PC

Published on July 30th, 2012 | by Joseph Caballero

5

Spec Ops: The Line Review

[spoiler name="Spec Ops: The Line Information"]Developer(s) By: Yager Development (singleplayer) & Darkside Game Studios (multiplayer)
Publisher(s) By: 2K Games
Rated: “M” for Mature
Price: $60 Retail
Release Date: June 26th, 2012
Platform(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows [/spoiler]

Spec Ops: The Line isn’t your ordinary military shooter video game. The many differences that the game has with other noticeable titles are enough to give the gamer a fresh experience. Spec Ops: The Line features great gameplay mechanics and thrusts a fairly robust and emotional campaign that will delight many shooter junkies. So is the Spec Ops: The Line a familiar gimmick or is this title entirely a heartthrob experience? Load up, and prepare yourself for a wonderful explosive surprise.

Story is Spec Ops’ heart and soul. The campaign is truly story driven and reflects the dark, real, and brutal reality of fighting a war. Decisions are made that can alter lives, and kills are adequately meaningful. The story centers itself on Captain Martin Walker, who through his position must face many hardships and life threatening decisions, which are also life threatening to his teammates or the civilians. Each character is different in the form of personality and emotion. By the end of the game each character will be in different places opposing different mistakes or accomplishments from their past. For a shooter game, story is really thought out. This isn’t your ordinary chase or be chased story line, it’s a true giddy reflection of war and why it means to fight in one.

Spec Ops is a third-person shooter, with a dynamic cover system that integrates realistic features when behind structures. The game does a good job of smoothing your characters movements for an easy attitude when playing. A neat feature is the ability to mark individual enemies for your squad members to shoot, all with a single button. Controls are similar to other noticeable third-person shooters, but overall they work great and rarely did I find myself, if ever, upset over the controls.

Yager Development and 2K Games really took the AAA game approach with Spec Ops. The game is graphically stunning and the voice work is truly among the best I’ve heard. Powered by Unreal Engine 3, Spec Ops manages to maintain a detailed environment, creating a realistic scenery. Spec Ops played beautifully and rarely suffered from frame drops. Occasionally the game did stumble upon some texture popups, but these subordinate problems did very little to hurt your experience. Sound is Spec Ops integrity. Gun effects were all different and delivered to the ears. The background music, or score, fit the many moods and emotion that the game was interpreting. Voice work however, was truly wonderful. Walker’s performance is definitely a highlight in the game because you can easily hear the emotion he feels when speaking, which gave an ideal look of how this damaged character is feeling.

With a heart for campaign, Spec Ops’ multiplayer isn’t the soul. It’s technically just okay, which isn’t bad for a game more focused on campaign. The combat is a bit slow, but if offers for a more strategy based form of attacks as opposed to the easy run and gun. The multiplayer is a run downed version of the campaign, with however, some pretty good diverse multiplayer maps. There are several classes available with the option to customize your arsenal. The only true reason why Spec Op’s multiplayer is okay is because it lacks originality. It’s very simple, even though it features many similarities to that of more popular shooter games, it’s still just lacking that special something.

Surprisingly, Spec Ops: The Line is a very well made game. It’s fun, diverse, and heavy on story line. Everything you want in a shooter is here, aside from the overpopulated multiplayer. Just take the consideration that the multiplayer is an additional part, that for those who love strategic roles and have the friends up to it, will find that multiplayer can be a blast. For those of you looking for a campaign adventure that not only will put a throbbing effect in your heart, then Spec Ops: The Line should be in your collection. It isn’t what war can do to a man, but what a man can do in a war that makes Spec Ops: The Line deliver, the way a shooting game should.

Tags: 2k, 3, action, adventure, army, battlefield, call, campaign, development, duty, emotional, engine, games, guns, line, military, multiplayer, of, online, ops, person, shooter, spec, story, the, third, unreal, yager

About the Author

Joseph Caballero I've been a gamer all my life. Absolutely love it simply because it makes me happy (and doesn't provoke violence like some of those big wigs say). Regardless this is Nerd4Sure, my once small hobby, now ever-growing, gaming website to give all those non-biased reviews, news, and previews. We're all real and ready to take on the gaming industry. So sit back, relax, and speak your mind. This site is truly dedicated to the 1st Amendment, Freedom of Speech!

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