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
Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.
Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.
Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.
When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.
The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.
If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.
We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.
Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland
"The Vancouver-based (Canada) indie games developer Blinkmoon Games are today very happy and proud to announce that their dark fantasy bullet heaven "Necromantic", is coming to PC via Steam Early Access in 2024." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Athenian Rhapsody is a JRPG with a difference: alongside turn-based combat & exploration, you'll need to complete WarioWare-style microgames.
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