Spec Ops: The Line Review - It's all your fault.

By Sam Coles:

There are games that are miss leading with their marketing materials etc. but not in a bad way but make you misconstrued of what it actually is. This was my experience with Spec Ops The Line and yes there are tons of articles and videos about this game all over the internet but I want to give my experience about it. It starts out as a generic military shooter then it proceeds to punish you for what you have done by continually kicking you in the nether regions.

You play as Captain Walker where he and his team are responding to a distress call from Colonel Konrad his mentor and best friend. It turns out that he has gone rogue (or so you think I get into that later) and he has started to rule over the ruined Dubai which has been destroyed by a devastating sandstorm. As you venture further through the plot you start to question what is real and what is fake, this game starts to take dark turns as you witness brutal killings and genocide.

The characters in the game start to become tired and angry when you get to later stages you can tell even down to the way they talk to each other. For example Walker would give an order saying “Take out that sniper” however later he is tired and the insanity starts to take over and he will say loudly and angrily “Take out that fucking sniper”.  It shows what the team have gone through and they just want to end it and go home.

When you get to the end of the game you finally meet Konrad or so you think, he then goes on to explain that the whole situation was Walker’s fault and he wouldn’t stop and here is the other kicker Konrad has been dead for some time. Walker was hearing his voice in his head throughout the entire game because he needed a scapegoat for his actions such as killing civilians with white phosphorus which is a nasty scene. You’re then left with a couple of choices kill Konrad to get him out of your head or let him shoot which leads you to killing yourself. I’ve never felt so disgusted with myself after an ending of game with the actions I took, this game was a jab at the modern war shooters of the time where they glorify this sort stuff, did it work? Not really.

Spec Ops The Line is not a game where I would critic gameplay it’s all about the narrative and this is a narrative you need to experience because it will leave you cold and disgusted with its dark themes and jabs at the modern shooter. Pick it up and be prepared to face the worst.