Spec Ops: The Line – The Nature Of Konrad
Spec Ops is an unspectacular third-person cover shooter that comes alive thanks to its twist ending.
You’re Captain Martin Walker, leader of Delta Operative, sent to Dubai to look for survivors after a recent sandstorm. There you encounter American armed forces in the 33rd division who have gone rogue under the command of a corrupted soldier named Konrad.
Walker served under Konrad in Afghanistan and once viewed him as a hero, but as Konrad taunts him from his base high above Dubai, Walker decides it’s a moral imperative to bring the rogue military man to order.
The Line toys with a thin line of morality as Walker’s team plumb the depths of human depravity, stopping at nothing to reach Konrad and bring an end to his reign. Walker is in particular gripped by an obsessive desire to make his stay in Dubai count, and he inadvertently savages civilian lives as he makes a siege on Konrad’s compound and comes face to face with his tormentor.
Only, Konrad is a corpse.
Suddenly, Walker’s depravity is brought fully into the light. He’s been communicating with an imagined Konrad in his head as a coping mechanism for the blood on his hands. Some theories even propose he’s been dead the entire time and the game itself is a version of hell designed to make him atone for his crimes.
Either way, the well-timed revelation transforms The Line and leaves you feeling very queasy about the perils of war indeed.