I need to provide a disclaimer up front. I’m going to make quite a lot of comparisons to Team Fortress 2 during the following discussion of Insurgency: Sandstorm. I don’t exactly go out of my way to find new competitive, team-based first-person shooter games to play, so TF2 and Counter-Strike are my only reference points. As you’ve probably guessed by mentioning those two particularly popular games, Insurgency: Sandstorm is another such competitive, team-based first-person shooter. I shall now debrief you about the experiences I’ve had while storming through the sand to either perpetuate or quash an insurgency.

Of all the games I’ve reviewed throughout my work here at Phenixx Gaming, I think Insurgency: Sandstorm might have given me a new personal record for having the most gameplay aspects I simultaneously like and dislike. The list of things about Insurgency: Sandstorm about which I have mixed feelings is much longer than the combined lists of my more concrete likes and dislikes I have in my notes for this review. I suppose I might as well start by rattling all those things off alongside explanations of why I’m in two minds about each of them.

First up is the aspect that was the most jarring for me as a longtime (albeit very casual) Team Fortress 2 player. When players on either team die during a match, they don’t respawn unless their team secures one of the current map’s objectives. Otherwise, they stay dead until the round ends. I like this mechanic because it enables one team to win by keeping the enemy team away from objectives long enough to eliminate all enemy players, thus achieving victory while completely ignoring map objectives. I was thrown off by this, however, because I’m used to having teammates respawn in waves regardless of objectives.

I mainly dislike this aspect of Sandstorm because, although it does contribute a bit toward making gameplay more realistic, it cancels out what it adds to that department because of its implementation. What I mean is that it makes logical sense and feels realistic that players likely stay dead and aren’t guaranteed to eventually “pop back into existence” and rejoin the fight. However, I’d say that’s canceled out because it’s weird that players who are still in the fight can think, “Oh, I captured this control point and that somehow instantly brought all my slain comrades back to life.”

The subject of respawning brings me to my next talking point. It seems to me that both teams are likely to have respawn points that are mostly or entirely out in the open on most maps. That usually results in one of two outcomes: If you respawn and are seen by nearby attentive enemies, you might die again right after respawning. Alternatively, if you pop back into existence near enemies who don’t notice your sudden presence, you can surprise them and maybe rack up a handful of kills.

Even though I’ve always found it amusing when I’ve been in the latter situation, the former case is much more frustrating. The main reason I have mixed feelings about this part of Insurgency: Sandstorm is that I instinctively want to say that I prefer the enclosed, team-restricted respawn locations in Team Fortress 2. However, it’s not entirely fair to criticize Sandstorm for doing things differently because enclosed spawn locations can make it much easier for the enemy team to “spawn-camp” your team. I have to give Sandstorm credit for making “spawn-camping” more difficult to do and, thus, less likely to happen.

Speaking of dying, the next aspect of Insurgency: Sandstorm that I’m on the fence about is the fact that friendly fire is always on by default. Sandstorm does what it can to discourage friendly fire by placing notifications in the upper-right corner of the screen whenever any friendly fire occurs. The presence of friendly fire and the fact that, unlike in Team Fortress 2, you can’t move through teammates both make logical sense and help make gameplay more realistic, if somewhat more difficult. To Sandstorm’s credit, I’ve never seen any hostility between teammates on the rare occasion when friendly fire has occurred.

Friendly fire can foster awkwardness and hostility between teammates, but it can also make for somewhat more amusing situations. There was one occasion when I was killed because I accidentally got in the way of an incendiary grenade that had just been thrown by one of my teammates. Although that would make for horrified teammates and (probably) an automatic court-martial in the real world, it’s just an anecdote from my time with Insurgency: Sandstorm that I can look back on and laugh. I hope my teammates from that match can say the same, or at least don’t feel bad about that incident.

Sandstorm ensures that your teammates are clearly marked, but it can be difficult to see (and mentally process) those markings in the heat of battle. That brings me to the first few things I like about Insurgency: Sandstorm. There are eight playable classes, though you only start with one available and have to unlock the rest as you level up your profile through completing matches. It seems that Sandstorm limits how many of each class can be on a team at once. I’m glad Sandstorm has implemented such limits because this has helped promote balanced teams in my experience.

The final two classes you can unlock, the Observer and the Commander, have unique markers when they’re on your team. Those unique markers are helpful because these two classes depend on each other to perform at their full potential. Observers can use their radio to call in “fire support” requests, but only when they’re near a Commander. Likewise, a Commander can’t request fire support unless they’re near an Observer. I really like that these mechanics encourage players not to ignore these two classes and, more importantly, to work together with their team, especially when playing an Observer or a Commander.

Insurgency: Sandstorm’s core gameplay loop will probably be quite familiar to you if you’ve played virtually any similar game. In a nutshell, Insurgency: Sandstorm’s core gameplay loop is the bog-standard “terrorists versus counter-terrorists,” “RED team versus BLU team,” “we need to go shoot those lads because they’re doing things we don’t want them to do” sort of affair. I doubt that will be a deal breaker for fans of this genre. I suspect most people who get invested in games like Sandstorm don’t do so because of the immersive story, with the notable exception of Team Fortress 2.

The only thing I really dislike about Insurgency: Sandstorm is that it has what I would call a “metric ton” of available microtransactions. Even if these are all entirely cosmetic (which may well be the case), I just can’t be bothered to check because of the sheer number of them. I don’t like how easy it would be for all these microtransactions to prey on people who are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of things. That being said, I know Team Fortress 2 is just as guilty with its weapons and cosmetics that can sell for up to $6,000 on the Steam Community Market.

A PC review key for Insurgency: Sandstorm was provided by Focus Entertainment for this review.

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Insurgency: Sandstorm

$29.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Enjoyable, intuitive core gameplay loop.
• Many aspects help gameplay feel realistic.

Cons

• Excessive amounts of microtransactions.