At first glance, Spec Ops: The Line appears to be an incredibly generic game. The trailer shows a soldier standing in front of various war scenes while an ominous narrator talks about "dramatic" things.

Taking Call of Duty to the Heart of Darkness.

Gripping story; Brilliant post-disaster Dubai setting; Solid cover-based shooter gameplay

Can be frustrating; Not quite as slick or polished as mega-budget rivals

Spec Ops: The Line is a difficult game to judge. In many ways it is a remarkable examination of the military shooter genre and yet in other ways it panders to the same conventions it attempts to scrutinise.

Be it first or third person, the gameplay in shooters has become so standardised that players will know the controls more or less straight away, and whatever passes for a plot serves only as an excuse to have enemies pop up to eat bullets. Essentially, you've seen one, you've seen them all, right?

While its shooting mechanics may be basic, Spec Ops: The Line explores the moral corrosiveness of war in a fascinating drama.

"...deep and emotional story, then Spec Ops is the game for you ...

Great Story and Characters; Fantastic setting with outstanding art direction

Short; disappointing multiplayer mode

Dubai, playground of the world's rich elite and stopover destination for anyone wanting a glimpse of this extravagant lifestyle. Once hailed an emerging business hub in finance and real-estate and number one tourist destination for many, now a literal desert wasteland and a buried city.

Deep and engaging story line; Great setting; Tactical combat situations; Dynamic controls

Grenade mechanic; Melee combat can get a bit messy; Loading each intro scene upon restarting a checkpoint

Other than one title on the PS2, we've not seen Spec Ops since the days of the original PlayStation.  In fact, it's been since 2002 since we've played the series and many had presumed we'd seen the end of the Spec Ops franchise.

Spec Ops: The Line displays great ambition, and can be considered an admirable effort to push the shooter into new thematic spaces, but it falls short of achieving its full promise by some concessions to genre tropes. The drama and the action are too often at odds.

Visually splendid; Hefty combat; Great sound.

Recycled enemy models; Long load times; Manufactured drama.

Spec Ops: The Line first appears to be another all too typical 3rd person triple A shooter, with little emphasis on narrative or characters and far too much work on making explosions look pretty. And indeed, that's exactly how this game is advertised.