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" Spec Ops: The Line is the ninth title in the long-running Spec Ops shooter franchise, but the game takes a whole new story and, in part, direction. Players are thrown into a hellish version of Dubai, after the billionaires&amp;#039; backyard has been lost to the sands and outright madness. The single-player campaign goes big for narrative and the dark premise appears intriguing, but is the game worth the tag of &amp;#039;BioShock in the desert&amp;#039;? Spec Ops: The Line takes inspiration from Heart of Darkness, the classic story from Joseph Conrad, which also underpinned the acclaimed Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now. In the story, you become captain Martin Walker, a Delta Force operative tasked with leading an elite team to track down John Konrad (a literal reference if ever there was one), a decorated US military general who has seriously gone off-piste in a post-&amp;#039;sand-o-pocalypse&amp;#039; Dubai. The plot thickens, indeed...    Once upon a time in the desert\u2026 We played around an hour and a half of the campaign, covering large sections of the first, fourth, seventh and eighth missions. From the early signs, Spec Ops: The Line is looking a promising prospect. Yager Development has certainly ensured that the game is a visual treat. The beige expanse of the endless sand is punctuated by the debris of urban sprawl, as crumbling skyscrapers and multi-million dollar attractions provide the perfect backdrop for the carnage. What is most striking about Spec Ops: The Line is the visualisation of duality, as the utter opulence of the old Dubai is jarringly juxtaposed with the squalor and deprivation of a people left to rot. Settlement camps litter formerly opulent department stores, while lush halls with under-floor aquariums lay silent, and sky-high hotels sit carved out like half-eaten carcasses; it&amp;#039;s an affecting take on the now familiar post-apocalypse, and one that lingers in the mind. Intriguing graffiti and candle-lit shrines offer hints to the bubbling struggle that is enveloping new Dubai, after some momentous incident has turned the rich Emirate into a sandy tomb for the damned. This also suggests the potentially messianic status now allotted to Konrad, a founding member of Delta Force, and his mythical lost US 33rd division. The audio backs up the atmosphere, harking back to Apocalypse Now with a suitably trippy 1960s vibe, laced with smiling menace.   Familiar gamplay, unfamiliar setting In gameplay terms, Spec Ops treads familiar territory seen many times before. Gunning down the legions of local militia, rogue US solders and CIA operatives feels responsive and tight, and you can expect the usual range of weapons to do the deed. This is not a cover-based shooter, but it&amp;#039;s not a run-and-gun either. The dynamic environment can be used tactically to secure the upper hand, such as shooting out glass so that banks of sand envelop the enemies. Sandstorms also frequently change the world, both to your advantage and disadvantage. During our demo, we were constantly in the company of two other Delta Force operatives, so it&amp;#039;s a shame to have no campaign co-op. So few shooters offer this feature these days, and it&amp;#039;s a real let-down, particularly for local split-screen fans. But you can perform a range of Rainbow Six-style squad commands, such as ordering your teammates to take out designated targets, or focus fire to open up a flanking opportunity. It doesn&amp;#039;t seem a very deep system, but partially makes up for the lack of co-op. The on-foot action is punctuated with other sequences, such as a section where we targeted a phosphorous mortar at key targets using a laptop. The difference was that after exerting our carnage, we had to walk through the fruits of our labours. Men staggered around, begging to be killed, as ice-white flames tore at their flesh.    Enter your own &amp;#039;heart of darkness&amp;#039;\u2026 While Spec Ops appears to lack BioShock&amp;#039;s claustrophobic atmosphere, the game has equally strong content. We saw mutilated bodies, civilians tortured and tens of bodies hanging from lamp posts like limp rag dolls. But this is the reality of human savagery - it&amp;#039;s ugly, hideous, and evil, and it&amp;#039;s refreshing to see games properly reflect that. Spec Ops is certainly an enjoyable third-person shooter to play, but what possibly sets the game apart is its story. Central to this narrative focus is the relationship between captain Walker, voiced by the ubiquitous Nolan North, and John Konrad; taking direct inspiration from Captain Willard&amp;#039;s looming confrontation with Colonel Kurtz, which so underpinned Apocalypse Now (and, of course, the meeting of Charles Marlow and ivory trader Kurtz in 1903 novella Heart of Darkness). The unfurling interplay between these two characters is clearly the backbone of Spec Ops: The Line. In particular, the depths with which Walker (and, therefore, the player) must look into the abyss will no doubt create the rich narrative seam to ensure the player willingly dives deeper in the world, despite the numerous horrors therein. Walker will presumably question whether it is actually Konrad who is the evil one, or himself, and the world that he represents.  Spec Ops: The Line makes a very good impression. Not so much in its gameplay, which offers few surprises in the post-Gears of War world, but more so in the strength of its premise. All the raw elements are there for the game to do for third-person shooters what BioShock did for first-person games - but Spec Ops: The Line will ultimately live or die on the strength of its narrative. Spec Ops: The Line will be released later this year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/previews/news/a364013/spec-ops-the-line-preview/>