Tag Archives: Spec Ops: The Line

Geoffrey Tim

Violent games are “creatively too easy”

March 28, 2013 at 2:00 pm | 27 Comments

If you haven’t played Yager’s Spec Ops: The Line, you really should. Though it has some grinding, mundane shooting mechanics (by design, I’m convinced), it tells an incredible story – and forces you to think about the very real horrors of war, and its intrinsic violence. It’s writer, Walt Williams told an audience at GDC that violent games are “creatively too easy” and that the industry needs to start thinking of better, more diverse ways of telling stories through videogames.


Darryn Bonthuys

The Lazygamer Awards 2012 – Most Underrated Game

December 20, 2012 at 3:00 pm | 16 Comments

 

Not every game that hits shelves is guaranteed to be an overnight success. What sounds great on paper, may not translate into instant sales, as is the case with several games this year. We’ve seen some real niche titles, games that attempted to go their own way but failed to capture an audience, while other big budget productions have fallen to the wayside to be tragically forgotten. And the most underrated game of the year is…


Yolanda Green

The Lazygamer Awards 2012 – Best Shooter

December 20, 2012 at 2:30 pm | 60 Comments

Shooters aren’t just about shooting (doh!), it’s about the sheer thrill of tactical gameplay and strategy. That head-shot from 300m away, that SMG rush, that AK-47 destruction, and then sometimes there’s a story in it or whatever. There’s been a great battle of the shooters this year, but whether you love it or hate it, the award goes to…


Darryn Bonthuys

The Lazygamer Awards 2012 – Best Voice Actor

December 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm | 21 Comments

If there’s one thing that gaming attracts, it’s talent. Skilled people from all walks of life have contributed to this medium in one way or another, and that’s something that really shines in the voice acting department. So, who had the best vocal chords to create a believable performance this year? That answer, was easy as the award goes to…


Tauriq Moosa

‘Dishonored’ and the Widespread Infection on Modern Plots

November 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm | 24 Comments

[Spoilers ahead]

I see it before it happens, not through any skill but because we’ve all reached saturation point: allies morphing into enemies, the knock to the head, the poison, the haziness and collapse, the convenient space and time where my new enemies outline their reasons for their changed morality (which you recognise has been the same morality): whether they monologue like some Saturday morning cartoon villain, or surround me, talking in whispers at my partially conscious form - they helpfully tell me “why”.


Tauriq Moosa

The banality of killing, with Spec Ops: The Line

October 25, 2012 at 3:30 pm | 37 Comments

Spec Ops is a smart, but self-mutilating, teenager of a game. It hates every moment of its existence and, since you’ve decided to experience the game, makes certain you experience its pain, its self-hatred, its auto-loathing, too.

[Beware – here be spoilers]


Geoffrey Tim

Spec Ops’ multiplayer is “a cancerous growth”

August 29, 2012 at 11:30 am | 8 Comments

I’ve bored you all before with diatribes about publisher mandated meddling – mostly multiplayer – that gets added to games because people in suits who don’t really understand videogames insist on certain features being added to games so that they have another back-of-the-box selling point. I’m not going to do that again; instead you can read it from the horse’s mouth, as Yager talks about 2K insisted on adding multiplayer to the otherwise rather excellent Spec Ops: The Line; even calling it a “cancerous growth.”


Geoffrey Tim

Here are the Spec Ops: The Line Bundle winners

July 6, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 20 Comments

Thanks to the jolly good chaps over at Megarom, we have 3 copies of 2K and Yager development’s critically acclaimed, emotionally heavy shooter Spec Ops: The Line to give away, bundled with a bunch of sand-friendly merchandise like scarves, and hats, and bags, and camels and stuff. Ok, that was just a joke. We’re not really giving away scarves. What do we look like? Markhams?

Last chance to win a Spec Ops: The Line bundle!

Geoffrey Tim

Last chance to win a Spec Ops: The Line bundle!

July 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm | 28 Comments

Spec Ops: the Line - despite coming off as a generic shooter - is a damn fine game, tackling the real horror of war and how everybody who takes part in it is a villain in some way.  There are no gung-ho, American ra-ra heroes in this one; instead you get masterful storytelling, held together by emotional and hell, philosophical gravity.


Gavin Mannion

Spec Ops: The Line DLC detailed for August

June 27, 2012 at 10:45 am | 1 Comment

We posted up our Spec Ops: The Line review yesterday and while it had some gameplay issues the entire experience was an enjoyable one and if you are into single player stories then I do recommend you grab yourself a copy when it comes out on Friday


Gavin Mannion

Spec Ops: The Line Review – Sand in my pants

June 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm | 11 Comments

Spec Ops: The Line feels like it’s been in development forever. I first saw the game in a hands-off demonstration at E3 2010 - after which the game was sent back for more development and polish and now I’ve played through the final version. Did that polish pay off or was it too far gone to save?


Gavin Mannion

Spec Ops: The Line Launch Trailer

June 26, 2012 at 7:45 am | 16 Comments

As you can likely see from the site this week belongs to Spec Ops: The Line which launches on Friday. You have seen the banners right? and clicked on them so that we can keep offering you free news? Oh and did I mention that you can enter another Spec Ops comp by clicking the banners? Okay let’s continue


Geoffrey Tim

Win a Spec Ops: The Line bundle!

June 25, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 28 Comments

This Friday, the first Spec Ops game in forever is hitting retail shelves. Spec Ops: The Line - based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has you in the role of Captain Walker, leader of an elite Delta Force team ordered to infiltrate a devastated Dubai to locate U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad. We’ve been playing it - and found it to be one of the most emotionally impactful games to come along in ages. Now we’re giving you can chance to face the Line yourselves; by giving away 3 (THREE!) Spec Ops: the Line bundles - including the game on the console platform of your choice.


Geoffrey Tim

Spec Ops: The Line Preview – The Horror! The Horror!

May 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm | 9 Comments

The Spec ops games have a bit of a chequered history. The critically acclaimed first games in the series, by Blacklight developer Zombie Games established Spec Ops as a premier tactical shooter franchise - but subsequent games bearing the Spec Ops name have been poor-scoring, low budget affairs. It’s been ten years since the release of the last game in series - so it’s not a stretch to say that Spec Ops has all but faded in obscurity.

A Spec Ops game under development at Rockstar, cancelled in 2005, further plunged the series in to the depths of irrelevance. That made the 2009 revelation that a new Spec Ops, subtitled “The Line” from German developer Yager Development seem an odd choice - but the announcement was accompanied by a gameplay trailer and an intriguing demonstration at E3 in 2010. It’s been relatively quiet on the Spec Ops front since then, bar a few trailers and the recent release of the game’s single player demo on Xbox Live and the PSN.

I’ve had the opportunity to play through an extended section of the game’s single player campaign, and I’m happy to say that there’s more to the game than the demo would have you believe.


Gavin Mannion

Spec Ops: The Line has a new trailer

April 10, 2012 at 7:45 am | 4 Comments

The last time I posted about Spec Ops: The Line I was saying that I’m not sure about this game at all. It’s been in development hell for quite some time now and is already starting to look dated before it’s even been released.

But then 2K manage to put together this trailer and I’m once again intrigued, yes it’s still looking dated but I can overcome that if the story turns out to be any good and from this trailer I think it may well do.

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