this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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I don’t feel Spec Ops: The Line aged well at all. I had it on my to-play list for years and finally got around to playing it. I was rather disappointed in what I experienced. The gunplay and cover system is middling at best, and the story wasn’t anything like the hype led me to believe. Graphics are also way behind its contemporaries. It may have been groundbreaking when it came out in a very pro-war, pro-military time, but it wasn’t anything special by the time I played it 2023. I finished the game wondering what people felt was so special about it. The lack of decision making removed impact from what my character was doing, namely the infamous white phosphorus part. You can’t advance the game without performing the worst possible action, which is the only thing to do at that point in the level. Lame.
Music was good but overall I felt it was a 6/10 game. I think watching YouTube commentaries on the game is much more enjoyable than actually playing it.
Right there with you. (Uh oh, accidentally spawned a rant lol)
It's definitely a game that put way more thought into clever artsy storytelling and "subversion" above most else. I didn't enjoy the "forced" element either.
I liked that it tried something different. I like that it tried to be a bit meta, but it did so in a "high on their own farts" kind of way.
All the clever storytelling is really good though! The "You always seem to keep going down no matter how high you start from, past points of no return" aspect, lots of spirals (I think?), the voice lines becoming more unhinged. (He goes from "Target that tango!" to "KILL THAT SUNNOVABITCH!"), their gear gets gradually more destroyed. A lot of really deep thought put into those aspects!!
But yeah, the infamous "Whisky/(Willy?) Pete"
For the WP part, the creators themselves say something like "At that point, you could have just turned off the game, but you had to keep playing."
Which I feel felt SO CLEVER in the writing room, but it is rather insulting. Like, man, how pretentious can you get?? Basically to them, it would have been some kinda moral achievement if their game product had a 95% refund rate and their studio got shut down because players refused to follow a forced narrative to hurt digital people in a video game they bought with very real money.
So, yeah, it felt clever, but also like some really dark prank that kinda just cheats the player and calls them a horrible person for having the good faith to expect a good time out of a videogame. If "There's always a choice" and quitting is an ending, why wasn't there a cutscene-credits ending there? THEN you have slightly more ground to berate your player's choices.
HOWEVER, I also think there's a valuable commentary here on how, unlike players, soldiers can't just walk away. They're oath-bound to be blunt instruments of their handlers, and, like the player, they might be compelled to keep making horrible decisions that help nobody, hoping some heroic good might come out of it.
So uh, the moral is "Don't pay recruiters any mind if you value your personal autonomy, kids."?
BioShock I felt did a much better job with making the player consider the "follow the objectives to progress" assumption, and Metal Gear Solid was a fantastic anti-war game without beating you over the head for it.
I'm as sick of US-Mil funded propaganda games as the next person, but I feel like a game designed to emotionally manipulate players and berate them for giving it a chance is ultimately...cheap.
Good rant, thanks for sharing. I felt it was massively over hyped to me also considering the games you mentioned came out well before and had better storytelling, gameplay, and graphics. It was solidly mediocre to me. I did play it through to completion though, maybe a bit of rage-completion there.
Thanks! I appreciate it. :)
And yeah same here. There very much was a point I just rolled my eyes and went "FINE. You got something to say, just say it already." I think we're just sensitive to being cheaply manipulated by media lol!
Actually one more game on my mind that did this well: Metro 2033. Incredible atmosphere, and the "moral" is very nuanced. I highly recommend it.
I love the Metro series; I played 2033 near its release, beaten Exodus three times (once at release and 2x after release of the Enhanced edition) and just recently beat Last Light Redux. I should probably play 2033 Redux now.
Closely related, I’m very excited for STALKER 2; Shadow of Chernobyl was my first love back in 2008 and I’ve played all three of those a bunch of times.
Instead of firing into the crowd, you can fire in the air.
Sounds like the game worked :p
You can’t avoid using WP mortars on the civilians.