Review: Spec Ops: The Line (2012)

• March 9, 2013
• James Skemp
• gaming, review

A squad-based shooter with an excellent story

I really bought the SOCOM 4 Full Deployment Edition because at the time it was the cheapest way to quick up everything to get started with PlayStation Move. And in fact I only played it for a short time before I moved on to other games. I've since tried to get back into it, but since I had issues getting the game running again (odd patch issues), I haven't done so.

So when Spec Ops: The Line was available for free for PlayStation Plus, and I saw that it was similar to SOCOM (3rd-person, with squad-based gameplay) I was intrigued. A quick look at a YouTube review which noted the story this game borrows from, and I was interested.

That was Saturday morning. By Saturday night I had finished the game on the second hardest difficulty (the highest initially unlocked) and just picked the remaining trophies that I'll grab this morning.

Outside of thinking that the main character's name is Nathan Drake (same voice actor), I have to say Spec Ops: The Line was a great choice, and something I would have absolutely paid money for.

Despite being a squad-based shooter, the game plays farily fast, with the 15 chapters and epilogue flying by.

The story is top rate, because of where it draws inspiration from, and as the game progresses you really feel it, especially during some of the decisions you're allowed to make. There's a couple obvious points where you know how it's going to end, but despite that it was still interesting to see how it got there, and what happened to the characters when it did.

The voice actors across the board are extremely good, with the voices matching well how the characters should actually be feeling had this really happened to them.

There is a multiplayer component, but I didn't bother with it. After the fact I actually read that an individual tied to the game was disappointed in it, and felt it was needlessly tacked on.

There's no doubt in my mind that I'm giving Spec Ops: The Line 5 of 5 stars. The story is top-notch, and it doesn't needlessly waste your time by dragging things out.