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Sand. It gets everywhere. In your undies, in your flip-flops, in your tactical military shooters. In 2K Games’ upcoming PS3 third-person action game Spec Ops: The Line, catastrophic sandstorms have assaulted Dubai and left the City of Gold’s famous gravity-defying skyscrapers entombed under mountains of choking, swirling sand.

I sat in on a demonstration of Spec Ops: The Line at the 2010 E3 Expo, and learned more about the game’s improvisational combat and tense atmosphere, as well as the difficult decisions you’ll face as a Delta Force squad leader.

The story finds inspiration in the film Apocalypse Now. As Delta Force Captain Martin Walker, your team ventures into the Dubai wastes to track down a distress signal from Colonel John Konrad, who went AWOL following the sandstorms. The fate of Col. Konrad and his men will be revealed as you play, but if you’ve seen Apocalypse Now, you might have some clues about the dark territory this tale will explore.

Post-apocalyptic imagery aside, sand plays a key role in The Line’s action mechanics. During the third-person shootouts, you can target barricades and barriers to unleash sand avalanches on top of nearby enemies. Enemies can also exploit the sand traps, so it will pay to keep a close eye on the treacherous, ever-shifting terrain. At times, the action will migrate into the tomb-like skyscrapers that lay beneath Dubai’s suffocating sand dunes. These scenarios are tense and atmospheric, veering closer to survival-horror territory as Cpt. Walker and his men try to piece together the bigger picture while fending off surprise attacks from squatters and survivalists who have reclaimed the ruined city.

In firefights, Cpt. Walker can issue commands (flank, advance) to his Delta Force squad mates — though the developers promise that the computer-controlled allies can easily take care of themselves if you’d rather focus on the dirty work. Combat is up close and visceral, with a large arsenal of high-powered military shotguns, rifles, and carbines at your disposal.

Other surprises abound, such as a white phosphorus attack on Cpt. Walker’s team that sets an entire city block ablaze and sends fireballs drifting lazily through the air. Your decision-making prowess will also be put to the test during the game. In one scene I saw, Cpt. Walker had to choose between interrupting the execution of an ally or holding fire in order to conceal his presence and succeed in a larger objective. Choosing between what’s “moral” and what’s “necessary” will be a reoccurring theme in Spec Ops: The Line, meaning that your gameplay decisions will have a direct outcome on the characters, relationships, and outcomes of the game. And yes, there will be multiple endings.

Spec Ops: The Line hits the PS3 in 2011 and will support multiplayer features, though specifics aren’t public yet. If you have questions about the game, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Before sharing my E3 experiences with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it’s best if you watch the game’s debut trailer below. It’ll help answer more of your questions about the game.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an upcoming action-RPG for the PS3 that combines ferocious first-person shooting, sneaking, and thought-provoking conversation with a huge cast of seedy characters. Deus Ex: Human Revolution serves as a prequel to Deus Ex, a critically acclaimed role-playing game that hit the PS2 in 2002. As in the original Deus Ex, DX: Human Revolution boasts a staggeringly wide range of influences: cyberpunk from Blade Runner and The Matrix, intellectual concepts borrowed from philosophers such as Michel Foucault, and conspiracy theories ranging from The Illuminati to Area 51 to the Knights Templar.

Set in 2027, DX: Human Revolution follows the same spiritual path as its predecessor. The world is literally falling apart at the seams, a murky mish-mash of unchecked technological advancement, crumbling social structures, and widespread bureaucratic corruption. You play as Adam Jensen, a security specialist for a cybernetic technology corporation, who is implanted with state-of-the-art bio-augmentations following a violent attack on his employer. Now Jensen is tasked with tracking down the group responsible for the attack. And he uncovers, uh, a lot more than he bargained for.

Deux Ex: Human Revolution plunges players into a dark, despairing world riddled with soulless corporations, corrupt governments, and elaborate global conspiracies.

Seen in early form on the PS3 at E3, DX: Human Revolution’s environments pop with detail. I spotted towering LED signs, sprawling trans-urban skylines, shimmering laser displays, and rain-slicked streets, topped off with a thick haze of grit and smoke. The non-player characters that populate Shanghai are more than a mere window dressing — they go about their daily routines, offer clues or side-quests, and throw their hands in the air if you draw a weapon. Your interactions with them are also varied: you’re able to browbeat, sweet talk, or lecture them using dialog options such as “Advise” and “Insist.” This allows for a wide variety of approaches to each conversation, meaning that your ability to read your subject’s reactions and react accordingly will be as valuable as your trigger finger.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s environments and characters buzz with detail on the PS3.

When it comes to nuts-and-bolts combat, though, DX: Human Revolution is packed with options. If you prefer the non-lethal approach, you’ll be able to sneak past enemies or knock them unconscious. If you prefer bloody-bones butchery, you’ll find plenty of outlets for violence. Jensen’s augmented body is studded with knives, concussion grenades, and other tools of destruction, and you’ll have access to a wide range of high-tech guns. You’ll also find many ways to upgrade your physical augmentations, from enhancing your hacking ability to using an invisibility cloak to adding heat-seeking capability to your rocket launcher. Depending on which upgrades you choose, your game experience could be radically different. Boosting your physical strength, for instance, doesn’t only enable massive melee damage — it enables you to move large objects that might help you avoid a fight altogether.

Kill, avoid, or sweet talk: the decision will be yours.

While waiting for Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s early 2011 release on the PS3, now’s a great time to experience — or re-experience — the original Deus Ex: The Conspiracy on PS2. Give it a whirl, and let me know what you think of the storyline and RPG elements in the comments.