Spec Ops: The Line is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K. It is the seventh installment and a reboot of the Spec Ops series. The player controls Captain Martin Walker, who is sent into a post-environmental catastrophe Dubai with an elite Delta Force team on a recon mission. As the story progresses, Walker's sanity deteriorates as he experiences hallucinations and slowly realizes the horrors of war. In the game, players can hide behind cover, vault over obstacles, and shoot enemies while utilizing a variety of gadgets. Included with the game is an online multiplayer mode, developed separately by Darkside Game Studios, allowing players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay.
Yager started development in 2007, taking inspiration for the setting and story framework from various media, including Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness and the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The game was designed to be "physically opposing," causing players to question their thoughts about treating war in a video game as entertainment, and tasks players to make a variety of morally ambiguous decisions. It suffered from multiple delays, and the development team used this time to refine the story and increase the gameplay's pace. The soundtrack is a mix of licensed music and original music composed by Elia Cmíral. The game was banned in the United Arab Emirates for its depiction of Dubai in a state of destruction.
Announced in December 2009, it was released internationally in June 2012 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Spec Ops: The Line received generally positive reviews from critics with praise given for the narrative and its themes, while criticism was targeted at the online multiplayer and aspects of the gameplay. It was also awarded and nominated for several end-of-the-year accolades, particularly for its story, and has garnered a cult following in the years after its release. Its meta narrative, political commentary and emotional impact were often highlighted by critics years after its release and has often been cited as an example of artistic expression in video games. Despite this, it was a commercial failure, which led to the announcement that there would not be a sequel, effectively ending the Spec Ops series. It was delisted from sales in January 2024 due to licensing issues stemming from the music used in the soundtrack.
Gameplay
The player can select from four difficulty levels: Walk on the Beach, Combat Op, Suicide Mission, and the hardest difficulty, FUBAR, which is only unlocked after completing the game on Suicide Mission. Various new weapons and equipment become available as the game progresses, some dropped by downed enemies. These include several different rifles, handguns, and machine guns. Some offer alternate firing modes, like attaching a suppressor or using a telescopic sight. Players can also acquire and make use of grenade launchers, hand grenades, and rocket launchers. However, the player can only carry two weapons at a time. Supply caches can be found in different parts of the game, allowing the player to refill their ammo and grenades. Whenever the player successfully shoots an enemy in the head, a slow-motion mode is activated for a short period of time. The player can also defeat enemies at close range via melee combat. Dying enemies can be executed, which grants the player additional ammo. Hiding behind cover can provide protection and prevents the player from being shot, as well as providing opportunities to blindfire or lean out to shoot enemies.
As a third-person shooter with an emphasis on squad-based tactics, players can issue commands to Sergeant Lugo and Lieutenant Adams, who accompany the player for most of the game. Available commands include focusing fire on one particular target and ordering medical attention for an injured squad member. Adams can defeat enemies by using heavy gadgets or throwing grenades, while Lugo provides sniping assistance. Environmental hazards like sandstorms occasionally occur, drastically reducing the player's vision and visibility. Sand becomes a key gameplay mechanic and players can manipulate it at scripted moments, such as triggering a sand avalanche to bury enemies alive. When a grenade explodes on sand, dust clouds that can blind enemies are formed. Sand sometimes opens up new paths to allow players to progress.
The player needs to make moral decisions at certain points, including making choices that can determine the fate of both soldiers and civilians. These decisions affect the relationship between the player character Martin Walker and his squadmates, and will cause them to react differently. The game incorporates several subtle effects to visualize the lead character's increasing mental and physical distress; alongside the degradation of their combat uniforms, Walker suffers visual and auditory hallucinations later in the game, and his executions of enemies become more violent. The orders and shouts to his team become increasingly angry and ragged in contrast to his stern but collected orders at the outset. His kill confirmations of enemies corrupts from professional in the beginning to psychotic. Similarly, loading screens initially display helpful gameplay hints for the player, but as the game progresses, the text becomes increasingly hostile towards Walker's actions, and sometimes breaks the fourth wall by addressing the player directly.
In nearly every level, players can collect Intel items that provide the player with information on the events preceding the main story, as well as insight into the psyche and motivations of certain characters.
Multiplayer Set before the events of the campaign, the competitive multiplayer divides players into two different teams: The Exiles and The Damned. Both teams have their respective perks. Six classes are available for players to choose: Gunner, Medic, Scavenger, Breacher, Sniper and Officer. Each have their own upgrades and advantages. Environmental hazards, including sandstorms, may also occur during a multiplayer match. The game modes featured in the multiplayer include: Chaos: A free-for-all mode, in which players eliminate other players. Mutiny: A team deathmatch mode, in which a team of players eliminates the opposing team. Rally Point: A "King of the Hill"-styled match, in which players secure a rally point and accumulate score for their team. Uplink: Both teams are tasked to capture a central rally point, and disable the opposing team's COM Station to prevent them from receiving points. Attrition: Players engage in three team elimination rounds with only one life per round and no respawning until the round is over. Buried: A team of players is tasked to destroy the opposing team's Vital Points, which reveal their High Value Target upon destruction. Players are tasked to eliminate the opposing team's target in order to win the match.
A two player cooperative mode was added after launch with four missions to choose from. Players are tasked to defeat multiple waves of enemies and complete a series of objectives, similar to a horde mode.
Synopsis
Setting
Six months prior to the game's events, the worst series of sandstorms in recorded history began across Dubai. The city's politicians and wealthy elite downplayed the situation before secretly evacuating, leaving countless Emiratis and foreign migrant workers behind as the city was overwhelmed by the surrounding desert. Lieutenant Colonel John Konrad (Bruce Boxleitner), the decorated but PTSD-troubled commander of the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the United States Army, was returning home with his unit from Afghanistan when the storms struck. Konrad volunteered the 33rd to help relief efforts, defying orders by the Army to abandon the city and its refugees and deserting with the entire battalion. The storms intensified and a massive storm wall engulfed Dubai, disrupting surveillance, air travel, and all but the strongest of radio broadcasts. Struggling to maintain order amid 80mph (128km/h) winds, riots, and dwindling resources, the 33rd declared martial law and began committing atrocities on the civilian population. Aggrieved by this, the staff of the 33rd staged a coup d'etat against Konrad, leading to a brief civil war between the "Exiles" (loyal to the staff) and the "Damned" (loyal to Konrad). The "Damned" 33rd emerged victorious, and Konrad executes his own staff with white phosphorus. The CIA then sent in a black ops squad to investigate, and as part of their plan organized the locals into insurgents to attack the 33rd, eventually resulting in a ceasefire. The last communication from Dubai stated that the 33rd were attempting to lead a caravan out of the city. The caravan never arrived, and soon afterward, the United Arab Emirates declared Dubai a no-man's-land. All travel to the city was barred, the 33rd was publicly disavowed for treason, and no further news left the city.
Two weeks before the start of the story, a looped radio signal finally penetrated the storm wall. Its message was brief: "This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure. Death toll... too many." The United States military decides to covertly send in an elite three-man Delta Force team to carry out reconnaissance, led by Captain Martin Walker (Nolan North), who served alongside Konrad in Afghanistan. Walker, First Lieutenant Alphonso Adams (Christopher Reid), and Staff Sergeant John Lugo (Omid Abtahi), are ordered to confirm the presence of any survivors, then immediately radio for extraction.
Plot The game begins in medias res with Walker, Adams, and Lugo flying in a helicopter past the skyscrapers of Dubai, shooting down several pursuing helicopters until a sudden sandstorm forms, causing one of the pursuers to spin out of control and crash into the trio. The story then jumps back to the start, with Delta traversing the storm wall to the outskirts of a mostly buried Dubai. They later come into contact and engage a group of insurgents (who believe them to be with the Damned 33rd) led by CIA agents, who have renewed conflict with what remains of the 33rd. Delta attempts to aid the 33rd, but are mistaken for CIA and treated as hostiles. The team also hears broadcasts by the Radioman (Jake Busey), a former journalist turned DJ who was once embedded with the 33rd and now speaks on their behalf. After seeing civilians rounded up by the 33rd, Walker elects to disobey orders and find Konrad.
Receiving a broadcast of CIA agent Daniels being interrogated by the 33rd, the team chooses to intervene. Tracing the signal's origin, they find Daniels already dead; the broadcast was a trap set for fellow CIA agent, Rick Gould. Gould helps Delta escape, but is later captured and killed while assaulting a location called the Gate. The team heads there and continues the attack. Finding it heavily guarded by the 33rd, the team employs white phosphorus to obliterate their opposition and advance further into the city. While walking through the aftermath, they realize they accidentally killed a group of civilians moved to the Gate for shelter by the 33rd. Vowing revenge, Walker blames Konrad and the 33rd.
Finding Konrad's executed command team, Walker uses a small radio to communicate with who he believes to be Konrad himself, who challenges the morality of his actions throughout the story. Konrad then manipulates Walker into executing an Emirati survivor or a 33rd soldier, who both committed serious crimes. Delta subsequently meet CIA agent Jeff Riggs, who is leading a raid on the city's last water supply. Delta aids Riggs with the aim of crippling the 33rd's operations, but Riggs destroys the supply instead, admitting he wanted to wipe out the remaining population of Dubai to cover up the atrocities of the 33rd, fearing that their revelation would lead to the region declaring war on the United States.