When you think about the military shooter genre, two titles will immediately spring to mind - Call of Duty and Battlefield. Both series heavily invest in creating addictive multiplayer modes that players will return to time after time (or, until the next installment arrives, anyway). Unfortunately, it's very rare for either series to really invest in a campaign mode that's worth returning to as well; the developers seem to regard story modes as something to fill out the package a bit. 2K and Yager Development disagreed with this. Spec Ops: The Line is all about the narrative and it pays off greatly. What should have been a rather generic third-person shooter is suddenly transformed into a deeply moving and engaging experience, filled with moral dilemmas and anti-war ideals. The growing instability of Martin Walker drives the plot alone fantastically and the final scenes with Konrad are amazingly well done. Like a good mystery novel, Spec Ops leaves you with one final twist to mull over before booting you into the credits. Unfortunately, like a good mystery novel, the experience is pretty complete after one playthrough. There's little reason to return to the story once you know the groundbreaking shocks and the average gameplay will probably drive you berserk before long. For one playthrough, Spec Ops sets new standards in telling a shocking, emotionally driven story; a second run-through is completely unnecessary.