It's a strange design choice, because Insurgency otherwise gets a lot right: scoping raises your body slightly, and a lot of the cover has been designed to take into account that little adjustment, so you can hide and pop up just above the cover just when you're firing. Dying because you took a hit to the ankle almost literally shoots Insurgency’s real-world tactical vibe in the foot. I’ve killed a lot of people with a burst of fire aimed at a heel poking out from behind cover. Though there is one huge flaw in the gunplay as well: headshots results in instant death, but the weakness of ankles and elbows also puts you in a lot of danger. I never found a corner in any of them that can't be flanked or sniped, which is smart level design that works to keep you edgy. Thanks to a heavy emphasis on territorial control, there's a lot of movement, so I was never quite comfortable in any one position. Of the many modes and maps available (five and 12, respectively, which are mostly a set up for different territorial-control modes), most have a nice mix of open areas leading to buildings and back alleys. Insurgency’s a slow game, and it pushes you to aspire to join those hidden killers. It's incredibly satisfying to tweak your kit, but doing so each time you play is really clumsyĭeath will come from dark corners, through tiny gaps, fired by unseen people.
It's a good system, yet there’s a huge and obvious flaw: you can't save your loadouts. That spread of numbers extends to the rest of your equipment, so you could sacrifice a side arm and grab more grenades, creating intriguing little sub-classes that keeps both you and the enemy on your toes. You can snap off the optics and spend those supply points on an under-barrel grip and suppressor, making the rifle more controllable and quiet for sneaky close-quarters combat or you could boost the optics and add weight to the barrel, creating a decent long-range rifle out of an M16A4.
Developer New World Interactive has done a good job with those weapons: you don't just pick a class in Insurgency: after selecting a from the locals or the peacekeepers/foreign devils, picking a class and joining a squad, then you tweak your loadout through an impressively flexible system. As you'd imagine with a game set in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, the soundtrack is the crisp snap of modern weaponry.