Spec Ops: The Line is a military third-person shooter. It is an entry in the long-running Spec Ops series but with no reference to the story or gameplay mechanics from the earlier games. The game is set in Dubai where a series of sandstorms has ravaged the environment. After serving in Afghanistan, colonel John Konrad volunteered to lead the 33rd battalion to evacuate the city. After six months there had been no news of his mission until a transmission was picked up where he explains the evacuation was a completely disaster. A team of three men who served under Konrad are tasked to locate survivors and then leave the city immediately to radio command from outside the storm wall and send in the cavalry. The squad consists of Captain Martin Walker, Lieutenant Adams and Sergeant Lugo, and the player only controls the first while the other two are controlled by the AI. They need to employ tactical squad-based maneuvers combined with shooting and seeking cover to progress through the missions. The overall story draws inspiration from the book Heart of Darkness, also known through the film adaptation Apocalypse Now, and therefore it is no coincidence that the colonel's last name is Konrad, in reference to the book's author Joseph Conrad.