So, I just played Spec Ops: The Line...

[Elendra]

A few things, one, this will contain spoilers

The game is fucking fantastic in many ways, definitely enjoyable and fun, and even challenging at times, and I'd highly recommend you either buy, or failing that, torrent it, because frankly, it's worth a play. Or, you know, rent it, that's likely a possibility I think... it's not ONLY for PC, is it?

Anyway, spoilers ahead, if you don't want to see them, then stop reading now

I mean it.

Stop.

I'm warning you, there are huge spoilers ahead

Big ones.

Fine, whatever, if you've made it this far you're likely going to just read anyway, so enjoy

From a strictly narrative point of view, the story was good, I rather enjoyed it, it had plenty of elements that made the fake-out conclusion believable, but when things are fully fleshed out, they completely play into it as well, and add up for a good involving story. Yeah, it was obvious that you were out of your mind, hallucinations weren't exactly uncommon, but they hid the extent of them pretty well, with some obvious hallucinations, and some not-so-obvious ones, with the story enjoyable, followable, believable, and going along some pretty dark but interesting paths in both the undiluted version, and the hallucinogenic one. Like the hanging corpses, wasn't until the end revealed that they weren't alive at that point. Which of course, makes me glad, that I didn't fire a round into either of them. Would've literally been wasted ammo, and then there's the White Phosphorus Scene... which I'll get into in a bit.

The gameplay, was really, really good. Stealthing, guns blazing, tactical grenade usage, etc, all available. Fantastic.

But then, there's the White Phosphorus Scene.

Okay, so if you've come this far, you either don't care or have played. For those who don't care, there's a scene in the game early on, where you're essentially put right up against insurmountable odds, almost an entire army battalion between you and your goal, and you have incredibly limited ammo. You're presented with two choices, either fight it out as normal, or there's a mortar you find nearby with White Phosphorus rounds. Nasty fiery poisonous stuff. So, of course, the challenge seeking gamer in me wanted to try the hard way first, and I went at it guns fucking blazing. Every time I died, I'd try again and last longer. It was kinda reminding me almost of that last level of Halo Reach, or whatever, where you're just waiting to die and killing as many things as you can along the way. Sorta. Anyway, so I'm now doing this for hours, because I've gone and convinced myself that it's possible to kill the entire army with my assault rifle, sniper rifle, and two guys at my back. I get better aim, better shots, stop wasting bullets... and even then, I run the fuck out of ammo. But it's okay, because I can order my guys around and they NEVER run out of ammo far as I can tell, and if they 'die' I can just revive them. No big, I've got this.

Then I noticed a problem, after quite some time of simply ordering them around, I realized that not only did every time they kill someone, another took that guy's place, but they -literally- took the guy's place. The troops would die, and another would go to what I can only call a predesignated spot, always returning there. There was a layout that they always took. This made it finally don on me, it was literally impossible for me to win without using the White Phosphorus. I was a bit bummed, because I thought I was doing really good, but I was just wasting my time, within a game. That's saying something.

Anyway, I give in, and use the damned mortar, which put me in a screen that made me think of like, Call of Duty where you're in the plane and just one-sidedly killing people who can't even fight back. Where they're just blips on a screen. Fine, whatever, I start shooting the baddies, really feeling like it's lost a bit of the point at that point in time. I work my way through them, killing FAR fewer this way than in the traditional fight, and yet making far more progress ( further cementing that the choice wasn't really a choice ), until I get to about the end, and I noticed something off. There was a grouping of blips that looked and acted different than the soldier blips I was shooting, and thinking back, it was confirmed that the guys I was shooting at HAD just kidnapped a bunch of civilians before I engaged them. So, civilians, whatever, don't shoot them, they're a big mass, and there's only a few soldiers remaining, in obvious positions. I was like, okay, bitch please, I can handle the rest like normal, and I don't want to shoot the civvies.

But I couldn't leave the screen where I was given the option to shoot another mortar shell, and as I didn't have a limit on shells ( as tested thoroughly ), it didn't seem like there was a way for me to not be in the 'shoot people' screen, despite that most of the people left were very obviously civilians who not I the player, nor the dude I was playing would want to kill. But it didn't matter, the game wasn't even going to bother with giving me the illusion of choice ( as it had with the 'use the mortar or fight like normal' bit earlier ). My only option was to shoot the civilians.

And as soon as I did, I was 'done' and able to continue, and then, dat scene with the dead woman and her baby.

So, I know this game is trying to make a statement about actions having consequences, and how sometimes we become impartial and forget that, and that it was our choice and we fucked things up...

But that statement is completely lost on me, when it's not a choice ( despite choosing to play more or stop playing ) within the narrative. Metachoices totally don't count. In narrative choices do, and this wasn't one of them. Yes, I know that the narrative itself is entirely dependent upon you doing this, and that the game wouldn't work if you didn't, but that whole message and moral is lost when it's no longer a choice, and replaced with "Shit happens, lol". Within another medium where we're not engaged as active participants, I think it would have held up a lot better, or if it had been more like some other games with morality systems. They may be imperfect, but the format, to me, seems like it'd work better at expressing this sort of moral, than this. At least, within a game.

This, I would say, was the game's only ( or at least, largest ) failing for me.

But otherwise, good game.

Also, those 'post death load screens' when you reload to a checkpoint after accidentally sticking yourself with your own grenade. The text. I think that was a good touch too.

[1DVSguy]

Hmm how does this compare to say Ghost Recon: Future Soldier? They seem to have gameplay in common however this seems to have more backstory and what have you.

[Elendra]

Hmm how does this compare to say Ghost Recon: Future Soldier? They seem to have gameplay in common however this seems to have more backstory and what have you.

Same basic gameplay style, but I think the controls and feel in Spec Ops is better.

[1DVSguy]

Hmm I should check it out then

[Darkdrago666]

I played the demo, really enjoyed it but it kinda fell out of my radar.

I will get eventually, but Farcry 3 and the new Hitman game are coming out, so I might just get it when I'm bored and no game I love is out.

But thanks, I shall keep an eye out for it

[Foxes]

Actually, in Spec Ops you're not supposed to be in control. You're supposed to kind of be Walker's lingering humanity despairing in the face of his growing depravity. The game is a deconstruction of the FPS genre, and one of the ending's options is to literally just put down the controller and stop playing.

It's almost like you aren't supposed to enjoy it.

[Elendra]

Actually, in Spec Ops you're not supposed to be in control. You're supposed to kind of be Walker's lingering humanity despairing in the face of his growing depravity. The game is a deconstruction of the FPS genre, and one of the ending's options is to literally just put down the controller and stop playing.

It's almost like you aren't supposed to enjoy it.

If that was an intended ending, then I'm glad I didn't actually buy it. That just seems stupid.

"We'll make a game where people may end up not playing because they don't like it! That'll teach them to buy our games."

-_-

Oh well.

[Foxes]

If that was an intended ending, then I'm glad I didn't actually buy it. That just seems stupid.

"We'll make a game where people may end up not playing because they don't like it! That'll teach them to buy our games."

-_-

Oh well.

It's supposed to be intellectual.