Insurgency: Sandstorm

Insurgency: Sandstorm is one of the most surprising games of this generation. With amazing sound design, solid gunplay and original ideas, it has become the perfect game for FPS gamers.

If you are looking for an online multiplayer shooter that is much more realistic than Call of Duty or Battlefield, but is not pain-in-the-ass realistic like Arma series, then Insurgency: Sandstorm is your choice; and with the promise of constant support and free DLCs from the developers, I expect that Insurgency will soon become a big player in this genre.

Somehow in this most well-travelled of multiplayer FPS paths, Insurgency: Sandstorm feels fresh and innovative at every turn.

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a convincing online FPS. It's not for everyone, but the hardcore gamers will find a satisfying tactical shooter where a good coordination with the team members is vital for success.

A tense as well as challenging online shooter that manages to strike a balance between simulation and fast paced action.

Insurgency: Sandstorm’s slower, more realistic approach likely won’t win over any Call of Duty fans, but then again it’s not really trying to. Sandstorm was made with a very specific type of player in mind, and if you fit that mold you’ll likely get dozens if not hundreds of hours out of the game. And even if you don’t fit that mold completely, there are enough ancillary incentives to make Sandstorm an excellent pick-up-and-play game, especially if you have some friends to recruit.

This game from a small independent studio managed to one-up triple-A series like CoD and Battlefield. Insurgency: Sandstorm has a very clear understanding of what kind of experience it wants to deliver, and it doesn’t waste effort on timesinks like lootboxes or unlocks. [Issue#235, p.34]

Extremely demanding, extremely intense. But to be a hardcore success, Insurgency: Sandstorm still needs optimization and bug fixing.

It needs more content, but apart from that, we can’t really say anything bad about this demanding, challenging, realistic and satisfying experience.

In spite of some technical issues and a lower graphic quality when compared to the competition, Insurgency: Sandstorm still is a realistic and hardcore experience.

One of the best simulation FPS on the market right now.

Performance issues aside, Insurgency: Sandstorm nails the fundamentals of a great shooter. Weapon handling is tight and empowering. Strategy and perception are rewarded. It electrifies the senses like a hit of amphetamines, and is just as moorish. While it may not become as big of a hit as its mainstream contemporaries, Sandstorm is a potent alternative worth checking out.

In spite of a small lack of content, Insurgency : Sandstorm is a very good multiplayer FPS which offers a feeling between the simulation or ArmA and the arcade of a Battlefield. Moreover, the community is welcoming with noobs which is nice.

The lack of a single player campaign is counterbalanced by the reduced price (€ 29.99); so we can also recommend it to all those who simply want to tack on an experience different from the most successful titles.

Overall, Insurgency: Sandstorm has very few bugs, improved graphical quality, a new game engine, and a large array of weapons to use in battle.

Difficult, tough, hardcore. Insurgency: Sandstorm is certainly not a FPS for everyone, but for the hardcore fans of the tactical line it's a good title.

Insurgency: Sandstorm is an excellent tactical shooter, very well refined and with simple yet convincing mecanichs.

Insurgency: Sandstorm may be spartan, but its limited package can still deliver memorable moments.

If Battlefield is too arcadey for your taste and you’ve already heard everything about every player’s mum’s morals in CS:GO, Insurgency is an interesting alternative. It does have some minor technical problems, but once the developers sort them out, every tactical combat fan needs to check it out. [02/2019, p.51]

One of the most detail-oriented military shooters available today. With some amazing visual and sound design, it's impressive looking and sounding yet also a fun, tactical and tense shooter for players who really want a challenge.

A very good game that needs some amount of balancing and polishing to really shine.

Insurgency: Sandstorm sees New World Interactive successfully transfer their particular brand of hardcore tactical shooter to a modern game engine with just a few technical hitches, though you’ll need to be content with a familiar Middle Eastern setting and somewhat limited set of maps and game modes.

It isn't as punishing as something like Arma, but it still offers fantastic audio and a brutal TTK that forces the player to slow down, think about their steps, and use all the tools the game puts at their disposal. One can't go into this game hoping for a sleek experience. The technical side of the game is just as gritty as its combat. In the heat of an intense battle, your processor will also put out some heat. Hopefully, New World Interactive can devote some time toward the technical side of things and put as much care into that as it did the audio and gameplay. If the developer can fix those issues, Insurgency: Sandstorm would be one of the better competitive shooters available on Steam.

Insurgency: Sandstorm needs a bit more polish to be the outstanding sequel it should be but if you overlook the issues you'll find a fairly enjoyable multiplayer title.

Absolutely worth playing for tactical shooter fans who excel and enjoy team-work, because it offers more in this area than other shooters, the same way it rewards precision shooting. It's half the price of triple-A shooters and is only going to get better with time.

Compliant as a demanding tactical shooter and its realism, its lack of maps and polish overshadow its playable proposal.

The obsessions with realism and old school action don’t come at the cost you might imagine, in this tense and well-designed online shooter.

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a solid shooter that offers the series’ best intense, tactical thrills, but can’t help but feel behind the times in both theme and looks.