Spec Ops: The Line Review

By: Shalin Wiese

Developer: Yager Development, Darkside Game Studios

Platform: PC, XBox360, Playstation 3

Released: June 26th, 2012

Spec Ops was kind of a sleeper hit for me, I had no idea a new one was released until I saw it at my local gameshop. On a whim, I decided to pick it up. Turns out, the game is more interesting and entertaining than half the other nonsense flooding the market right now. Spec Ops: The Line is all about telling a story, and it tells it well.

The story begins in the middle of a firefight between you and your crew in a Black Hawk engaging other helicopters in a firefight over Dubai, during the middle of it, a giant sandstorm approaches ends up crashing the chopper, and bringing about our flashback to start the game proper.

Delta Operatives Walker, Adams and Lugo are sent in to Dubai to find a missing american unit under the command of Kernal Konrad who was sent to Dubai for evacuation of the city due to a giant sandstorm that buried the city. What they find however, is a mysterious message left by Konrad and the Unit gone rogue.

Throughout the game, you realize that things are much worse than they originally expected and Dubai and the people in it are a bit more disturbed than was originally reported. At certain points in the game, you are given options that have no bearing on the ending of the story, but instead, affect the gameplay and make you and the characters rethink why they are there and what they are really trying to do in the city.

This is the most interesting thing about the story though, how it affects the characters and situations they are placed in. During the course of the game, these choices directly impact the characters and their emotions, and its reflected during gameplay. At the beginning, the team goes in as a typical commando unit, enemies drop to Smooth, controlled "Tango Down!" and reloading is a typical "Reloading!" shout. But as the game progresses and they experience the reality of the situation, and the effects of there choices, those original shouts become Desperate with "Take that Fucker down!" and "God damn piece of shit work!"

Gameplay is typical TPS gunfare, you can crouch and roll behind cover, throw grenades, switch between main and secondary weapons etc. And while its certainly nothing new, its fluid and works well. Walker controls smoothly, and camera controls are tight. Having squadmates opens up interesting ways of approaching situations. Lugo is a sniper, and you can mark faraway targets for him to take down, and Adams can toss flash bangs on big groups converging close to your unit.

Another way to approach situations is to use the environment, Dubai, being ravaged by sandstorms, can lead to some interesting ways to approach combat. If an enemy is behind an outside window, shooting it can dump sand on their head, stunning and disorienting them. Enemies above on a glass catwalk? Shoot out the glass and send them plummeting down. There are even certain areas where you can destroy whole walls and complete wipe out a unit, burying them in sand.

Unfortunately, using the environment is really only expiremented with when it's blatantly obvious. Which may not be a bad thing per se. But when certain enemies essentially line up behind a cracking window or on top of glass, theres no subtlety to it, and it doesnt really feel like you genuinely figured it out. Adams and Lugo, while the characters themselves are great, and do contribute to firefights, arent really necessary for the actions they could perform. Its great that you can designate them specific actions, but I found I could easily do it faster myself, and rarely had to rely on them.

Dont let those minor issues take you away from the game though, Spec Ops: The Line, as I said before, is focused on telling a story, and thats the real driving factor behind the game. Spec Ops isnt about run and gun gameplay or getting to the end of the game. Its about the actions you take and the effects it has on the characters and yourself. A War game that shows you that war isnt heroic or interesting, its brutal and horrifying.

Presentation: 5/5

Sound: 5/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Graphics: 4/5

Replay Value: 3/5

Overall: 21/25

Pros:

-Amazing Story

-Great Atmosphere

-Likeable Characters

-Fluid Combat

Cons:

-Combat is repetitive

-Combat doesnt experiment with its assets.

Note: This review is based solely on the Single Player campaign. I never once set foot into the mulitplayer, which I have heard to be fairly entertaining.