Here's a few things I've noticed playing the game.

  1. for the sound there appears to be a "deafening" simulation that tones down all other sounds coming out of the speakers in favor of explosions or similar like loud noises on the battlefield. However, it also effects other sounds the computer is processing; i.e. it'll not only drown out other battlefield noises, but music or any stream or other sound not associated with the game.

  2. there's a few places where players can get stuck, notable between rocks or between three pieces of geometry. And players can't climb all over all rocks or access all roofs or upstairs areas. Not having roof or access to a second or third floor is somewhat understandable, but it's pretty frustrating when you can't climb a rock in one area of the map when you can climb harder rocks in other areas.

  3. the muting feature doesn't work, or at least not for me, and I can't tell who's talking in the voice chat, the name doesn't appear unlike regular insurgency.

  4. the hit boxes for the characters seem somewhat generous, and armor seems only slightly more effective than regular Insurgency, which is a plus, but it doesn't seem to help too much. This is a big issue with me and other shooters that have body armor as a game mechanic; as the armor never seems to work right. You ought to get knocked down, maybe stunned and get back up again depending on where the bullet hits, but as it stands now this game is like other games where the armor absorbs a certain amount of damage, but lets the rest filters through to your body. It would be nice that if a bullet hits your armor that the armor does its job, as opposed to also damaging you on top of that.

  5. Some YouTube review stated that Insurgency stuck with realism. Not to rain on that reviewer's parade, nor the developers, but someone on this forum mentioned that this game is too fast paced, and I tend to agree. You can't really suddenly change directions in real life, which adds to the fast paced game. This is just a suggestion, but maybe needing or having the character shift its upper body weight to turn might slow down the game pace, and maybe make the game more real. I don't know, but Sandstorm really does feel like nearly every other shooter I've ever played.

  6. I can't seem to find out what my token balance is to buy stuff for my character. I have to attempt to buy new clothes to see if I can purchase it or not.

  7. It would be nice to have the option to eliminate the tracers or choose non tracer ammo for support weapons. I hate getting set up for a field of fire only to have a sniper home in on my spot because I'm shooting tracers.

  8. I like the technical and the option to drive, ride as a passenger or fire the support weapon in the tailgate.

  9. like original Sandstorm finding the ammo crate is kind of hard. Maybe there's a way to make them easier to find for newer players.

  10. I like the spacious maps, and more detailed textures. The scope of the maps are almost as good and as large as my old favorite, Joint Operations by the defunct NOVALOGIC, but again it would be nice to be able to climb or access all points in the battle space.

All in all it's a decent game, but it feels like original Insurgency, and that is it plays like CSGO on steroids. That is to say it has the attention to detail of CSGO, but with a few more abilities and a slightly larger attention to true lethality or "realism" for a game compared to Counter Strike (for the record I don't like CS very much … pretty graphics, but pretty basic gameplay).

  1. P.S. it would be great if the bushes weren't solid, and that you could actually climb into them. Right now the game feels a little odd with solid geometry bushes scattered throughout the maps. Because they're solid you can't really use them as cover.

That's all I have for now. I can't say I'm really in love with the game … but it's not really bad either.