Insurgency Sandstorm - PS4 Game | Tactical FPS Shooter | Multiplayer & Co-op Modes | Perfect for Competitive Gaming & Team Play

This game is great the simulations are very exact in time and distance to real-life situations in combat mode. I would add it's highly addictive to play and I am old. The controls for me are a bit odd and some of the settings in the game could be built better. The saving of gear and loadout also add things for your guns.Insurgency Sandstorm was a PC exclusive. For those, who did not own a PC, they were left out to get the experience of the realism of this shooter. In 2021, Insurgency Sandstorm has made its way to PC. I was a bit skeptical of how this game would play out on consoles. The question is how would this shooter measure with the Battlefields and CoDs of the world? Will this game be a pleasant surprise to console gamers? Lastly, should it have been left, strictly for console gamers?GAMEPLAY: Insurgency Sandstorm is a tactical multiplayer-only, first-person shooter. No campaign! However, playing against the enemy AI gives a very, campaign-like feel. This game may be one of the most realistic military shooters I have ever played. This game is not like the majority of the CoDs at all. No fast-paced, jumping, running, sliding and quick-scoping. Sandstorm is a more methodical, realistic and slower-paced shooter. First and foremost, rounds are deadly, making time-to-kill almost instantaneous. One or two well-placed shots and it’s “man down!” Watching a teammate die and grunt from the bullet is very grim. Once, I saw a teammate get shot in the head. Watching his blood shoot out from a round to the head was intense. A teammate, who was a sniper and my character were on a rooftop, engaging a few enemies below, while getting fired upon. After shooting and getting cover to reload, my character looked up and saw that teammate got shot center-mass. The thud, along with the blood-spatter and his fatal grunt was scary. Makes a player want to be a little more methodical on a re-spawn. On the flip-side, I hate to sound like a savage, but I love seeing the animation of seeing enemies die. I would say, just as much as I do in Modern Warfare. Hearing the thuds of bullets riddling their body, seeing dust fly from their clothes, along with their blood and hearing their grunts is something I have rewound several times, upon re-watching clips of gameplay.The look of the weapons is as authentic as any shooter a player will find. Each weapon has its own realistic sound and recoil, making landing shots difficult, especially with an increase in fire rate. Once, my character picked up a 249 SAW with iron sights. Realistically, the weapon was jumping all over the place. Could not land a single shot at the target. A round can penetrate through certain structures, depending on the type of round. For example, rounds shooting from a .50-cal. technical can penetrate through walls. Better get down! Some rounds may take an extra shot at an enemy, depending on the distance and where the shot hits. For example, I had a Mark 18 CQBR, which does not have high penetration stats. My character was shooting at an enemy with heavy armor and was running to the right from 30 yards out. It took 5 shots to finally take him down.Sandstorm does not allow hand-holding, which makes teamwork necessary. Settings CANNOT be changed. No minimap. In addition, a lack of a HUD and health bar. No stim shots or waiting to fully restore health, either. No crosshairs. No indications that a nearby grenade has been thrown at your character’s feet, seconds from exploding. Not to mention, no ammo count, which is critical. However, my character can get an idea of how many rounds and mags they have at their disposal by pressing and holding the square button to perform a mag and ammo check. Still, my character will not know exactly how many rounds they have because round quantities are shown as a level inside of a square (mags). Many times, during a firefight, rounds go quicker than imagined, even shooting single shots. Suddenly, “click, click!” When that happens, unlike many other first-person shooters, no auto-reload with an empty mag, it must be done manually. When facing an enemy, the result can be fatal. Nevertheless, when reloading, there is a standard reload, where the magazine will be reloaded slower. Not to mention, unused rounds will be stored, if reloaded, without emptying the mag. Then, there is the fast reload. This method is more effective, especially when under fire. The empty mag will fall to the ground and another mag will quickly enter the chamber. If performing a fast reload without emptying the mag, all remaining rounds will be lost. Nevertheless, I love the reload animations. Running out of rounds and hearing the zipping sound, watching my character take a mag out of his vest, placing a fresh mag into the chamber and pressing the bolt release is an animation I cannot get enough of.I made a large emphasis on the animation of reloading a mag. Well, there are many other animations and physics that make Sandstorm so unique. For example, in order to slide, the character must run for a few seconds to build momentum to be able to do so. When aiming down the sights, the character can tilt their weapon to the left or right, similar to Rainbow Six Siege. In fact, in Sandstorm, the feature is more in-depth. The character will tilt the weapon more, the closer he gets to a more open space or doorway. One animation I love is when my character is getting cover in front, he will be shown holding his weapon, vertically upside the wall. Then, if my character crouches behind cover on a short wall and decides to aim, an animation will show my character raising the weapon over the wall to aim. Nice attention to detail. Also, not only can weapons be salvaged, accessories and rounds can, as well. If an enemy or teammate is killed, and the caliber of the round matches the ones in their character’s weapon, it can be salvaged. Also, if a killed enemy just happens to have a flashbang, molotov or smoke grenade, it can be taken, as well. However, if the accessories are unused and the character replenishes in an ammo box, the original loadout will default.Breaching doors have cool animations. Doors can be opened five different ways. The first of course, is opening the door by hand. Upon walking up to the door a prompt will come up. Press the triangle button and the door opens. The door can be closed, as well. Then, doors can be peeked through. While aiming down the sights and press the triangle button to slowly open the door. This creates an opportunity to have enough of a look to possibly shoot, toss a grenade or flashbang through the small opening of the door. Next is to breach the door by charging through it. Build up momentum by running towards the door and press the R3 button and bash through. I would not recommend this because an enemy can likely off your character by flying aimlessly through the door. The next breaching method is the door-kick. Walk up to the door and press the R3 button. Your character’s right leg will be shown kicking down the door and shouting, “breach, breach” or “knock, knock!” A bonus to kicking down the door is if by chance an enemy is on the other side, they can be taken out by the force of it. The last breaching method is via explosives. Of course, the Demolition class will be needed to perform this method. Place a C4 at the door and blow it. Enemies on the other side of the door can be killed and perhaps, multiple enemies, who are in the radius of the explosion.CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION: Characters can be fully customized. Players have a faction-designated choice of gear and equipment to choose from. Players can choose their gender, character features, such as head, hair, facial hair, hair color, left and right arm tattoos and their voice. The gear that can be customized is headgear, facewear, eyewear, hands, torso, legs, feet, equipment and uniform camo.CLASSES: Sandstorm has 8 classes. Only so many can be used, per match. There is the Rifleman, Breacher, Advisor, Demolition, Marksman, Gunner, Observer and Commander. The Rifleman is a general purpose fighter, who uses both, assault and battle rifles. Unlimited players can use the Rifleman. Next is the Breacher. They are close-quarters specialists, who use SMGs, SBRs, and shotguns. Only 2 Breachers can be used per team. Advisors use unique weapons, which are not available for other classes and are trainers or local forces. Only 2 Advisors can be used per. Marksmen are long-range shooters aka snipers, who use bolt-action rifles, long-range scopes and battle-rifles. Only 1 Marksman can be used per team. Gunners are basically fighters who use heavy machine-guns. Only 1 Gunner can be used per team. An observer is a radio operator, who works closely with the Commander to call in fire support. Only 2 Observers can be used at a time. Lastly, is the Commander. This is the team leader, who uses binoculars to call in fire support, when near an Observer. Only 1 Commander can be used per team. Keep in mind, the Observer and Commander have to be close to each other for them to call in fire support. Sometimes, players will hear, “where is my Commander?” That is a cue to be aware of.LOADOUTS: Loadouts are default by classes. Only a certain amount of supply points for weapons, attachments and gear for the classes, as well. Co-op is given more supply points for loadouts, than Versus. Each weapon, item or accessory has their own amount of supply points, meaning only so many can be chosen. Some are 0 points. By default, there is one slot for Primary, and one for Secondary. Of course, for both there are several slots for attachments of course. There are up to three slots for Explosive, such as grenades, flashbangs, molotov, etc. Only one slot for Ammo Carrier and one slot for Armor, which can be light or heavy. Only one slot for Accessory, which is a gas mask for day time and NVGs for night. There are two types of NVGs, each with three types of sight colors, such as green, white phosphorus and amber. Well, the second type also has a multi-color.Keep in mind, on night maps, NVGs must be chosen in your loadouts. They are not available by default. My first time playing on a night map, everything was pitch-dark. Little did I know I had to have NVGs chosen. Might I add, NVGs are worth 3 supply points. Might I also add, if wanting to use a laser sight, an IR Laser Sight can be added for 1 supply point and NV Point Shooting can be added for 0 supply points. NV Point Shooting is where the weapon can be tilted, while aiming down the sights. This feature is similar to what is done on night maps in MW 2019. Lastly only one slot for Combat Knife. All weapons and/or items can be removed from the loadout and the character can only have a combat knife, which is 0 supply points. Only the primary and secondary weapons can be modded of course. Also, keep in mind, depending on the type of loadouts, weight is added the more items that are chosen. Of course, weight has a bearing on how fast or slow the character can move. A weight percentage will be shown to keep track of this.CO/OP: This is the mode, which I exclusively play. Up to eight players go up against enemy AI. There is a map listed, as well as the scenarios, which are played in day or night variations with the factions next to it. This allows players to know which faction they will play, as. There are four modes to play in Co/op. Depending on the mode, match lengths can go up to 40 minutes.The first mode is Checkpoint, which is my favorite. Players must capture or destroy each objective in a letter sequence across the map, which are colored in red. When, and if some objectives are captured, the enemy might counter-attack. When and if this happens, the objective color turns blue and has a countdown from 2:00. Either way, if a player is killed, they will have to wait, until the objective is captured or destroyed, before respawning. On the final objective, the counterattack will be the longest. In-between, when objectives are captured, supply crates will become available to replenish weapons and accessories.The next mode is Hardcore Checkpoint. Capturing the objectives and defending against waves of enemies is where the similarities end. This time, players will have slower movements, supply points will be strained, player markings will not be seen, unless up-close and most importantly, if a player is killed, he will re-spawn with a bolt-action rifle and a pistol with no attachments. They will only be able to reacquire their loadout, upon finding a supply crates..Then, there is Survival Mode. Objectives must be captured in random order. Then, teams must move to and defend the extraction point. Players must start with only a secondary weapon i.e. pistol. Each objective will have weapon crates, which will provide a random, upgraded Primary weapon. If a player is killed, they can only respawn when an objective is secured.The last mode is Outpost. Players must defend their objectives against waves of enemies. Players start with low supply points and gain more after each wave. Loadouts can only be resupplied in-between waves during the Preparation phase. Up to two objectives are active at a time. Unfortunately, your team will fall back to the next objective area to defend, if by chance the enemy captures it or the team is eliminated.VERSUS: Up to 10 players go head-to-head against each other. A map is listed, along with the faction that the players will play. However, unlike Co-op, there are only daytime maps. This allows players to know which faction they will play, as. There are four modes to play in Co/op. There is Push, Firefight, Frontline and Domination. Depending on the mode, match lengths can go up to 40 minutes.Push is the Attackers vs. Defenders. The Attackers have to capture all enemy objectives one by one. Then, they have to destroy the final weapon cache objective to win. Meanwhile, when objectives are captured, they will gain respawn waves, adding more minutes to a countdown clock, respawning their team. Defenders will lose their respawn waves when the Attackers reach the weapon cache. Defenders have to defend their objectives until the time runs out or eliminate all Attackers to win.Firefight is eliminating all lenemy players or capturing the objectives to win. The team will respawn when an objective is captured.Frontline is capturing all enemy objectives one by one, and destroying the final weapon cache objective to win. The team must defend their own objectives and weapon cache from being captured or destroyed. Meanwhile, both teams will need to defend their own objective while also attacking an enemy objective after the neutral middle objective is captured.Teams will move to the next objective, gain respawn waves, and respawn their team, every time a team captures an objective.Domination is capturing and holding objectives to gain points for your team. Points will be gained quicker the more objectives your team owns. To win, a team must have the highest amount of points when time runs out or be the first team to reach the highest amount of points when time runs out. Shortly after a player dies, they will respawn.ENEMY AI: The enemy factions are Security and Insurgents. Security is made of various Special Forces around the world. I will emphasize on the Insurgents more because Security is the faction, which is primarily chosen to play.The Insurgents are made up of various terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and so on. Believe it or not, the enemy AI in this game is no joke. The Insurgents have various archetypes with various weapons and tactics. Some can be seen strafing, while shot at, go prone, kneel behind cover or run parallel, while shooting. Others might wait, just to ambush. Some are very good shots. Some are not. Once, an Insurgent missed me at close-range because I shifted right and shot him. In another situation, my character was traveling up a hill only to get shot in the head with a single shot from outside of a window at long-distance.Insurgents can be seen with various assault rifles, preferably AK-47’s, bolt-action rifles, heavy machine guns, pistols, RPGs and shotguns. Other lethal accessories are flashbang and frag grenades. Then, there are some insurgents who throw molotov cocktails. The throws of a grenade or molotov can be very accurate, despite the distance. They can throw the molotov anywhere at any time, never to see it coming. Do not stay in one corner for too long! Eventually, they may wield a molotov or grenade and all that is left is hearing your character burning, screaming or blown up. Last, but not least, there is the suicide bombers. They are equipped with a suicide vest and a cellphone to detonate it. They will run straight towards your character or anyone else who is around. Before the phone is heard, fully beeping, he needs to be taken out in a hurry. Also, Insurgents can call in a .50-cal. Technical, bomb-wielding drones or mortared bombs or gas attacks.Going up against Security can be awkward because they are the “good guys” and intense, as well. Security is a bit more tactical and are much better shots. They do not run around, as much as Insurgents. In fact, they are more methodical when entering a building. Once, I was snuck up from behind and killed at point-blank range. On the flip-side, that can be used to an advantage for the player. Then, my character happened to look up and saw one camouflaged, low-crawling in the grass towards an unsuspecting teammate. The moment he got up to get ready to fire his pistol at point-blank range, my character took him out. Unfortunately, one had just come in at the end of a corridor, shooting down my character from 90 feet away with a single shot. Not to emphasize much, but the weapons and gear they use are what most Special Forces use. They can call in strikes, as well as a gunship.GRAPHICS/PRESENTATION: The graphics on Insurgency Sandstorm are good, but not great. Picture playing in 4K for a remastered PS3 game. Nevertheless, the graphics are represented very well, especially with the weapons. The landscapes on some maps look decent. A few maps look very PS3-ish. Still, the gameplay is so good, graphics are an afterthought. Night maps are done very well. They give a very, Zero Dark Thirty-like feel. NVGs are represented, realistically. Night vision in Modern Warfare 2019 looks nice, but a bit too clear and sharp. However, in Sandstorm, the grainy green resolution seems a bit more organic. Not to mention, their function. When there is no light around, things can get pretty dark, especially indoors. When there is too much light around, players can be blind. Of course, those who have used NVGs know that some kind of light has to be present for them to function and too much light makes it hard to see.SOUND: Players will have eargasms. Not to mention, feel immersed. This can be enhanced, even more by wearing headphones, headsets or IEMs combined with turning the in-game music off. I can go on about the various sounds, which can be heard, while playing, such as the constant clapping of gunshots all around, booming explosions, along with falling soil and destroyed surfaces from grenade blasts, roaring flames from a thrown molotov cocktail, footsteps, voices and so on. Firing a weapon is a sound I cannot get enough of hearing. I swear! Wearing headphones makes me feel as if I am at the gun range. The part I love the most is hearing the echo after firing the last round. The sounds of the weapon reloading, as well as chambering a round from a depleted magazine.The thud of bullets riddling the body of the enemy or a character. Hearing the grim sounds of teammates, who have been killed, has an immersive and scary feel. I will say that hearing the sounds of enemies shot and killed is satisfying. However, hearing a teammate dying makes me feel some kind of way. Intense!VERDICT: Honestly, I was not sure I would enjoy Sandstorm, as much as I do. This game has it all, minus superb graphics. Like I mentioned, the gameplay will make graphics the least of a player’s concern. With animations, sound, physics and overall, organic gameplay, players will believe they got a steal for a game, which is only $39.99.It's a unique shooter but not realistic. Time to kill very high which makes it unrealistic but that make it good since it forces you to play more tactical but some maps are useless for tactical play since I can just snipe people from across some maps with a shotgun that has the right attachments and ammo type.Your tryna flip the gamesGreat game! The only tactic as l game on console. Too many pluses to list. 8 will focus on the on bug negative: CRASHES! It crashed every 20 minutes or so mid game on PS4 despite all the patching. Highly annoying. I no.longer bother playing.I do not think this game is suitable for PS4 as it is resource hungry. This means crashes are likely to be around for a long while on last gen consoles.Bought this for my Brother and his son to play on the PS4 and they love it.I have this game for my PC and I love it. The gameplay is Brilliant , the sounds in battle are Amazing, I have never played a Tactical FPS that has sounded this good. The details in the weapons are exactly like the real deal. It's great to play online or to play offline with the Ai. The gameplay can be quite brutal and you can die very quickly and that is what I love about it. Loads of weapons and addons to choose from. The maps are well designed and look good. I would recommend playing this with a keyboard and mouse for a console setup. Never played this with a hand game controller and never will. 5/5I waited 2 years for this to come on PS4 after PC release and I really thought this game was going to be the new franchise but they need to make adjustments.Maps are crazy good but when u kill someone there's no noise to confirm Ur kill. Takes about 2 or 3 bullets to kill (sniper 1 shot) so u can't react if someone shot u first. Basically the whole game is hardcore mode. COD plays should avoid this game but if Ur into Tom Clancy then u might like this, just a bit too real for me but fantastic places to take cover, they really did great work on the maps.When it arrived I nearly creamed,very good game,found it more addictive than cod,got a great kill rate from just killing everyone even my own team members,good fun!Very different to the likes of call of duty, rainbow six siege and so on... but a mixture of the both.very tactical and more or less instant kills 2 or 3 bullets, very unusual game to get used to but when you learn the maps it's pretty good. Team work and communication is everything. Well worth the purchase