f13.net

Demo-ed it. Good enough. For a bargain purchase. Solid control - standard macho US delta squad - with a dash of grim-dark post-apoc desert shootout. Despite how massive the city looks, you're still confined to room by room clearance.

+Squad AI order seem capable enough. They can be told to snipe off target and are even good shots.
+Tight controls - aims are good enough go from cover to cover fluidly, the developers made sure controls were clearly explained and doesn't get in the way of the movement.
+Player models looks good. Sweat, blood, sand etc.
+Variety of weapons like AK, M4 with burst fire, silencer etc. Ammo is scarce if you waste shots.

-Whenever the player scores a headshot, they give you 0.5 sec of slow-mo. This adds up to chaining headshots easily with a mouse control. Too easy.
-Too linear, will not break new grounds. And E3 'random sandstorm' comment doesn't mean jack shit.
-The realistic setting will not make for any interesting set battles I'm afraid. Compared to Binary Domain's mech boss fights that spice up the gameplay. You will hardly see any here.

Verdict: Buy it on Bargain price on PC or rent it if you own a console.

Short Gameplay Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8a9UbBr04&feature=player_embedded)

I played the 360 demo and had much the same reaction. Looks like a decent/reasonable bargain bin purchase, but nothing to rush out and buy.

I just beat this game on the PC. It's a difficult one to rate, as it's pretty mediocre as a shooter but that's not the game's point. As an experience of atmosphere and story it's one of the better ones out there, provided you see it to the end.  

It stopped Yahtzee in his tracks (Zero punctuation review (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/6021-Spec-Ops-The-Line)) who sounds like he had the same reaction.

Hm, there were hints of that when I was killing US troops in the game during the demo who were talking about home and such, just before they saw me and started shooting so I had to kill them. That felt quite unusual for a shooter. Just checked - this is on Steam, so I'll pick it up when it hits $10.

Gotta come out of lurking to recommend this game. It's an anti-war game and a deconstruction of all the military shooters we have become inundated with. It's enthralling, but I'd probably feel sick at the thought of calling it "fun" seeing as what goes on in the game. The game play is intentionally banal, and that's all part of the deconstruction. It's the first game I have ever played that clearly implicates the player as being responsible for the madness playing out on screen. It's a goddamned shame this game hasn't received more critical praise and general attention. The game wants you to think it's a CoD clone before it rips that out from under you, and unfortunately I think it does that a little too well to the point of people not giving it a second look.

I picked it up a month or so ago. Haven't gotten around to opening it yet, but I might give it a go next week...

The whole game is an intentional troll and shits on the player and the whole concept of war/war shooters. It's certainly interesting but I'd be mad if I payed full price for it.

I can see why someone could be mad, but frankly that kind of an attitude is exactly what is keeping modern games predictable, shallow and vapid.

Ehhhh, the game makes no effort from its box art or its initial blurbs to really get the point across that it's more of a commentary on military shooters rather than a fun/well designed shooting gallery. I imagine the point was to get "OORAH MILITARY SHOOTAN" folks to buy it and then fuck with their heads but the point would be lost I think the instant people realized they paid $40 for a non-game game.

It is well worth getting and playing. One of the few, if only game I've ever played that fucks with your head, like a good movie or book story can.

Not playing the game is not a valid choice.

I can see that, but at the same time I have no respect for anyone who complains that they got a storytelling masterpiece (videogaming scale) instead of a CoD clone.

Somebody watches Extra Credits.   :grin:

Extra Credits hit all the high points. If I have to "borrow" a little to get the word out, so be it.  :grin:

See, I'm not sure how I feel about Extra Credits.  They occasionally call my attention to interesting games, and they maybe expand a few minds by explaining some stuff about games that most people don't think about.  So I like them for that.  On the other hand, there are people who watch Extra Credits, regurgitate whatever they heard there, and think that makes them sound smart.  And I kind of hate them for that.

This is the part where IMO it would cross the line from 'clever' to 'fuck off' for me. I haven't played it, so maybe I'm misunderstanding how bad 'banal' really is in this context, but when you do something like that you really run the danger of moving from clever deconstruction to intentional ripoff.

You know those turret sections in shooters where you mow down waves of bad guys like lemmings? The ones where the turret will overheat if you shoot it too long? Spec Ops: The Line has a fuckload of those, and it's totally on purpose. They even have big red "shoot me" exploding boxes strategically placed. Because that's EXACTLY how 'modern warfare' works, get it?  :oh_i_see:

The gun play is more like a shooting gallery than anything resembling realistic combat. There's no fancy scripted events -- none that are actually encountered during the combat. It's all just moving from one area of conveniently placed cover objects to another while slaughtering waves of mooks who also happen to be US Army soldiers. You become numb almost immediately to who it is you're killing, and that's also intentional. It's all part and parcel of the way the game handles Captain Walker's descent into insanity and your part in it.

I found the game perfectly playable and with some great setpieces. I'd compare it to Bioshock quality of shooting vs story wise.

I picked it up only after reading that it wasn't mediocre CoD-wannabe military shooter #8756865. Also, it was cheap! I need to finish Borderlands 1 and Goldeneye Redux first. Well, Goldeneye at least. How many hours does it go for, roughly?

What RT81 (WHY HELLO FELLO AUTOMATON NO 81) said has a grain of truth in it.
But instead of achieving that 'story effect' it did to me what you said it would.
I told it to fuck off and went to play another game by mid point.

It's not long, 6-12  hours, and I only took 6 because I had to go to easy mode about 1/2 way through. Play it for the story :)