Not your run-of-the mill shooter; terrific psychological presentation, but combat could be a bit better
Lately there has been a lot of debate about whether violent games cause real world violence. Again as a veteran gamer I think this is a nonsense argument, it is guns in the hands of insane people who cause the problems. But for anyone who think games glorify killing and violence, they need to have a look at Spec Ops The Line.
So, story-wise and character-wise the game is extremely good, gunplay-wise I'd rate is good but not great. I generally prefer first-person to third-person combat, but I understand that in a story-focused game the developer may want to present the game from a more cinematic perspective. However I would still have vastly preferred the ability to use ironsights on all the guns, third-person combat at all times (except for the rare scoped guns) made for inaccurate shooting way too often, where you rely on the gun's random accuracy to hit the enemies. Greater accuracy (that would be afforded through iron-sights coupled with smart burst-firing) would have made the often-tough battles more manageable.
I would give the game a 10 if the combat were fixed (aiming down ironsights allowed on all guns), so overall its a 9 for me.