The player can select from four difficulty levels: Walk on the Beach, Combat Op, Suicide Mission, and the hardest difficulty, FUBAR. A player only gains access to the FUBAR difficulty after completing the game on Suicide Mission. Various new weapons and equipment become available as the game progresses, some dropped by downed enemies. These include several different rifles, handguns, and machine guns. Some offer alternate firing modes, like attaching a suppressor or using a telescopic sight. Players can also acquire and make use of grenade launchers, hand grenades, and turrets. However, the player can only carry two weapons at a time. Supply caches can be found in different parts of the game, allowing the player to refill their ammo and grenades. Whenever the player successfully shoots an enemy in the head, the game enters a slow-motion mode for a short period of time. The player can also defeat enemies at close range via melee combat. Dying enemies can be executed, which grants the player additional ammo. Hiding behind cover can provide protection and prevents the player from being shot, as well as providing opportunities to blindfire or lean out to shoot enemies.
As a third-person shooter with an emphasis on squad-based tactics, players can issue commands to Sergeant Lugo and Lieutenant Adams, who accompany the player for most of the game. Available commands include focusing fire on one particular target and ordering medical attention for an injured squad member. Adams can defeat enemies by using heavy gadgets or throwing grenades, while Lugo provides sniping assistance. Environmental hazards like sandstorms occasionally occur, drastically reducing the player's vision and visibility. Sand becomes a key gameplay mechanic and players can manipulate it at scripted moments in the game, such as triggering a sand avalanche to bury enemies alive. When a grenade explodes on sand, dust clouds that can blind enemies are formed. Sand sometimes opens up new paths to allow players to progress.
The player needs to make moral decisions at certain points during the game, including making choices that can determine the fate of both soldiers and civilians. These decisions affect the relationship between Walker and his squadmates, and will cause them to react differently. The game incorporates several subtle effects to visualize the lead character's increasing mental and physical distress; alongside the degradation of their combat uniforms, Walker suffers visual and auditory hallucinations later in the game, and his executions of enemies become more violent. The orders and shouts to his team become increasingly angry and ragged in contrast to his stern but collected orders at the outset. His kill confirmations of enemies corrupts from professional in the beginning to psychotic. Similarly, loading screens initially display helpful gameplay hints for the player, but as the game progresses, the text becomes increasingly hostile towards Walker's actions, and sometimes breaks the fourth wall by addressing the player directly.
Multiplayer
Set before the events of the campaign, the competitive multiplayer divides players into two different teams: The Exiles and The Damned. Both teams have their respective perks. Six classes are available for players to choose: Gunner, Medic, Scavenger, Breacher, Sniper and Officer. Each have their own upgrades and advantages. Environmental hazards, including sandstorms, may also occur during a multiplayer match. The game modes featured in the multiplayer include:
Chaos: A free-for-all mode, in which players eliminate other players.
Mutiny: A team deathmatch mode, in which a team of players eliminates the opposing team.
Rally Point: A "King of the Hill"-styled match, in which players secure a rally point and accumulate score for their team.
Uplink: Both teams are tasked to capture a central rally point, and disable the opposing team's COM Station to prevent them from receiving points.
Attrition: Players engage in three team elimination rounds with only one life per round and no respawning until the round is over.
Buried: A team of players is tasked to destroy the opposing team's Vital Points, which reveal their High Value Target upon destruction. Players are tasked to eliminate the opposing team's target in order to win the match.
A two player cooperative mode was added to the game after its launch with four missions to choose from. Players are tasked to defeat multiple waves of enemies and complete a series of objectives, similar to a horde mode.
Synopsis
Setting
Six months prior to the game's events, the worst series of sandstorms in recorded history began across Dubai. The city's politicians and wealthy elite downplayed the situation before evacuating secretly, leaving countless Emiratis and foreign migrant workers behind. Colonel John Konrad (Bruce Boxleitner), the decorated but PTSD-troubled commander of the "Damned 33rd" Infantry Battalion of the United States Army, was returning home with his unit from Afghanistan when the storms struck. Konrad volunteered the 33rd to help relief efforts, defying orders by the Army to abandon the city and its refugees and deserting with the entire battalion. The storms intensified and a massive storm wall engulfed Dubai, disrupting surveillance, air travel, and all but the strongest of radio broadcasts. Struggling to maintain order amid 80 mph (128 kmh) winds, riots, and dwindling resources, the 33rd declared martial law and began committing atrocities on the civilian population. Aggrieved by this, some members of the 33rd staged a coup d’etat against Konrad but failed and were exiled. The CIA then sent in a black ops squad to investigate, and as part of their plan organized the locals into insurgents to attack the 33rd, eventually resulting in a ceasefire. The last communication from Dubai stated that the 33rd was attempting to lead a caravan out of the city. The caravan never arrived, and soon afterward, the United Arab Emirates declared Dubai a no-man's-land. All travel to the city was barred, the 33rd was publicly disavowed for treason, and no further news left the city.
