Spec Ops: The Line Review
The year was 2012, I was into nothing but gritty and “realistic” shooters. Call of Duty and Battlefield took up about 85% of my gaming time. One day, I went to GameStop to buy a new shooter to play because I just couldn’t get enough of the genre. I see a game called Spec Ops: The Line on the shelf and I got curious. I asked the guy at the front desk if the game was any good and he replies, “It’s great. One of the best third person shooters I’ve ever played.” and then I take it home and beat it in one weekend. Today I consider Spec Ops: The Line as not only one of the best shooters out there but also one of best story driven games period.
At first glance you would think this game is just another run-of-the-mill military shooter, but if you have come across any discussion of the game online in the past few years since it’s been out, you probably know that isn’t the case. The game takes place in a devastated Dubai, which was hit by a massive sandstorm killing many people and leaving the remaining survivors trapped. The U.S. sends in three members of the Delta Force to find the remaining members of the 33rd Battalion, which was sent in before the sandstorm to help evacuate the population, and it’s commander Colonel John Konrad. You play as a member of the Delta Force Captain Walker and you and your squad mates, Sergeant Lugo and Lieutenant Adams, head out to Dubai to find Konrad and the remaining 33rd members.
I want to get into more detail about the wonderfully crafted story of this game, but first I think I should get the gameplay aspects out-of-the-way before I get ahead of myself. The gameplay of Spec Ops: The Line is alright. It’s not awful or anything it’s just pretty generic third person cover based shooting. The weapon variety is just enough and ammo is scarce in certain areas so you may be forced to pick up different weapons so you can keep going. Your squad mates can be given commands to target selected enemies at your whim. Adams can chuck a frag or stun grenade to clear a group of enemies or help your team out when under heavy fire, and Lugo can snipe far away enemies. They can both die as well. Like Gears of War, if a squad member goes down you will need to make sure they get back up. The last thing about gameplay worth noting is that there are environmental kills having to do with sand. Kills like shooting glass ceilings covered with sand and having it collapse on enemies, that sort of stuff.
The thing that makes Spec Ops: The Line different from a lot of other military shooters is the messages it sends and what it wants to focus on. Most military shooters are black and white. There is good and there is evil and nothing in between really. A lot of them revolve around America coming in and saving the day, and it doesn’t matter what non-American soldier you kill because they have or imply that the enemies have done heinous and inhuman acts that are deemed unforgivable. In this game however, everything is more of a huge grey area for all sides involved. Without spoiling anything, a lot of the soldiers you will fight are Americans and people from Dubai so there really isn’t a sense of national pride that is motivating the actions of your team.
The psychological aspects of war are what is heavily focused on in this game. While playing through the game, you will begin to notice that the character you are play, Captain Walker, is slowly beginning to mentally deteriorate throughout the game. Your squad notices it to and they start to question the sanity and decisions of Walker throughout the game as well. Walker starts losing his grip on reality, certain things start turning into hallucinations and when thinking about some events throughout the game you realize that the things going on at the moment don’t seem to be quite right, from a moral and actual standpoint. You can see the changes in his character over the course of the game, with him becoming more angry and brutal as time goes on by screaming at the enemies in combat and being able to execute people in a slightly more brutal way then at the beginning of it. Many people online have discussed the game and most, myself included, have come to the conclusion that Walker starts to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. This makes things make more sense but also much more real and uncomfortable when you think about it.
The soundtrack and audio are very well done. The voice acting is very well done and very memorable. The soundtrack is very nice as well. Loud and thunderous psychedelic guitars and drums are there throughout the game which fits the tone for it perfectly. The graphics are limited. Not as good as most games that came out at the time but it strongly makes up for it in the art and background design. The sandy and wounded Dubai is very well designed and the game has some genuinely gorgeous locations you will come across. The game seems to be almost dreamlike by the end of the game when Walker has been brought to his physical and mental end.
Spec Ops: The Line is truly something special. If you want a game to play that has fantastic gameplay or replay something several times than this game is probably not for you (although there are multiple endings). It does something that most shooters aren’t gutsy enough to do and dives into the psychological aspects of war and the choices that can seem like a moral grey area. It is gritty, harsh, uncomfortable, and beautiful all at the same time. I can’t recommend it enough.
