One of the few actual surprise announcements at Spike’s Video Games Award show was the trailer for 2K Games’ new third-person offering, Spec Ops: The Line. In case you missed it, check out the impressive trailer below, courtesy of Gametrailers.com:

2k Games describes the storyline of Spec Ops as follows:

2k Games further states that Spec Ops will challenge gamers’ morality by, “putting them in the middle of unspeakable situations where unimaginable choices affecting human life must be made.” While not yet rated by ESRB, one would have to imagine that this will be rated “M” for Mature.

Spec Ops: The Line unfolds within the destroyed opulence of Dubai. Once the playground for the world’s wealthiest elite, Dubai has fallen victim to a series of cataclysmic sandstorms. The city’s ultramodern architecture lies half-buried under millions of tons of sand. The very sand that blankets the city plays a marquee role in altering combat situations and serves as a powerful but unpredictable force that will both help and hinder players throughout the course of the game.

While most people have fled the now-barren wasteland before the sandstorms swept through, U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad and his loyal squad remained behind to protect those incapable of escape. Unable to reach anyone in Dubai after the storm hit, the U.S. Army feared Konrad and his team dead until they picked up a weak distress signal and launched a rescue operation. As U.S. Army Captain Martin Walker, you and your elite Delta Force team are sent to infiltrate the treacherous region to bring Konrad home. Players will experience “The Line”, that razor’s edge known only to men who deal in war. It is the line they cross when death and duty become one and the same. It is the end — of self and sanity — when their duty is done and only they remain.

Watch the reveal trailer from the Spike VGAs:

Spec Ops: The Line is currently in development at YAGER, an independently-owned game developer based in Berlin, Germany, and will feature both a single-player campaign and a multi-player option. It is tentatively set to release for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC during Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.’s 2011 Fiscal Year, which starts November 1, 2010.

Source: Game Trailers, gamesindustry.biz