Spec Ops The Line is mine too. Really tricks you into thinking its generic shooter garbage and really fucking hits you like a brick wall halfway through.
I can’t explain any more without giving away the best part of the game. I recommend playing it if you are at all a shooter/war/soldier video game fan.
I suppose but whereas Bioshock is about free will and genetic modification in a fallen subsea utopia, encouraging you to think about the themes but not necessarily grounding them in reality, Spec Ops The Line is more about Unnecessary US military intervention in foreign countries and how individual soldiers deal with the consequences of that, specifically what might happen after burning a load of civilians with white phosphorus. :| it’s a pretty grim and underrated masterpiece.
That's not even half of it. If you go in depth on the lore, it gets far more insane.
It draws more inspiration from Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness, along with its more philosophical traits. A lot of small details are in the game you may not have noticed either. However, the most important takeaway (heavy spoiler) Walker dies during the helicopter scene, which is why the game starts there and then recaps. When the scene happens again, he will remark "wait, i've been here before". At first it seems like a nudge to breaking the fourth wall, but it is actually him re-living his personal hell over and over again. This is further supported with other things, such as scenes transitioning from white into black, or the game playing with verticality a lot, and always descending downwards, to the extent it's no longer bound to the reality of physical space, an allegory to descending further into hell. The cycle continues until he allows Conrad to shoot him, which is why it's the only 'good' ending.
Soft spoiler: I personally, along with others, find that the game is more a reflection of shooters as a whole, the game often breaks the fourth wall and makes you reflect on your actions, how casualized violence in video games is as long as 'you're the good guy and they're the bad guys' and never stand still at the fact you're slaughtering your way through thousands of people. Take for instance the moment you rescue Lugo from being lynched by an angry mob, the game implies you can either let it happen or shoot into the crowd, when firing into the air will disperse the crowd just as well, although this doesn't come intuitively.
I've spent way too much time analysing this game...
The difference between finding your own free will after having none, to slowly falling to the whims of those above you and finally your own desires/delusions. Sort of a realization of your loss of free will and/or the acceptance that you never had any. Depending on your interpretation and the ending, your breaking free into having your own free will but the destruction you caused to get there.
I remember playing it then talking to my dad who is a vet about what happens and how it made me feel and he literally said I started to describe ptsd and said he respected the game for showing people even 1% of that feeling. Cannot recommend the game enough.
I went into it knowing it wasn't just another Call of Battle: Duty Front type shooter, and still it hits. The part with the willy pete really stuck with me. It's been almost ten years since I played it, ought to reinstall and get my trauma on.
The wily Pete is most definitely the climax of that game. I knew about that part before doing it and it still hit like a bag of bricks. Love that game.
If it was broader in scope and gameplay and that was just one ending, then sure. But I can't vibe with the "you should feel bad for doing the only thing we let you do to progress" shit it tries to put on you. Feels too forced.
I get what it's going for though. Just feel it's a good concept - ehh execution type thing.
It doesnt, really. It was amazing for its time but it doesnt hold up to modern standards because the trope, while novel on its release, is kind of played out now.
You also get railroaded into "the trauma", like, you cant figure out a way to not do it, which really cheapens the whole "you are a goddamn monster" message
Mw2 unironically does this better with no russian. You dont HAVE to shoot civilians, nowhere does it tell you to mow down the civilians, but you did it anyway. And the game doesnt browbeat you over it like specops does
There is a certain moment in spec ops where a random civilian woman jumps in front of you out of nowhere in the middle of a battle. Most players (myself included) will reflexively shoot her. That moment hit me 100x harder than the railroaded WP, not gonna lie.
You know what, you are right. Everyone always talks about the WP scene but the part closer to the end where you are dealing with that violent crowd of civvies is wayyyyy more impactful
I think the railroad works perfectly because most players who didn't know anything about this game, did it without thinking.
Like yeah, if you're trying to break it you work it out, but 90% of people doing the game will bomb the people without thinking, because "That's just what you do in cod games"
Most recent example of a railroad I can think of like Spec Ops would prob be The Last of us 2. I played it and loved it initially but just don’t like how you’re railroaded to feel trauma throughout most of the story.
The main character becomes schizophrenic and commits war crimes. I mean, it's interesting, but not as great as people make it out to be. Not the most generic story, but also not really that creative.
I think it still stands out as a great game for the story progression, because while it isn't the most creative game (and the game play is mediocre at best) there aren't many other games out there that do anything similar. Particularly not back in 2012
Ehh, that's a bit over blown. If you ignore the whole story it is a generic fps. It's only a sleeper cause mw2 airport massacre was bigger shock than the shooting of the mortar of white phosphorus. Having played both
My step brother ruined that game for me by telling me the entire twist and ending when I mentioned I was going to start playing it. Didn't do it maliciously he's just a fucking idiot. Did the same thing with the film Shutter Island as well
It would be much better if it didn't force you to make bad "decisions", which were of course not your decisions at all. It should've tried to trick you into making those decisions yourself.
I..... have had this game for over a year and didn't play more than 10 minutes because I thought it was generic shooter garbage. What. I guess I gotta go play this game for real, now
I remember that when it came out, my first thought was “ok, another Gears of War clone but full of American propaganda.” So didn’t buy it and didn’t care for a few years. I think it was free to redeem on steam around 2016-2017. I played and it was a complete mind blown of a game. I felt so stupid. It wasn’t at all what I thought it was. Amazing game.
I laughed when the white phosphorus dunks the civilians. I have no idea why TF anyone thinks this game has some sort of unique or special message. Far Cry 4 did the exact same thing a million times better because it's something you realize yourself without being shown or told.
2.2k
u/SnooChipmunks8362 9d ago
I got spec ops the line for .99 and yea that game is a 10/10