Spec Ops: The Line review

[crazytaxinext]

Started this up last night focusing only on the single player, I'd played the demo earlier and it came across as a well made but unremarkable shooter so put it out of mind again. The demo sections have already been and gone during my playthrough and they're identical to how they were in the demo but I have to admit more enjoyable when placed within the whole of the campaign.

If you played the demo there's nothing really more to add. There aren't any more gameplay additions to the game than what you experience there with the player taking control of Walker, the head of a three man Delta team sent into post-storm Dubai to hunt for survivors only to find a force of mercs. During the intro you hear Nolan North attempt a slight twang to his accent and then forget it as the action starts up. It's all very generic from there as you pick off enemies amongst wreckage but by Chapter 3 you start to get a sense of place to Dubai and the story kicks into gear going to the darker territory of mass executions and killing your own. It's once this starts that the central team stops being the wise cracking generics you see in every other shooter. Now, I don't want peeps to think this features amazing plot points or characterisations because it doesn't, it merely adds enough to the pot that there is enjoyment to be found from the campaign in seeing what happens next and where you'll end up.

Gameplay is the standard cover shooter system you've experience before. It's apparently only running at 30fps but it plays very smooth throughout, I'm on the PS3 version which has been fine though the 360 version is apparently better (the PC version being a similar level). The sand aspect doesn't really get much of a look in either as though players can sometimes choose whether to shoot glass out and cause a landslide of sand to fall on enemies it's only in preset occasional locations. The multiplayer doesn't appeal much to me so I've left that however it could add some length to what looks to be a short game. I'm on Chapter 7 out of 15 after just over an hour and a half so £40 is steep, find it cheap though and you could do much worse.

[MisterBubbles]

As said before, tried the demo, MEH, im pretty sure i could pick up AoT for a fiver and enjoy it just as much, next please.

[teddymeow]

Finished, mopped up Trophies I'm prepared to get. Loved it!

Decent story too. Suitably dark and just believable enough.

North is good but it takes something away knowing that he's playing "not Drake". I kind of wish they'd chosen someone else.

Still, hoping there's some kind of sequel.

[crazytaxinext]

I'm on Chapter 14 now and I've really enjoyed it, story wise it takes you down some very dark roads which is a great play on the early sections of the game.

[Loftgroover]

Gone back to this after a long break. Its really not very good.

The whole "moral choice" thing makes virtually no difference...walk away or shoot, shoot one guy or the other...its a different achievement name but makes no difference to the story. Can you clear the § level where you kill the civilians with phosphurus without killing them? § No you cant, so the only level that could have a meaningful choice for you the game decides it for you. Maybe there are multiple endings?? I have replayed sections and made both choices and seemingly nothing was different.

Your bullets have no effect on an enemy until you kill them. I mean, a guy is throwing a grenade or running away and you start shooting him?...he continues to throw the grenade or run away unaffected until it decides you have shot him enough for him to die, doesn't have his throw affected/stumble out of stride and remain alive but hurt etc

Might be the difficulty I am on but the grenade spam in some sections is OTT, coupled with the clumsy cover mechanic makes it annoying to unavoidably die and then redo the same constant stream of (respawning?) enemies. Added to the strange way your team mates decide to act. Holding a position nicely? Well why not run out into the open Rambo style and get downed so I have to come heal you??

I could go on but I have bored myself
Noticed it was given a 9 on the main page too....but then what doesn't??

[Loftgroover]

played a little bit more...and just got to a point so ridiculous I have to go to the pub

§ So after a tough battle by a yacht and being pinned down for ages I decide to have a look around for intel.....game over LUGO DIED. Ok, so restart...run towards Lugo to avoid game over...he is being hanged, rescue him. Guess what? He dies as part of the story anyway!! §

Illusion of choice indeed

[Duncan James Waugh]

Noticed it was given a 9 on the main page too....but then what doesn't??

Typical, even though I go out of my way to make sure my reviews don't have feedback threads after too many turned into personal abuse, still can't seem to avoid sarcky criticism that has nothing to do with the review's content. Here are the facts:

-The mean average score across my 49 reviews is 6.33.
-The last game I reviewed that scored a 9+ was Deus Ex, 10 reviews and 9 months ago.
-Reviews I have penned over the 3.5 year period have resulted in seven 9s and two 10s. Which makes 18.3% of my reviews scoring the games within the top 20% of the range scale.
-While I have another 9 scorer to be published soon, roughly half of the many reviews still working their way through the pipeline are lining up to be 5s or less.

Nor have any of the other writers particularly spammed 9s and 10s, but lets not let facts get in the way of the fact that you are moaning because you found this game difficult.

The only people I've ever seen have trouble with the cover mechanics are those failing to lock on after a run, if that's the situation you are experiencing the correct technique is explained clearly in the tutorial. All of your criticisms regarding the lack of the ability to have yes/no moral decisions kind of miss the point and would result in the player sidestepping all of the character development and missing all the important points the developers are trying to make regarding humanity and conflict. They also seem like criticisms a bit bizarre to level at the game as it's not exactly like many shooters have those features anyway. In the section you spoiler tagged if there was a way to sidestep the use of that particular weapon the game would lose its entire premise.

[EvilBoris]

I'd read very good things about the story, I think when I'm in the mood for another cover shooter I'll give it a whirl.

[Loftgroover]

Chill out you drama queen...personal abuse after a review is out of order I agree. But so is throwing a hissy with people who don't agree with you surely??

Besides the universal winking smiley lets me say whatever I want on the internet

Anyway, I didn't find it hard...I found certain parts annoying! Though seeing as its taken 5 hours to beat on suicide difficulty/get 900+gs maybe that was intentional on the developers part?

My problem with the cover is not snapping into it after a run, its getting out fast enough under attack. Throw in the slowdown effect added if you headshot and getting away from some grenades is near impossible IMO

[crazytaxinext]

The story can feel restrictive and a little clunky at times but by the end it ties up brilliantly and everything makes sense.