Spec Ops - The Line: The anti-war war game

Tired of dull sniper fare in the vein of "Battlefield"? Take a look at this shooter - he will leave an impression!

In "Spec Ops - The Line," a profound history meets rock-hard shooter action.
Spec Ops - The Line: Video Test
Captain Walker is at the end. Actually, the use of his Delta Force team, which includes in addition to the Afghanistan veteran or machine gun and sniper expert Adam Lugo, just routine. The brief was in Dubai on the 33rd Battalion and its leader, Colonel Konrad to seek. The six months earlier flew with his unit in the ravaged by severe sandstorms oriental metropolis, refused at the time of the disaster but to leave the city and its inhabitants back. The contact with Konrad broke off, the 33rd seemed swallowed by the earth. Only a distress call that came in the middle of Dubai, provided a clue. Walker went off with his comrades, was in good spirits.

Now he faces a mountain of burning corpses - including a mother who holds her child in her arms, and yet to look at it with eyes wide with horror. At least with one eye, which is their left after the explosion of a bomb or phosphorus. The sight of dead civilians were not bad enough to put a nagging awareness of the emotional knockout Walker: He is responsible for the deaths of these innocent people. For he had personally directed the bomb supposedly only on the territory occupied by enemy troops.
Gallery: Spec Ops - The Line

Screenshots: Spec Ops - The Line 16 images, the nightmare begins gently
Scenes like this are in the action game "Spec Ops - The Line" is no exception. What begins as an arbitrary 3-D shooter in which you, the protagonist from the back looking over the shoulder developed during the course of the 15 chapters seamlessly linked to the game that has become a nightmare. The Berlin-based development studio Yager staged Walkers Dubai's mission in the tradition of Joseph Conrad's literary milestone "Heart of Darkness".



At the beginning of surprises are rare: they fight their way through the dusty streets of the desert town meeting, to shoot looters on everything that moves, listen to the sappy, first-class synchronized sayings of Walker, Adams, and Lugo. They eliminated opponents button from weapons and ammunition, which you hold a maximum of two shooting iron, between which you switch if necessary. They include machinery, storm and sniper rifles, pistols and shotguns - the typical arsenal of modern soldiers. It
Moral dilemma: The mad Colonel Konrad requires you to opt for the liquidation of a hostage. If you refuse, you must die and your buddies.
They almost always choose between two firing modes, at about the AK-47 to switch from stray shot at Salve. Or you can slot in a silencer on their gun, so you can deliver the patrols off great sound.

The enemy lurks everywhere. So you follow the normal difficulty already on the most aggressive opponents with well-aimed shots from the neck, and stun, adhesive or frag grenades, use stationary guns, sneaking from cover to cover. This is important because Walker lies a few hits before he goes to the ground. Since there is only an auto-save function, you must address at death, the passage from the last checkpoint again - annoying.

To make matters worse: Ammunition is scarce, misses are not an option as well as automatic fire useless. Her colleagues to act largely automatically - and usually quite clever: They give you fire protection, look for self-protection, reliable support you in battle. But sometimes they run headlong into a hail of bullets or you obstruct the path. You may assign your computer counterparts only attack commands that they execute well-behaved. So far the playful good shooter standard and thanks to full effect, always a good graphics and well worth seeing, but still not very exciting.
The game hits the coming months

The next Top Stocks 2012/2013 88 games to the Colonel on the track
But then picks up the story. The developers swirl the usual good-versus-evil stereotypes in the sand storms, which you are exposed occasionally mixed vigorously. Instead of fighting against terrorists, the Company of the apparently crazed colonel to your greatest enemy. This will increase drama and intensity: They provide you with your fellow Americans bitter battles have to defend positions to free a captured CIA agents to save civilians. Or you can pave your way over the roofs of Dubai, to reach a radio tower, where you turn the last remaining radio stations in a desperate population to announce the evacuation. In between, make sequences, where you use the cannon aboard a helicopter or sections in which Walker is left alone and unarmed, for more thrills.

The colonel is driving with you during the game stops, but always in the background. They rush behind each note, comb through every nook and cranny of the city, penetrate deeper into a web of madness and violence. Are you hard enough, you find hidden areas in records. This maintains an excellent storyteller's voice and tells you about what happened in Dubai during the period prior to your coming. This creates a dark atmosphere, reminiscent of Coppola's award-winning film "Apocalypse Now".

Comrade in distress: healing touch of a button you injured team members, in this case the sniper Lugo.
The madness of war
Anyway: So how oppressive "Spec Ops - The Line" was hardly an action game so far. This is not just because of the excessive display of violence, plenty of blood, severed limbs and screaming victims included. Or the famous movie character with cutscenes that support the story perfectly. Or the feel-good rock music - the developers deliberately thwart the depressing mood of the game - such as Deep Purple's "Hush". It is mainly for the player almost palpable desperation that more and more about Walker is that he gives humanity - if we can attribute this a game character ever write.

Because no matter how well the protagonist also hires as his intentions are honorable, there comes a point where it breaks internally. Because he violence, death, destruction can no longer bear, because he puts his actions into question. This battle with his demons Walkers experience in short sections, where you control it with a seemingly apocalyptic rubble landscape in which he met all those he has killed. He slowly loses his mind? You can find out only if you deny the story until the brilliant finale. Until then, you are - depending on ability and chosen level of difficulty - 8 to 10 hours in Dubai en route. This is a fine shooter, inexperienced players might need a few more hours anyway.