Spec Ops: The Line

Greetings from Lithuania.

So i have recently invested 8-10 hours of my lifetime into "Spec Ops: The Line" (2012). It was worth every minute of it.

This is a 3rd person shooter with an amazing story (Seriously. In a Shooter!), gorgeous graphics (played for the first time in the end of 2015), very solid game-play and mechanics. The highlight of the game and the actual reason why i have played in the first place 3 years after it's release (haven' t got a chance at the moment of it's release) was a story that i read was great. It is great, based on a "The Heart of The Darkness", on which material the masterpiece "Appocalyose Now" was made - it takes you to the deeps of modern warfare and place you in a shoes of "Captain Willard" who has to go trough hell to kill "Kurtz". Although the ending left me a bit confused, i loved the whole experience nevertheless.

Overall, "Spec Ops: The Line" is a highly enjoyable game (still) in regards to 3 main factors: amazing story and mood, great game-play and superb visuals. Maybe it's not as polished as "Gears Of War", but it is a rare gem - shooter that actually makes you FEEL.

While most war games out there tend to glorify the violence, this game (it's hard to call it a game when it isn't exactly fun and it's so narrative-focused) shows the player the reality of war in all of its horror. In fact, it may even be safe to say that this could be considered a horror game by definition. After going through the campaign on this game, I found myself more appreciative of what our men and women on the frontlines go through every day, because this game, as I said, shows you the reality of war and not its glorified state like in so many others such as Call of Duty and Battlefield. How? It removes the "hero" aspect. This time you're not killing Nazis, Al-Qaeda, or aliens; you're going into the beautiful Middle-Eastern city of Dubai to help evacuate its refugees from the worst sandstorm in recorded history. I won't spoil who the enemy turns out to be. While that does sound well-intentioned, the way the plot unfolds takes Captain Walker and crew into an extremely brutal fight for survival. Unique to video games, there's also non-linear storytelling in the game as well when the player is forced to make some remarkably unpleasant decisions. One may even argue that some of these said decisions are things that real soldiers must make from time to time, just to be called war criminals for doing what they HAD TO DO. There needs to be more (not games) interactive experiences like this.

There are typically different people making different parts of a game, so if one part seems to outclass the rest, it should not seem to be a mystery. The writer of this title did a damn good job, creating an interesting tug-of-war that we rarely see in games. The narrative will have you questioning the choices you've made; wondering if you should have picked differently. Like I've heard elsewhere, Bioshock may have been the last game I've played that has these types of interesting thematic elements.

So the story side is great; graphically and gameplay-wise is it also great? Mostly.

While you won't be blown away by the uniqueness of the gameplay, you will find that the graphics are a beauty. There are times when I just pause to look at the scenery. The gameplay I'd say is comfortable. Much like playing BF3, Gears of War, or COD feels familiar every time you play it, in that "comfortable" way. Similarly Spec Ops is pleasant, you can dive right into the narrative without fumbling with controls for the first couple of hours.

The music and score throughout the game are pretty nice as well, however the sound effects feel lackluster. Bullets and weapons just don't have the audio impact that they should. Having been in the army, I can tell you that when you fire a weapon, it's a powerful thing, but in Spec Ops (as with many games), these sounds are glaring because of their lack of impact.

Overall though, this is a fun to play, harsh to consume game. And its great.

8/10

Spec ops the line isn't you'r typical cod experience, an underrated masterpiece that faded between all these shiny war marked i.p s.

Tho the game contains a massive amount of violence and disturbing scenes, unlike other third person action shooters out there, they have a target: to show you the real face of war.

The story of the game is colored in gray, you may find yourself as the savior for the first few hours of the game and willing to even kill your fellow comrades in pursuit of that goal but it costs, not only for them, and not only in the physical world, it will slowly break down your mental health and before you even realize it you're lost. But that's not it, this is the real world and soon you'll find out trying to be the hero only made you the main villain. A lone man will never be able to decide for the lives of others, no matter how good your intentions are, your ignorance will take you down as you are nothing but one human in billions.

With all that is said the story progression is just too perfect that its hard to close the game even after finishing it. 10 out of 10

the graphics and arts are both realistic as they should be and good enough to score 8 out of 10.

Unlike other parts of the game, its gameplay doesn't offer anything new, a well made cover system game with its own little innovations. Generally 8/10.

And at last but not the least the music, there is not much to say except that nothing can express the game more than its track album. If you're asking me check out the glasgow track from mogwai, 10/10.

In overall spec ops the line is a fine 9/10. Once you've played the game you will never forget it. Its not a game to play in you're free time to waste time, its the type that will come to you before sleep time which proves how well made it is.

Spec Ops: The Line is quite possibly the most mature and definitely my favorite game of all time, never has a game hit me and blew me away as strong as this. I even knew about the 'expectation' side of the game. Imagine if I didn't now about it's true identity! (By the way this review is going to be a bit short, due to its 'surprise'. I feel like the game should be experienced with the right expectation. But since I have already mentioned it, you can guess what the surprise is! Is it trippy? Does it have good gameplay? Is it so bad it's good by intention? Is it Funny? Is it so original that people love it? Is it as polished as the great salt lakes? You decide, Either way it's pretty emotional. The ending can also leave people satisfied, because it's ambiguity is intentional!

By this point of the review, you might be wondering 'What aboot the gameplay?!' It's nothing special. But that's intentional! You know what everything in this game is intentional. That was all I needed to say to avoid your suspicion. Anyway this game is so damn fantastic. When you beat it, if you buy this game PLEASE play it in FUBAR! It is way more metaphorical in it's message. So that's it, tenoutaten.