Developer:
Yager Development (singleplayer)
Darkside Game Studios (multiplayer)
Blind Squirrel Games Inc. (singleplayer & multiplayer)
Publisher:
2K Games
Price: 59.99
Release Date: Now Out!
- NA June 26, 2012
- EU June 29, 2012
By Phoenix Bondi
Played on: Game Difficulty – Suicide Mission
Ok guys this is my first review in quite awhile, but just as I was, I hope you are all pleasantly surprised.
If you guys haven’t read or seen any reviews for this game yet, this one quote pretty much sums it up, but there is always more.
“It’s been 6 months since Dubai was wiped off the map by a cataclysmic sandstorm. Thousands of lives were lost, including those of American soldiers sent to evacuate the city. Today, the city lies buried under sand, the world’s most opulent ruin. Now, a mysterious radio signal is picked-up from Dubai, and a Delta Recon Team is sent to infiltrate the city. Their mission is simple: Locate survivors and radio for Evac. What they find is a city in the grip of war. To save Dubai, they’ll have to find the man at the heart of its madness – Col. John Konrad.“
Well with that I think it’s about time we stepped into my review of the game. As soon as the game had booted up I was already enjoying the main menu with a guy sitting on a building with an upside America flag with a ROCK’ESK American Anthem, but moving on, a menu isn’t anything important and it’s the game you all want to hear about. The game Opens with an aerial assault and the cut scene is very short and sweet *Thank God! I for some reason was expecting a really long intro like that of Far cry 2″ The Arial combat consists of battle Choppers weaving in and out of the buildings in the back ground, the cut scene ends and you are thrown straight into combat and given control of a mini gun on the right hand side of the chopper.
The details of the scenery in this first section of the game are amazing. No, I’d actually go beyond that, with the mini gun you can cause major damage to the buildings as well as enemy choppers. just seeing them birds crash into the ruined buildings was great fun, what an EPIC battle to introduce me to the game. During the fray your trying to out manure enemy fire until you end up flying into a massive sandstorm, which courses you to get hit by another chopper. Another cut scene ensues after the crash of your bird, introducing the character you will be playing. When you character started talking during the cut scene the first thing I noticed was the voice, it just so happened to be that of Nolan Ramsey North, he is an American voice actor, married to actress Jill Murray and has two children. He has had a large number of roles in TV shows, video games like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and Prince of Persia, and feature animations. He is now currently voicing Superboy and Superman on Young Justice. So you might just recognize him. The Guy you play is Capt. Martin Walker.
Now to be honest I wasn’t expecting much from this game after all its called Spec Ops, the last title in this series never actually saw the light of day, and the previous titles on the ps2 were a bit of a flop. I said to myself I would not compare this in an way to the likes of the call of duty or battlefield franchise (Mainly because it’s 3rd person, Not first!).
After the second cut scene you begin in the deserts of Dubai and it has been 6 months since Dubai was wiped off the map by that cataclysmic sandstorm. The ruins of the city lie underneath the sands, and in the distance of this wreckage is a beautiful sight to behold.
Graphically the game is very ensnaring with the fog of war being controlled by grains of sand in the wind. A bit like the smoke from all the damage in Battle Field 3, I know some people complained about it, but personally I really feel like it adds depth and realism to the game. one feature I really like to look out for is the interaction of the player and his surroundings. For example the other 2 members of delta force that are with you. The banter between these three soldiers is quite funny to listen to and really brings the story to life. Within the first 10 mins the game is teaching you what joy pad commands to use to help you later in the game, the animations are nice and fluid with only a single downfall that I could note; when you change weapon, my opinion is, that it’s too fast, my only real graphical issue is the distant scenery of the cityscape at the edge of the map, even though I have already said now beautiful it was it still feels to me to be a little bit cartoony, but I got over that quickly enough. The second bit of combat that you get to play *first was the chopper fight at the beginning* as I was saying the second bit of combat that you encounter for a nice change, is not a stupid gun range there are refugees surrounding you with Uzi and ak47s ,so I get to shoot people for a change, a very happy phoenix…but wait even better there is a bus full of sand which you get to take out the window to bring the sand down on the Dubai refugees.
Game play is very similar to the Mass Effect and Gears of War franchise, which works really well for me, you play in a team of three, so you can also give orders to your team mates which helps dealing with multiple enemies. Thankfully its only a quick hold left buffer look at target and release unlike some games.
A short way in you end up fighting through a downed airliner and the first major plot twist has commenced!
As soon as chapter 2 starts you are treated to yet more great looking scenery, and I knew from that point I would have to play on.
The game stands out far beyond any of its predecessors. Once you get the hang of the controls you can be diving across, around and through all the scenery seemingly endlessly. The fluidity of the movements and the style of game play go so well hand in hand, as with most games of this age there are collectables hidden throughout the levels, which if found will add even more story driven information, the dynamics of the grenade usage is better than some games I’ve come across, and adds even more enjoyment to an already awesome game.
On my chosen difficulty, while the AI seemed a little bit dumb some times, their aim which was pretty spot on made up for it. I really had to use my environment and scenery to my advantage, needless to say I died quite a few times.
With a few of the major titles from other companies like Dead Island and Homefront being a personal big disappointment to me, and after expecting too much from them I really wasn’t expecting much from this game, knowing that 2K games have done Bio Shock did make me wonder about this game though, but as you’ve probably already guessed I have been pleasantly surprised, on more than one occasion in fact, you really do get to see some nice scenery destruction though out the game.
Not only have 2k games brought out an amazing game they may have just given a fresh breath of air to the Spec Ops franchise, which was majorly needed. As the game continues there are more plot twists and I have been left wanting more, as long as the game can keep this pace up I can safely say they are onto a winner, and I feel privileged to be able to play such a great game before it hit the market. So preps to 2K games for an awesome title.
this is phoenix signing off x
