At first, everything seems standard, the mechanics and story being the usual generic Call of Duty style fair, albeit in third person rather than first. However as you venture further into the dead city, the story takes a far darker turn, fully exploring the horrors of war and the things people do when stranded away from home and civilization.
The best thing about this game is most definitely the storyline, which is well crafted and draws inspiration from the film Apocalypse Now, and the book it was based on, Heart of Darkness. Other high points include the voice acting, with Nolan North giving an amazing performance as Captain Walker. Graphically the game is amazing as well, with Dubai rendered in amazing detail. Finally, the level design is top-notch, not just presenting an interesting environment to fight through, but also managing to mirror the mental state of the characters via falls and hills.
Less positive elements include the gameplay, which is slow and clunky. However, to an extent this is necessary, as faster paced, more enjoyable gameplay would be counter to the message. Finally, the game has horrible tacked-on multiplayer, that runs completely counter to the games message. This was not even made by the same studio, and should be ignored entirely.
All in all, Spec Ops is one of my favorite games, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
