[News] Insurgency Comes To Linux

As linux gamers know, Counter Strike is one of the most competitive FPS games for linux, if not THE most competitive. There are Tournaments, the Leaderboards, and back when we were in middle school we all wanted to prove how awesome we were with an AWP or P90. Nowadays we have not only CS, the game of our past, but we have countless games that, in their own space, get their own tournaments.

I bring up the Tournament part because recently Insurgency was ported to linux (despite them not changing the info, which means they either forgot or they just put the files up today). Recently I was in a discussion about MOBA's and other competitive games for linux and if linux would be a good platform for esports. This will get interesting as more games like Insurgency get ported over natively and many Tourney's may use something like Ubuntu or Suse as their platform for less lag and hardware issues.

So what is Insurgency?

Well, originally Insurgency was a modpack. Whether it was for Counter Strike 1.6 or Source, I am unsure, but originally it was a map-an-gun modpack for CS. Many people found the maps neat and as the devs went on in their mod-work they started adding more and more to their "game". Weight classing, mod-rails for your gun, Acog, Holo, and laser-dot sights. Later they added on to the source engine for a more realistic feel in the game and recently they made their own client of the game.

If you have not played counter strike the entire game is hold W, click, win. If you aren't fast enough you roll a one and they roll a six and you die. Where this differs in Insurgency is that the game is meant to be slower and more tactical. You need to either know the map and where to hide from a sniper or be able to work out a team plan on the map shown before the game starts and communicate with your squad. Where in CS you can aimlessly run around on the map and always pass by something you know about (like the Mosque in Dust II), the Maps in Insurgency are much larger and it is easy to get lost on some maps. Other maps are just fun (My fave being Ministry-Night) and can work as both strategic and fast-paced. Maps also have a daytime and nighttime version making those smoke-bombs, glowsticks, flashlights, and other gear more useful.

Gameplay can be frustrating. You're running around and playing the game and out of nowhere you are dead from a sniper bullet. Unlike CS, Insurgency doesn't tell you what will happen. You need to keep your wits about you and see what is going on all the time. You can't just run across a highway and expect to not get noticed. This type of game normally makes everyone hide behind a wall, but if you know the correct way to play and all of the hiding spots, as well as how to use your gear, kills can easily be had. There are also multiple game modes such as capture the flag, Control Point, King Of The Hill, and more being added by the community.

All in all, this port is going to bring more interest to the game. While not being the most popular, most have heard of it and shook it off as dumb or some play and get angry or find it fun. If you see it on sale be sure to pick it up some time :3

Cool. Sounds like Insurgency could be more my kind of game. I've always disliked CS and CS:GO. I've always seem them as these "dumb brute" kill score games. Same way I see CoD really.