When the first Standalone version of Insurgency came out, I absolutely fell in love with the coop mode. Something about the linear (albeit, slightly open) routes of the maps funneled players together and subtly encouraged teamwork, moving cover to cover and leapfrogging. Even with a team of random players on a random server people seemed to know how to work together and it made for some incredibly fun times.
Overall the map design of INS:S feels way different than the first standalone game. In the coop modes, maps feel way more open and like you can get hit from any side-- understandably this is more realistic, but as compared to the first game:
-It feels like I have less awareness of my teammates at all times, which deeply hampers any kind of spontaneous teamplay
-In every coop map, there's little to no strategic positions to hold where I can support my teammates by providing overwatch with an MG or sniper rifle
-Maps are way less linear now, and while I'm all for open map designs, it means that my team of random players tends to split up and charge onto the objective on their own. This would be totally fine if each "route" to the next objective provided some kind of opportunity to cover one another but for the most part, coop feels like a solo mission where I don't shoot a certain amount of people
-Due to the more claustraphobic nature of the map design, holding a position during a counter attack feels more like sitting inside the corner of a room and shooting any bot that happens to come inside of it (compare to point C of Burhiz of the first standalone Insurgency game, where everyone on your team would aim out of windows to cover 4 potential routes to the objective you have to hold)
Overall I understand that INS:S may be going for more realism but so far the open map design doesn't feel like it encourages teamplay like the original standalone game did, nor does it really provide any opportunities to do so