Spec Ops: The Line cover
SeriesSpec Ops

Spec Ops: The Line

Critic score9 critics
First release
Jun 26, 2012
Genres
Adventure, Shooter · Warfare, Action, Stealth

A third-person shooter in which three American soldiers led by Capt. Walker are sent to Dubai in order to recover whoever remains of an infantry unit, the 33rd Battalion, until they decide to take action against the militants situated in the city. As they progress, however, the logistical and ethical complexity of their objective deepens, and their perception of themselves, and their enemy, is put into question.

Attributes

No Attributes added.

Details

Storyline, release dates, time to beat, age ratings, modes, links, keywords

Storyline
The game will follow the story of player character Captain Martin Walker (voiced by Nolan North) as he is sent into a post-apocalyptic Dubai with an elite Delta Force bravo team. Previously, Dubai was a wealthy area with many high profile citizens until catastrophic sandstorms left a majority of the city buried. This caused many to evacuate, leaving only a few behind. One of the people left behind was U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad (a reference to the author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad), a founding member of Delta Force, who refused to evacuate from a training facility in the city and instead remained behind with the men under his command to help protect the citizens that could not evacuate. After several weeks of no contact, the Army fears that Col. Konrad and his men are lost to the destruction of the city until a weak distress signal is picked up. This gives the Army reason to deploy the player and their squad, who must infiltrate the city, neutralize outlaws and survive sandstorms as they attempt to determine what happened to Konrad and his men. Through the narrative in the trailer and sound clips from the game's website it is hinted that Konrad may not have entirely genuine motivations for remaining in Dubai against orders.Read more

The game will follow the story of player character Captain Martin Walker (voiced by Nolan North) as he is sent into a post-apocalyptic Dubai with an elite Delta Force bravo team. Previously, Dubai was a wealthy area with many high profile citizens until catastrophic sandstorms left a majority of the city buried. This caused many to evacuate, leaving only a few behind. One of the people left behind was U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad (a reference to the author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad), a founding member of Delta Force, who refused to evacuate from a training facility in the city and instead remained behind with the men under his command to help protect the citizens that could not evacuate. After several weeks of no contact, the Army fears that Col. Konrad and his men are lost to the destruction of the city until a weak distress signal is picked up. This gives the Army reason to deploy the player and their squad, who must infiltrate the city, neutralize outlaws and survive sandstorms as they attempt to determine what happened to Konrad and his men. Through the narrative in the trailer and sound clips from the game's website it is hinted that Konrad may not have entirely genuine motivations for remaining in Dubai against orders.

Release dates
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Jun 26, 2012
PlayStation 3
Jun 26, 2012
Xbox 360
Jun 26, 2012
All 13 release dates
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Jun 28, 2012
PlayStation 3
Jun 28, 2012
Xbox 360
Jun 28, 2012
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Jun 29, 2012
PlayStation 3
Jun 29, 2012
Xbox 360
Jun 29, 2012
PlayStation 3
Aug 30, 2012
Xbox 360
Aug 30, 2012
Mac
Nov 07, 2013
Linux
May 14, 2015
Time to beatIGDB · recorded
Main Story
6h
Main + Extras
6h
Completionist
10h
Game modes
Multiplayer, Single player
Perspective
Third person
Keywords
modern warfare, helicopter, basketball, bloody, murder
… All 98, shark, military, goat, steam, bird, achievements, multiple endings, special forces, online, hostages, building, artificial intelligence, torture, tank, camera, racism, over the shoulder, level selection, airplane, darkness, explosion, steam achievements, digital distribution, xbox controller support for pc, steam cloud, steam leaderboards, playstation trophies, modern military, voice acting, bink video, polygonal 3d, breaking the fourth wall, licensed soundtrack, collectibles, motion blur, wasd movement, white noise, fake in-game advertising, corpse, retail games with steam activation, playstation plus, checkpoints, moral decisions, downloadable content, melee, kill feed, a.i. companion, betrayal, difficulty level, audio logs, vending machine interaction, post-credits plot twist, rock music, conveyor belt, cover system, destructible environment, banned, central intelligence agency, no hud, been here before, starfish, evolving title screen, unlockable difficulty level, suicide, difficulty achievement, hallucination, game with chapters, games on demand, squad tactics, multiplayer lan, plot twist, team deathmatch, stealth kill, banter during gameplay, squad based shooter, regenerating health, compact disc, finishing move, scripted events, aggressive door-opening, burning, propaganda, severed limbs, united states army, arrival by crash landing, context sensitive, pax east 2012, forced slow walking, environment as weapons, rail shooting segment, hero turned evil, military jargon, male protagonist

At a Glance

Critic Score
77
Main Story (IGDB)
6h
Main + Extras (IGDB)
6h
Completionist (IGDB)
10h

Overview

Steam review summary

Steam users rate this Very Positive, 56,430 reviews in all languages, recorded 16 October 2026

Valve's summary of Steam user reviews. Valve counts only reviews from purchases on Steam, not key activations, and leaves out review periods it has marked as off-topic. It isn't part of the CritScore score.

Review summary: SteamSteam data provided via the Steam Web API (opens in a new tab)Not affiliated with Valve →

Multiplayer

  • Online multiplayerIGDB · 1 Nov
  • Online co-opIGDB · 1 Nov
  • LAN co-opIGDB · 1 Nov

Feature data: IGDB

About storefront and compatibility information

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