Insurgency (PC) Review

First, up front, here is what Insurgency is all about:

• A stand-alone game built on the Source engine;
• Originally a Source mod released in 2007;
• A tactical shooter in the Rainbow 6 / Counter-Strike vein;
• US$15 on Steam;
• Set in Iraq and other Middle Eastern locations;
• A game with various types of wave respawning, much like Battlefield or MAG.

There are a couple of points that require adjustment time, depending on what titles have been played lately by gamers – the lack of crosshairs and the respawn system.

The respawn system is worth saying a few more words about, as it's one of the few interesting, though not original, features of Insurgency - aside from the somewhat unique, but largely useless, slide ability, that is, which serves no practical purpose outside of the tutorial. There are several modes with different respawn mechanics. In one, respawns occur when a point is captured or destroyed. In another, each team has a limited number of waves, with extras awarded for capturing or destroying a spot.

Those respawn rules, and several honestly excellent maps (such as Heights and Ministry) that feature impressive architecture and level design, are the main draws of Insurgency. For some, that might be enough. For those shooting fans who haven’t grown tired of over 15 years of exactly this game design core - a design established in the late 1990s by games like Rainbow Six, Counter-Strike and Delta Force – and just need some new maps to gnash their teeth on, with some slightly different rulesets, Insurgency is a low-priced, solid solution.

For this reviewer, however, many an hour has been wiled away rocket jumping, rail gunning, sniping, poking heads around corners, and bunny hopping. Armies have been laid to waste, alien hordes defeated and governments toppled. Now, it has all gotten to be a bit old hat, unfortunately. There are three game modes: capture control points, escort VIPs, or destroy enemy supply points. Insurgency also features a "slot" system, wherein each team has quotas of class types, such that there can only be a certain number of snipers, demolitions, riflemen, and so on.

The game is built on the Source engine, one of the most versatile, easy to develop for, and ubiquitous first-person engines of the last decade. It is also one of the most ageing engines on the market, a fact attested to by Insurgency's low quality ground textures, archaic particle effects, cringe-worthy animated textures (such as the one on the river in Heights), and the server browser, immediately recognisable as a trademark Source feature.

Those who have been playing tactical shooters since the original Rainbow Six (1998), may be less forgiving. The aged technical standards of the Source engine coupled with the sometimes excellent, sometimes poor, but mostly average art assets, and its derivative game design are not a draw for anyone looking for something new.

It's a bit like a tired relationship, isn't it? The same meal, the same conversation, the same jokes, no growth or change or anything really fascinating. Eventually, the excitement of grabbing an M-16 and unloading a clip in the direction of some other chaps holding AK-47s fades. The thrill of hiding behind a corner when they return fire doesn't light any fires. There's some mates on the voice chat, living it up, telling the same tasteless jokes. There are the newcomers failing to employ any sort of tactical sense, plus the old guard berating those new to the field, and it all becomes sort of "been there, done that."

Insurgency cannot easily be recommended to new gamers either, not when numerous other products on the market offer similar or better experiences. When the the likes of Arma, Battlefield, Counter-Strike, or even DayZ, as well as numerous other tactical shooters are on offer, it would be disingenuous to uphold Insurgency as an imperative solution to the shooting fan's itch.

This review is not a soap box, however, it is a critique. Therefore, New Super Mario Bros. is drawn as a correlation. The industry, from fans to critics to developers, has pilloried Nintendo for the New Super Mario Bros. series since the 3DS release of New Super Mario Bros. 2, and rightly so. The series been called lazy, archaic, and a cash-in. It has been flamed from message board to message board for outdated technical standards, for its tame, safe art style and assets, its lack of creativity, its recycled music, and for game design that does nothing to break the mold set in the early 90s. Insurgency may claim to have voice chat, control points to capture, escort missions, leaderboards, and so on, but what game doesn't have that stuff nowadays? Especially those based on the Source engine, since all of those features are built into it.