A masterful deconstruction of the military shooter genre with a dark narrative and powerful anti-war message. Gameplay is average but the story elevates it far above its peers. A game that deserves to be experienced at least once.
Your verdict
Category
Third-Person Shooter4 players18+
Co-op
Description
Military TPS by Yager Development transposing Apocalypse Now to sand-buried Dubai. Published by 2K Games, released in June 2012 in Europe, North America, Korea and Japan. Captain Martin Walker of Delta Force sent to sand-buried Dubai under giant sandstorm to rescue missing 33rd battalion, over fifteen chapters crossing apocalyptic Dubai with skyscrapers buried in sand, military TPS gameplay mixing cover-based shooting and scripted moral choices affecting narrative, Sand mechanic to use sandstorms as tactical weapon, over eight signature weapons including AA-12 and FN F2000, online multiplayer mode for up to eight players in teams, scenario inspired by Heart of Darkness by Walt Williams.
Spec Ops - The Line review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Daring, the soundtrack blends licensed rock and tense compositions, subverting classics like Hendrix's torn anthem to underline the horror of war. Each track sharpens the hero's psychological descent with a disturbing force. This sonic identity, visceral and striking, raises the story well beyond the shooter.
Sent to bring aid to a Dubai buried under sand, a soldier sinks little by little into the horror and madness of war. A chilling reappraisal of the military shooter, the tale turns the genre against itself to question violence and the player's complicity. This descent into hell left a deep mark on the war game.
A 2K Games military shooter that subverts the genre's codes to deliver a grave meditation on violence and guilt, become a reference of adult video-game storytelling. Its Korean version, less widespread than the Western editions, draws fans of this work of high critical standing. Its interest owes to the meeting of a title turned cult for its message and a regional pressing hard to find outside Korea.
A questionable morality
Sold at first as a run-of-the-mill war game, the title has you commit the irreparable, white-phosphorus strikes included, before throwing the responsibility for those acts back in your face. The dissonance is deliberate and chilling: you were shooting to “do good,” and the game forces you to look at what that really means, the grin quickly wiped away.
