Review : Spec Ops: The Line - Redefining Military Shooter

The only I remember about Spec Ops franchise back when my childhood days, its on Playstation X where the game play resembles and looks like Army Men franchise but with real soldiers as character you play in the realistic setting, after long years forgotten I found this game recommended as a game that every shooters and military genre fans should try.  I played and finished this game twice when for the first time, I played it curiously because of the unconventional plot and great story line about how bad the outcome of being in combat and military environment to question your morality as in the process to finish the game. 

And secondly, I re-played for fun and also make little bit different choices on the game play where SO:TL is basically third person shooter with linear plot but still give choices to its player to see what will we choose for better decisions on combat that later affects how we see the characters we play (that basically the player themselves) about the deed we have done every each chapter. One thing for war : Kill or be killed, or you don't have to?

Here is my review: 

PLOT :

You are Martin, an idealistic soldier with high rank as captain. Along with your two partner and subordinate. You are deployed into a post-natural disaster state on Dubai, a city that was wiped by the standstorms. And here is your task, a simple task: Find survivors and mysterious radio signal that presumed as evacuation from inner city with civilian survivors and armies that you have to face in combat and later leads you into a journey of our main character mental state of mind choices where your partner question a lot about your decision into deep rabbit hole with the intense of inside city battles which you dont fight your enemy but also your sanity. 

As a military shooter game, the plot will drag you into philosophical questions about choices and your realization (as player) to continue fighting and also SO:TL will deconstruct the whole thing of being what is right and what is wrong in military combat with realitic touch how are you the hero of this story when you have to fight what you tought is right as your duty.

CONTROL :

Grab your controller or simply use mouse+keyboard, the control is pretty responsive with stunning graphic and dynamic camera movement that shows third person perspective which makes this game easy to enjoy and not really hard when you are in combat, I personally use normal mode and found its challenging because as in combat you have to think on every single move you have to do.  As main character, you can bring two type of guns and explosives where you can find along the gameplay or you can simply grab your enemy weapons after being taken down. As a captain, you can order your two partners (as AI) to use their skills in order to solve the thightness in some combats where they can shoot specific enemies or doing distractions to move forward. 

The gameplay set some realitic tone when it comes to your health system, you wont see any healtbar or indicator, just avoid massive of gunfires from enemy or you instantly being killed, your character can survive if your partners maintain their distance in order to save you if you are taken down. Probably, the annoying side of control system is when the cover system in combat have false detection in deciding to take cover or moving forward. 

VISUAL :

Enjoy stunning visual of post-disaster state of Dubai where sky scrappers are being torn and crushed buried among desert hills, walk and explore straight into miserable places of war casualties and what left that you will experience. Some parts are athmospheric and you may find some disturbing scenes (that involves with the plot) This game visual will touch your minds (literally) and your character mind when they face some odd strange situations where leads you into questioning, are you enjoying this kind of game, or you just feel something else. 

Moreover, this game have to offer interesting side of how music really influences how you perceive this game as serious but sometimes (in the early parts of games) it have the fun part of musical cues that can be enjoyed while you shoot everyone. The voice acting are top-notch and convincing that the characters you are playing have the situation as in the game.

FUN : 

SO : TL have good tier storyline where I assumed eventhough the plot sounds cliche at the first time (about a soldier being a hero and typical American shooters where glorifies its greatness and you act like another Rambo in this game, eventually, I was wrong. This games have no fun when you really think of how it projects what is great being American soldier or simple being a soldier when facing the outcome what you did on the entire gameplay. Yes, you do mass killing people and blow some shits to progress, its fun on video game medium. But when SO : TL approaches of realistic tone of this kind of genre. It has the plus point where I stated this game deconstructs what is kind of type shooter genre looks like mostly, and this game prove us wrong. 

If you like playing shooter game with great storyline and message, grab this game and experience your state of thought will be filled the consequences of various feeling on your main character decision and choice by the hand of yourself as the player in the challenging of combat system but still rewards you an thought-provolong experience.

Rating : 8/10

Difficulty : Normal
Finished : 8 August 2017