Spec Ops: The Line

The demo may have shown how Spec Ops: The Line works as a shooter, but it didn't show how it works as an interactive story. Sure, the mechanics are fine, and fairly competent. But the real "meat" of the game isn't how it plays at all -- it's how the game plays you.

In the game's opening, Nolan North and his two buddies talk and act like they could be in any stereotypical modern military movie. But over the course of fifteen chapters, they'll face unanswerable questions, plumb the depths of war's horrors and inhumanity, and go well through the looking glass of morality. Even when the game is nudging you along its linear plot, you'll feel the full weight of its heavy decisions on your shoulders.

Spec Ops: The Line is one of very few games with a story that isn't just "good for a game" -- it's good enough to hold its own with film and literature. It'll resonate particularly with anyone who's seen Apocalypse Now, but does enough of its own thing to set itself apart. In the end, the game heartily achieves its goal of showing - not just that war is bad and not-nice, but - the incredible depravity of man.

Not to mention, the quality of this voice acting is some of the best the industry's ever seen. No other game uses dramatic pauses this well.

It's not a flawless experience: as is depressingly typical in third-person shooters, checkpoints seem to be missing exactly where you need them, and retrying a difficult and lengthy sequence can be grating. But the campaign overall is short enough, and generally well-paced enough, that these rough spots smooth over pretty well. It's also pretty bothersome how heavily compressed the game's pre-rendered cutscenes are -- next to maxed-out game settings, they're distractingly artifacted.

While it's a little disappointing that the campaign is over in six hours, it does feel tight and satisfying. There's also a little replay value in collecting intel (think BioShock's audio logs, but less plentiful), and in trying some decision points the other way around.

Given that, I can completely understand the lead designer's comments about how utterly unnecessary the outsourced multiplayer mode was. Rather than hopelessly trying to compete with best-in-class multiplayer shooters, Spec Ops: The Line would have been much better served just delivering its excellent story, and accepting that it doesn't have that much longevity. Maybe with a lower launch price?

Better than: BioShock 2
Not as good as: BioShock
Look, I'm not kidding: this is a good story. Find it cheap somewhere, and play it.

Progress: Finished on "Combat Ops" (normal)