have to aim down the sights of your weapon and pray that you know how to use them. There is also a significant focus on realistic weapon behavior, including a free-aiming system and proper reloading animations. Shooting from the hip is still possible, but the free-aiming system makes it difficult. Weapons are also realistically deadly, as most rifles are capable of taking down players and enemies with one or two shots to the torso. It’s something you’ll notice right away when going through the optional boot camp to get a feeling for how the game has essentially revitalized everything you’ve known about shooters.
The aforementioned changes that Insurgency packs are also detriment on any players’ desire to embody Rambo, as teamwork is strongly encouraged in order to survive. You’ll find that communication is key but is also deadly; the communications system includes 3D VOIP, which allows both friendly and enemy players within proximity to hear you, requiring you to pay attention to your surroundings. However, it shouldn’t be too hard, considering that the HUD and UI are simplified, allowing for an immersive experience.
I found that for the first time in a long time, I was completely involved in what I was experiencing. Insurgency is truly captivating not only visually but generally, as the gameplay and overall experience is what you might come to expect from bigger…or mainstream developers who seem to completely ignore the kinds of things that would improve their formulas for success. Insurgency packs a wallop that I was not prepared for, but I kept going back for more. It’s intense, close quarters combat in distinctive and detailed environments that brought me uncomfortably close to a real-world urban warfare experience…and I love it.
http://s2.n4g.com/media/11/...
Exclusive screenshot of new map, Panj, currently in Beta
A feature that I fancied, that seemed to have been borrowed from Mass Effect 3 and improved upon, is the gear customization, which affects your weight, stamina and movement speed. Initially, I thought it was a better idea to get as much attachments and helpful add-ons as possible, but soon realized I was being rightfully penalized for my gluttony. I originally went into Insurgency not really knowing what to expect and I’ve suddenly turned into a gamer that will talk about it from dawn to dusk to anyone who will listen.
Insurgency offers ten game modes to choose from – Firefight, Infiltrate, Flashpoint, Push, Skirmish, Occupy, Ambush, Strike, Vendetta and Checkpoint – with all of them being crucially dependent on teamwork and communication. They’re all enjoyable in their own respect, but I found Infiltrate and Ambush to appeal to me the most. Infiltrate is like capture the flag, but instead, you must capture your enemy’s intel and return it to your base, and you only respawn when a teammate takes the enemy’s intel or if an enemy stealing your team’s intel is neutralized. Ambush involves escorting a high-value-target to an extraction point; I normally can’t stand any kind of escort mission, but it’s so much fun ambushing the convoy and taking out their HVT before they even knew what happened.
Insurgency is quite similar to modern first person shooters of the same genre you’ll see on the shelves from mainstream companies, but what Insurgency offers to the player is what separates it from its siblings and puts it on a significantly higher pedestal. To be perfectly honest, if Battlefield and Call of Duty had a baby that grew up playing Counter-Strike and graduated at Harvard University, that offspring would be Insurgency in a nutshell. It is everything a game of its genre should be and that’s why I’ve enjoyed it immensely, despite my distaste for the spoiled genre it resides in.
Insurgency is available on Steam for $14.99.
http://store.steampowered.c...
Day 24 | New World Interactive
Alan Wake, from Max Payne and Control creator Remedy, is a horror classic, prompting one player to buy 4,000 copies that don’t even work.
Kind of a goody story...
On a serious note, that is why I try activating gift cards asap. It's happened to me where the store didnt scan it right where the card was unusuable. Happened at Wally World.
Usually most of those redemption card have an expiry date on them. If they expired all buyer did was buy recycled paper. And some of those codes are country locked to certain countries. I buy a card from the States I can't use it in Canada.
UKIE published its latest Consumer Market Valuation Report, showing that the UK games market was worth £7.82 billion in 2023, a 4.4% increase compared to 2022's revised total of £7.49 billion.
Final Fantasy is a long running series at this point — it's easily one of the most storied franchises in gaming. But when you're up to the sixteenth mainline entry, you must start wondering whether fresh installments still have the power to pull new players in. Indeed, audience growth will be an important metric for the suits upstairs at Square Enix.
Pretty much. It was barely an rpg. Sorry if I like a little rpg in my final fantasy games.
I really hope this doesn’t mean they are going to continue to streamline the games even more going forward
It didn’t even have element weakness and the like during battles. A game with element based Eikons you use in combat and they didn’t include any elemental strategic tactics
I expected fire to burn grassy enemies. That didn't happen.
I also expected to see a "we have to go there!" moment in a cutscene, and have to travel there myself. FFXVI instead loaded the map to one selectable map marker and the next cutscene loaded to us there.
Disappointing as an RPG. Disappointing as even being "open area". I'll maintain that this game would've been best served as a more linear DMC-style experience than what we got, because the core of the combat and story were so great.
Foxtrot
I can't imagine they'd try and go back to a turn based game to see if younger fans would like it. They've really never even tried though. Hell my 13 year old loves turn based jrpgs
I'll always play them because I've played every one, but if 17 goes in the same direction I'm not excited any more. It just wasn't a Final Fantasy game, just a decent action RPG. Thankfully Rebirth had everything that was missing in it.
I'm an old fan who's played literally every FF game (excluding 2) and I *loved* FF16.
I genuinely struggle to understand the mindset of people are who get weird and territorial over JRPG franchises. I think as a whole we should be encouraging developers to try new things. We're the old guard - what we want to see in a game is going to become increasingly irrelevant with time so we gotta change the way we think about this stuff.
Classic franchises thrive on their familiarity. While they can introduce new ideas, it's crucial that these innovations stay true to the essence of the franchise. Otherwise, it might be more appropriate to develop a new franchise or spinoff.
And that's where FFXVI sort of drops the ball for many. It doesn't offer much to old Final Fantasy fans. Honestly, I loved the game, but I feel it might have worked better as a spinoff, a new franchise, or even a reimagination of another classic series like Musashi or Dewprism.
I agree. FF games have always been about evolving when it comes to the gameplay mechanics. Big budget FF games like FFXVI with realistic graphics just won't sit too well with turnbase gameplay. The ones complaining are the old fans that are stuck in a rut or still stuck in the 90s style of gameplay.
It didn't feel rpgish at all. It's not a territorial issue with everyone.
Elda
As much as I like turn based and would prefer that. If that's my only issue with ff16 then why am I loving rebirth, and remake. Truth is to me 16 just blew. Dark, dull, missing so much actual ff stuff, elemental damage non existence. It lacked to much of anything rpg like.
I get innovation but ff16 really didn't innovate anything. They just gave us a mainline title of a straight action game with lite rpg builds.
Sounds exactly what Tales did with Arise. I enjoyed FF16 more than FF13 and FF15 personally. I just hope the next mainline entry Yoshida makes is more party RPG based.
I enjoyed the game but I would like them to try making a turn based FF. It’s been too long. Even if it was a spin-off that would be fine.
For me the Bravely Default series is more Final Fantasy than current Final Fantasy. Since it started its development as a FF spinoff, it even keeps some FF stuff like magic names (Fire/Fira/Firaga etc.).
Unfortunately it doesn't sell that well and we can't be sure Square will keep making them, but I hope they do.
I wish they'd at least take the chance. It'll sell off name alone. Hell at this point try and add both and let it be an option.
"This doesn’t mean that all future Final Fantasy games will take a similar direction to Final Fantasy 16,"
Here is a quote from the article to keep the XVI haters easy .
I enjoyed the game for what it was. What the team wanted to make. And i hadn't enjoyed a mainline FF game like i did XVI since X. Not counting Remake. People say it isn't an JRPG but it's pretty much Kingdom Hearts gameplay wise.
I decided to play some Arcade mode in XVI to get ready for the DLC after 220 hours of Rebirth and i still love the gameplay.
Can't wait for the DLC to hit in less than a week and see how crazy the Leviathan fight will be.
Man I wish more games were like this. Emptying a clip into another player and having them scamper off is just silly. Not sure how nearly every shooter has come to that.
A really realistic war game. Seems like Arma.
Weapons that are actually deadly! You dont get many of those in online games these days!
I'd like to try it on consoles...
Arma is the best imho, let's see how this will be