Insurgency- Isn't this just Counterstrike?

from a Skirmish match on Heights, one of seven maps

Insurgency is a game that you might think you've seen before. Less experienced eyes might think it's an old-looking Call of Duty.  More veteran eyes might think it's Red Orchestra, Counterstrike or an old Source mod called Resistance and Liberation. If you thought of Resistance and Liberation, you were pretty close, because Insurgency was originally a Source mod itself.



On the surface, it's definitely not a unique game. Military forces fighting insurgents in the Middle East? It's definitely been done way more than it needs to be. But Insurgency doesn't harbor the illusion that it's doing anything new in this aspect. There's no backstory to the battles, and rightly so, because nobody wants that. Where Insurgency really shines is its absolutely rock-solid gameplay.

If I were to describe what Insurgency's gameplay is like, I'd say it is somewhere between the fast-paced one-life gameplay of Counterstrike and the larger-scale objective-based play of Battlefield, albeit without vehicles. There's two very distinct varieties of gamemodes in Insurgency- Tactical Operations and Sustained Combat. Tactical operations is most like Counterstrike, with Firefight, Search & Destroy, and VIP Escort missions. Winning one of these tense matches requires careful teamwork as much as it does a honed survival instinct, as if you get shot you don't come back unless your team completes an objective. The Sustained Combat missions will be more friendly to newer players, with the Skirmish, Strike, and Push objectives. Each team gets a number of respawn waves, so when that grenade by your feet goes off, all you have to do is wait for the next wave of reinforcements. Mind you, it can be quite a wait, so don't think it's safe to rush headlong into a crossfire.

Insurgency takes itself dead-seriously. The screen isn't cluttered with flashy HUD elements, and the graphical effects are kept to a sensible minimum. The game mechanics are serious as well. Guns have a realistic amount of kick to them, accompanied by a satisfyingly good sound design. There's some free-aim, which means your gun is not always pointed directly in the center of the screen, and there's no crosshair. I personally love this because it means that having a laser sight attached to your gun actually provides the benefit of knowing where you're shooting, rather than some arbitrary increase in accuracy. Leaning and going prone allow for proper use of cover without needing some snap-to-this-wall system. And lastly, the loadout system allows for some in-depth customization within your chosen role in your squad, but limits your supply and slows you down based on the weight of your equipment.

I love this sort of shooter. It really does require a lot of patience, though. If you have what it takes, it's incredibly rewarding. Playing matches with like-minded teammates who are there to win and do so with strategic thinking and coordination can be much more fun than some stalemated slog-fest in a game like Battlefield 4. Just be prepared to give this game 110% of your attention, because you're going to need it. To survive, you'll need to keep your situational awareness sharp and your reactions sharper.