Spec Ops: The Line

18 cert, 2K Games, Xbox 360 (also PS3, PC)

It’s common for games to have onscreen text between levels. Usually they’re filling in story details or offering gameplay advice. Spec Ops: The Line goes for less obvious text, such as “cognitive dissonance is a feeling caused by holding two conflicting beliefs simultaneously”. The game evokes that reaction: it’s a violent, third-person shooter and a bleak, provocative examination of the horror (the horror) of war.

A loose adaptation of both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, it opens with a dogfight between helicopters across Dubai. Flash back a few weeks and the city’s been evacuated after one of the worst sandstorms in its history. Captain Walker and two soldiers are sent to investigate the aftermath. They’re not expecting much. One soldier describes it as “poking a dead dog with a stick”.

What follows is a hectic, hellish journey, as news arrives that Walker’s idol, Colonel Konrad, and his platoon have taken control of Dubai.

Spec Ops: The Line is a conventional but lively third- person shooter. The duck- and-cover gameplay will be recognisable to most gamers, as will the weapons and characters. The multiplayer is also familiar, but frantic and fun.

The setting helps enormously. Swapping sand for water helps separate The Line from previous Conrad adaptations, and it looks great – gobbling up the once decadent city and eating into every indoor space. The sand also affects the action, as you can shoot windows and air vents to spill it onto your enemies, or use it for cover when the wind picks up.

Countless games have rugged soldiers and crazed villains, but few are painted with the nuance and tragedy of Walker and Konrad. And several military titles have air strikes, but not many force you to walk through the rubble among the scorched, moaning victims of your actions.

Spec Ops: The Line is so effective that it feels churlish to complain. Some might consider the gameplay conventional, and it does seem wasteful that the game, so packed with moral ambiguity, presents precious few occasions where you have to make a tough decision. But overall this is an exciting game with accomplished storytelling.