Spec Ops: The Line devs hoped to defy expectation

"[Multiplayer] was literally a checkbox that the financial predictions said we needed, and 2K was relentless in making sure that it happened," Davis said. "No one is playing it, and I don't even feel like it's part of the overall package--it's another game rammed onto the disk like a cancerous growth, threatening to destroy the best things about the experience"

This defines so much of the industry right now.

So 2K and EA both require devs to stick in shitty multiplayer modes before they will publish a game.  Sheesh did we learn nothing from shooter experiences like the original bioshock and half life? 

No game needs a multiplayer mode to be a good game.  I wish the model of business would change in this industry to give devs a hell of a lot more say in what product goes out the door.

Never touched the MP modes. Lost interest recently when I went back to this game and found that the patch reset  all of the progress I had made towards finding all of the collectables and getting a certain number of kills with weapons and heatshots. 

Shame it was overshadowed by Ghost recon future soldier but personally I'd not recommend spec ops to anyone as it was too damn cheap with how it killed you on anything other than easy difficulty. {Do not moan at me here. Normal difficulty was just plain unfair in multiple places. the SP portion of the game needed more polish and work before they released the game.}

Specs Ops was something unique in shooters. It showed the horrors of war and made you regret your actions at the end of the game. It would have been obviously better if the MP was scrapped of and the time and effort was rather instead spend on polishing the game. Oh well I hope this game atleast makes good sales cause it is a unique game released this year.

Spec Ops: The Line was 2012's most pleasant and unexpected surprise by far. I really wish more developers went beyond the run of mill ideas of shooters and provided a shocking, strong experience that only The Line successfully delivered.This is how military shooters should be handled. 

I hate it when companies force multiplayer into things. Is 2K brain-dead? It's obvious to anyone that nobody would care about it in this game. 

"it's another game rammed onto the disk like a cancerous growth" I like these guys more and more, even after the pleasant surprise of being someone who got ambushed due to my expectations!

I really enjoyed (if that's the right word) the game, and played it through a few times - thanks to there being no multiplayer achievements I never even booted that bit up - I could kind of tell it didn't belong there really. I came for the story and it delivered for me.

I just don't understand the thinking from publishers. If the developer was not planning on multiplayer because they saw it as a single player game, then publishers should leave it at that. Not every game needs multiplayer. And when you cram it in half-assed, it's obviously not gonna turn out good. Why would they want to compromise the integrity of the entire game just to add a multiplayer component that was never planned for it in the first place? Haven't these companies learned their lesson with losing money? If you're not gonna do it right, and give it the attention it needs, THEN DON'T DO IT!!!! 

My .02.... I enjoyed the demo, and plan on buying the game at a later date. I don't plan on touching the MP until I'm so bored that I don't have anything else to do. Just not a big fan of online play in certain games. Hell, I've had Halo 3 for over a year now, and just decided to give the MP a chance 2 months ago.

Well, at least they were honest about the garbage multiplayer that didn't need to be in this game.

Honestly I was unfortunate enough to actually play a couple of the original Spec Ops games on PSX so I really wasn't interested in the game besides there way too many military themed games at the moment but IDK, maybe if they pulled a Operation Flashpoint and invented their own conflict on a fake island or something.....that might have been interesting, 3 or 4 nations fighting for a scrap of land and all for different reasons....sounds far more interesting than what the game was....naturally you could throw a lot more onto that simple plot to make it more interesting.

Unfortunately i played this game after finishing Max Payne 3 for two times in a row.

Of course i was expecting something at least of same level of the preview game , i can't say the game is bad , but it's not good either.

Just another third person shooter AAA-wanna be.

That's a bit more honesty than I'm used to. I'm glad one developer had the gumption to do so.

As someone who is NOT a COD or Battlefield gamer, I tried this game on a random whim.  Well, full disclosure, one of my best friends actually worked on the Multiplayer aspect above (which I have yet to even touch, because I'm just not a bro shooter gamer) so I felt compelled to at least give this thing a try.  It's really a fantastic game, and the experience was really as the above author describes - I went in pretty ho-hum expecting the typical bro shooter, but it didn't take too long when I realized that something felt a bit different.  The attention to detail, and the focus on character really caught me by surprise - I felt compelled to finish the story, and there were some very poignant moments that really made me feel like a terrible person.  Nothing can ever really make you understand or feel the horrors of war, outside of being in a hot zone - but I have so much respect for these developers that they pushed at the envelope of this genre.  Well Done!