[E3 2010] Spec Ops: The Line Eyes-On
We finally get to lock our peepers on a copy of Yager's third-person shooter. Impressions are just a click away.
Published: June 25, 2010
The Spec Ops series has sort of fallen by the wayside. What originally began as a squad-based shooter by Zombie Studios in the vein of tactical offerings like SOCOM slowly became a budget sequel factory after Zombie left things to other devs. Thankfully, it seems long-time publisher Take Two (by way of the 2K Games label) is finally giving the series some serious involvement again.
The story -- which is rather significant as we'll explain in a bit -- is centered around near-future Dubai. The former gleaming testament to money and excess was sandblasted -- literally -- by a massive storm that buried the entire city under a bazillion grains. Essentially turned into a ghost town overnight, militaristic factions and terrorist organizations have made the still-crumbling metropolis a base of operations. When Colonel John Konrad goes missing, Captain Martin Walker and a squad of chatty Delta Force members head in to extract him and find out if the Colonel's decision to stay behind in the buried city is purely altruistic or if he has potentially less noble intentions.
What was made abundantly clear as we watched the events of the Unreal Engine 3-powered third-person shooter unfold was that this backstory was more than just a few blurbs of expository text before things started to go all pew pew -- quite the opposite, in fact. Walker (voiced by the omnipresent Nolan North) and his band of not-so-merry men were almost constantly talking to each other. When they aren't calling out enemy positions or calling for covering fire while moving between bits of cover in firefights, they're discussing the environment, the mission and, as the game plays out, the choices that have been made.
Turns out Dubai isn't exactly a black-and-white kind of conflict. The Line is quite literally a reference to the border between duty and necessity and 2K is promising that players will have to make tough choices that have some bearing on the overall story at fairly regular points. They stay coy about how it'll play into the actual events that unfold, but at least in terms of gameplay, this came down to a few examples of the sand tech in place. Firing at things like windows or strained buffeting walls can cause the sand held back to spill outward, creating new paths or burying enemies under the crushing weight.
Curiously, what we didn't see during the 20-some minute demo was some of the more dynamic shifting that can completely change the level layout as seen in the original debut trailer where a sinkhole opens up as Walker is under cover, seamlessly transitioning him into a holding animation that looked rather slick. If nothing else, the setting of Dubai is absolutely littered with potential for massive, sprawling views of a city that used to be the height of decadence and financial flaunting. The engine seems up to task, even though the game is slated for a rather nebulous "2011" date.
There's plenty of promise in the set up, and if the chatter (which was convincingly delivered and actually surprised us at just how much there was and how well it sucked us in even if the impact of the actual cover-based shooting didn't). With cover that can be scooted around freely and the promise of a rather standard smattering of assault rifles, RPGs, machine guns, SMGs and so on, we're hoping all that promise is actually fulfilled. As soon as we know more, you'll know more.
The story -- which is rather significant as we'll explain in a bit -- is centered around near-future Dubai. The former gleaming testament to money and excess was sandblasted -- literally -- by a massive storm that buried the entire city under a bazillion grains. Essentially turned into a ghost town overnight, militaristic factions and terrorist organizations have made the still-crumbling metropolis a base of operations. When Colonel John Konrad goes missing, Captain Martin Walker and a squad of chatty Delta Force members head in to extract him and find out if the Colonel's decision to stay behind in the buried city is purely altruistic or if he has potentially less noble intentions.
What was made abundantly clear as we watched the events of the Unreal Engine 3-powered third-person shooter unfold was that this backstory was more than just a few blurbs of expository text before things started to go all pew pew -- quite the opposite, in fact. Walker (voiced by the omnipresent Nolan North) and his band of not-so-merry men were almost constantly talking to each other. When they aren't calling out enemy positions or calling for covering fire while moving between bits of cover in firefights, they're discussing the environment, the mission and, as the game plays out, the choices that have been made.
Turns out Dubai isn't exactly a black-and-white kind of conflict. The Line is quite literally a reference to the border between duty and necessity and 2K is promising that players will have to make tough choices that have some bearing on the overall story at fairly regular points. They stay coy about how it'll play into the actual events that unfold, but at least in terms of gameplay, this came down to a few examples of the sand tech in place. Firing at things like windows or strained buffeting walls can cause the sand held back to spill outward, creating new paths or burying enemies under the crushing weight.
Curiously, what we didn't see during the 20-some minute demo was some of the more dynamic shifting that can completely change the level layout as seen in the original debut trailer where a sinkhole opens up as Walker is under cover, seamlessly transitioning him into a holding animation that looked rather slick. If nothing else, the setting of Dubai is absolutely littered with potential for massive, sprawling views of a city that used to be the height of decadence and financial flaunting. The engine seems up to task, even though the game is slated for a rather nebulous "2011" date.
There's plenty of promise in the set up, and if the chatter (which was convincingly delivered and actually surprised us at just how much there was and how well it sucked us in even if the impact of the actual cover-based shooting didn't). With cover that can be scooted around freely and the promise of a rather standard smattering of assault rifles, RPGs, machine guns, SMGs and so on, we're hoping all that promise is actually fulfilled. As soon as we know more, you'll know more.
