official Spec Ops: The Line

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Official site: http://www.specopstheline.com

Info:

 

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 treacherous 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 honor and duty - when the storm has stripped you to the bone and only The Line remains.

 

Platforms:

PC, PS3, XBOX 360

Release Date:

Q2, 2012

Images:

 

Videos:

 

 

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Here' a video from GameSpot

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Spec Ops: The Line - Multiplayer Pre-order Trailer

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I don't know about this one. The environments look somewhat interesting but it looks like another generic first-person shooter made with Unreal Engine 3. And judging by the visuals, I can tell that the lead development platform is a console (see here).

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Same thoughts here. Though we might find a thing or two in it, as shown in the Gamespot' trailer :/

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Blood in the Sand in Spec Ops: The Line

Walk a line in the sand that's painted in blood... and worse.

Spec Ops: The Line is an escape from the usual dirt and brick of modern warfare to a post-apocalyptic fantasy kingdom of tarnished gold and sand-battered chrome. It's called Dubai, and hell on earth has never been more opulent. Towers that once proudly scratched the sky are now buried and bridged by immense dunes in the wake of a deadly sandstorm. Survivors huddle in boutiques and malls built to entertain oil barons and princes; the wealth around them meaning exactly nothing compared to the value of basic water. The ones who die of thirst... in some cases, they can count themselves lucky.

And that's in the *nice* part of town.

In case it's not obvious, The Line isn't your average shooter. Where most draw inspiration from epic war movies and heroic soldiers saving the world, Spec Ops drags it kicking and screaming from Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness. It's bleak, it's dark, and it wants you to think about much more than which guns you like best.

Take an early moral choice - one of many. You turn the corner to find yourself staring at two men hanging from a bridge, alive, put in your path by a soldier called Konrad - Spec Ops' not particularly subtly named Kurtz-analogue. One, you're told, is a water thief. The other is a soldier who, in apprehending him, ended up killing his whole family. Konrad demands you execute one of them - but which one most deserves to die? Do either of them? What if you execute both of them, or come up with a fourth option, like shooting the ropes? These are all possibilities, and of course, all have implications.

What makes these decisions more interesting is that developer Yager is focusing on shades of grey over right and wrong, and the further down The Line you get, the less likely you are to even find a 'best' amongst the bad options. You'll also be seeing the impact of both your decisions and the gruelling nature of them on a constant basis, not just in the world, but in your squad, as their professionalism crumbles in the face of betrayal, corruption and phosphorus-burned flesh.

One of the subtle ways Spec Ops conveys this is with the slow change of their personalities - affected, of course, by their respect for you and your decisions. Your left-hand man Lugo for instance, the team's newcomer, starts out with a quip for every situation. He's cocky. He's ready to take on the world. When you point him to a target that needs his sniping skills, you can expect a cheery "Watch and learn."

A few missions later though, after coming face to face with horrors like a line-up of charred bodies left to rot on a stage in a disturbingly spacious auditorium, he's out of jokes to tell. Maybe he's even lost all respect for you after watching you make a decision that led to an atrocity. Either way, when you give that order now, you'll hear a much colder "Copy. I'll take him out" from a man who just wants to live long enough to get home and get started with the therapy. His odds? Not great.

Even your own character doesn't escape this. As much as Walker is the commanding officer, with no choice but to hold the squad together, he's still human - and under immense pressure. You'll see him at the start as a father to his men, pulling fallen comrades to their feet with a stern but reassuring "Get up, you'll be fine!" By the end, expect a tormented, broken soldier reduced to roars of "GET UP!"

It's great to see a military shooter embrace narrative to this extent, and treat it as a core part of the experience instead of a mere way to connect intro and credits. It's not all about the dialogue though, with the setting itself playing a massive part in the story - Dubai offering endless scope for contrast and mirroring the story's emotional beats, as well as constantly keeping you off-balance as you fight. One minute you're fighting on what you think is a sandy platform. Next, you're tumbling through the floor into an abandoned hotel palace full of everything from exquisite columns to giant ornamental peacocks.

All this makes for an unusual style - and one it can be hard to remember is actually based on a real place rather than some Rapture style utopia. One particular double-take moment, just before sitting down with this preview code, was when I caught sight of a piece of concept art showing Walker's second squadmate, grenade-toting veteran Adam, standing bloody and bruised... staring out over a swarm of bright pink flamingos in the middle of the desert?

It looks silly, but no. It's Dubai. Dubai really has flamingos.

As an actual shooter, the action itself is - for the most part - very familiar, from the third-person gunplay to the main character being yet another hero with the voice of Nolan North. Levels are linear paths politely littered with lots of rocks, walls and other convenient waist-high stuff to duck behind. Turrets and vehicles break up the action every now and again. For all the individual psyche-breaking horrors of war, nobody seems to break much of a sweat at killing fifty guys by shooting them in the balls with an assault rifle instead of taking a Moral Decision to deploy white phosphorous. It's a scripted cover shooter. You know how scripted cover shooters work.

There are a few twists though, mostly based on sand. It's everywhere, obviously, both clogging up paths and creating convenient new ones, and mostly just sits there. With a little care though, you often get to turn it your advantage. When enemies are silly enough to take cover under glass piled high with the stuff, a few bullets can often end the fight instantly - or surprise you by bringing a Jeep crashing down into the impromptu sandpit. You'll also see its effect in smaller ways, from the enemy-choking clouds kicked up by a grenade to a demonstration of a torture method called "sandboarding".

The most dramatic moments though are saved for sandstorms. Glance back over your shoulder at any point during the game and you'll see the devastating, indescribably large one that prevents you looking at the next pile of corpses, deciding "Sod this for a lark" and heading off for a less morally-ambiguous warzone. Smaller ones show up on a regular basis though, and have an equally big impact.

You'll see these coming before all hell breaks loose, as the wind gets up and begins knocking details like background signs around. Soon enough though, you're in the middle of a swirling, chaotic maelstrom - and while sitting comfortably on your sofa spares you the full effect of their real-world power (an experience memorably described by Spec Ops' military advisor as 'like blasting a hairdryer down your throat'), there's no doubt that the rules of combat have changed.

First of all, your visibility drops - not by simply pulling a cheap fog effect in close to block your eyes, but by shifting light and colour and turning enemies into silhouettes that melt into the scenery. Depending on the strength of the storm, sneaking and stealth can now become viable options, countered by the way that the reflection and refraction of light through sand automatically turn a simple gunshot into nothing short of a flare punching through the murk.

All of this is on based how sand actually behaves in combat. You won't throw a grenade only to have it blow back in your face for instance, because that doesn't happen in reality. You will however have to chuck it without the benefit of the usual targeting cursor - an attempt to reduce their accuracy without turning Walker and friends into cack-handed buffoons.

At first glance ?even through most of its opening levels ? Spec Ops looks like just another military shooter to add to the ever-growing pile. In design though, it's trying something new - and on a narrative level, it's exciting. Forget the fact that technically there have been eight previous games in the series that nobody remembers - The Line is a brand new start, and a brave attempt to break new ground. Can it beat Heart of Darkness though? We'll find out on June 26th.

[NoLiMiT06]

Demo is live on XBOX Live, not sure about others. The game is actually pretty neat and looks great on the 360 and runs really smooth. It's like Gears of War meets Modern Warfare :)

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I played the demo on 360, and looks good. Might be worth looking

[Livin in a box]

I played the beta ages ago on PS3...I think it was towards the end of 2010, and then it ended and then it went all quiet and was delayed again :/

I found then that it was alright and it was certainly different with the environments, like the sandstorm halfway through a multiplayer game that limits your visibility quite considerably (and before saying that it's a ripoff of Uncharted 3, The Line's beta was before Uncharted 3 was announced). The graphics were a bit shaky at the time but they definitely look better now.

I'm going to wait to see the PC version- no more Xbox and PS3 is for exclusives so hopefully they've gone a good job!

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I'm going to wait to see the PC version- no more Xbox and PS3 is for exclusives so hopefully they've gone a good job!

Amen.

I hope the PC version works

[Dotdot]

Not entirely convinced by this but looks decent enuff to be given a chance.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

You can download the demo on Steam. In terms of graphics, it looks like an average Unreal Engine 3 game. But, it plays a little better than most. And it certainly looks good on PC. One thing that stood out to me were the shadows which look great. The cover and running animations are good and the characters have their own distinct personalities. They carry different guns too so that makes them seem more unique. You'll run out of ammo a lot and you can only carry two weapons at a time. I had a bit of fun playing the demo but I don't think I'm going to buy the game. The graphics, although great, were a little too bright and vibrant.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

So is no one else playing this game yet?

I have to say, I am definitely pleasantly surprised. While it does nothing new at all for the 3rd person shooter genre, and although it is repetitive as all hell, it is, at least for right now, damn fun to play.

The actual shooting mechanics, which are pretty much the most important aspect of a shooter, are pretty tight. Feels good to handle, etc.

The story line, while not making all that much sense, is definitely better then most, and at least keeps me intrigued.

Overall visual design is nice.

Is running smooth on the PS3.

Really do not have much of anything negative to say about it, other then the enemies are really not the brightest bulbs in the bunch, yet they hardly ever are in these types of games.

Plus, any game that lets me pick up an RPG within 5 minutes of the start is okay in my book

. Literally maybe 2-3 minutes in, there is a guy who is shooting an RPG at you, and once you kill him, you have to go out on the wing of the plan on grab it.

Overall it is a decent shooter. Not great, but also not bad by any means.

As I said, I am pleasantly surprised as I thought for sure it would be atrocious, but it is decent.

Now full disclosure, I am only renting it from Gamefly, so that really helps in my overall pleasantly surprised impressions of the game.

If I had purchased it, I would be much, much more critical of it. And as it stands now, I cannot say I am so pleasantly surprised with the game that I would recommend purchasing it.

But yeah, it is definitely decent.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

I have no need for another MP shooter so I just want to rent it for the SP story which I keep hearing is good.

[Raa]

Heard very little about it, and with the terms "another generic military shooter" being thrown around, is enough to make me put the wallet away.

[mattmatik]

Heard very little about it, and with the terms "another generic military shooter" being thrown around, is enough to make me put the wallet away.

Agreed.

Unfortunately, there isn't a Gamefly for the PC (somebody get on that, quick!) so I tend to be more selective with my PC purchases. I kind of had higher hopes for this, honestly.

[FlintyV]

I'm blown away by it. I wasn't expecting much after it went pretty quiet after it was announced in 2009 but this game has blown me away. The story is new, fresh and goes to some eerily dark places in terms of story.

The graphics are fantastic and really does look amazing with the sandstorms blowing in and the dense art in the cities. Get it.

[spaceelf]

I was mildly interested but DirectX 9 is usually enough to make me put my wallet away.

Seriously hoping this is the last year for DX9 only games being so prevalent.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Wow. What an absolute surprise this game turned out to be. I have not a single negative thing to say about it actually, which is a rarity. :D

It is a very well made 3rd person shooter. It truly is. The best way I can describe it is as a really fun shooting gallery, with a pretty decent story to boot. I definitely get the comparisons to Apocalypse Now. Although it is nowhere near the brilliance of that movie, it does explore the much darker side of war. Definitely not your standard gung-ho patriotic vibe at all.

But really, it is the gunplay mechanics that make this game such a pleasant surprise. They are truly enjoyable and handle really, really well. The game has a nice little touch of slowing down ever so slightly when you score a headshot, which really made it a fun little meta game to see just how many headshots I was getting. I also really enjoyed the variety of guns in the game, I pretty much used every single gun, which I tend to find guns I like in games and stick to them. But every gun in this game feels appropriately powerful. They each have their own handling, etc. Really well done on that front, which at the end of the day is what makes a good shooter good.

Well okay, I take back the fact I have nothing negative to say. The cover based system is a little hit or miss actually, but once I got used to its quirkiness, it did not detract from the game. You have to adjust a bit thanks to the fact it is sometimes hit or miss, but I will put it this way, if it was that bad I would have never beaten the game, and I just did. That says a lot right there, as these days I do not beat all that many games.

I also have to say the audio is really damn good. Great use of music as well. And just the sound of the sandstorms, the different cracks of guns, all really damn good. Another checkmark on the list of positive things.

So yeah, I actually recommend this game strictly on the SP campaign. It is very well made.

SP = 8/10

I have a feeling this is one of those games that it will take some time for everyone to play. Get the feeling a decent amount of people are on the fence about it, and I do get that. $60 is a lot for just a SP campaign to people. But once it goes on sale, this game should be played. (Y)

[lol51312]

Just Now i have downloaded Spec Ops: The Line

about the game i will say nice gameplay :)

[lol51312]

I got this game on PC, meh its okay. its hard for me to get into third person view shooters, but so far the graphics are nice, not as good as BF3, but not that bad.

I guess after a while i get used to the view and just play.

yea graphics is wonderful just like you said!!

[compl3x]

I have no need for another MP shooter so I just want to rent it for the SP story which I keep hearing is good.

The MP is supposed to b e pretty average, at best. The SP is getting some good reviews, though.

I'll check the Steam demo then decide whether it's a purchase, or wait until bargain bin time.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Okay, absolute no brainer here. Get it!!

Spec Ops: The Line is 50% Off on Amazon

Spec Ops: The Line was only released this past week but Amazon is already discounting the game up to 50% for the PC version and 25% for the 360 version!

Now you may be saying to yourself, "A game that gets a week one discount that deep must be terrible!" But you'd be oh so wrong.

Kotaku's own Kirk Hamilton reviewed Spec: Ops and remarked that it, "is a considered and thought-provoking game that deserves to be experienced for its flaws as well as for its successes."

That means it's good and you should play it.

Source: Kotaku

Direct Link to PC Download - $24.99

Seriously, game is a BARGAIN at that price.

[articuno1au]

Just to add to what was mentioned above:

Product Details

• Downloading: Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States and who have a U.S. billing address.
  
• Note: Gifting is not available for this item.
  

Bummer :(

[compl3x]

If you like Apocalypse Now or Heart of Darkness, you'll probably enjoy this.