Story never seems to be the focus of a shooter. Sure it’s there, but it’s not what keeps you going through the experience. You want to shoot more stuff, because it’s fun. Spec Ops: The Line places all of its emphasis on its story. It tries to evoke emotion through difficult decisions and gruesome circumstances, but damns itself by being trapped in its own genre.
You play as Walker, part of a Delta force sent into Dubai to evacuate the city after sandstorms and anarchy have turned it to ruins. More specifically Walker is out to find a man named John Konrad, a war hero who once saved his life. You also have two squad mates, Lugo and Adams, to participate in the horror of what Dubai has become.
Spec Ops tries to employ an interesting story to set itself apart from the pack. You will encounter some really messed up stuff throughout the game, like swarms of burning corpses. Not to mention you will literally be killing US soldiers throughout the entire game. The 33rd Battalion has gone insane, controlling Dubai at gunpoint, giving you no option but to stop them.
Spec Ops also tries to emphasize making difficult decisions throughout the story. These decisions can be difficult to make, but I was surprised by how few choices there were to make. All of the decisions are a means to an overall similar end, so your choice won’t mean as much as you might hope. The gruesome things you encounter in the game always feel like they’re awful and uncomfortable for no other reason than to be awful and uncomfortable. Walker also often brushes off every moment when it seems like things are starting to get emotional, saying “we should get moving”. This is because no matter how much messed stuff happens, the third-person shooter part of Spec Ops has to show its head, going back to mindlessly shooting dudes in the face.
I never felt like I was molding my own Walker in Spec Ops. Though you can choose to make the more “evil” decision, the fact that the game portrays Walker as a “stick to the mission” kind of guy made my adverse decisions feel out of place, and out of character. It fails at making your experience feel significantly different than the next guy. Lugo and Adams are also completely uninteresting characters, playing to the stereotypes of the “wise-cracking sniper” and the “tough black guy with an LMG” to a tee.
The tail end of the story has some twists and turns, but falls apart and gets ridiculous and confusing. The story did keep me going, wanting to know what was going to happen next, but the ending made me want to throw my controller.
Spec Ops plays exactly like you would expect a third-person shooter to play. Particularly shooting feels really nice. Guns feel real good, and are fun to use. One thing I really enjoy about the gameplay is the enemy damage model. Three to four shots is all you’re going to need to take an enemy down. This is a good thing, because ammo is rather scarce in Dubai. I really enjoy using the standard M4 the game gives you in the beginning, but it’s hard to find consistent ammo. You’re better off with an AK-47 or a UMP, but might not be as accurate.
Cover can pose a problem in Spec Ops. It’s functional, but fails in many respects that are standards nowadays. You can expect many problems when trying to pop into cover from an odd angle, which can secure your death. Swapping cover horizontally never works as well as it should, often popping you out of cover rather than transitioning to safety. You can order your squad mates to take out specific enemies, which can be useful in tough situations. You can also order them to throw out stun grenades to provide an advantage, but I could never get them to cooperate when I wanted them to, and issuing a stun command only ever seemed to work when the game prompted that I could.
Spec Ops is less than impressive in the visual department, but deserves recognition for some of the cool lighting it has in the more intense, sandy situations. Textures are really poor, and it has some of the worse pop-in I’ve seen in a game in a long time. Whether it’s cutscenes, gameplay, whatever, the pop-in is everywhere and distracting.
Spec Ops does a good job of providing some cool level design, most notably the mall sequence. The blend of large deserted areas and the flooding of sand brings some really cool backdrops. This makes it all the more disappointing that the visuals are so mediocre. Spec Ops also has some real cool use of music during areas of the game that help get you pumped and into the moment. It’s too bad I ended up dying many times during some of these parts, completely killing all of the excitement of the moment.
The game also has very run-of-the-mill multiplayer that is hardly worth mentioning. You got team deathmatch, deathmatch, and other game mode archetypes that you would expect to show their face in a multiplayer shooter. And of course, loadouts are there for customizing your gear. It’s worth noting that some maps are pretty well designed in the multiplayer. If multiplayer shooters are your thing, than this is another one of those. It’s not bad, and it’s not original. It’s just there.