Man Viciously Attacked by sand… Or Just Another Gears Ripoff? Spec Ops: The Line E3 Verdict

You got some sand in your eye, never mind, I got it for you.

Spec Ops: The Line was first seen back in 2009 with a rather impressive trailer. Most people who didn’t closely following the game lost track of it, until now. Their rather impressive recent E3 footage has impressed many gamers while leaving those of us who are more analytical with a question: Is this just another cash in on the Gears Of War Formula?

If you watch the game play footage you should immediately notice a few things. Firstly, the combat system looks to be a one-two punch from Gears. Everything. From the sprints between cover, to the animation for leaping over cover, even down to the way the player pops out to shoot. Now, I’m not saying its going to be a bad game, I personally am looking forward to it, but I am a little scared of how closely it seems to be following the formula set in place by Gears. Even the camera style bears a striking resemblance to everyone’s favorite struggle against the Locust Horde.

While Spec Ops: The Line may have some close similarities to Gears of War it does bring some very new mechanics. The sand is the most important one. The Line is set in a post-disaster Dubai, random sandstorms and being in a buried city means that some clever grenade tosses can throw sand into enemies eyes, and some tricky shots from your M-4 can send 3000 pounds of sand crushing down.

In conclusion, this game is going to be interesting. Maybe stealing its basic mechanics from a defined series will give the developers time to develop more interesting mechanics. I guess we will have to wait and see.