Spec Ops: The Line Preview - Dusty Cartridge

Spec Ops: The Line gets off to an incredibly shaky start that proved to me that it’s really hard to make a modern shooter that isn’t inherently racist. An American military battalion, led by Colonel John Conrad, is stuck in Dubai after trying to evacuate its citizens during a particularly horrific sandstorm. For the life of me I can’t figure out why you would evacuate people during a sandstorm, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was a dare.

[Grimhammer00]

Well written and nice flow.
I have this preordered. The demo just clicked. I thought it looked nice. Nothing amazing....but it's also a local I'm unfamiliar with.

Story what little I know, looks very interesting.

[SeekDev]

After reading that, I am both thoroughly interested in the game's premise and bored at how generic the author made the gameplay seem. Currently confuzzled.

[vortis]

Gameplay is generic dude.

It's literally Gears of War without 300 pound roiders and no ability to roll. But it's flatout generic to the utmost meaning of the word.

If you like whack-a-mole shooting with regenerative health, two-weapon loadouts, generic AI, generic cover points, generic teammates and generic weapons. It's literally just another third-person shooter, gameplay wise.

The story is at least interesting.

[SeekDev]

I absolutely hate generic shooters to the core. They bore me instantly. I've been hoping for a good story in a newly released shooter for a long time, and when one has a mildly interesting story it has crud gameplay. You'd think they would have learned by now that generic gets you no where, nobody wants to buy generic games. Innovate gameplay first and foremost. When they complain about low sales they'll blame anything but a lack of innovation.

Thanks for the heads up though.

[vortis]

Don't get me wrong, though, it's a solid shooter. It plays well and it's paced with plenty of action, but it really is extremely generic, lol.

Gameplay wise there is absolutely nothing defining about the game at all.

So if you bought it, it would purely be to find out what happened to the "Damned 33rd", that was the only thing I got out of it. Otherwise, it's back to Gears of War for me if I want a TPS fix.