REVIEW: 'Spec Ops: The Line'

So I'm a bit late to the party. The hype for this game has been and gone - but I honestly prefer it that way since it allows me to look upon a work with a more open perspective. I'm not playing the game because I've been told it's incredible, I'm playing it because people told me it's incredible two years ago but have since jumped onto the next hype-train.

With this renewed perspective, I've played Spec Ops: The Line and with everyone else off gushing about GTA V I can say without any fear of beration that Spec Ops: The Line is...absolutely incredible.

Bit of an anti-climax really.

OK, It's not perfect. Whilst the cover-based shooting is far better than it was in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Mass Effect series, I'm still not sold on the mechanic. I played the game on 'medium' difficulty and there were only a few times I had to keep re-starting - all of these because either my idiot companions would run out and get themselves killed, I would run out of ammo or because you only get about three hit-points before you collapse dead...because games have completely forgotten what 'medium difficulty' means.

*Yawn*

Cover-based shooting is still really dull, though. This may seem odd coming from a gamer, but I like to be active. Even when I'm sitting at my desk playing a game, I like to move about ducking and dodging and sneaking and climbing. This is why any game that doesn't have a jump button already loses my respect: because then you're locked down onto one level. The environment will have no dimension. It'll just be a corridor from one cutscene to the next. Not to mention, you can immediately spot an ambush because all of a sudden you find yourself in a room filled with boxes or other things to stick yourself to.

So I spent the entire game diving into cover, waiting for the enemy to empty their clip, peaking out of cover, taking aim, and sniping the enemy when he come back up again. This is exactly how I complete every game with cover-based shooting and it's the most boring thing ever.

But if the gameplay itself is uninspired then why do I think the game's incredible? Well...you probably already know why but I'll explain.

A series of dust-storms has swept Dubai, leaving the city in a critical condition. Colonel John Konrad and his men were initially sent in to deal with the evacuation, but ignored an order to pull out and abandon the city. After months of radio silence, Konrad's finally returned contact to say that the attempted evacuation was a complete failure. Naturally, the US army with billions of taxpayer funds at their disposal deploys just three men to figure out what the hell happened after Konrad and his battalion went rogue. Actually, this lack of interest is in keeping with how the west responds to a third-world crisis that isn't a threat to global security.

You play as Captain Martin Walker, a character whose description will send you to sleep. He's a grizzled, white marine with a shaved head and a stubbly face who's played by Nolan North. You're also accompanied by a musclebound black guy armed with massive guns, and a young wisecracking jock with a baseball cap whose every line will make you want to shove a grenade down his throat.

There is an absolutely glorious moment where, if you're smart, it'll all click. You're not actually playing a dull, sadistic triple A modern shooter - you're playing a satire of one. But not a funny one. There is nothing funny about this game.

The cliches are deliberate. What they're trying to do is take the typical modern warfare shooter and reveal precisely how abhorrent the whole genre is. Whilst in Call Of Duty, you're continually rewarded for following the game's orders to commit violent acts, here you're soon punished. Other modern shooters carefully omit the other side of the story lest every teenager's horrific power-fantasy be crushed by actual consequence. In fact, 'consequence' is what ultimately separates this game from every other shooter. Things soon spiral out of control to the point where you realize you're not playing as Captain Walker. You're looking at him from a telescope. You're just the last scrap of conscience left in him. Walker: your plaything.

Wow. Even the loading screen hates you. 

Unfortunately, the game kind of has it's cake and eats it too. You're given a wide variety of weapons to pick from, and whenever you score a headshot the game goes into slow-motion so you can admire how some young mans brains are splattered everywhere. You could say that the game is trying to bash you over the head with how games turn you into a sadist, but this is like someone asking you if you want the last sandwich, then berating you for graciously accepting their offer.

If this review seems short, it's because I really don't want to spoil it. I know that this is the internet and so there are at least a million other people demanding to play or watch or read something - but this is perhaps the most important game in years. Not the most enjoyable, but the one game you absolutely must play if you have any knowledge of gaming.

Along with Papers Please, this might be the scariest game ever made. It's not the escapist kind of horror with mutants jumping out at you in dimly-lit areas, it's the most terrifying kind of horror. It's not about the evil deeds of evil people, but the evil deeds of heroes.