It is always a pleasant surprise when you get more than you bargained for while looking at a game early. I came into the demonstration of Spec Ops thinking that I was going to be treated to a hybrid of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and SOCOM, so my bar was VERY LOW. In a strange twist of fate that even left me scratching my head afterward, I ended up leaving the presentation excited about the title. I guess that’s what happens when you assume things.
To start at the beginning, Spec Ops: The Line is a third person shooter developed by Yager Studios in Berlin and published by 2K games in the US. Announced way back in 2007, the developers have been hard at work designing an environment and engine that can account for a battlefield shrouded in sand, but more on that later on.
You are Captain Martin Walker, the leader of an elite group of special operatives, sent on a rescue mission to extract fellow soldiers held behind enemy lines. Walker is voiced by none other than Nathan Drake himself, Mr. Nolan North. As a stalwart fan North’s work in Uncharted, he seemed an odd choice to play the part a grizzled military veteran, but I guess that is why they pay them to act. Regardless, it will be interesting to see if he can manage to pull off the part of a hard ass.
All of the action takes place in Dubai, during… wait for it… Post Apocalyptic times of war. I bet you never saw that coming… As sand storms moved into the cities of this affluent vacationer paradise, many of the structures are preserved under layer upon layer of the devil’s sandbox. Thus begins the environmental effects of a force that would seem to be harmless if you were going for a simple trot in the sun. Only later would those in the demo be privy to its true influence.
In this otherwise unlivable scenario, the remaining survivors form into several pockets of insurgent militias. Early on the true intent and power of these monsters become evident, as the player comes upon a sand washed freeway that used to be home to bustling traffic as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, now there is no sign of any such life, instead replacing that vision with dead bodies hanging from every light post and overpass. It is very evident that they are trying distinctly deliver the message, “Stay the HELL out!” in the most vicious way conceivable. Going against the common sense part of the brain that would tell them that this is a suicide mission, Walker and his team trek off into the unknown of a deserted wasteland, in search of their missing comrades.
During the process of watching the demo being played, something became very evident: this game is VERY brown. That isn’t to say that it didn’t look good though, because it actually had a level of polish that seemed uncommon among many of the games at the show. The staples of a standard Gears of War derivative shooter are all there. Players can snap to cover, in the “Stop-and-Pop” style that they should be very familiar, while the blind firing over obstacles is also an assault at their disposal.
I was very impressed with the viscerality of the combat, but the thought of this being a Gears clone was not setting with me well. Just as this unease began to set in they showed what looks to be the most appealing feature of the game: decision making. Sure, it might not sound like much, but when you are looking down the barrel of a gun, and can see both enemies and some of your captured friends, what are you going to do? A sniper is in your ear, begging to take a shot at the insurgent cell’s leader, but that most certainly doom the soldier you have been fighting so hard to save. You could also just jump down and go in guns-a-blazing, but then you are putting the lives of your existing troops in Jeopardy. Lastly, you notice a plank of wood that is supporting a makeshift barrier, being used to keep the sand at bay. Do you dare shoot that support and risk the aftermath of nature?
The decision comes down to you, because it looks like damn near every situation you encounter will have some room for gray area. Times are bleak and scenarios like this help to drive home the true desperation of all of the parties involved. Even more exciting is how the decisions you make will affect the story and how Walker interacts with his team as the story progresses.
After seeing everything that the new Spec Ops had to offer, I must admit that I was impressed with what I had witnessed. If they can truly deliver on the promise of a dynamic storyline, this might achieve something that shooters have been failing to accomplish for most of this console generation. I can’t wait to see what happens when the game hits PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, sometime next year.
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