<p>The Spec Ops franchise is in a tough field for little guys&period;  As a modern military shooter&comma; it will find itself being defined as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Not Call of Duty” by many gamers&period; Even though the series has been around since the days of the original Playstation&comma; it hasn’t appeared in this console generation or the even last&comma; with Spec Ops&colon; The Line being the first new game in ten years&period;  When the demo for Spec Ops&colon; The Line hit Xbox  Live&comma; it didn’t strike me as anything noteworthy&semi; another third person &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Army guys” game set in some middle-eastern hellhole&period;  But a few minutes into this lengthy demo I started to notice things…  My mission was to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;rescue” a rogue American Colonel named &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Konrad”…  Why did that name and premise sound so familiar&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;99 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad135805 " id&equals;"quads-ad135805" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;padding&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;" data-lazydelay&equals;"3000">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It took me a while to see where the developers of this game were going&period;  The brooding narrator&comma; the war-torn third-world nation&comma; a paranoid journalist&comma; the natives acting oddly…  Eventually I realized that I had misjudged Spec Ops&colon; The Line&period;  This was no generic &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Army guys who shoot the Arabs” game&period;  I was playing through Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness&comma; the book that inspired Apocalypse Now&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The idea is long overdue&period;  The last decade of American wars in the Middle East are suited to a retelling of this timeless story of the Western world’s forays into the more dangerous parts of the globe and the moral ambiguities that will inevitably arise&period;  The demo only gives players a few bits of the story&comma; but what is shown is very intriguing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay isn’t quite as ambitious as the story&period;  Spec Ops&colon; The Line has all the features that players would expect from a third person&comma; squad-based shooter&period;  Players can charge into cover&comma; vault over obstacles&comma; and there’s even a slow-motion bullet time effect&period;  The main character is in charge of a pair of other soldiers&comma; and can call out simple tactical orders to them&comma; such as designating targets for sniper kills&comma; or where to deploy grenades&period;  The demo even begins with a standard turret sequence as the Player mans a minigun inside a helicopter to shoot down other gunships over the city of Dubai&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;99 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad135804 " id&equals;"quads-ad135804" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;padding&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;" data-lazydelay&equals;"3000">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>While the actual shooting in this demo is unremarkable&comma; it is still competent&period;  The demo gives players the opportunity to use different types of assault rifles&comma; sub machines guns&comma; shotguns and also more specialized firepower like sniper rifles and heavy machine guns&period;  There is some physics-based gunplay that will let players shoot objects in the environment to indirectly harm enemies&semi; an example shown off in the demo is burying enemies in sand&period;  Sandstorms are said to be a much bigger part of the full game&comma; but weren’t a significant part of the demo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The developer obviously wants players to sink their teeth into the game&comma; because the demo is quite long with plenty of cutscenes to make sure the story is explained&period;  It’s available now on Xbox Live and Playstation Network&comma; and anyone who suspects they’d enjoy some literary influences in their shooter would do well in taking a look at Spec Ops&colon; The Line&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Spec Ops&colon; The Line comes out for PC&comma; Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on June 26th&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"essb&lowbar;links essb&lowbar;counter&lowbar;modern&lowbar;right essb&lowbar;displayed&lowbar;bottom essb&lowbar;share essb&lowbar;template&lowbar;default4-retina essb&lowbar;1034350859 print-no" id&equals;"essb&lowbar;displayed&lowbar;bottom&lowbar;1034350859" data-essb-postid&equals;"2066" data-essb-position&equals;"bottom" data-essb-button-style&equals;"button" data-essb-template&equals;"default4-retina" data-essb-counter-pos&equals;"right" data-essb-url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;explosion&period;com&sol;2066&sol;explore-the-heart-of-darkness-in-spec-ops-the-line&sol;" data-essb-fullurl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;explosion&period;com&sol;2066&sol;explore-the-heart-of-darkness-in-spec-ops-the-line&sol;" data-essb-instance&equals;"1034350859"><ul class&equals;"essb&lowbar;links&lowbar;list"><li class&equals;"essb&lowbar;item essb&lowbar;link&lowbar;facebook nolightbox essb&lowbar;link&lowbar;svg&lowbar;icon"> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;sharer&sol;sharer&period;php&quest;u&equals;https&percnt;3A&percnt;2F&percnt;2Fwww&period;explosion&period;com&percnt;2F2066&percnt;2Fexplore-the-heart-of-darkness-in-spec-ops-the-line&percnt;2F&t&equals;Explore&plus;the&plus;Heart&plus;of&plus;Darkness&plus;In&plus;Spec&plus;Ops" title&equals;"Share on Share" onclick&equals;"essb&period;window&lpar;&&num;39&semi;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;sharer&sol;sharer&period;php&quest;u&equals;https&percnt;3A&percnt;2F&percnt;2Fwww&period;explosion&period;com&percnt;2F2066&percnt;2Fexplore-the-heart-of-darkness-in-spec-ops-the-line&percnt;2F&t&equals;Explore&plus;the&plus;Heart&plus;of&plus;Darkness&plus;In&plus;Spec&plus;Ops&&num;39&semi;&comma;&&num;39&semi;facebook&&num;39&semi;&comma;&&num;39&semi;1034350859&&num;39&semi;&rpar;&semi; 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Charles is a proud contributor to Explosion, as well as the Xbox/ PC Department Lead at Player Affinity, a weekly columnist for Default Prime, a reviewer at The Indie Game Magazine, and a Special Agent at the U.S. Department of Electronic Entertainment.
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