''Spec Ops'' is a series of

tactical shooter A tactical shooter is a subgenre of shooter games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games aim to simulate realistic combat through slower-paced and punishing gameplay. This makes tactics, planning, ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s. The first two games were developed by

Zombie Studios Zombie Studios was an American independent video game developer. It was formed in 1994 as Zombie, LLC by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design of ...

, while

Runecraft There is some evidence that, in addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic. This is the case from the earliest epigraphic evidence of the Roman to the Germanic Iron Age, with non-linguistic inscriptions and the ...

assisted development on the next three games, and the sixth game in 2002 developed by Big Grub. The first two games were published by Ripcord Games, with the following three published by

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

, and the sixth game in 2002 published by

Gotham Games Gotham Games, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded in July 2002 and headed by Jamie Leece, the company was shut down in December 2003. History Gotham Games was launched as a publishing label and subsidia ...

. The series was revived 10 years later in 2012 as a third-person cover shooter with

Yager Development Yager Development GmbH is a German video game developer based in Berlin. History Yager was founded in 1999 by Uwe Beneke, Roman Golka, Philipp Schellbach, Timo Ullmann and Mathias Wiese. They are best known for developing ''Yager'' (2003) an ...

taking over development and

2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that sa ...

taking over publishing.

History

It was decided to make ''Spec Ops'' into an ongoing franchise while the first game, '' Spec Ops: Rangers Lead the Way'', was still in development. Executive producer Mike Suarez reasoned that the audience for simulation fans "is very loyal; they buy six to twelve products in every year. It's a real evergreen business if you can launch a successful franchise in the simulations category." Between 1999 and 2002, the games ''Stealth Patrol'', ''Ranger Elite,'' ''Covert Assault,'' and ''Airborne Commando'' came out for the first PlayStation and the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

. These featured combat settings and tactical gameplay resembling contemporary titles like ''SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs'' and ''Rainbow Six''. '' Spec Ops: The Line'' (2012) rebooted the ''Spec Ops'' series as a third person cover shooter with arcade style gameplay. It received highly positive reviews from critics and has since gained a substantial

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic ...

, particularly for its dark story that explores the morality and psychological consequences of war and the shooter genre itself. However, ''The Line'' was a commercial failure, leading to the announcement that there would be no sequel to the game, effectively ending the series.

Games

*'' Spec Ops: Rangers Lead the Way'' (1998) (Windows PC) **'' Spec Ops: Ranger Team Bravo'' (1998) *'' Spec Ops II: Green Berets'' (1999) (Windows) **'' Spec Ops II: Operation Bravo'' (2000) *'' Spec Ops II: Omega Squad'' (1999) (Windows/Dreamcast) *''Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol'' (2000) (PlayStation) *''Spec Ops: Ranger Elite'' (2001) (PlayStation) *''Spec Ops: Covert Assault'' (2001) (PlayStation) *''Spec Ops: Airborne Commando'' (2002) (PlayStation) *'' Spec Ops: The Line'' (2012) (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

References

External links

* {{Zombie games 2K Games franchises Take-Two Interactive franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1998