Spiderman 3 - Boxed - PS3

Spec Ops: The Line is a military third-person shooter. It is an entry in the long-running Spec Ops series, but without any connection to the story or gameplay mechanics of the earlier games. The game is set in Dubai, where a series of sandstorms has devastated the environment. After serving in Afghanistan, Colonel John Konrad volunteered to lead the 33rd Battalion in evacuating the city. After six months, nothing more had been heard of his mission, until a radio transmission was intercepted in which he stated that the evacuation had been a complete catastrophe. A team of three men who served under Konrad is tasked with locating survivors and then immediately leaving the city, to call in a radio command from outside the storm wall and send in the cavalry. The team consists of Captain Martin Walker, Lieutenant Adams and Sergeant Lugo, with the player controlling only the former while the other two are controlled by the AI. The player controls only the first, while the other two are controlled by the AI. To progress through the missions, they must employ tactical manoeuvres, shoot and take cover. The story is inspired by the book "Heart of Darkness", also known through its film adaptation "Apocalypse Now", so it is no coincidence that the Colonel's surname is Konrad, a nod to the book's author, Joseph Conrad.

The game opens with a flashback to a hectic aerial battle between two helicopters in the prologue, then begins in the first chapter as the squad enters the city. At first, the entire area is deserted, but they quickly find some bodies from the 33rd and are attacked by local insurgents. The various missions then lead the squad through sandy Dubai, mixed with modern buildings and palaces that have now fallen into ruin. Gameplay mechanics include finding cover, aiming from behind obstacles, jumping, sprinting and taking out insurgents. Since the player only controls the main character, the teammates act independently, but can also be given various commands. These are not only general in nature, as Walker can, for example, ask them to attack a specific target, move to a specific area, throw a flashbang or heal each other. In addition to various weapons such as standard rifles and grenades, there are also melee attacks and brutal executions. At a certain point, mortars can be used together with a camera to fire a laptop-controlled rifle, there are static gun turrets and a mission in which you fire from a helicopter. Weapons can be picked up from killed enemies. Health points regenerate automatically when taking cover. When wounded, blood splatters appear at the edge of the screen and the screen turns to greyscale.

The environment plays an important role through obstacles, sudden sandstorms and the influence of the sun. Many objects can also be used for alternative attacks, e.g. you can shoot at a roof covered in a lot of sand, or aim at windows to rain glass down on enemies. Sand can bury people, obscure visibility in a storm and fly into enemies' faces when a grenade explodes. The missions are largely linear, built along corridors, and often contain scripted sequences and encounters that develop into firefights. A large part of the game focuses on the interaction between squad members, who comment on the situation. Many parts contain gruesome sequences featuring wounded, burned and dismembered people, and the game often focuses on the moral dilemma of wanting to evacuate survivors while constantly being attacked by insurgents who fear the Americans have come to kill them. Much of this conflict plays out in conversations between the three soldiers. At certain points, ethical decisions must be made, and this usually means choosing between two evils. These decisions have no direct impact on the outcome of the mission, but lead to four different endings in the finale. Later in the game, Walker will also work with other characters. There are 15 chapters in total in single-player mode.

The multiplayer mode includes a standard (Chaos) and a team deathmatch (Mutiny) mode, and is based on two factions: The Exiles and The Damned. Before starting a game, equipment can be customised and up to five classes can be unlocked, with each faction having its own unique class. The four general classes are Officer, Sniper, Rifleman and Medic, with the Scavenger as the unique class for the Damned and the Breacher for the Exiles. Each class has access to different weapons and items, with a persistent stats system that tracks the player's progress across different games. Levelling up unlocks new weapons. Each class also has access to perks, and once the maximum level is reached, you can re-enlist and unlock upgraded versions of each class. Frequent use of perks also upgrades them. Other game modes focus on objectives, such as Rally Point, which is similar to a King of the Hill game mode. Uplink is about protecting a communications network and holding points using a territory system. The third mode is Buried, in which teams must protect repairable points on the map. Each team is assigned three weak points that must be destroyed by the other team, but which can also be repaired. Once the three weak points have been eliminated, a final weak point is revealed in the opposing base, and the team that can capture it wins the game. Variations in game modes are offered through playlists, such as Combat as a combination mode or Attrition, where there are no respawns. More