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- [James] Insurgency: Sandstorm is an excellent
multiplayer shooter that successfully avoids
the common pitfalls of military simulation
but still manages to deliver an immersive,
at times disturbing, sense of realism.
(screaming)
Its arsenal consists of some of the best-realized firearms
in any every video game to date,
thanks to stellar sound design, snappy animations,
and an excessive attention to detail.
Elsewhere though, things aren't quite as glamorous.
Still, Sandstorm punches well above its weight,
offering phenomenal gunplay that shows up
much of its big-budget competition.
If ever there was an example of outstanding FPS gunplay,
Insurgency: Sandstorm is surely it.
That surprisingly elusive feeling
isn't a result of any one factor,
but rather a marriage of several.
To boil it down, pronounced but manageable recoil,
a near-instantaneous time to kill,
percussive sound, impactful graphics,
and an obsessive understanding of firearms.
And while Sandstorm has all of the aforementioned qualities,
it leans particularly hard on its knowledge
of how guns actually work.
Upon chambering a round at the start of a match,
you can then swap magazines
to effectively increase your capacity by one extra bullet.
Tiny details, like the depression of the magazine release,
or the changing position of the fire selection switch,
are all visible on the gun model and thoroughly appreciated.
You can double-tap the reload button
to perform a hasty magazine swap,
that, while faster, discards any remaining ammunition
in the spent magazine.
And finally, there is a slight dead zone
in the middle of your aiming axis,
where only the gun moves and your character does not,
which sounds weird, but feels great.
These details may seem trivial,
but the results are anything but.
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And the effect that all of this realistic weaponry has
on the battlefield is downright scary.
If you're looking to walk away
from your modern military FPS with mild tinnitus,
then Sandstorm is a good place to start.
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I've never been in combat,
but this seems to be a much more realistic representation
than you'd typically see in video games.
The most disturbing sounds come in the form of
determined blood-spewing coughs
and the labored, wailing death rattles
produced by both your enemies and allies.
(screaming)
These touches are intense, and I wouldn't blame you
if you find them to be in poor taste,
but, I, for one, prefer a depiction of a war
that doesn't obscure its horrific nature.
(coughing)
While its commitment to realism is apparent,
Insurgency: Sandstorm also knows
when gameplay should come first, which is a very good thing.
For instance, even in the absence of enemy hit indicators,
I was rarely left pondering a rival's fate,
thanks to an impressively large mist of blood.
Other compromises are even less subtle.
HUD elements display the position of allies through walls
or the direction of incoming fire.
Kicking in the door has the effect of
instantly killing anyone on the other side,
and you can even jump on a grenade
to reduce or prevent the damage dealt to nearby allies.
All three of the non-competitive modes,
featuring up to 32 players, are enjoyable in their own right
but the smaller-scaled Firefight stands well above the rest.
The objective is deceptively simple,
and the ensuing high-stakes strategy makes each match tense,
enjoyable, and replaceable.
The six maps are at their best in this humble setting,
but even here, unintuitive boundaries
called restricted areas managed to frustrate me.
The problem is that there is no visual language
in either the map design or HUD
that distinguishes where these invisible borders are.
This makes learning the ins and outs
of where you can and cannot go in a particular portion
of a particular map on a particular mode a little guesswork.
And while some boundaries will eventually kill you
or disable your weapons, others can be completely ignored.
For instance, you can bulldoze through restricted areas
on multiple points on Precinct to unfairly flank enemies
from an unexpected angle.
Furthermore, it just feels sloppy
to have so many no-go zones
so close to the objectives themselves.
I go into greater detail on why most of the maps
fall into the just okay category in my written review.
I've seen a few minor bugs but most are of the graphical
and hopefully easy-to-fix variety.
Meanwhile, there are a few noticeable oversights,
like clunky vaulting and the inability to disable
the maddening mic chirp of allied players.
Progression in Insurgency: Sandstorm
is purely aesthetic in nature.
Each of the 33 firearms and dozen or so attachments
are unlocked from the very get-go,
with the only limiting factors being your class,
faction, and load-out points.
Tinkering with point distribution proved to be a fun
and rewarding process of trial and error.
You may not always get to play your favorite class
because most rules have a limit of how people are allowed
to play them at one time.
However, I was never particular disappointed
at the prospect of being forced to play the rifleman,
as the basic class offers fantastic versatility
and no problem competing with more specialized archetypes
like the observer and commander,
who can call in powerful ordinance when working together.
Finally, I discuss the competitive and cooperative modes
in my written review.
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Insurgency: Sandstorm isn't the prettiest shooter of 2018,
but the places where it excels
are the places that matter to me most as a player.
Its gunplay is superb, its arsenal exemplary,
and with the exception of the excellent Firefight,
the maps and modes are serviceable enough
to facilitate its memorably frantic
and immersive FPS combat.
I can't wait to see where it goes in the future,
but even as it stands now,
Insurgency: Sandstorm is a pleasant surprise
that's worthy of your time.
If you enjoyed the review,
shoot me a follow on Twitter @ThuggnDuggn.
And for all things first-person shooters,
keep it right here on IGN.
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