Spiderman: Edge of Time - Boxed - PS3

Spec Ops: The Line is a military third-person shooter. It's 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 surrounding area. 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 total disaster. A team of three men who served under Konrad is tasked with locating survivors and then immediately leaving the city to radio in from beyond the storm wall and send in the cavalry. The team consists of Captain Martin Walker, Lieutenant Adams and Sergeant Lugo, with the player only controlling the first, while the other two are controlled by the AI. The player only controls the first, while the other two are controlled by the AI. To progress through the missions, they must use 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's 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 frantic 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 of the 33rd and are attacked by local insurgents. The various missions then lead the squad through sandy Dubai, a mix of modern buildings and palaces that have now fallen into ruin. The gameplay mechanics include taking cover, aiming from behind obstacles, jumping, sprinting and taking out the insurgents. Since the player only controls the main character, teammates act independently but can also be given various commands. These aren't just general in nature, since Walker can, for example, ask them to attack a specific target, move to a specific area, throw a flashbang, or heal one another. Alongside 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 regenerates 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 a roof covered in a lot of sand, or aim at windows to rain glass down on enemies. Sand can bury people, block visibility in a storm, and a grenade explosion can hurl it into enemies' faces. The missions are largely built in linear corridors and often contain scripted sequences and encounters that develop into firefights. A large part of the game focuses on the interaction between the squad members, who comment on the situation. Many parts contain gruesome sequences with 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 are coming 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 effect on the outcome of the mission, but lead to four different endings in the finale. Later in the game, Walker also works together with other people. There are 15 chapters in total in single-player mode.

Multiplayer mode includes a regular (Chaos) and a team deathmatch (Mutiny) mode, and is based on two factions: The Exiles and The Damned. Before starting a match, 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 Scavenger as the unique class for the Damned and Breacher for the Exiles. Each class has access to different weapons and items and features a persistent stats system that tracks the player's progress across different matches. 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 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 taken out by the other team, but which can also be repaired. Once all three weak points are eliminated, a final weak point is revealed in the enemy base, and the team that can capture it wins the match. Variations in game modes are offered through playlists, such as Combat as a combination mode, or Attrition, where there are no respawns. More