Spec Ops: The Line

Worth buying? What 250 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 250 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 94%Very Positive · 94%2012

The verdict

A short, unforgettable anti-war story wrapped in an average cover shooter with clunky controls. Skip it if you want tight gunplay or resent being guilt-tripped with little real choice.

Great for

Story-driven players who want a dark, psychological war narrative and can tolerate dated shooting

Main risk

Clunky controls and repetitive shooting may not be redeemed by a story some find overhyped

What players love

Powerful, unforgettable story

Mentioned in ~3 in 4 positive reviews

“Best game I have ever played in my life and it has nothing to do with the gameplay.”
Steam review · 14.3 h played ↗

“it's the storytelling, atmosphere, and choices with consequences that make you feel guilty, which made Spec Ops: The Line unique for me”
Steam review · 17.4 h played ↗

“this is the single best shooter story ever told.”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗

Subverts military shooter tropes

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“What appears to be a generic third-person cover shooter is actually a fantastic subversion of the thinly veiled pro-war propaganda games”
Steam review · 8.5 h played ↗

“Instead of celebrating violence, it forces you to confront it.”
Steam review · 7.2 h played ↗

Solid, serviceable gameplay

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“The story is the highlight but gameplay holds up really well.”
Steam review · 31.6 h played ↗

“It doesn't reinvent the third person shooter mechanically, but it does what it needs to do well and serves the story rather than getting in its way.”
Steam review · 40.9 h played ↗

Atmospheric ruined Dubai setting

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“you experience the complete downfall of a rich city just through the level design.”
Steam review · 23.3 h played ↗

“I never have played a game simulated on Dubai , unique experience with unique landscapes”
Steam review · 11.1 h played ↗

Short, well-paced campaign

Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews

“The game is short, but the story is so engaging and well paced that it never really feels short.”
Steam review · 5.9 h played ↗

Great voice acting and soundtrack

Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews

“There's also a really cracking soundtrack here”
Steam review · 6.2 h played ↗

“Voice acting is great and you can feel the emotions each character is going through.”
Steam review · 17.3 h played ↗

What players complain about

Repetitive, mediocre shooting

Mentioned in ~1 in 2 negative reviews

“"hide behind a box and shoot 50 guys, walk to new location while people talk, rinse and repeat"”
Steam review · 1.4 h played ↗

“Go to room - shoot people - get plot - repeat.”
Steam review · 1.4 h played ↗

Story overhyped or pretentious

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews

“Never understood the praise this game got.”
Steam review · 2.9 h played ↗

“How can this game's witting receive so much praise?”
Steam review · 6.8 h played ↗

Clunky, overloaded controls

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“Who in the hell decided to make "sprint" and "cover" both the spacebar? Why are "vault" and "melee" both shift?”
Steam review · 6.4 h played ↗

“75% of the time I died, it's because of the controls.”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗

“Sometimes I would stand up and get myself killed by accident because melee and vault over cover are mapped to the same button”
Steam review · 7.5 h played ↗

Buggy, poor PC port

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“the game has ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pc port.”
Steam review · 6.3 h played ↗

“what stopped me from finishing the game was Chapter 10 softlock, I just couldn't progress!”
Steam review · 3.1 h played ↗

Forced choices undermine the story

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“This story would have worked so much better if it didn't force me to do these atrocities.”
Steam review · 6.7 h played ↗

“but in the gameplay you literally have no choice.”
Steam review · 5.3 h played ↗

Dumb AI and unfair hard difficulty

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“friendly AI is really dumb sometimes, dies in the middle of nowhere, doesn't take cover”
Steam review · 5.8 h played ↗

“My bot teammates are dying all the time.”
Steam review · 1.8 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Unsupported

Minimum

OSWindows XP SP3

ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo @ 2Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 equivalent

Memory2 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600XT (256 MB memory)

Storage6 GB free

Recommended

OSWindows Vista/7

Processor2.4 GHz Quad Core processor

Memory3 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512+ MB memory)

Storage10 GB free

OSWindows XP SP3

ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo @ 2Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 equivalent

Memory2 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600XT (256 MB memory)

Storage6 GB free

More games to check

Other games we’ve read the reviews for

See all →

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Mixed · 68%

+ Fun squad commands with cover shooting

− Dumb squad AI needing babysitting

analyzed 9 min ago

STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II

Very Positive · 88%

+ Stunning graphics and sound

− Rampant cheaters and hackers

analyzed 6 h ago

Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod

Very Positive · 89%

+ Hilarious chaos with grapple, vehicles and planes

− Crashes and fails to launch

analyzed 7 h ago

GunZ 2: The Second Duel

Mixed · 68%

+ Fast, fluid movement and combat

− Not like original GunZ, K-style removed

analyzed 8 h ago

Weekly digest

Fresh games worth a look, in your inbox

The most interesting games we’ve just analyzed, once a week.Once a week we send the most interesting games we’ve just analyzed: the verdict, top pros and cons, and what changed. No spam.

One email a week · unsubscribe in one click