In the off chance that you are actually reading this blog looking for opinions on video games, I submit that you should purchase and play Spec Ops: The Line at your earliest convenience.
Spec Ops is a console shooter, 3rd person, and uses a modern military setting. It is made by a fairly unknown company Yager Interactive. So far, nothing special – but here's the thing: the campaign is incredible.
Why is it incredible? Is it the gameplay – nope. Spec Ops takes the tired gameplay settings and techniques which have become so common now (special forces team vs. incredible odds, turret sequences, helicopter sequences, helicopter crashing sequences, move forward and attack gameplay, hold and defend gameplay, pick up intel, whatever – the whole menu of ideas which are in everything. Also – control airborne unit which fires upon enemies with incredible power from an infrared style view, sigh…) Ok, that list is depressing, back to the reason you should play it – all these elements are in there, but its connected with a story that works these sequences in a way I haven't experienced since Bioshock. The whole game plays out as this downward spiral in which some part of the way through you realize is going to end terribly for everyone and you just keep playing to find out how far down it goes. And the icing on the cake is that throughout the game you participate in a series of interesting, non-repetitive decisions or actions which truly make you question the nature of the character you are controlling.
Case in point – you are mislead at one point in the game and cause the destruction of some pretty important humanitarian supplies. The person who mislead you is trapped under a burning truck. You can't free him, so he asks you to be merciful and kill him before he burns. What you do matters here. I started to walk away, then returned, felt bad, started to leave again – heard him screaming and shot him. I still feel uncomfortable with the whole sequence, but I'm not sure I would change it or how I could make it any better. The fact that a game in this genre even tries something like this is a gold star in my book.
I could talk about the setting (Dubai – isolated after a cataclysmic sandstorm), or that the game is inspired by Apocalypse Now, but you can read that anywhere and the game does a good job of explaining everything. For this genre, there isn't a huge requirement for plausibility so I won't judge it based on that.
Other notable features – great use of music, good voice acting and dialogue between teammates – their responses change depending on your setting and (get this) as your collective situation becomes more and more horrible their responses to your orders become more and more insubordinate. The character models of all the main characters changes to reflect all the nastiness they've endured, by the end you look like a walking corpse. Good controls, the usual assortment of weapons but good flow from one sequence to the next. A few tricky spots but nothing too bad. There's a whole sand mechanic in which it can be dumped on people, blind them and occasionally you get caught in sandstorms which mixes things up. Enemy AI is OK and controls are decent. Also, load screen quotes are fantastic and compliment the story and mood. Finally, there are multiple endings which will really stick with you.
All in all, I hope this makes you interested in picking this game up. I feel that the publisher and developer need to be rewarded for taking so many risks with this game. I don't want a sequel, but I think we all want this type of game to continue and to influence the development in this genre.
Thanks for reading, hope you decide to check it out.
J
http://gamesnorth.blogspot.ca/