Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops: The Line is a third-person shooter video game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K Games. The game was released in North America for the Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms on June 26, 2012 in North America and on June 29, 2012 in Europe.
==Gameplay==
Spec Ops: The Line is primarily a third-person shooter with emphasis on utilizing cover and squad-based tactics. Various new weapons and equipment become available as play progresses, some dropped by downed enemies. These include several different rifles, handguns, and machine guns, some with alternate firing modes, like attaching a suppressor or using a scope; as well as grenade launchers and hand grenades. Single-player squad commands include focusing fire on a particular target and ordering medical attention to an injured squad member.
A multiplayer mode is also included, with six competitive game types across seven maps, loadout customization, and community leaderboards and challenges. Yager describes the multiplayer as a campaign that expands the single-player experience. In addition, there will be multiple mode types with at least a few focusing on terrain deformation and expansion.
The game has several subtle effects as the team loses their sanity, with Walker having visual and auditory hallucinations, and his executions of enemies becoming more violent, along with his team orders, with him angrily commenting upon several things versus originally being calculated.
==Plot==
Delta Operator Walker, Adams and Lugo traverse the storm wall through to the outskirts of a mostly-buried Dubai on foot. They come in to contact with a group of armed survivors, referred to as Insurgents. The Insurgents have apparently renewed conflict with what remains of "The Damned" 33rd, and have captured a squad of 33rd soldiers and take them to a former hotel called "The Nest". Throughout the rest of their journey, the team hears broadcasts on homemade speakers by the Radioman, a former journalist turned DJ that was once embedded with the 33rd in Afghanistan and now speaks on their behalf.
As the journey progresses, the team finds evidence of what had happened in Dubai over the preceding months. From what they can tell, an unstable Konrad and the 33rd Battalion returned to Dubai as an occupying force after his evacuation failed, apparently to rule over the remaining survivors. Soon, increasingly harsh atrocities against civilians were committed to intimidate the population. Elements of the 33rd staged a coup d’etat against Konrad in protest, forming the Exiles. The CIA has been organizing the Insurgents to attack both Konrad’s loyalist 33rd and the Exiles, presumably for the benefit of the survivors. Barbaric acts of immolation, torture and execution by death squads are common on all sides throughout the city. Although there is now clear evidence against Konrad's virtue, Colonel Konrad once saved Captain Walker's life in Kabul during the war. This makes Walker biased in favor of Konrad.
The team comes across the Nest’s refugees being rounded up by a platoon of loyalist 33rd. They attempt to intervene peacefully, but the soldiers mistake them for CIA operatives and begin a firefight. The 33rd takes heavy casualties and retreats with a number of civilian prisoners. Disturbed at their killing of fellow Americans, Lugo and Adams’ repeatedly urge Walker to leave Dubai and contact command. Walker insists on investigating further in hopes of evacuating survivors and finding Konrad.
The team learns another CIA agent, Daniels, has been captured by the 33rd. His interrogation is blasted by the Radioman across a traceable signal to lure in other agents, prompting Delta to head towards the site as well. There, they find the mutilated and long-dead body of Daniels and are ambushed by soldiers. There is no possibility of escape until a band of Insurgents led by Agent Gould arrive and break the ambush, allowing Walker to escape. But not long after, Gould is captured and his men are killed. The player can choose to save Gould or save couple of civilians near Gould position that is about to be executed. No matter what action the player chooses, Gould is killed, but an operations plan found on his body directs Captain Walker to the Gate, a 33rd base.
Walker and his men arrive at the Gate, only to find a full company of 33rd soldiers guarding the entrance. An abandoned 33rd mortar loaded with white phosphorus is found nearby. Lugo objects to using the mortar, as the team has seen its grisly effects on the 33rd’s previous victims, but Adams and Walker overrule Lugo and fire the mortar. The phosphorus strike completely obliterates the company.
An injured soldier the team finds in the blast zone questions the slaughter, stating the 33rd only wanted to help. To the team’s horror, the 33rd had taken the civilians from the Nest to the Gate for their own safety in the coming battles. 47 charred corpses, many of them women and children, are found in a fenced off section of the entrance, and Walker takes notice of a two corpses, a mother and daughter holding each other. Walker shows no outward remorse, and pushes the others on despite their obvious anger and trauma.
Shortly after, Colonel Konrad begins communicating with Walker over a radio they find inside the Gate. He taunts Walker over his inner doubts and fears as tensions rise between the team, making Walker adjust his belief that Konrad is innocent. Soon, Walker comes across two men tied to a bridge, with snipers positioned on all sides. Konrad tells Walker that the two men are criminals, and orders Walker to pick one to execute. Walker can shoot either at a criminal, Konrad’s snipers above, or simply walk away. All are done to the surprise of Lugo and Adams, who question Walker’s mental condition as he urges them towards Konrad's most likely vantage point, the tallest tower in Dubai.
Along the way, Delta finds Gould's partner Agent Riggs leading a raid on the Dubai Underwater Aquatic Coliseum, the city's last main water supply. Riggs tells Delta that Insurgent control of the water will cripple the 33rd's operations in Dubai and bring peace, but only if they aid him. When the water trucks the group seize fail to break free of the 33rd's defenses, Riggs intentionally crashes them. After recovering, a severely burned Walker comes across a mortally wounded Riggs, who tells him the real reason the CIA is in Dubai. Once the full extent of Colonel Konrad's war crimes were found out by the CIA, Grey Fox Team was ordered to destroy the water supply no matter the cost by manipulating the Insurgents. Knowledge of what the 33rd did in Dubai would cause the whole region to declare war on the United States in retaliation, a war which America would lose. Though a costly war has now been averted, the entire city will begin dying of dehydration within four days thanks to Walker's actions. The player can choose to kill Riggs or let him be burned alive.
After reuniting with Adams and Lugo, Delta heads to the Trans-Emirates Building to silence the Radioman and warn the city. As the journey progressed, all three men gradually become edgier and more violent. Walker begins suffering from vivid hallucinations as they fight to the top of the building. Delta finds the Radioman, who is calm and surrenders peacefully. Lugo and the Radioman set up the signal for Walker, then Lugo shoots the Radioman repeatedly before the other two can intervene. Adams commandeers a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for Delta; en route, the are engaged by the 33d's AH-6 Little Birds in a sequence that also served as the in medias res opening of the story. Delta team destroys several helicopters, and due to a sandstorm, a crashing helicopter slams into Delta's, causing them to crash.
Konrad appears to a disoriented Walker, chastising him about his failures and weakness. Walker and Adams regroup at the crash site, but must fight their way to Lugo's position behind enemy lines while Walker has several auditory hallucinations. Throughout the fighting, Lugo updates them, but is heard being captured, causing the Adams and Walker to rush to his position. When they arrive, they find Lugo lynched by a mob of citizens, angered at the Americans' destruction of the water supply. When attempts to resuscitate Lugo fail, Walker and Adams can either scare the crowd or kill them in retribution and assault Konrad's headquarters. Walker's hallucinations are nearly constant at this point. The two are soon surrounded by the last remnants of Konrad's men. Walker attempts to surrender to gain access inside, but an enraged Adams insists on fighting to the death and shames Walker into running for safety inside the tower.
At this point in the game, the truth about Colonel Konrad and the events in Dubai is revealed. Weary, grieving, and on the brink of death, Walker arrives at the penthouse of the tower without incident and confronts Konrad. Walker confronts Konrad, who is painting a scene of the white phosphorus after-effects coats confronts him on his choices throughout the rescue mission. At first, Colonel Konrad appears to be the paranoid, charismatic force behind the atrocities Walker was hoping for, until Walker finds his decaying corpse on the penthouse deck. Captain Walker has been suffering from a dissociative disorder to rationalize the actions he (and the player) has witnessed and carried out. The real Colonel Konrad committed suicide an unknown amount of time after the broadcast that brought Delta to the city. The Colonel that Walker has been in contact with during the game is actually a traumatic hallucination that none of his team witnessed, existing only within his subconsciousness. This mental projection of Konrad appears to Walker, explaining that Walker knew he had the choice of leaving Dubai numerous times, but pushed ahead out of a desire to be a hero. To maintain his 'sanity' after the white phosphorus strike, many subsequent events in the game were distorted by Walker's mind to make Konrad a moral scapegoat. Had Delta immediately left Dubai at the beginning of the game, each subsequent event may have turned out for the better. With his fantasy coming to an end now that the truth is directly in front of him, 'Konrad' points a gun at Walker’s head and begins counting to five.
===Endings===
There are four endings to The Line. Walker can either allow the Konrad projection to shoot him, shoot the projection or upon rationalizing that it is an illusion, he is overwhelmed with grief and ultimately chooses to commit suicide and shoot himself with his pistol. Allowing Konrad to pull the trigger will also cause Walker in reality to commit suicide. His body is shown settled against Konrad's, while Konrad's original broadcast plays as the camera pans over the burning remnants of Dubai.
Shooting Konrad's reflection will end with 'Konrad' dying and telling Walker he can still return home. Walker then uses Konrad's radio to request an immediate evacuation of Dubai. An epilogue after the credits roll shows a convoy of Army rescue Humvees locating Walker, who is sitting alone in the desert wearing Konrad’s uniform and brandishing a shotgun. The player is given the option to drop the weapon or fight. Attacking them will result in a difficult firefight. If Walker kills the entire patrol, he will radio U.S command and welcome them to Dubai over the now clear airwaves. Walker then heads back into the remains of Dubai as the camera pans to a wide shot of the ruined city.
Dying during the attack will cut to a shot of Walker lying in a pool of blood, remembering a conversation between himself and Konrad during the war, before the fighting in Kabul worsened. As his dying body is being watched by the patrol, Walker remembers casually remarking about returning home. Konrad had replied that there was no way men like them could.
If the player chooses not to fight, the patrol will evacuate with Walker. A soldier remarks that the unit has driven through the whole city looking for Walker, often coming across the results of the player's actions. When questioned how he survived, Walker replies; "Who said I did?"
==Themes==
Spec Ops has many themes and motifs in its narrative, among them duty, brutality, and the struggle between man vs. himself. The horrors of warfare are stressed repeatedly, a deliberate critique of the desensitization and/or glorification towards violence often found in other franchises such as Call of Duty. Subtle visuals such as a tree withering and billboards with scratched out eyes are often incorporated into the story, open to scrutiny but potentially ignored.
Writer of the game Walt Williams has stated that the game is open to interpretation. His personal belief is that the helicopter crash in the sandstorm actually killed Captain Walker, and that the rest of the game is his Purgatory. Many other theories and interpretations have been discussed by the development staff and public, with a general consensus that Walker is hallucinating about returning home if he is rescued by the patrol.
Walker's role as an unreliable narrator has been met with critical acclaim. His gradual descent into insanity and unclear motives have been compared to games like BioShock in terms of emotional weight.
The infamous white phosphorus strike has been the subject of much scrutiny since development. In response to complaints that the massacre was unnecessary or exploitive, Williams justified the scene for its emotional impact. The real anger experienced by many players was an intentional plot device, in order to evoke a reaction towards what Walker does.
Colonel Konrad's surname is a reference to the author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. In a sniper's nest found in the middle of the game, there is a (presumed) tally of each sniper's hits; one of the names is "Kurtis" - spelled close to that of Kurtz from Heart of Darkness.
==Development==
Following the release of several Spec Ops games in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the series was met with low sales and poor reviews, causing a halt on any production in successive games. In 2003, Take-Two mentioned in their financial results that Rockstar Games was working on the franchise but in early 2005 the project was canceled for unknown reasons. It was later revealed that Rockstar Vancouver was the developer of the canned project with singer Josh Homme developing the soundtrack for the game.
From 2005 to 2009, the series remained largely unmentioned with the rights belonging to Take-Two Interactive. On December 12, 2009, a ninth game in the series was announced at Spike Video Game Awards. A trailer was accompanied that depicted several minutes of gameplay and showed off the setting. A subsequent press release detailed the premise, other game features, and a possible 2011 release date. An official site was soon launched, and a new trailer was released in November 2011.
An Xbox 360 only multiplayer beta was announced for the game from 2K Games during E3 2010. The Beta was shut down on November 15, 2010.
==Reception==
Reviews to The Line have been mostly positive, with many critics praising the narrative, themes, and provocative take on violence in video games, but note that it fails to innovate or present a strong multiplayer component. IGN awarded the game an 8.0 out of 10, praising the game's dark story and visuals, while criticizing the game's control issues and unremarkable multiplayer component. Game Informer gave the game a score of 7.75 out of 10, offering praise towards the narrative, but stating that the game's gunplay and multiplayer were bland and uninventive. The Official Xbox Magazine gave the game an 8.5 out of 10, commending the game on its dark storyline, competent AI, and the environment surrounding the Dubai setting, but expressing disappointment with the rather scripted dynamic sand system it used. Destructoid awarded Spec Ops: The Line a score of 8.0 out of 10 with a compelling story, but also criticizing the AI and calling it a "mixed bag" in its graphics. GameSpot gave it 6.5 of 10. G4's X-Play gave Spec Ops: The Line four and a half stars out of five, praising the game's story, and multiplayer, despite some flaws with the game's mechanics. Edge awarded the game 7 out of 10, commenting, "The Line... makes good on Haze's promise of morally complicated entertainment – a game that understands its own ugliness and base urges, undermining the third-person shooter even as it adheres to its formula. ... It may not be subtle, but it engages with problems that the bellicose ilk of Modern Warfare and Medal Of Honor have yet to acknowledge." An article by Tom Bissell published on Grantland.com used the game to examine players' reasons for playing shooters.
==Links==
*Official site
*Developer site
Category:2012 video games
Category:Pc Games
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