Game Review – Spec Ops: The Line from 2K Games

It’s time to review another shooting game – this time it’s Spec Ops: The Line, and it’s much more than your average shooting game!

This is how the game is described:

IT’S BEEN 6 MONTHS SINCE DUBAI WAS WIPED OFF THE MAP BY A CATACLYSMIC SANDSTORM. Once the world’s most fantastical city, Dubai is now its most opulent ruin.

Ravaged by cataclysmic sandstorms, THE CITY LIES BURIED, reclaimed by the desert. Abandoned, it has become a no-man’s-land for refugees and outlaws.

While most people fled the now-barren wasteland, U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad and the 33rd Infantry remained behind to PROTECT THOSE INCAPABLE OF ESCAPE.

Unable to contact anyone in Dubai, the world believed KONRAD AND HIS TEAM DEAD, until they picked up a weak distress signal. As Captain Walker, you and your squad of Delta Operators INFILTRATE THE TRECHEROUS REGION to locate survivors.

There, you and your men will experience madness – A world shattered by the failings of great men. You will face an enemy you were never trained to fight – Fellow soldiers prepared to accept the consequences of their actions. You will walk a line – That razor-thin edge separating your mission from your duty.

THERE IS NO ESCAPE from Dubai. It is the end – of honour and duty – when the storm has stripped you to the bone and ONLY THE LINE REMAINS.

Campaign Mode

The game starts off with you in a chopper being chased and shot at by a lot of other choppers. You are manning a minigun and you job is simple – shoot the other choppers before they shoot you. Then a sandstorm suddenly appears and it looks like you are going to crash!

Then you are taken to an earlier point in time and the game beings in earnest. You are there on a recon mission – but it’s not long before that goes straight out the window and you are trying to rescue other soldiers. And there are other elements, but I won’t spoil that for you.

Multiplayer Mode

This is how the developer describes the multiplayer experience:

• Experience a variety of game modes such as classic deathmatch, team deathmatch, and “Rally Point”, as well as a unique new mode called “Buried”

• Featuring sandstorms and sand avalanches- you must utilize both to your advantage to succeed. Take out opponents unable to find cover during the storms. Shoot out sand deposits to bury your opponent alive.

• Class-based progression system split across two unique factions: The Damned and The Exiles

• Each faction has four classes and one unique class. Unique classes provide important gameplay bonus for the player’s team

• Unlock new perks, weapons, gear and challenges, and more as you progress up the ranks

• Play across a variety of Dubai-based maps. Experience intense vertical combat in the world’s most opulent ruins.

While I really enjoyed playing the single player game I found myself getting bored of the multiplayer games after a very short time.

This is mainly because it felt like there really wasn’t much to them apart from go hide and wait for someone to appear in front of you and shoot them. The deathmatch games pretty much consisted of this – if you wandered out in the open then you pretty much got shot and killed within a few seconds. So what everyone seemed to be doing was hiding and waiting for you to go into the open – and frankly that isn’t much fun!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you shouldn’t try multiplayer, only that it certainly won’t be the main reason for buying the game.

More Images

Here are some more images from the game:

Final Thoughts

As I eluded to earlier, I really enjoyed playing the campaign mode. In fact I found it hard to put down, and there were lots of “just one more level”. Unfortunately I couldn’t say the same for the multiplayer mode. But that’s ok, the campaign mode more than makes up for it.

What I really liked about this game was that it had a story and it wasn’t just all about find the bad guys and shoot them.

Yager, the developer of Spec Ops credits both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now as inspirations for the game, and you can really see that when you play.

There are a lot of twists and turns in the game, and even a few moments when you are really quite shocked in what happens. But again, I won’t spoil that for you.

The gameplay was very good, and the visuals were stunning – when a sandstorm appears it works really well.

I also really liked that you have to command your two men – you can (and sometimes have to) order them to do things that you can’t, and it certainly makes the game more interesting.

There was also really good use of background objects – for example you can shoot out glass and if that glass happened to have sand above it, that sand will fall and crush the men under it.

If you are looking for a simple shoot the bad guys game you will be disappointed – however if you are looking for a clever, in-depth game that try’s to get across a message, then you definitely should try Spec Ops.

Spec Ops: The Line is available now for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC from 2K Games.

Right, I’m to play some more!

Have you played Spec Ops: The Line? What do you think of it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.