Spec Ops: The Line is probably one of the most intense games I’ve ever played, and that includes the CoD and GoW series. I mean, when you have an adrenaline rush from the start of the game to the finish with a few exceptions, then you got your self a really good shooting game.

Story

The story takes place in Dubai six months after a cataclysmic sandstorm hit the city and left it in ruins. So the 33^rd battalion was sent there to help with the evacuation of the city, but when they got they orders to get out of the city and they refused that order. After six months without a sound from the 33^rd suddenly is there a radio transmission that’s picked up and the delta recon team are sent in to infiltrate the city, locate survivors and radio for evacuation.

What’s great about this story is that it’s not an impossible scenario, and that what’s make the story even better. It’s a modern warfare with today’s weapons and not with alien technology or something like that, just an impressive and fun today’s fighting.

Gameplay

What improves the gameplay is that it’s a 3^rd person shooter. This means that you can take cover behind an object and really use it to your advantage. What’s even cooler is that some objects can be shot to pieces with heavy weapons or explosives, and that is a part of the intensity of this game. Another part of the intensity feeling is that its close quarter combat almost the whole way, you got inside a shopping mall, a crashed airplane and areas like that. There is also some variety to the areas as well, so you will have some places where a sniper rifle would be a great choice instead of an assault rifle or something like that.

After playing through the game first on the “Walk on the beach” and then on the “Suicide Mission” difficulties, I got to know the difference of these choices. I can tell you that it’s a challenge on the “suicide mission” compared to the “walk on the beach”, but the choices ou have during the story don’t change.

Another cool feature in this game is that in some parts of the game do you get choices, really ethical choices. It could kind of give you an insight of what kind of hard choices some people have to take during war. This actually improves the story even further, and gives you the feeling of actually being there.

Your team companions are incredible good at shooting and it’s a good thing that they’re with you, as the ammo in Dubai are scarce can you give them a commando of who they’re supposed to take out. This way can you spare your ammo for the really tough gun fights, and trust me, you will need all the ammo you can get hold of.

Stats

During the game will your stats be gathered for different achievements. What I miss in this game is a stat progression menu where you can see what you’re missing, and what you need to complete the challenge.

What’s even better is that even as this came have a multiplayer part, 2K Games have been focusing on the campaign and made their effort there. This is the reason why I’m such a fan of 2K and what they do, they always focusing on the main story first and then the multiplayer if there is one.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer part of this game is more or less much like the story, with its close quarter maps and high intensity. The only difference is that you can equip your self with different classes, perks, armour and so on. What’s cool is that whatever class you chose, it will give the rest of the team the same boosts as you get. This means that if you cooperate with your friends you can all help out with the different classes, but it’s also a great way for you to adapt your playing style.

Some of the game modes are completely new to this genre and it’s about time that someone took the liberty of creating something new. It’s actually for the better and hopefully it will show other developers that change is possible. Another great thing is that you have very good time between the matches to make changes to your classes if you like, which also is a new and improved feature with online gaming.

The only things I’ve have to complaint about is the host migration problems and that there’s no mute function in the lobby. The problem with the migration is a somewhat annoying thing, every time the host leaves does the game try to find another host and then it times out, or it just disconnect right away. This is a rather small problem, but it needs to be fixed.

Conclusion: This is by far the best 3^rd person shooter game I’ve tried, with an incredible emotional story. This is a game every gamer should have in their shelves.

Rating: 10/10