10 TERRIBLE Trailers That Gave You Awesome Video Games

8. Spec-Ops: The Line

We weren't ready.

Precisely because the immaculate, subversive hand Spec-Ops plays requires you to have no idea what you're in for, all surrounding marketing made this title seem as generic as possible.

Another bunch of hoo-ra American soldiers on foreign soil, doing what's necessary to make it back alive? Insert your own generic military trailer dialogue here, because it was everywhere.

Cut to the game's demo impressing with solid cover shooting though, and enough people tried out the full thing to get some momentum going.

Spec-Ops: The Line was not at all the machismo headshot-fest we thought, and within the first couple of hours, main-man Martin Walker starts reflecting pretty heavily on his role in chasing down missing soldier John Konrad.

Before long this is less Commando and more Apocalypse Now, with then-relatively unknown writer Walt Williams penning the script, taking us on a ride that includes the now-infamous "white phosphorous scene", alongside some insane plot reveals in the back third.

Since 2011, Spec-Ops has remained a cult classic; one of those titles your game-playing friend is forever telling you to pick up, and a genius inversion of everything that was in vogue at the time. It's still highly recommended to this day, available with auto-HDR, frame rate and resolution boosts if you can find an Xbox Series X.