Insurgency: Sandstorm isn’t the prettiest shooter of 2018, but the places where it excels are the places that matter most. Its gunplay is superb, its arsenal is exemplary, and the maps and modes are serviceable enough to facilitate its memorably frantic and immersive FPS combat.

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

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.

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

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

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

Insurgency: Sandstorm feels like a shoddy HD remaster of the original game rather than a full-fledged sequel, complete with annoying performance drops, popping up textures and bland map design.