| Eurogamer.net 8/10 |  |
[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-26-spec-ops-the-line-review]
And for all the focus on character, Spec Ops finds no true access to Conrad's greatest tool: interiority, revealing the deepest, most abstract thoughts of Marlowe, the connections he makes and the imagery he invokes.
It tries, though. It tries to do something special, and it tries to create something memorable and something strange. In Dubai itself, it genuinely succeeds, perhaps because the reality of the place is already so gaudy, so cloyingly, oppressively weird, that it provides a good hard shove in the right direction before the first bullet's been fired. There are such a lot of shooters these days, and so many tend to blur into each other if you're not careful. This one won't, however - and that's quite an achievement.
X360A 80%
[http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/spec-ops-the-line/review/]
Some choices result in indelibly grim imagery that's entirely your fault, and as Walker wears down throughout his gruelling journey, the impact of those choices start to carry real weight. For that reason, Spec Ops: The Line manages to rise above the status of the usual generic military shooter, wearing its Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness and Full Metal Jacket influences on its sleeve with a yarn that'll stay with you long after the credits – and its ensuing epilogue – have played out.
aber auch
Much has been made of Spec Ops: The Line's moral choices, and it's these decisions along with a compelling story that prove to be the primary draw in what could have otherwise been a rather generic military shooter. As it is, The Line is actually a remarkably well made game, with only a few minor irritants that can occasionally create frustration. A breeze at the easiest difficulty level, The Line is also a rather straightforward cover shooter that happily plods along for the first two thirds, before stepping up the challenge considerably for the game's final act.
It's somewhat jarring when the majority of the game is a comparative cakewalk, and the escalating final chapters slap you straight in the face with waves of aggressive enemies and drawn out checkpoints, especially as what precedes this final section is so comparatively well-paced. We're pretty well-versed in the art of the third-person shooter, but had to dial down the difficulty level during one particularly interminable rough spot that almost succeeded in completely ruining the experience of playing Spec Ops: The Line, while highlighting the game's flaws in the process.