WeView Verdict: Spec Ops: The Line

There seems to be a lot of love for Spec Ops: The Line, with your comments describing it as a sleeper hit and even one of the best stories to be found in gaming this generation. While I’ve played some of it, and it is good, I obviously need to play more due to all the praise that it’s receiving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUpYLQZjkEk

The story was the aspect that received the most acclaim amongst your verdict; while the gameplay may have been pretty standard, the direction they took the narrative seems to have been successful, and the visuals received some praise too.

First off was Mithrandir who said that the story can be “actually quite disturbing at points” and praised the “gorgeous” Dubai, which has plenty of sand around. Again, yd described it as “unpleasant and disturbing” but praised how it tried to do something different from the norm. He also said that while it’s “fairly standard” for a shooter, it does look “rather good”, comparing it to a film that you wouldn’t rush to the cinema to watch, but would hold your interest if you caught it on TV.

Taylor Made names it “one of most underrated games of this gen” and describes the setting of Dubai as “beautiful”, as well as highlighting the “engaging” story. Continuing this sense of praise, cam_manutd says that Spec Ops is “unforgettable in every conceivable sense” despite the “sub-standard” gameplay which does nothing innovative for the genre.

As I said, there was a lot of praise for this game, continuing right on to the second page of comments – blackredyellow says that you shouldn’t “write it off as another generic shooter” while BrendanCalls said that it was “One of the best shooter games I’ve played in a long time.” Meanwhile, Adam Guest suggested that the “wonderful cinematic experience” was let down by the poor cover system and difficulty spikes.

There were some similar criticisms, with three_leg_jake saying that the hard parts meant he was stuck for a while and broke up the story, ruining the essential pacing. Takyu wasn’t very happy with the title at all, describing the gameplay as “clunky and awkward” while the visuals were “lacking in places”, also saying how the lack of choice makes the player feel pressured into doing something they might particularly not want to.

That being said, the characterisation of Captain Walker and the rest of Delta Squad was very good, and the ending did impress me. But it wasn’t enough to make up for a game that I felt had forced my hand at parts, and then proceeded to try and guilt trip me over my actions. A shame, as more games like this should be being made, and I would recommend it for its uniqueness in the shooter market and what the narrative does manage to achieve, but wouldn’t recommend parting with much money for it.

Oh, and Tuffcub says that he loved it so it must be alright.

Tomorrow’s WeView will feature GTA IV to tie in with the release of GTA V and last week’s poll results. Speaking of polls, the voting has opened for the next WeView, which you can see embedded in the post above.

5 Comments

  1. Yes it is.

  2. I like that it tried something different story wise. It made it stand out from the generic Battlefields of Duty etc.

    • Oh and I hope we can finally do Thomas Was Alone so I can talk about how much I related to the big square that cant jump but can float

      • Ok, I voted for it just for you, ya big floaty square.

  3. I loved the demo of it, so have been keeping an eye out for a while. I just need to find a PC deal or wait until the Steam Library Sharing is released and find someone to borrow it from!

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