a shooter that redefine story telling and morality. O'really? "spoiler alert"
Story in Spec ops share the similarities with "apocalypse now" with a slight change of theme and locale and result of PTSD. it is claimed that it was inspired by heart of darkness which i doubt it. The span of 5hrs singleplayer campaign do allow players to pick hard choices with multiple endings similar to mass effect3 with reaction between squad members (some members will react will not be please with the decision you make - theres no right or wrong and theres no outcome from those either). However during my playthrough the last final choice actually decides the which grim ending your prefer, and it does not influenced by the earlier choices made. The choices forced to players are more like a gimmick, there are no branching stories and the story progression is rather linear (with several alternative ending). The only significant choice is the ending which is a solid ending that make mass effect 3 a child's bedtime story. No indication sequels, No traditional single ending and plenty of mindbending elements to keep you wondering. Its definately a good candidate alongside xfiles - COD BLOPS. Although the ending is really good, the early part of story line is rather dull, and uninspired, with plenty of unrealistic reasons that doesnt sum-up really well for military-based readers. The most controversy falling on the use of "willie pete", and why are the battalion even equipped with it for a evacuation ops and even tons of firearms enough for WW3. Wait, unless capt. walker is hallucinating all along.
Gameplay perspective its a rather linear cover based shooter with a bit of squad baby-sitting. Yes the AI in this game is bad at least for your teammate with 70% of the time they dont do anything and mostly act as bullet sponge. Devs provided some squad mechanics but it hardly work with your brain dead AIs. Enemy AIs in the other hand are better, but mostly as target practice and occasionally do nothing other than hiding behind cover while you blast it head off. The damage mode is towards realistic approach (enemy AI) with 1 headshot will reward you instant kill with slow-mo max payne style while you pick off another head off.Only later stages, it gets slightly harder with enemies spawning waves and waves from all sides before proceeding to the next section and repeat. Also theres some gruesome execution move on wounded soldiers. Sand in the other hand is rarely a game changer and so often they are scripted event just for progression - although multiplayer it act as enviromental hazards which is a cool feature. Multiplayer is just a really standard 3rd person shooter with a good dynamic maps similarity with uncharted3 with enviromental hazards (such as sand sliding from recently destroyed window) and ziplines that could use for fast flanking maneuvers. The maps are very well design and it had some cool environments and some uniques to make it standout from Uncharted 3 but why 4vs4 for TDM? 4maps unlocked (2 avaliable and 2 unlocked), with 12 rifles, 4 sniper rifles, 4 LMG, 6-8 SMG/handguns and ingame character customization to unlocked from MP progression.
I find the devs did a good job in the graphics, it showed great scenic locale with great draw distance with mixture of sand dunes and a variety of color palette with great indoor and outdoor scenes with diverse enviroment (foliage, majestic hallway, aquarium park) which sadly gears of war 3 maps are lacking until the later dlc. The graphics had its limitation, fire and explosion is are bad as the earlier UE3.0, only did UE3.5 had significant improvement. Animation are rather good, and certain textures looking rather dull. No native MSAA with preset FXAA, so the edges are rather jaggy especially on lower or higher than the preset resolution of 720p. SSAO is rendered on specific objects only (bad port?).
Controls are sluggish especially in/out of cover similar to earlier uncharted and gears of war as compared to new design of cover based shooters such as ghost recon:FS and gears 3.
As what an great idea initially was, it was a shame that the devs decided to invest the story on a shooter genre which i do believe is not the right genre. A better use would be an Action/stealth/horror title similar to Deus Ex that will definitely flush out the story in a span of 12 to 16 hrs rather than squeezing it in a 5hrs long SP campaign. Spec ops: the line is a definitely a must rent title, 4.5hrs SP linear campaign (no-coop) -reload the final decision point for 3 alternate ending for an extra 1/2 hrs, you could only consider the game a buy if you like the multiplayer.
Graphics - 8/10
Gameplay -5/10
value - 4/10