Insurgency Sandstorm Review

Sandstorm is a great sequel to the original Insurgency. The action is intense, and teamwork is a must. Everything from the gameplay mechanics to the visuals to the sound engineering make for a fun and amazing experience. There are a lot of features about this game that, for me, make it a very enjoyable first person shooter experience.

[h1]PROS[/h1]
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[*]FREE LOADOUTS: All equipment items for every class loadout and weapon are already unlocked. Each player gets a pool of points they can use to customize their loudout to their preference. This means no grinding to unlock weapons or attachments.
[*]GREAT SOUND: The sound engineering is wonderful. You can distinctly hear directional sound for things like footsteps and oncoming fire. The effects of explosions and bullets snapping by make for a very intense experience.
[*]VERSATILITY: The game offers a lot of different options for a lot of different approaches to scenarios. For instance, when faced with a door, you can yank it open, crack it open to peek through (or lob a grenade in), shoot through it, blow the hinges off, or just straight kick it down on top of anyone standing behind it.
[*]STRATEGICAL GAMEPLAY: Sandstorm adds in a lot of elements that I've not found in other first person shooters, such as necessary ammo management, ammo scavenging, and more. When reloading, you're not reloading from a magic ammo pool, and if you do a quick reload when your mag is still half full, you've just dropped and lost those rounds. It makes you think about every shot. You can also scavenge compatible ammo from fallen enemies, or swap your gun out for an enemies on the run if you find yourself in a pinch.
[*]CHALLENGING AI: Normally when it comes to bots in an FPS, they tend to be predicable, robotic, and more often than not miraculous shooters. In Sandstorm the AI act and respond as you might expect the average player to. They will use tactics, throw smoke, hunker down and wait for you to come to them, creep around corners, go prone, and generally it seems as if they are actually assessing the situation and responding accordingly each time. They seem very balanced and make for a very enjoyable and challenging experience.
[*]PERFORMANCE: Runs great on any machine, from high end, to medium, to even low spec'd machines without issue.
[*]GREAT COMMUNITY: The playerbase and community, as I've experienced it so far, has been great. People understand the need to work together to complete the objectives, and there have been some really comical moments.
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[h1]CONS[/h1]
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[*]Minor Sound Issues: The only really bothersome thing I encountered was the sound the transport truck makes when you're spawning into a map and being driven to the starting point. It sounds like someone shoving silverware down a garbage disposal, very loud, and very confusing. When I first started playing I thought we were immediately taking fire and that our poor transport was being riddled with holes.
[*]Solo Players: You're going to encounter some players who treat this like a Call of Duty game, just rushing in, caution to the wind, thinking they can blitz their way through to victory. Aside from that, most people work together and have fun.
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