Spec Ops: The Line trailer - Dissected

By Jake Denton for computerandvideogames.com

Spec Ops: The Line was first announced back in December 2009. Following its initial reveal we saw a trailer, maybe two, and then it just vanished.

So it was a surprise when it reappeared earlier this week, especially since it seemed to have been given a new survival horror angle. It's not monsters and demons horror, but more the horror of natural disaster, extreme violence and the pyschological impact it can have on a person. The trailer released highlights this, and we've had a careful look through it.

The trailer begins with the camera whizzing down a highway, in the dark of night, towards the illuminated Dubai skyline. The camera stops at different intervals and we see roadside screens flash with different words and images. On one screen flashes the word 'Honor', and we're shown some images of a few patriotic chaps waving an American flag and an army marching.

The next screen reads 'Duty', and we see come cops standing in the street and a massive group of tanks. The word 'Strength' on the third screen is accompanied by an image of a shark. All qualities of the Spec Ops team, we assume. They'd be pretty rubbish if they didn't have those qualities.

Soon after, we're again accelerating into the night and stop at the next set of roadside screens. 'Me' reads another of the screens. It shows a kid firing a rubber dart at the camera from a toy gun. Little sod!

Further up the highway, the traffic becomes denser and a road sign reads: 'Mandatory Evacuation Immediately'. That doesn't sound good. In fact, it sounds like there has been or will be a major disaster. The camera is as eager to find out as we are, so once again it shoots up the highway and, yep, sure enough there is a hulking great sandstorm heading right towards us.

Emerging from the other side of the thick sand cloud, we're greeted with a wasteland. The city has been torn apart and barely anything is left untouched by the sand. Broken down and tipped over vehicles, rocks, debris and lifeless bodies are scattered all over. As we continue further, we get a look at a screen which shows a lady sitting on the ground with a revolver pushed firmly into the underside of her chin. If you haven't gathered already, this sandstorm looks to have affected these people pretty damn hard.

Further along, we see three corpses hanging from an overpass. The fact that they've been reduced to skeletons would suggest that they've been hanging about for a while, likely gathered up and suspended over the railing by someone else. Could there be a turf war?

Up ahead we see some more people, this time of the living kind. It looks like there are a few soldiers holding hostages. We can see some people kneeling with their hands bound or up in the air, and some with bags over their heads. What these soldiers want with the civilians we're not sure, but let's just assume it's justification for the player to go in and shoot them all dead.

We now move into what looks to be the downtown area of Dubai and it's a mess. Fire engulfs vehicles, barbed wire is strewn about, and there are corpses aplenty. As the camera passes one screen, we can see the main character sliding down a zip-line in third person view. We're not sure if this is gameplay or not, but since there is also that screenshot on the net which shows the character using a zip-line, we think we can safely assume that zip-lines are confirmed to be in the game. Not exactly a bombshell of a game detail, but it's something.

The camera then squeezes through a crack in the gates into the evacuation assembly point. It looks like it wasn't very safe however, as inside there are bodies that all appear to be either horribly burned, or turned into zombies. We don't think this game would have zombies in it though. Would it?