Classic Games Revisited + Reviewed – Spec Ops: The Line (PC)

Well, it’s been a while but we’re back with another classic game review. This time we are talking about the 2012 2K published game Spec Ops: The Line, developed by Yager, a German studio based in Berlin.

A multi platform release at the time, Spec Ops has recently been delisted from digital game shops so the timing of this review is perhaps unfortunate – although, there are obviously second hand physical copies for console still in circulation. Having said that, I’ve just checked CEX and it seems like these have jumped in value – presumably because of said digital delisting! It’s still listed on CDKeys at the time of writing for example though so hopefully the game will remain available for those who want to play it. Because it really deserves to be played, even today.

You may have noticed that this is the first revisited review I’ve written after playing the game in question on PC. I’ve previously talked about choosing games for these classic reviews which are available in some form for more modern platforms than they were released on (Sleeping Dogs PS4 remaster for example). Spec Ops: The Line has been a game I’ve been interested in playing and reviewing for a while but as noted above remains locked in to the PS3 era hardware on console.

The Line is officially supported as a backwards compatible title on Xbox so the 360 version is playable on a modern Xbox, albeit without a frame rate boost. As noted you can’t get it on the Xbox digital storefront but if you can get a disc copy at a decent price this is probably the best console option. (Especially if like me you do actually still have a PS3 but no longer have a good working controller for it.)

So, what if I played on PC I wondered? I initially tried with my usual set up for PC – using a Dual Shock 4 controller using DS4Windows as a software compatibility layer. Spec Ops refused to even acknowledge the fact that I had a DS4 connected to my PC… OK, fair enough, the game came out before that controller came out I suppose. This was the first time this happened but it would happen again a number of times:  older games that my modest PC could actually run would not talk nicely to either my DS4 or my Dual Sense.

As the list of games that I wanted to play on PC slowly grew I eventually bit the bullet and bought a dedicated PC controller and came back to The Line.

And, wow, was it worth it.

The Line does absolutely nothing novel or new or innovative gameplay wise and yet ranks as one of the most powerful gaming experiences I have ever had. Unfortunately it was a commercial failure and as such will never see a sequel. I’m not entirely convinced it needs one but I would have been curious to see what similar projects Yager might have dabbled in. A remaster would be pretty sweet mind, given as noted it is kinda difficult to access nowadays.

The game takes place in a Dubai that has been ravaged by sandstorms and abandoned by the upper levels of the native population. Returning from Afghanistan, the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the US Army led by Colonel John Konrad get stuck in the city and offer to help out with relief efforts.

The city is subsequently almost entirely cut off from the outside world by the sandstorm and contact is lost. Eventually a looped radio signal manages to penetrate its way out, simply conveying the fact that an evacuation attempt led by the 33rd failed with heavy casualties. In response to this news the US sends in a covert reconnaissance team led by Captain Martin Walker who served with Konrad in Afghanistan.

This is where the game kicks in. I won’t mention much else plot wise as, although it is an old game, the story is absolutely its strongest point so I don’t want to potentially spoiler it for anyone who may have yet to play it.

As mentioned, the game play is about the most generic third person cover shooter you could imagine. Games with these mechanics were pretty popular in the PS3 / 360 era it seems and The Line is just one in a long list. You could argue (probably successfully) that many other games do it better than The Line – Mass Effect 3 is one that springs to mind as having somewhat more refined mechanics. And that is fine – the gameplay was never going to win any awards for innovation but it absolutely is enjoyable.

The odd difficulty spike aside, shooting and blowing up bad guys basically doesn’t get old and The Line is safe enough here. Or is it? We start off with a plot by numbers, Americans good, Arabs bad seeming story but pretty soon the waters are muddied.

Again, I will say no more in the spirit of spoiler avoidance but as the player progresses through The Line they start to question accepted parameters of good guys and bad guys and what is acceptable in the theatre of war. Indeed what is reality itself?

The gameplay is entirely linear through a series of encounters and battles, interspersed with narrative driving cutscenes and the odd spectacular set piece, in some cases utilising the environment (sand) in quite destructive ways.

It doesn’t have branching storylines but the game does present the player with some moral choices throughout. It ambiguously never reveals what option is the “correct one” and we are frequently led to come to the conclusion that there is no such thing.

The Line is a fairly short experience – How Long To Beat cites around 7 ½ hours for main + extra. That’s absolutely not a criticism – it’s a linear game and the gameplay can be fairly intense, many battles are quite hairy in places – I think much longer would have been unnecessary. I found the combat quite full on and would typically play it in shorter chunks of time rather than devoting an entire evening to the game.

The pacing is really good – you always feel like you are making genuine progress and the terrain is varied enough so that the journey through Dubai feels just like that – a journey. Adding to the feeling of progress is the use of music – it kicks in at strategic points in the game and gives an almost cinematic feel to some battles. I recognised some classic 60s music but apparently it was mostly an original score composed for the game. It’s very much a rock based soundtrack which fits the game well I felt.

I haven’t found anything categorical but there is a lot of speculation that music licencing is the reason that the game has been delisted. If that is the case it’s pretty sad because there are only a few real world tracks but we have seen similar cases before so it would explain the withdrawal of the game. I guess going back into the game to remove / edit the music would be too much effort for an old game which wasn’t even a success in the first place.

A 2012 video game, The Line is definitely of its era in not only its cover based shooter core gameplay, it is visually unmistakably of this period too. PS3 / 360 era games are easily recognised by their colour palette. You know what I’m talking about – lots of oranges and browns. Obviously The Line is set in a desert area so has lots of sand but even in scenes inside buildings you can tell its origin period. Trying to find a way to describe this I did some Googling and found people talking about it – apparently the colours are desaturated in video games of this time as the style was popular with cinema then which games took influence from.

Colours aside, on PC in 2024 the game looks great. On a fairly modest machine (Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB RAM, Geforce RTX 1050) I was able to run it at 1440p, 60fps (the highest frame rate my monitor can run) with highest quality settings. I’ve traditionally been reluctant to game on my PC but for this game it was a no brainer. I could run it on PS3 but I’m looking at 720p, 30fps. 30fps was the deal breaker!

One of my reservations about PC gaming has been the high cost required to get the best gear to run the newest games at the best performance. We’re talking thousands and I don’t have thousands to spare! However, the penny dropped when I decided to return to this series of classic game reviews. Obviously for console exclusives PC isn’t an option but for multi plat games like Spec Ops: The Line, going back and playing 10+ years after release, PC makes the most sense. As my machine proves, you don’t need especially powerful hardware to run old games (which of course absolutely stands to reason).

I haven’t even tried but I’m going to assume that the multiplayer mode is no longer available. However, when I was reading a little about the game I saw some comments about it being a poor multiplayer experience and that contributed to some reviewers marking it down. If this is accurate my only response would be “what the actual fuck?”! The Line is a third person cover shooter which were ten a penny in 2012 – its strength is not in the gameplay being anything spectacular, it’s about it being an incredible single player narrative experience.

Having said that, it is visually spectacular in several places – we open with a helicopter battle (which we return to later on in the game), we destroy parts of buildings to kill enemies with sand avalanches and we have a shootout deep in the bowels of an aquarium. It looks stunning and belies its age and underlying seventh generation origin.

I’ve deliberately not gone into the story very deeply as that is far and away the best part of Spec Ops: The Line. If you haven’t played the game I would urge you to try and find a way to do so. For those who have played it I am confident you are nodding in agreement to this statement.

As noted, while solid, the gameplay offers very little in terms of ingenuity but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable few hours of primarily shooting. The story is where the game excels – it’s hard hitting and harrowing as fuck and will have a lasting impression on those who play their way to one (or more) of the possible conclusions.