Spec Ops: The Line

Blog Post: This Might Be the Last Game I Play.

riverintheroad — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 06:28:00 GMT

This Might Be the Last Game I Play.

As I type this, Spec Ops does what it sets out to do so well, having a stellar story, amazing voice acting and tight gunplay. The story truly makes you question everything you ever know about gaming, which makes me question why I should keep playing. When games don't require thinking on my own accord, it becomes a waste of time.

I doubt I'll truly quit gaming, but I spent the entire day finishing story again, questioning everything that was happening, and lacking the energy to go back to any other game such as Skyrim.

I thought. I feel. I am.

It's why I think I have to stop.

Blog Post: An unforgettably dark and surprisingly memorable shooter

Andrew Marcos — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:19:00 GMT

When Spec Ops: The Line, a resurrection of a long dead and mediocre shooter series was announced and shown to be a cover based military shooter starring stock characters like the stoic hero and wise cracking sniper, there wasn’t much in the way of high expectations. The game doesn’t even give a good first impression or demo particularly well, playing like a standard generic cover based shooter against standard foreign enemies in a standard desert setting, but first impressions can be misleading and soon enough Spec Ops: The Line quickly turns into a compelling narrative on the nature of war, good intentions gone wrong, and a powerful morality play that uses the opulent Dubai setting perfectly to set it apart.

Players are put in the shoes (or rather, the mind) of Captain Martin Walker, leader of a three man Delta Force team sent in to investigate a distress call from a Colonel John Konrad (the story is based off of Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness). Walker doesn’t seem very memorable at first, neither do his two allies, but as time goes on they do show more of themselves and end up being memorable, with humanizing dialogue and a realistic character arc. As you enter the city you quickly realize things have gone wrong, with US soldiers butchered and refugees fighting the very men who were meant to protect them, forcing you to fight back and push on to find Konrad and the 33^rd. This does a good job of setting up the enemies as more than simple bad guys, but as people who simply want to survive and who you are forced to kill through a misunderstanding. It’s brutal, but war often is, and it’s better than the standard fare subhuman enemies we see in other shooters.

Suffice it to say, the story is easily the strongest aspect of the game, and leagues above the narrative of other shooters. It pulls the rug out from under the player, and it genuinely stirred up my emotions and made me feel conflicted, while raising my expectations for storytelling in games. Some of the set pieces seem like standard fare but have a twist to them that changes everything you would expect in a shooter, from small contextual actions like using sand to take out enemies (in place of red barrels), to large ones that might seem standard fare until the game pulls another twist and blindsides you, and I’ll have to avoid going in to detail on what to expect since it’s best to go into the game as blind as you can. One nice feature is the subtle physical and mental degradation of the protagonists as they are forced to fight, instead of being invincible super soldiers without a scratch from beginning to end, by the time the tale is nearing the end they’re angry with each other, tired, depressed, beaten up and scarred in ways that your average pretty boy protagonist could brush off by the next game. The toll of war is high here, and it really shows.

The game is a linear story, and for the most part it works perfectly with the narrative, feeling like this is the only way the game could really be, but it does toy with decision making. Instead of the black and white decisions of other games and shooters, you are often forced into making a decision with an ambiguous outcome, or one that is simply the lesser of two horrible evils, but the presentation of morality makes it difficult to really feel like anything you’ve done is really the “right” decision, and even when it was done I was left questioning my choices. None of the decisions really affect you later on, but they do a good job of setting up what kind of character you are and bringing the horror of war to the front by forcing player participation, and I was genuinely disturbed and physically sickened at some of the events I participated in, which is in the game’s favor as a deconstruction of shooter narratives and mechanics, and one that will last for me longer than any other story in a shooter I’ve played so far, especially with the focus on multiple interpretations and amount of talking points it offers players who can have different views or experiences on different parts of the game.

The writing isn’t perfect though, it is certainly the best story I can think of in the tired military shooter genre, but it does have a few issues. The linearity of it all means that some subtlety was lost, so certain moments that might pack a punch feel a little more drawn out by character reactions, while Walker will often point out things that would be better for the player to point out themselves, like starving crows eating a body in an expensive bar. The contrasts work well and the setting is very beautiful, but moments like these can take the player out of the experience when it would be better to let them discover the small touches for themselves. It also seems a bit disingenuous to make the player push on through and continue their murder spree even as the main characters fall apart and question their sanity or place in this. The game makes you push forward while killing droves of enemies, but it ends up not being fun or feeling like a right fit for a game making you feel bad for your actions and kills. It does at the least give it a survival horror feel, but it seems improper to provide a well-paced firefight with different guns and ways to murder people in fun ways, even if it is something the game is trying to purposefully achieve it makes the whole experience more of a downer then they might have wanted.

As mentioned the setting is one of the things that sets this game apart from other shooters. While at first it seems like any other desert shooter, you are quickly forced to fight an enemy you didn’t want to fight within the beautiful ruins of the city. Tents and candles will sit next to expensive diamond chandeliers in restaurants, while audio tapes will point out the use of hotels for refugees and silver for use in making bullets. It’s all very poignant and reminiscent of Bioshock in the presentation of a failed utopia you must fight through. The game even crafts levels and set pieces in some intriguing areas, such as fights across high up skyscrapers or in the middle of sandstorms, and it is a very different feel from other games when fighting across these huge and opulent surroundings. Even the soundtrack adds this surreal sense to the proceedings, with the radio often playing thematically appropriate licensed tracks meant to taunt you.

The gameplay of course is where it matters, and what the game uses best to immerse the player into these moments. So how does the gunplay and combat stack up to other shooters? Well, it isn’t mind-blowing, it’s far from terrible, but it’s about as generic as it gets with the basics of cover shooting, blind fire, grenade throwing and turret usage all on par with other games. AI will do the standard dance of taking cover and firing pot shots at you, while the occasional turret or sniper enemy will break things up. The game actually does provide a good stable of weapons and enemy types to shake things up (with one particularly infuriating armored type that feels vastly out of place here), but nothing in the game is particularly innovative or even highly polished. The shooting controls are fussy, with Walker often breaking into a run, whacking a wall instead of jumping it or standing up in front of gunfire. The aiming also feel a bit off, slightly looser then I’d expect without much power behind the weapons you are firing and the perplexing decision to allow Walker only two weapons when he very visibly has room on both his pistol holster and back.

At the very least the gameplay is serviceable, difficulty feels right and the checkpoints are forgiving without any feeling of unfairness for the most part. The game doesn’t really open itself up to different options or clever use of your AI pals, and they do have a tendency to stand out in the open. It isn’t entirely linear and does allow you the option of stealth or all out action at several points, even letting you split up between teammates, but it’s never a decision you make and it’s a shame the game didn’t embrace that kind of tactical freedom more since it could have set apart the gameplay. It feels like a tease to have these minor abilities and contextual actions you can do, and limiting them so much when the levels feel like they should always offer these kinds of options.

Multiplayer is something that makes or breaks many modern shooters, and he while it doesn’t at all fit in with the narrative or the message the game is trying to send, it isn’t terrible either. The game’s combat doesn’t lend itself well to a pure combat experience, but the multiplayer streamlines certain actions (such as picking up ammo and dropping off ledges) that would have helped the single player out, while the map design, rankings and loadout options tick off all the multiplayer boxes to give you some fun for a while. Still, it’s not a primary destination and you could easily ignore it if you wanted to and still leave completely satisfied.

Spec Ops: The Line does play like a standard shooter, but it uses standard shooter conventions to craft something much better than most standard shooters. The story and affecting moments make it worthy of being played by anyone with even a passing interest in shooters or narrative, and the actual gameplay works, even if it isn’t amazing. If you’re tired of shooter games running the same rut and feeling interchangeable, then give Spec Ops a try. It might not have gotten the polish or recognition it really needed, and it won’t make you feel like something you’re not, but it is a unique and emotionally affecting experience that should not be lost amidst the storm of other generic shooters.

Blog Post: Spec Ops: The Line User Review

TheHolyDiver98 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:40:00 GMT

When I first read the preview of Spec Ops: The Line in a Gameinformer magazine, I vowed to buy it no matter what it was rated in the end, for two things I read in the preview: "Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now". I love Apocalypse Now and have Heart of Darkness on my future reading list. The account of a man's descent into madness while searching for one who's sanity had already deteriorated is a perfect plot in my opinion.

I finished this game yesterday, and the last words spoken still echo in my ears: "Are you sure this is what you want?" Those words were spoken out of Colonel Konrad's (or Walker's projection of Konrad) mouth before I pulled the trigger and relieved myself of duty.

While this game was not quite as good as Mass Effect, which was really focused on narrative and player choice, this game gave you a LOT of big decisions to make. For example, after someone is hanged, one of your squad members requests permissions to fire on the crowd of citizens that hanged the person. This game was unique, in which it really got my emotions pumping, and I didn't think before I fired my shotgun into the crowd. Not to even mention the part with the mother holding her child and shielding the child's eyes.

Putting the obviously best part of this awesome game aside, the choices and narrative, the gameplay was good. I liked the third-person shooter gameplay, with cover mechanics rarely getting in my way. I was impressed with enemy AI, as with targeting. When I would select a target for my squad to take down, Walker would shout "Over by the fuel tanks!" or something like that, as if he recognized where the enemy was at. Enemy AI seemed to literally be like an Artificial Intelligence, rather than linear. However, I will say, my squad AI seemed like a ***. Jumping over barriers stuck between them and a turret, or walking out in front of a sniper. This caused me to be pissed occasionally, seeing how Adams walking out in front of a Heavy trooper while I was on the other side of the area, and me being gunned down before I was able to reach him. I rage quit several times due to that.

I noticed that in the GameInformer had an issue with the out-of-place Vietnam era music. I really didn't have a problem with this; I think not only did it reflect the movie that inspired the game, but also through music paralleled Walker's descent into madness. The occasional guitar riff as I entered new chapter or cleared an area was welcome, but other than that and the Vietnam era music on the radio, the firefight is all that I heard. I did have a problem with how many times the big GD word was said, due to me being a Christian. I am used to games saying f*** or GD or other words, but these were normally used in a firefight..... maybe twenty to twenty-five times. I had a big problem with this, as Walker saying the same sentence (including f***) three times in a row. This was unnecessary.

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I loved how focused Yaegar was on the narrative and making sure that the player's didn't enjoy gunning down enemies, and displaying the fact that war is not fun or a good thing, no wonder what Call of Duty or Battlefield want you to think. I say "Kudos to Yaegar" for how awesome the story was, and how it (usually, not 100% of the time) made me think about the decision that was presented before me.

I'm probably going to replay this due to me making rash, emotion-driven decisions the first time around, where I should have displayed restraint and patience ( I received the achievements "Damned if You Do", "A Line, Crossed", and "End of the Line"). This is something that Mass Effect didn't do to me, due to the fact I always had this sense of "for the greater good" and "I better think over this... This is a big decision"........ So, yeah, be careful if you only want to play this one time, and make the right decisions. Tread lightly.

Blog Post: "(A)n impalpable grayness" of Moral Terror: Ruminations on Spec Ops: The Line

David Chandler — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:21:00 GMT

I killed a mob of civilians. Not out of gleeful delight. Not because I had to. I chose to gun them down because of something they did, and my squadmate followed my example. I didn't feel better afterwards, not justified or avenged or anything. I did not even have time to regret my actions because I needed to push forward because...now I forget. It must have been important, though. But I remember how they ran and they screamed, these piles of pixels draped in colors resembling flesh and blood. I remember explosions of red of cries of pain. I'm sure they deserved it. Two days ago, I killed a mob of virtual civilians in a video game, and I'm still thinking about it.

Yager's Spec Ops: The Line would not have even been a blip on my radar had it not been for significant press about the game's story. Military shooters like SOCOM, Ghost Recon, or Call of Duty never hold my interests. I recognize the near flawless controls of Call of Duty, but I'll likely not purchase another one because I cannot get into the multiplayer. On the surface, Spec Ops is one of these games, and it stays this way just long enough for the player to realize this, pitting the player, who controls a more macho Nathan Drake, against non-white enemies alongside trash-talking grunts in some desert wasteland. At some point in the game, though, things go from status quo to FUBAR--I just can't pinpoint the exact moment.

Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth! . . . The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.--Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"

I think the fact that I cannot find the locus at which the story shifts is testament to the writing behind this game--or at least its source material. Drawing from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (the game has more in common with the latter), Spec Ops: The Line builds its narrative around two works that are giants in their respective media of literature and film. The problem I faced going in, though, was that I knew what to expect because I've read the novella and seen the film countless times. It's an ambitious project, perhaps one that stands a bit too comfortably on the shoulders of giants, but it is a successful one. The story is damn good and worth the time and money I invested in the game. Its elements were familiar, but the specifics were unique. It's more homage than re-imagining, which works in the narrative's favor.

The game's initial concept is simple, if not a bit stupid. Dubai has been hit by a sandstorm of biblical proportion, and the 33rd Battalion, led by John Konrad, tries to help evacuate those left behind, eventually staying behind after the U.S. asked them to come back. The United Arab Emirates declare Dubai a lost disaster zone until a transmission from Konrad breaks the radio stormwall, prompting the U.S. to send a Delta Force reconnaissance team into Dubai. At first, I questioned the plausibility of radio silence in the year 2012 when the game starts off as a standard military shooter in a hyperreal environment, but what begins as routine jingoistic, macho-military combat erodes into existential battles against former American soldiers. About midway through the game, I realized that "reality" (or some Baudrillardian "hyperreality") had broken down down, buried under piles of corpses and sand. Spec Ops never strives for realism that Call of Duty or Splinter Cell or numerous others attempt; instead it offers a surreality, a parallel military narrative that uses the tropes of other games in the genre only to undo them. The shifting sands, the hallucinations, and the psychedelic rock music all build an atmosphere on "unreality" in a genre that seems so focused on realism. To say much more would venture into spoiler territory--though shame on you if you've never read Heart of Darkness or seen Apocalypse Now.

The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there — there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were, — No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it — this suspicion of their not being inhuman. --Joseph Conrad "Heart of Darkness"

As with all games, though, the narrative's effectiveness leans heavily on the actual gameplay. Here, I found the game's mechanics to be somewhere between adequate and good. Gears of War and Max Payne 3 offer more competent cover mechanicsthan Spec Ops does, but I cannot help wondering if Spec Ops' simple controls are by design. Just as Conrad parodied the adventure novel and Coppola parodied the epic war film, the team at Yager Development may be lampooning the controls of the third-person cover shooter--with the addition of elementary squad commands. If so, it works. In fact, the enemy AI is far too good for the cover mechanics to offer any sort of unreliability. The gameplay is nothing revelatory, but it crashes so beautifully with the narrative that I can't help asking myself, "Why the hell am I playing this game?" I know nothing good will happen at the end, but I want to see where it all is going. To do that, I have to put myself through what feels like mediocre gameplay but opens up as I realize its importance. Each explosion carries meaning as you tear apart a city that once stood for excessive decadence and architectural beauty. The ruinous Dubai setting is perfect for a game hell-bent on dealing with the very idea of mindless destruction and its repercussions.

I have wrestled with death. It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine. It takes place in an impalpable grayness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamor, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat, in a sickly atmosphere of tepid skepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary. --Joseph Conrad "Heart of Darkness"

And while the city crumbles, so too does your platoon of Not Nathan Drake and his two Not Nathan Drake's Buddies. While they start out with quippy banter and stupid machismo, their bonds are stretched and eventually snapped. While I've harped on Nolan North's over-exposure in the game industry, he delivers a stellar performance as Capt. Walker. The overall voice work is excellent, and it evolves too, in-game. Walker's reaction to suppressing enemy fire changes from an initial call for cover to a growling, "*** you," delivered toward the approaching enemy. A lot of times, I found myself uttering the same thing in tense firefights, resulting in looks from wife that fell somewhere concern and annoyance. It was a bit more sobering than I thought it would be.

I've made it fairly obvious here that I've a fascination with video game violence. I've discussed it's purpose in God of War and Red Dead Redemption, but rarely does a game so blatantly turn that violence outward, so much to tell the player, "You know you're a bit messed up for playing this, right?" It's a big question and one that needs asking. While I can't say I enjoyed the game without admitting my own appreciation of the macabre, I can recommend it, and I can do so highly. It warrants your attention if only to give you an abyss to stare into to see what looks back. In Apocalypse Now, Colonel Kurtz posits in what is likely the most chilling monologue in cinema history, "Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies." Perhaps this game will make a worthy introduction to both of them.

Cheers,

--David

Blog Post: Classical shooter

Maki — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:33:00 GMT

This game was a pretty flawless game,The whole time your pursue the enemies But in the end you failed killing the wrong people what a day.

You see many Strange visions during this game,It can be creepy.

Best part about this game is that you have 2 good Teammates that go threw a lot with you.

I recommend this game to anyone.

Enjoy.

Blog Post: Just Another Shooter

pressST4RT — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:11:00 GMT

When I saw my first glimpse of this game, I was extremely excited. There's something about corpses hanging upside down with their heads buried in the sand that makes the little demented child inside me jump for joy. It looked like it was gonna be a fresh new take on both the apocalypse AND shooter genres. When the moment of truth game and the game loaded up, I was so happy...

And then the game started. Right off the bat, they tried to be funny by having the characters toss banter back and forth at each other. I was expecting a serious game with some serious ass-kicking characters. That's not what I got at all. Throughout the whole thing, this troupe was just plain annoying.

Aside from the pesky characters, there was the fact of the controls. I play a lot of third person shooters, and I must say that I found these controls very odd and hard to use. I'm not sure exactly what it was but they felt heavy, per se. Other than that, the gameplay was about on par with most other third person games. It reminded me a little bit of Siphon Filter. There wasn't exactly anything that made this game all that special.

Most people almost never complain about this...but the music just did not fit with this game. It was supposed to be a game that takes place in the near future after Dubai was nearly destroyed by a series of terrible sandstorms; a sort of "apocalypse-now" scenario. A majority of the music sounded like it belonged back in the 70's and not in an apocalyptic wasteland of the future. It just did not fit the game in any way.

This game is what you would expect to come out of a newly formed company. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't very good, either. I think I'm just going to have to shelf this one. It was alright as far as shooters go. It was rather generic (aside from the story) and a little annoying at times. I don't think they got the whole atmosphere of the scenario just right. They didn't exactly hit the nail on the head with this one but it might be something I'd pop in every now and again if I ever get in a "run around and shoot people" kind of mood.

Blog Post: SpecOPs The Line

microphonist — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:27:00 GMT

This game rocked

yo check ii homeboyz and homegirlz////...........

All i have to say is I am tired and sick of this macho man, macho man, macho man, I do not want to be a macho man, but for some reason I keep buying macho man games.

No puns to the Village People, but come on, how many games do we need where the protagonist is juiced up on Roids' and Energy drinks ready to kick butt and chew gum, and you know the rest... But this games stands apart, unlike that acronym game and failed shooter from the past trying to emerge this game mixes the old school PS2 shooter Socom w/ the essence of the elegance of Uncharted titles.

The games locations and set pieces on seriously on par with Uncharted series, aside from the fact the sexy New Haven voice who's voice is as popular than a Kenny G album from 1993, Mr. Nolan North, the dude who is the main character from Uncharted, yes Nathan Drake, even though he's some Commando dude in this game, to me he's still Nate Drake.... biatches...

Anyway, if you gamefly or get this discounted or full price you won't be P.O'ed it's a great military shooter with the twists and turns of a Jerry Brockheimer movie. So kudos to Yager and 2K for getting this into our consoles summer of 2012, it's a worthy title to buy or rent, either way don't pass this game up, it's a must play, even if your into Scifi, which I am , this has great pulls and reference from all walks of cinema.

You gotta play into the first hour, and you will be wowed, like when you played Uncharted for the first time, but your in Dubai, the one of the wealthiest cities in the world and your blowing it up.

-Peace

Microphonist-

Blog Post: Spec ops: The line shows great strength, but has a few issues

Juanolo — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:07:00 GMT

I was excited for spec ops: the line. I thought it looked like a dark and gritty experience that most shooter don't do. I hated the critism it got, but still got it. I think truely the critics were wrong. This is a great game. Not award winning but better then what everyone says.

Graphics are good. Surroundings looks good, and I really like how cutscenes looked as well. Score is all right, but voice acting I thought was well done. Story is great. Best thing about the game. It keeps you going through the dark path, and with 4-8 hours of gameplay, and with multiple endings, the game has a good replay value.

Spec ops has strength, but also has a few issues. The main one is the multiplayer. It sucks. It might be some fun, but overall it's an experience I don't like playing. The last issue are the controls. There all right, butgoing into cover can be such a pain.

Overall, Spec ops: The Line is a great shooter. If they had fixed the 2 issues, I could say this would be a 10 out of 10. Still, with a few issues, it has a great story, and fun gameplay. That's why I would give Spec ops: The line a

9.25 out of 10

Blog Post: I Walk the Line

Craigaleg — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:44:00 GMT

Score: 7.75 / 10

Spec Ops: The Line

Xbox 360 - PS3 - PC
Developer: Yager Development (Sp) Darkside (Mp)
Publisher: 2K Games
Release Date: June 26th, 2012

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7edmXTlG_A]

Pros:

A compelling narrative for a military shooter
Combat is easy to get the hang of
Visual eye candy for each chapter
Powerful performances by the voice cast

Cons:

Linear corridors limit your options in a firefight
Cover mechanic feels clunky and unrefined
Enemy and friendly AI can often become vacant and predictable

It is easy to look at a game like Spec Ops: The Line and cast it aside without a second thought. Let's be honest, a cover shooter involving a squad of hardened military commandos blasting their way through a city is nothing new. Not to mention the previous Spec Ops games have been less than stellar military adaptations, with the last true title coming to light a decade ago. A trailer in 2009 showed a welcome departure for the series norm in the form of a third person perspective with dynamic terrain elements, and inspiration from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. With Yager Development heading up the single player and Darkside working on the multiplayer component, Spec Ops: The Line results in a surprisingly enjoyable military shooter.

Hold the Line

You assume the role of Captain Martin Walker, the leader of Delta squad sent into the heart of Dubai. A series of sandstorms has cut Dubai off from the rest of the world and destroyed any remnants of a once thriving civilization. In a mysterious transmission from the 33rd Battalion who refused to evacuate the city, Commander John Konrad ominously informs that events went awry with the evacuation and Delta squad is sent in to investigate.

The story starts out obvious enough, but as you move through each chapter you begin to see how this particular narrative outshines other military shooters. Instead of a glorification of war and typical cocky soldiers, you get a much grittier and emotionally heavy story. Each chapter gives way to the horrors of war with unspeakable violence and moral ambiguity, and your squad becomes a shell of their former selves. The cocky wisecracker transitions to a frustrated, second guesser. Your tough guy soon become furious and reckless. Even the subtle hint of a more aggressive in the tone of your voice as you cry out "reloading" for the eightieth time combine to show characters that are affected by the increasing body count.

Propelling the story forward is a superb presentation. The desert ridden city of Dubai holds glistening skyscrapers, war-torn rooftops, and once-populated courtyards. The environments remain fresh with few repeating corridors and plenty of panning overworld shots to showcase the scale of the world around you. The polish shows not only in the surrounding environment, but the sharp character models and motion capture on close ups. Audio is also top notch in delivering some solid original tracks, well known hits, and bass-inducing bullet fire. Despite Nolan North heading up his hundredth or so voice in gaming, both he and the rest of the cast deliver some real power to each cinematic sequence.

The Hallway is Your Playground

While the narrative is compelling, the actual gameplay stays close to the norm. Typical cover to cover combat will be the bulk of gameplay with breaks in the action for a few stealth segments, moral choices, and on-rails sequences. Despite these mixups and a vast backdrop, you cannot help but feel a bit claustrophobic by the bottle-necked corridors you are forced to traverse. The choices made and successful stealth segments have little affect on anything but the immediate situation, often leading to avoiding a small skirmish with nothing long term.

Spec Ops boasts a dynamic environment to keep things from getting stale. At certain moments you are able to shoot vents or cracked glass to send a wave of sand to take out a group of enemies. These are satisfying at first, but fail to really alter as much as it should. Sure it takes out a group of enemies, but beyond that it does very little in providing the desired affect of walking into a room with a playground of hazards at your disposal for varying approaches. There are also segments where a storm will roll in obscuring your view and decreasing you overall accuracy. These occur during a few segments in some of the chapters and provide some brief mixups in the firefights, but their potential and span feels constricted to scripted events.

The campaign is paced fairly well and will impress with a few segments, but some of the basics of the game drag it down below perfection. The friendly and enemy AI preform fairly well by flanking your position or drawing you out with grenades, but they can become incredibly vacant at times occasionally standing in place while being littered with bullets. This is more frustrating on the tougher difficulties, due to the fact that your AI buddies can bleed out and send you back to the last checkpoint. Cover to cover transitions work well enough, but pale in comparison to some of the more refined systems out there.

This is One Big Sandbox

In addition to a single player campaign, there is also a fairly fleshed out multiplayer available.Six gametypes throw in the typical mix of objective based gameplay and classic deathmatch. These are littered with various sand hazards, and even features the occasional sandstorm to add to the cover shooting mechanics. Coupled with zipline systems used to get across the stage quickly, and the multiplayer hits what the campaign failed to do in providing a multitude of ways to use your surroundings to your advantage.

Like most additions these days, you are able to equip your character with a loadout. Weapons and perks are slowly unlocked as you gain experience from matches. As you gain more levels the arsenal at your disposal allows you to customize a class any way you see fit, with up to three different perks, a main weapon, and a sidearm. With this system, the higher level players will have a clear advantage with a larger weapon variety and even body armor to decrease damage taken.

The multiplayer can be enjoyable, but the servers themselves are quite sparse in looking for objective based game types. Finding a match for deathmatch is quick and easy, but the objective based games are reminiscent of the desert I wish to actually play on.

Overall

Spec Ops: The Line has its downfalls, but ends up being a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The compelling narrative allows the minor faults within the game to be tolerable, and the twist ending and hidden collectibles will warrant a second play through for a better sense of closure. It may not break any new ground in gameplay, but provides a welcome step up in overall presentation for a military shooter. If you are a fan of the cover based shooter genre, chances are the Specs Ops: The Line is one line worth crossing.

Blog Post: Spec Ops: The Line

John Wrek — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:05:00 GMT

One of the biggest and most notable things about Spec Ops: The Line is that it truthfully makes you feel every bullet and person you waste. While most generic or top of the line shooters don't spare a second to think about how the people you've been shooting at may feel, or what motivates them to attack you in the ways they do- spec Ops does, and utilizes this often as a key storytelling tactic throughout the entirety of this unconventional shooter. Almost every action has a reaction, as proven once more by the ramifications of your swift justice throughout this game- and most things never turn out exactly as you had thought or hoped they would. In the ever-changing battleground that has become modern Dubai for the duration of the game, you enter a hellish city with some dark secrets and even darker stains of blood throughout its recent history- oh, and the catch? There's even more to come...

The city- or the remains of it, is in complete shambles and disarray after a series of devastating sandstorms and other malevolent attacks by mother nature, who seems to have declared war on this once magnificent city. After sending in a battalion of American military and army personnel to the devastated city, in order to lead the forward evacuations- which result in their direct disappearance, a team of Delta Force-esque operatives must search for the answers amidst the ruined streets of this giant city. The problem is however, not everything is as it was nor as it seems- and these men are in for an unpleasant surprise when they encounter the evils that seem to haunt and stalk this place like dark shadows in the twilight hours.

Throughout this tale of insanity and survival, one can find many allusions to classic works such as Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, which proved to be some inspiring works to base parts of the game off of- and to great appeal as well. Although many aspects of the game help to create both a mysterious and chilling, gripping atmosphere, others seem somewhat out of place amid a modern setting such as this- but help to drive many of the points home, as well as to shake your foundations and principles to the core with the sheer madness at some instances. The story is as much of a 'why?' question being repeatedly asked throughout as the commanding officer of the three-person Delta team tries to figure out exactly what is going on, as it is a survival and shooter tale of much gore and dark violence and torture spread throughout. Suffice it to say, things begin to deteriorate quite quickly- and these once untouchable men don't seem as strong or stable for too much longer as the story plays out...

Your recon mission quickly changes to a different tack as you reunite with surviving troops and witness firsthand the hysterical madness that has been plaguing the city as of late. Combine this with records of the madness, and anecdotal notes- and you have a gripping narrative, especially surprising for a game that seems to be just another 'controversial shooter'. This overly compelling need to find answers and seek out justice lies amidst the majority of the single player campaign, and is sprinkled throughout with the now generic morality choices and tough calls that gamers have grown accustomed to seeing in the past few years. The scary part is that eventually, these choices actually amount to something in often unforeseen ways as your crew navigates and fights their way throughout the hollow city. As they descend further into madness, their minds are far from untouchable, and their trigger fingers are always alert- they've glimpsed into the depths of hell and lived, so far as they can tell. They've come through far from unscathed though thus far...

The story is definitely the game's biggest success, and remains so all the way up to its shattering conclusion that leaves you questioning what you previously had thought throughout the majority of the game. Mind blowing as it is however, the game truthfully only barely pulls through on its main mechanic- shooting. While it is unbalanced and uneven for the most part simply due to a few annoying covering and squad orders mechanics and related glitches. Despite all of these minor annoyances however, they still only amount to a slight lack of entertainment, as the riveting story in a shooter keeps your eyes glued to the screen between insane gunfights and the ever shcnaging stimuli of the world. As fun as environmental related hazards can be, they too begin to become a sheer annoyance later on when you've busted that umpeenth window or encountered yet another completely visibility-dimming sandstorm. While these are neat at first, they're clearly only a one-shot gimmick because they grow old quite fast.

The only time the environment truly becomes a blessing and also a somewhat more bearable experience is throughout multiplayer matches where unscripted hazards often appear with little to no warning on the field of battle. You can use these against your enemies or have them used against you in many ways, which proves to be as fun as it is embarrassing to be caught flatfooted with in a match. As with any good shooter, there are hosts of gameplay modes, perks and skills, upgrades and weapons, and levels for you to unlock throughout the multiplayer, however- deep as this may be, it doesn't support the large maps and mediocre gameplay very well, and multiplayer is thus more of a bummer than anything in the campaign.

While the morality choices injected into the normally generic mix of shooter fun and classic mayhem makes the narrative and single player campaign a blast for the most part throughout the story, a lot of other minor complaints and features bring down what would otherwise be a great game. Spec Ops: The Line scratches the surface of what could be possible with both story telling and gameplay in the future of shooters, and throws out some innovative ideas, however it simply isn't enough to make it a must-play game. This is a mad journey into darkness and back into light, and an interesting thought, but one that ultimately still falls a tad bit short in the long run- and will never compare to juggernaut titles such as Battlefield or Call of Duty.

Concept: Make the player feel bad about shooting innocent civilians and enemies alike, as morality becomes a common stimulant in this insane shooter experience. Creating ever-changing environmental conditions in order to challenge the player to always watch their back and act as a team.

Graphics: The locale and looks are new and interesting enough in response to most modern day shooters and FPS games, but otherwise, nothing spectacular happens to appear by chance.

Sound: The soundtrack is catchy, but completely out of place with a modern day shooter. Who wants to listen to the tunes of the past in a modern age anyway, or at least in this instance?

Playability: Shooting works decently enough, but spotty allies and AI in addition to some big mistakes with covering, assisting, and flanking make this a sub par category for the game in the long run.

Entertainment: Since it is rare for a game of this genre to focus mainly on narrative, that is a refreshing change of pace and also something to keep you going when the going gets rough throughout the campaign.

Replay Value: Moderate

Overall Rating: 8.25

Blog Post: Great Story: Slightly Above Average Game

Tim — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 07:12:00 GMT

Have you ever killed someone in a video game and actually felt bad? If so then prepare to have that uncomfortable feeling return in Spec Ops: The Line. If not then let your rage flag fly and kill without mercy in the campaigns multi-pathed gameplay. The story is great and will stop you from putting the controller down until it's done. Also as I previously mentioned the story will change based on players actions so multiple play throughs may be needed to grasp the story as it does have some twists and turns. However when the story is over and the achievements/trophies have been earned the fun is over too. The multiplayer is not horrible, but it doesn't stand out either. It's more of a typical third person deathmatch then a cinamatic good time like the story. Some gamemodes are fun and may give you a few hours of happiness, but it could have been better. I would recommend this game for the great campaign, but maybe wait till the price drops first.

Blog Post: You Are the Line

Brokensteel1228 — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 09:35:00 GMT

Ive played Games for quite some time now, and i must say that although i started out with mario or pokemon, i gradually moved over to the more mature side of the gaming industry, and after a couple years of shooting,killing,dismembering,and Torturing Animated Bots on screen, ive gotten Desenitized to the idea of killing someone on screen, and since all of these games dont acknowledge it, we all shrug it off, spec ops the line isnt one of those games. For My Full Video Review Click The Link Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXT6djA9C7c

Blog Post: The hero. The horror. The unfolding of a blind man

TheAngryPostMan — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 12:25:00 GMT

A lot of the shooters I've played have been you shooting the bad guys and walking away with a cool cut scene with everyone hugging about the great job they've done. But in this game there are no hugs and kisses there are only bullets and murder. Welcome to Dubai.

The game begins with you walking into Dubai not really aware with what's inside all you know is there is a distress beacon. your team is signed the job of seeing if its a hoax or if it's a beacon of hope that the 33'd is still alive and kicking. What you stumble apon is far worse than you could have imagined. Death, Desperation, and destruction. The thriple D's you don't want in your face, but sadly that's all captain Walker seems to be getting.

The game as a certain feel about it. It makes you feel like your bad guy not sure if it's the actions you make or the radio man telling you the fact. That's another great thing about this game. The radio man playing the greatest hits of the Vietnam war.

The game plays through in the roughest of ways. You do things and see things that you wish you could unsee you feel the sadness of the delta squad. The vengance they want for what has happened in this forgotten city.

There are twist's and turns that will make you say why did I just do that. What is wrong with me. I thought I was doing the right thing. Damn it. But all in all it's a different feeling. That's what I loved about this game. It wasn't the same story all other shooters give you. It was a refreshing experience not one that is recycled over and over.No terrorist, No hostile take over, No true hero's. Just someone trying to be a hero to the people of the city, and the people of the city trying to survive. With a hint of american soldier's turned rotten? or have they.

Well you'll need to find out won't you.

The control's in this game are a bit hard to get used to. and the games mechanics themselves are very annoying but the story is worth the small troubles. the cover system can be really annoying, but its easy to over come.

It's obvious the game producers weren't to worried about the game control's but where more worried about the thrilling game experience and the great ways to show it of. A real phsychologically mind boggling journey into the heart of hell. Who would want to come back from that...

Blog Post: Very Tight!

Illmagnus — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 06:33:00 GMT

I must confess, I wasn't sure about the game until I played the demo, but as a whole, the game comes off pretty great.

Now, I have issue with a few things, but the game Gets a 9 because all of the pieces are there. No, this is not a Multiplayer review, as that is going to have to be a separate score.

If you read the review, I wont re-elaborate, but I will say these are the key points.

1. Moves and shoots great.

2. the enemies die bloody and ragdolltistically.

3. the story will have you trying to save some for later, but you know you are really going to play it to see what happens next. No, I havent beaten it. I am saving it for later. :-)

those parts give it a 9.

Now for the nitpicks.

1. no split screen /campaign co-op

2. cover system is a rip off of the wrong game (Rainbow six has the best cover mechanic of any game, and F3AR has a pretty awesome mechanic that works very well for a close second. Gears is a distant 3rd, because you have to actively be leaned against the wall to hop over it. no, this game doesnt give me the inclination that it needs to be done that way, but it isnt as smooth as it should be.)

3. feels like ghost recon future soldier and max payne had a baby

All in all, the game is great.

The Vietnam theme from the radio actually adds to the undertone of the game. The Vietnam war was useless, and violent, and had many deaths and was very traumatic. this game captures that feeling. it feels like a blockbuster with bad acting, but bad acting served schwartzenegger and stallone, right?

Buy or no buy?

Well, I honestly would say I would have loved to buy this for $50. $60 is a bit much for this offering, especially when you have to justify the purchase for your household." Youre the only one playing it?"

yeah, men and their games.

Split-screen would have made this game a 10, the whole time I'm playing, thats all I say to myself.

For you split-screen haters, this game will whet your appetites. for the rest of us who love to have friends over and play, this game fits those lonely weekends. sure, I could play online, but really, they are only going to shut the server down in a couple of years anyway.

Peace and love!

Blog Post: A Solid Shooter

creamballman — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:00:00 GMT

I think this is a pretty good game if you're looking for a shooter that feels a little fresh. The game is fun to play through. However, I feel like some parts of it are choppy like the animations, and you aren't given much freedom when doing cool things like rappelling. The game is also pretty linear and feels like it could have been last-gen.

Blog Post: A Powerful But Uneven Descent Into Madness

Matt Bertz — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:35:00 GMT

Over the course of the last 20-plus years, I’ve blasted though countless waves of gun-toting virtual humans with nary a thought of the Geneva Conventions. Nine times out of ten these encounters begin with the enemies shooting at me, so I have no philosophical qualms about shooting back. Sometimes an innocent civilian catches a stray bullet, but most shooters don’t make you think about the ramifications of your actions. Spec Ops: The Line does. [Excerpt]

Spec Ops begins with the opulent city of Dubai in shambles. After a series of deadly sandstorms hit the luxurious desert oasis, the 33rd U.S. battalion was sent in to help with the evacuation. They never came back. Roughly six months after they were ordered to lead a caravan of survivors out of the city, the military receives a strange audio transmission from the acting commander, Colonel John Konrad. To find out what went wrong, the military sends in a cocky three-person Delta team led by Captain Walker, a Konrad protégé.

Allusions to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and its spiritual cousin Apocalypse Now are evident throughout the narrative. Some work at creating the chilling mood, like Konrad’s warped philosophical ramblings. Others fall flat, like the out-of-place Vietnam War-era music blasting from radio towers in a time where most soldiers would probably be listening to hip-hop and metal. Like the two works of art it pays homage to, Spec Ops chronicles the protagonist’s struggle with psychosis as he tries to understand why Konrad has ceased communication with the military, declared a permanent state of martial law, and kept his battalion in an unsustainable, hostile environment.

The mission quickly goes from recon to rescue when your Delta squad finds some butchered American troops on an abandoned road. But when you first encounter your fellow Joes, it’s not the reunion you expect. As you navigate the derelict hotels, malls, and high-rise apartments, you’re forced to take arms against groups whom armies normally protect, like the stranded refugee population and the U.S. soldiers you were sent in to find. As you explore the decimated city, audio recordings fill you in on how this city spiraled into hysteria.

This compelling set-up fuels the single-player campaign and ultimately forces you to make tough decisions about the excessive use of violence, who to trust, and how you remain sane in an insane situation. Some of the scenarios offer the hollow, binary “morality choice” posed by many games, but other actions you take have stunning unforeseen consequences that impart a real sense of guilt. Eventually the gauntlet of disturbing situations the squad encounters erodes their valorous determination and their camaraderie begins to shatter.

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While the story remains riveting up to its questionable conclusion, the minute-to-minute gameplay is uneven. The basic third-person shooter mechanics are loose but adequate, the only distinguishing factor being you get one second of slow-motion bullet time if you land a headshot. Guns lack the visceral pop of top-tier shooters, the touchy cover mechanic can fail you at inopportune times, and your AI-controlled squad is anything but battle savvy. You can designate priority targets at the tap of a bumper, but often they aren’t smart enough to carry out orders. I once sat for five minutes watching my dynamic duo try to take out a lone gunman positioned behind a turret. I also saw them chuck grenades through walls and take cover on the wrong side of an object, leaving them completely exposed to incoming fire.

Players spend the majority of the game moving through straightforward corridors that offer the occasional flanking position. At times you will come across a window holding up a wall of sand. Shooting out the panes creates an avalanche that can take out multiple enemies at once. This environmental hazard is fun at first, but by the seventh time you use it, its luster wears off.

Sand plays an integral role in multiplayer as well. Each map is susceptible to sandstorms during the middle of a match, during which your character moves slowly and your map bugs out, and there are several environmental hazards you can activate to bury your enemies. Outside of this unique mechanic, the offerings are rather boilerplate. Spec Ops features a healthy selection of conventional modes, and includes a decent collection of perks, weapons, armor, and kits to unlock as you rank up to level 45. Unfortunately, the large maps, small team sizes, and the mediocre gunplay prevent this from becoming a destination experience.

Spec Ops makes an admirable attempt to inject morality into a standard shooter experience. The narrative unravels at the end and the controls are subpar compared to the top-tier competitors, but the journey into madness is unlike anything I’ve played before.

Blog Post: A Powerful But Uneven Descent Into Madness

Matt Bertz — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:35:00 GMT

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Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Jeff Cork — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:16:00 GMT

Up until now, 2k Games and Yager Entertainment have done their best to show us how they're showing the horrors of war in Spec Ops: The Line. Since the game also has a multiplayer component, now they're in the somewhat awkward position of having to convince everyone that it's also kind of fun. A new trailer highlights the game's two multiplayer factions, the Damned and the Exiled, and how they can use sand to their advantage.[Excerpt]

The Line is set in a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai. The so-called Damned are soldiers who are standing behind Col. John Konrad, who was ordered to evacuate the city. The Exiles are former soldiers who have rebelled against his orders. As you can see in the trailer below, both factions can upgrade their abilities and use sand to overwhelm their enemies. Players will be able to unleash avalanches and waves of the gritty stuff to dominate multiplayer matches.

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Spec Ops: The Line is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26.

Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Jeff Cork — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:16:00 GMT

[view:1572582515001]

Spec Ops: The Line is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26.

Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Jeff Cork — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:16:00 GMT

[view:1572582515001]

Spec Ops: The Line is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26.

Spec Ops: The Line

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Blog Post: A Powerful But Uneven Descent Into Madness﻿

Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Blog Post: Multiplayer Trailer Pits Damned Against Exiles

Blog Post: A Powerful But Uneven Descent Into Madness

Blog Post: A Powerful But Uneven Descent Into Madness