In a world of sterile, arcadey call-of-duty clones, a haunting shooter rears its head.

User Rating: 8.5 | Spec Ops: The Line PC
By Kirintar | Review Date:
In the past five years, after the first Modern Warfare game became the standard for shooters, games' stories have become more and more reminiscent of B-Action Movies, with little to them aside from cool setpieces and consequence-free rail-shooting of various foreign enemies. The violence of the games in this day and age is inconsequential, when you get an achievement or stat boost. Even though the games show plenty of blood and sometimes gore, they're ignored by both the player and the character as you're quickly railroaded into the next confrontation. This along with modern entertainment has made us desensitized. We don't think about the violence in games. Parents don't hesitate to buy their ten-year-olds the latest violent multiplayer game because everyone's doing it and no one cares about the violence.

This is the b!%ch-slap the medium needed. Spec Ops won't, CAN'T sell to the huge market as other shooters. It's just not in the same league. If you sit a mildly-interested parent behind their kid while they play CoD or Battlefield, they'll probably grow bored of the arcadey action playing before them, or on the opposite end, want to play themselves. If you sat them down to watch their kids play Spec Ops, they'd be horrified.

At first the violence is similar to that of any shooter, you mow down hordes of stupid enemies, you get in the spirit of any other shooter: kill the enemy to advance. It doesn't exactly have anything to stand out in its gameplay department, but then, almost casually, you see a incendiary weapon used on some enemies, and initially you won't think anything of it. Then you come across a situation where you are forced to use that weapon on a massive group of enemies while one of your AI companions protests. Then you are faced with horrifying, graphic, and depressing consequences. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that you will feel like crap afterwards.

As the story progresses, you witness and are forced to partake in vile, sobering situations with the excuse that it was "Necessary" or that it was the antagonist's fault. The consequences are shown in your allies' deteriorating sanity and emotional stability. Some of the choices allow you to do a lesser-of-two evils option, but it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth. In the end, it's not a happy story, but one that leaves you emotionally drained.

It's quite a change from other shooters that can't make you feel any emotional response. The ending is a little bit less than I was hoping for, but still can hold itself miles above other modern shooters. I would give out a higher score if not for the run-of-the-mill gameplay and its briefness.

The game left a bitter taste in my mouth. But after the monotonous, sterile, and hollow grind of multiplayer-focused CoD and BF3, this was a welcome slap out of blue.

Buy it on steam today.

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