Brandon's Impotent Rage
26th January 2014, 23:48
You know, I've heard of this game's reputation before.....It's about two years old, after all....but I still wasn't prepared for it.
On the surface, this game seems like some generic Call of Duty rip off, right down to the gritty, overly-saturated package art.
Don't believe it.
Spec Ops: The Line might very well be the first video game I've ever played that directly comments on, and outright eviscerates, the trend of modern combat shooter games.....of how they trivialize American foreign policy, and trivialize the average life of a soldier even more. It even comments on the artificial feelings of heroism that games like CoD create in the player. Quite simply, it does to modern military shooters what Watchmen does to comic book superheros.
The basic story goes something like this:
About six months before the game starts, the largest series of sandstorms in recorded history slams into the city of Dubai in the UAE. Dubai's wealthy elite and media all downplay the severity of the situation, before evacuating in secret and leaving countless UAE citizens and foreign migrant workers behind. A decorated but troubled Colonel John Konrad volunteers his battalion (the Damned 33rd Infantry Batallion) to aid in the evacuation of the rest of the city when the storm strikes. When ordered to abandon the city, he and entire regiment go AWOL. A massive stormwall engulfs the city, cutting off all communication to the outside world. The 33rd decalres martial law, and struggles to keep order. The last broadcast declares that the 33rd was attempting to lead a caravan out of the city. The caravan never comes. The UAE declares Dubai and wasteland, the American military disavows Konrad and the 33rd for treason, and the matter is considered closed.
Then, two weeks before the game starts, a looping signal is picked up outside of the storm wall, saying simply:
"This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure. Death toll: too many."
The U.S. Military decides to send in a three-men delta force team to penetrate the stormwall, carry out reconaissance, confirm the status of Konrad and any survivors, then radio for extraction. You play team leader Cpt. Mart Walker, and are flanked by Lt. Alphonse Adams, and Staff Sergent John Lugo. One his a strong black guy, the other is a wise-cracking sniper.
Seems pretty generic, right? Just another jingoistic, RAH RAH AMERICA type of experience where the soldiers save the day and the world loves that ol' Red White n' Blue?
It isn't.
But for the first hour or two, the game does everything it can to make you think it IS a generic war shooter. You even start the game in media res blowing a dozen helicopters to pieces with a minigun. The first enemies you encounter are hostile Emirates with machine guns speaking Farsi. They're even called 'insurgents' at first. The actual gameplay is very reminiscent of Gears of War (take cover, shoot, run to other cover, shoot).
And they do this on purpose. They WANT you to be in this state of mind of "ho hum bang bang tango down blah blah".....
....And then they yank the rug right out from under you in one of the most brutal ways possible.
At the tail end of the first third of the game's campaign, you make a mistake. A horrible, horrible mistake. I won't spoil it, but those of you who've played the game know what I'm talking about. You won't see it coming, and the realization will hit you like a sledge hammer.
I quite literally had to put my controller down, stair up at my bedroom ceiling, and say quietly to myself "Jesus, what did I just do?".
This event has effect people in numerous ways. Critics like Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw have said that the realization made them physically ill.
After that point, the entire game is turned on its head. It's no longer about finding survivors. It's about what desperate people will do in desperate situations, what things like PTSD can do the human psyche, and how - in the back of your mind - is a small, niggling, and terrifying though: There's something not quite right about Captain Walker.
Hell, the game even starts to break the 4th wall, directly adressing you the player through the load screens:
"It's all your fault."
"How many Americans did you kill today?"
"The U.S. Military does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?"
"Killing for yourself is murder. Killing for your country is heroic. Killing for entertainment is harmless."
"You can not understand, nor do you want to."
In many ways, this game isn't quite a military shooter. It's a psychological horror game disguised as a military shooter. It's also a statement on what's wrong with the whole genre of jingoistic modern combat games.
I'm serious: If you are a gamer who has had any kind of moral, ethical, or political objection to the way that war is portrayed in the likes of Call of Duty or Battlefield, you need to play this game.
On the surface, this game seems like some generic Call of Duty rip off, right down to the gritty, overly-saturated package art.
Don't believe it.
Spec Ops: The Line might very well be the first video game I've ever played that directly comments on, and outright eviscerates, the trend of modern combat shooter games.....of how they trivialize American foreign policy, and trivialize the average life of a soldier even more. It even comments on the artificial feelings of heroism that games like CoD create in the player. Quite simply, it does to modern military shooters what Watchmen does to comic book superheros.
The basic story goes something like this:
About six months before the game starts, the largest series of sandstorms in recorded history slams into the city of Dubai in the UAE. Dubai's wealthy elite and media all downplay the severity of the situation, before evacuating in secret and leaving countless UAE citizens and foreign migrant workers behind. A decorated but troubled Colonel John Konrad volunteers his battalion (the Damned 33rd Infantry Batallion) to aid in the evacuation of the rest of the city when the storm strikes. When ordered to abandon the city, he and entire regiment go AWOL. A massive stormwall engulfs the city, cutting off all communication to the outside world. The 33rd decalres martial law, and struggles to keep order. The last broadcast declares that the 33rd was attempting to lead a caravan out of the city. The caravan never comes. The UAE declares Dubai and wasteland, the American military disavows Konrad and the 33rd for treason, and the matter is considered closed.
Then, two weeks before the game starts, a looping signal is picked up outside of the storm wall, saying simply:
"This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure. Death toll: too many."
The U.S. Military decides to send in a three-men delta force team to penetrate the stormwall, carry out reconaissance, confirm the status of Konrad and any survivors, then radio for extraction. You play team leader Cpt. Mart Walker, and are flanked by Lt. Alphonse Adams, and Staff Sergent John Lugo. One his a strong black guy, the other is a wise-cracking sniper.
Seems pretty generic, right? Just another jingoistic, RAH RAH AMERICA type of experience where the soldiers save the day and the world loves that ol' Red White n' Blue?
It isn't.
But for the first hour or two, the game does everything it can to make you think it IS a generic war shooter. You even start the game in media res blowing a dozen helicopters to pieces with a minigun. The first enemies you encounter are hostile Emirates with machine guns speaking Farsi. They're even called 'insurgents' at first. The actual gameplay is very reminiscent of Gears of War (take cover, shoot, run to other cover, shoot).
And they do this on purpose. They WANT you to be in this state of mind of "ho hum bang bang tango down blah blah".....
....And then they yank the rug right out from under you in one of the most brutal ways possible.
At the tail end of the first third of the game's campaign, you make a mistake. A horrible, horrible mistake. I won't spoil it, but those of you who've played the game know what I'm talking about. You won't see it coming, and the realization will hit you like a sledge hammer.
I quite literally had to put my controller down, stair up at my bedroom ceiling, and say quietly to myself "Jesus, what did I just do?".
This event has effect people in numerous ways. Critics like Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw have said that the realization made them physically ill.
After that point, the entire game is turned on its head. It's no longer about finding survivors. It's about what desperate people will do in desperate situations, what things like PTSD can do the human psyche, and how - in the back of your mind - is a small, niggling, and terrifying though: There's something not quite right about Captain Walker.
Hell, the game even starts to break the 4th wall, directly adressing you the player through the load screens:
"It's all your fault."
"How many Americans did you kill today?"
"The U.S. Military does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why should you care?"
"Killing for yourself is murder. Killing for your country is heroic. Killing for entertainment is harmless."
"You can not understand, nor do you want to."
In many ways, this game isn't quite a military shooter. It's a psychological horror game disguised as a military shooter. It's also a statement on what's wrong with the whole genre of jingoistic modern combat games.
I'm serious: If you are a gamer who has had any kind of moral, ethical, or political objection to the way that war is portrayed in the likes of Call of Duty or Battlefield, you need to play this game.