Better, Faster, Stronger Shooter

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

[grashopper]

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.

[CrimsonAzure]

A really realistic war game. Seems like Arma.

[beepbopadoobop]

Weapons that are actually deadly! You dont get many of those in online games these days!

[Caffo01]

I'd like to try it on consoles...

[dictionary]

Arma is the best imho, let's see how this will be

[LostFlock]

Sounds really awesome, love me some realistic shooters like Arma or CS so im in.

[Crazyglues]

I like the scope too, it's done well, how everything blurs when you zoom in on the scope, games don't often get that feel right..

20 weapons seems a little light, but if it's done right, I don't think I can be mad at it.

If the weapons are made realistically deadly then this could be a really challenging shooter.
Which would be a lot of fun.

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[oasdada]

The weight system sounds interesting.. finally there wud be some difference between a player with heavy machine gun and a player with only a hand gun equipped (me lol)

[SpeedDemon]

I will give it a try, I like about anything that's a FPS.

[shadowvisa]

looks nice

[LukeFair]

I'm not a fan of shooters but this game seems fine for the FPS genre lovers

[pyrocloud7]

I really like that aspect of balancing what you are equipping with how that affects you, not only does that bring in that extra touch of realism, but it also adds some nice RPG-esque elements to the equation.

[XtraTrstrL]

I'm not sure how I feel yet, I'd like to see another vid with more movement. It seems like it could have potential though.

[Disagree]

I like when actual teamwork is incorporated into shooters. *sigh* I miss socom

[Emilio_Estevez]

Yeah, reading this made me think of Socom as well. I miss old Socom, not the newest one.

Hopefully this captures that feeling we got when playing those games.

[Disagree]

theres this game called H-hour coming to ps4. sort of a spiritual successor to socom. its on kickstarter. hopefully that turns out nice

[Emilio_Estevez]

Yeah, I've heard of it. I just generally don't get too hyped about games until I can decide if they are worth it or not. Still need to see how it comes along before I buy in.

[KellyRay]

No crosshairs. Love it.

[Monster_Tard]

Looking good, keep up the good work.

[Jeice]

This game is even faster than Call of Duty from the looks of it. I've yearned for such a game.

[Derekvinyard13]

Socom teamwork, miss those days

[Darklurkr23]

Yea besides only PC, always ask for ID @ Xbox or PS calling

[HammadTheBeast]

Graphics look great, I'm wondering if this is a competitive shooter like Socom in the old days.

[ichizon]

I have grown weary of most of the semi-realistic FPS games out there. I liked the Red Orchestra series though, and the new survival games that try to focus on realism come off as good concepts to me as well. I think that if Insurgency is the next step for something like Red Orchestra, I'd love it.

[iceman06]

These types of games need a revival on consoles. By that, I mean the one and done, non-bullet sponge gameplay that most of us remember from the SOCOM days. Not only do those games rely on strategy and teamwork, but they inherently foster a tense atmosphere. I can't remember the last time that I played a shooter and was actually concerned about death and my approach to the objective. This would be a refreshing option to the CoD and Battlefields of the world.

[Pixolator]

Price is very reasonable, if it does good on steam store, we may see it on other platforms, xbox and ps4 *wink, wink ;)

[dota2champion]

red orchestra 2 is the most realistic shooter i played. maybe insurgency will topple that if i decide to try it out

[ArcherCZECH]

Red Orchestra 2 is love, Ro2 is life , my favourite youtuber says, that insurgency is fine, but it isn't so realistic, when bullets spawns in the middle of the screen... you know, he hates headglitching =D

[MYDEATH21]

That's cool. I like realism in shooters. Though I hate when it's me dying in 1 shot lol. Probably something illbjustbhave to get used to.

[MisterAV]

The description make me want to play it, even if just to die a little, I'm not good at FPS XD

[gobluesamg]

Tactical objective based combat that requires team work. Completely different than what I got when I used to play Call of Duty.

[Virtua_Awesome]

Nice read! Insurgency sounds great, and man, that's a lot of different gameplay modes for a $15 game! I've always enjoyed teamwork based FPS games the most, instead of the more, as the article says, "Rambo"-ish ones. Teamwork just adds such a awesome element to FPS's.

[ArcherCZECH]

Real game... real battles... description of Insurgency, not Betafield...

[NitroUK]

Nice to see war from a Canadian point of view.. Being English there are a few Canadian / English world war 2 military camps nearby so I look forward to playing this.

[nosebleeds2]

I wish there was less emphasis on violence in computer games. Not because this violence may spill into real life, but because it's just so common. It's such a cop out to use violence as a motivator. Computer games can be so much more than this! Just shooting at other players and hoping for their death seems like such an unfortunate way to interact, to me.

[MrxDeath]

i love FPS's so i think this one will be great
(i hate Cod .... Battlefield for the win

[MasterofMagnetism]

Like that the weapons are realistically deadly and teamwork is recommended.

[Cheogh]

I was looking for a red orchestra like game and I can't wait for this to be released for linux. w00t

[coolbeans]

Nice, simple read. Interesting to see you enjoyed it so much.

"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."

That was new to ME, but that's been done before.

[lostgen]

Need some challenge and this game can give one!

[dedicatedtogamers]

Seems like a very well-planned game more in the same vein as CS or older BF titles

[randomass171]

So basically it's a shooter that forces you to take cover and strategist, huh? Well at the very least it's a little bit more realistic than most.