Guys I'm sorry but I have to update my review. I have lost confidence in the Squad devs and their ability to produce a usable product. You've seen it, I've seen it, we've all seen it. The infantry overhaul was controversial at best. A 50/50 split in a community as dedicated as the Squad community is is under no circumstances a good thing...
Listen, if you somehow find this game enjoyable with the new gunplay, more power to you. But if you're not sure, please do yourself a favor and test it out in the range so you can refund the game in case you don't like it before time runs out.

Personally, I can't under any circumstances justify the changes they made. Yeah yeah no more run and gun whatever, don't care. This was done under the guise of promoting more teamwork. The thing is there were a million things they could have done to actually promote teamwork if they really wanted to. But no, they chose the worst possible route. They chose to destroy the very fundamentals of a game that has been working wonderfully for literally years now. I'm very careful overusing words like "unplayable," but my god Squad is unplayable. There is absolutely no justification for why it now takes your soldier 5+ seconds to line up with his scope's eye box. There is absolutely no justification for why your soldier is now incapable of holding a rifle steady after doing so much as WALK forward 20 feet. And boy do I mean WALK because you sure as hell ain't getting anywhere fast now that movement speed has been nerfed AGAIN. The new Insurgency Sandstorm style "hipfire" that they implemented (shamelessly borrowed) now means your gun flies all over the screen if you so much as look at your mouse, effectively changing your mouse sensitivity and ensuring that the gun never actually points in a predictable area. Worse yet, when you go to ADS the gun won't actually be aiming where you were aiming before you ADS'd, which in combination with the new picture-in-picture scopes means you can't actually find your original target without dragging your mouse across your desk to get back on target. (only after you've waited the 30 seconds for your soldier to decide to steady his scope enough to be able to see through it of course)
Guys, there are untrained child soldiers in Africa that are now better soldiers than your soldier in Squad. Let that sink in. A game about professional standing armies going toe-to-toe in WW3 now has soldiers who are less capable than handling their rifles than your average child soldier, or average American 12 year old.

It's devastating having the only FPS game you actually enjoyed be destroyed overnight, but such is life. It's clear they're not going to relent. I'm moving on. So long and thanks for the memories.....

This is how games die.



Old review below:
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Simply the best "milsim," team-centric, strategy-based shooter on the market period. Nothing else comes close.

Infantry gameplay is smooth, satisfying, low barrier to entry/high skill cap, and diverse even with the lack of class customization. You could easily spend 500 hours mastering every class in the game, and you'd have fun the whole time. There's nothing more rewarding than commanding a team to a close victory after a hard fought battle.

Vehicle gameplay is just the right amount of nuance, not being too button-mashy and not overly simplified. Armored vehicles require a keen eye, experience with your weapon system, a well oiled crew, and significant amounts of experience to truly unlock their true potential, but can be just as fun to new players who are willing to learn from their experiences.

The map design is generally one of the game's strong points. They're huge, they allow for all kinds of strategies and playstyles. The more creative you are, the more the game rewards you with new avenues to attack or defend.

The UI takes a bit of getting used to, but it works well when you finally learn the ropes. Performance is a low point in the game's development; my GTX 1070 struggles even on lower settings. The devs are currently set on fixing this. Squad would easily be worth $60, which is rare in the indie dev scene. It's a steal for what it sells for now. Expect to spend about 50 hours in the game before you start to truly understand what's going on. Don't be afraid to take Squad Lead!