The armory is a nuanced system where every article of clothing or piece of gear will alter basic gameplay. There are hundreds of weapon attachments, loadout options, and gear choices to be made – every one of which changes the way the game is experienced exponentially, and not always for the better. Given the game’s reliance on tactical gameplay over basic bum-rush shooting, it features a whole lot of kit and weaponry players will have to familiarise themselves with. In Insurgency: Sandstorm, however, players will have to balance tactical thinking with traditional first-person smarts. So much so, a bunch of fans have recently requested 343 to create a playlist exclusively for deathmatch-type matches in Halo Infinite. Oftentimes, running around and shooting other people in the face are some of the only things people really want to do in their multiplayer games. It forgoes a single-player campaign completely, and instead brings exciting cross platform gameplay to the long-running franchise. The game is a team-based, objective-oriented multiplayer game selectively drawing from its predecessors. Originally released for Microsoft Windows in 2018, Insurgency: Sandstorm is finally allowing console players in 2021 to get in on frantic firefights, wearing bulky gear and counting every bullet. After all, stock-standard and boots-to-the-ground gameplay has its place and New World Interactive’s Insurgency: Sandstorm is a wonderful reminder of this. Other times, however, reigning back the action in favour of some simulation can be a cathartic process. To some extent, most FPS games have a modicum of realism to them.

Perhaps this is because simulation-levels of gameplay only tend to draw the most hardcore of gamers or it could be because space ships, laser guns, wall jumping, and jetpacks are just so much cooler (when done right). True realism and first-person shooter (FPS) video games hardly ever mix.

Insurgency sandstorm