Spec Ops: The Line should be included in the manuals as underrated gaming paradigm. Given the latest statements by writer Walt Williams about the troubled development of the game, he will never see a sequel, in this episode of Why (not) Famous, we analyze the reasons that caused him the time of commercial failure.
Let’s start with a brief contextualization right away.
It ran June 2012 when Spec Ops: The Line came to the shelves of PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 stores. Published by 2K Games, the title was developed by Yager Development and Darkside Game Studios, respectively for work on the campaign and on multiplayer compartment, and came on the market in a heavily saturated first-person and third-person shooter.
The game was inspired by the story of Joseph Conrad, known as the Dark Heart, and was enriched by numerous references to the Apocalypse Now movie and the Vietnam War, and focused most of the efforts in the single player campaign, while multiplayer modes were added later on by the publisher’s will, even though they are termed “carcinogenic” by Walt Williams himself.
The story of the game begins with a sharply-cut film sequence on board a Blackhawk chased by several Little-Bird helicopters flying over a Dubai devastated by fiery storms of sand. In the last six months, in fact, these storms hit the rich and flourishing cities of the United Arab Emirates unceasingly, but the news was silenced by politicians and local elite, leaving the population in danger. Colonel John Konrad, returning from Afghanistan, along with his battalion, stayed in Dubai to help evacuate the city deserting the order to abandon the post. Totally lost communications with Konrad, commander Martin Walker, the protagonist of the affairs, is featured on his tracks, alongside two skilled operatives Delta Lugo and Adams. The three will have to see it in a real hell on earth, meeting an inexorable physical and mental degeneration that will lead them to moments of pure madness. Character characterization is one of the major aspects of the strength of a crude and violent story that never tries to overcome the blow and shows the brutality of human survival and war.
A highly mature story featured in a third-person shooter gameplay featuring elements of strong realism, from weapon feelings to ammunition, to partially secure, sometimes destructive shells, which can not always protect against enemy strikes. All this offered a much higher level of challenge than the campaigns of the various FPSs and TPSs of the time, which was unjustifiably difficult for many. After a narration of a highly narrative and artistic segment, gameplay problems and technical shortcomings, along with the much-criticized multiplayer compartment
