Spec Ops: The Line

**BlueNGold** · 12-13-2009, 02:04 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

This game looks really nice. I love the setting.

**Heisman316** · 12-13-2009, 10:14 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Can't wat to see plot details. Nice Trailer, who's the developer?

**Sausage** · 12-13-2009, 11:08 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Cannot wait to learn more about this one. Great trailer.

**youvalss** · 12-13-2009, 01:34 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Looks good! And there will be a PC version. Yay!

**Cusefan** · 12-13-2009, 04:06 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Originally posted by BlueNGold

This game looks really nice. I love the setting.

That looks like Dubai.

Looks pretty good, kinda like Army of one.

**in mid air** · 12-14-2009, 12:23 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Looks cool. I like how the scale of those buildings let you know that they are BIG compared to your character.

**Maverick09** · 12-14-2009, 01:09 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

That trailer was fantastic. Love the music that went along with it. My jaw dropped when seeing that view of those skyscrapers. I think it's made by 2K, not sure which studio though.

**Flawless** · 01-05-2010, 01:59 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Eurogamer Preview

Yager openly embraces the primary influence: Joseph Conrad's brief masterpiece Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, the film it inadvertently spawned. These tales of the fragility of humanity's thin façade, and how easily it's corrupted by arduous and adverse conditions, provide much of the inspiration for Spec Ops' pithy storytelling. In the brief demo we see, it quickly becomes clear that Conrad is not the man he once was, and that the fate of the previous squad sent to extract him wasn't pretty.

Basing a third-person cover shooter on a late 19th-century literary classic might sound a little pretentious, but Yager's confident that its set-piece heavy, structured narrative approach will result in an involving and impactful story, complete with "morally grey areas" and some big decisions. In one area a young woman races around the corner directly into the player's line of fire just as an assault begins on the refugee camp you're exploring. Presumably itchy trigger fingers would see her having a pretty bad time of it, but what effect this might have on your squad or the refugees around you is kept under wraps.

It's unclear whether these decisions will actively branch the story, or whether they affect the character himself in a more encapsulated way - sending him down paths towards light or darkness of the soul. What we're assured is that these choices, and the situations which frame them, will affect both the character and player in intense and important ways. In the words of lead designer Corey Davis, "A game can look great, a game can even play great, but if you don't feel anything about the environments, characters and events in the game, then it's all just popcorn bulls***."

All that sand, it turns out, is more than just fancy visual juxtaposition. The rocket streaks toward your position and hits a piece of cover just in front of one of your compatriots, knocking him to the ground. In true videogame fashion, he's pretty much unhurt, but as he struggles to his feet something unusual happens: the sand around him begins to swirl, like water in an emptying bathtub, dragging him downwards. This is no minor landslip either, as more and more is sucked into the sinkhole. Soon your buddy is dragged completely out of sight, as tons of sand drain from the environment. The ground beneath Walker's feet quickly follows suit, and your character is left dangling from the scenery by one arm, blindfiring at the last few tangos before he eventually drops from the remnant of wall into the darkness below.

A few seconds later, when the dust settles and your eyes peel open, it transpires that what was once a floor is now a roof, a glass atrium for the lobby of a luxury hotel shattered by the rocket fire. Not only does this shift in perspective offer the opportunity for an interesting set-piece and change of pace, it also adds a new tactical element - your enemies are now above you and dropping C4 charges into the lobby. Time to find an exit.

This glass ceiling mechanic looks like it will play a relatively significant part in the game, as we're later shown how both squad and enemy AI adapts to the tactical options it affords - shooting out floors beneath unsuspecting troops, for example, or creating new routes through buildings. We're shown another aspect of it towards the end of the demo, as the team moves into another lobby with a high glass wall barely holding back a 20-metre sand dune. Several captives are lined up below for execution, surrounded by guards, with an enemy taking up a position at a turret gun as you enter. The traditional, ethically correct approach, is to shoot the grunt on the gun, sniping him before he opens up on the innocents below. But what about that window? A well-placed grenade would shatter the glass and drop a gritty wave of death over everyone in the lobby, prisoners and guards alike.

Yager's demo-player follows accepted social mores and plugs the would-be executioner before cleaning up the guards, but shortly afterwards the game triggers the event itself as rocket-wielding troopers assault your position, breaking the glass and allowing the impressive physics alterations the team has made to Unreal Engine 3 to do their work. We're promised, however, that this sort of decision is very much in your hands.

Commands which deal with their movement - a semi-contextual system accessed from the cursor rather than a radial - are still in need of work but already in promising shape, allowing the player to pick out individual enemies for sniper fire or suppression, while your team-mates use cover intelligently when instructed to move. It all implies depth without the need to micromanage. Your squad-mates don't have complete invulnerability to enemy fire, but Davis is coy at to whether they ever fully expire and end the game. He's willing to say they're indispensable to the story though, and that there's a healing mechanic for reviving fallen allies, but details will come later.

There are even fewer details on multiplayer, although Davis does confirm that a separate team is working on both co-operative and competitive experiences. Whether these take place within the campaign story isn't clear, but hints are certainly dropped that we'll get a narrative-driven co-op.

Strolling away from the sand-clogged and sun-bleached expanses of videogame Dubai into the cosy Yuletide kitsch of Christmasy Berlin again afterwards, another of Davis' comments springs to mind. Asked about sources and influence, Davis mentions Heart of Darkness again, but also brings up Generation Kill - particularly David Simon and Ed Burns' HBO adaptation of the Evan Wright book - as a key influence on Yager's approach to the combat experience: the eye of a political maelstrom that governs their existence despite offering no recourse for input. I don't know about you, but that's enough to keep me interested until the studio opens its doors again.

IGN video preview:

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**youvalss** · 01-07-2010, 01:26 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

Just saw the video preview on IGN. looks GREAT!

**Money99** · 01-07-2010, 10:21 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

I'm very geeked for this game.
I love how they've built it off the Gears of War engine (about time someone else copied it!).
I just love the 3rd person, corner view.
I can't even play FPS anymore. This is so much better.

Isn't this due out the same time as GoW3? That'll be a good dog fight. I'll probably pick up both.

**jmood88** · 01-07-2010, 11:13 AM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

That sounds pretty interesting. I wish game developers would come up with better names because I had no interest in this since the name sounded so generic and I didn't even mean to click on this thread.

**Flawless** · 06-17-2010, 07:08 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

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**Aces15** · 06-17-2010, 07:12 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

I don't know WHAT it is about this game, but it just has me excited for some reason. Can't wait to see some gameplay.

**youvalss** · 06-17-2010, 07:26 PM

Re: Spec Ops: The Line

This game is one of those games I feel like bying a console for. If my paycheck gets increased it might happen, hopefully...

Spec Ops: The Line

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