Bit Preview: Spec Ops – The Line

Spec Ops: The Line is more than just a shooter.  It is a revival of a franchise reviled by PS1 owners.  Spec Ops was a budget-priced line of tactical shooters produced from around 1998 to 2002.  With The Line, Yager Entertainment and 2K Games are hoping to bring some honor back to that name.

Thankfully, Spec Ops manages to avoid many of the misgivings of its past, giving a tight if at times stale take on the shooter genre, introducing players to the sand torn region of Dubai.  Recently, 2K Games released a demo of the game for PC, allowing players to take a peek at some of the levels and get a taste of the story.  You can find a link to the demo at the end of this preview.

Right off the bat, The Line throws players instantly into the action, with an exciting helicopter chase.  Weaving between buildings, you must man the chain-gun as you down pursuing helicopters one after another.  It’s an exciting sequence that offers a few surprises and keeps things interesting.  The action then takes a side-seat, as you are introduced to the story of the game.  In short, Dubai got overrun by insurgents and evacuation attempts severely failed.  A man named Joseph Konrad was captured, and it comes down to you to save him.

Your unit consists of three guys, and none of their personalities really shine too brightly in this demo.  There’s the protagonist, voiced by Nolan North, a black guy and then another guy.  And speaking of Nolan North, all I could think of during this demo was Uncharted 3.  It doesn’t help that characterizations are at a premium here.  But anyways, you and your team are sent in to rescue this man.  Of course, you are ambushed at every turn, and have the opportunity to kill tons of bad guys.  And really, that is all they are.  You won’t understand why you are killing them.  Must be classified info.

The gameplay is third person and cover based, and it feels very solid.  Sliding into cover feels incredibly natural, and the guns are satisfying.  Especially once you get some scoped weaponry in there.  But really, this isn’t anything new.   Gears of War meets Modern Warfare.  The environment here definitely spices things up though, with the mess of buildings and a raging sandstorm giving giving way to some fun gun fights.  At one point in the demo, you cut through a downed commercial airplane, which adds some nice variety.

However, these elements may not lead to a solid experience from beginning to end.  The characters need to have heart, because the gun-play does not really distinguish itself enough.  Aside from a few wisecracks, you don’t get to see much of their characters.  Here’s hoping that whenSpec Ops: The Line releases later this month, there will be more of a focus on the psychological side of warfare.  Otherwise, it may just be another shooter lost in the crowd.

The demo for Spec Ops: The Line is available on Steam here.  System Requirements below.

Minimum:

OS: Windows XP SP3
Software: Steam Client
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Equivalent
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 6 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600XT
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended:

OS: Windows Vista/7
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
Memory: 3 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 10 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/ATI Radeon HD 4850
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible