Spec Ops: The Line

Speaking freely, this is the only game that has ever made me feel truly uncomfortable while playing it. I've played hundreds of games and have laughed, cried, felt guilty or even despressed while playing but with this... I felt like throwing up. I felt like crap. I felt like a monster - I even felt a bit like blowing my brains out (but in a good way).

Bottom line, the jokingly dubbed "PTSD" Simulator lived up to what everyone said it would, surprisingly.

9/10. Only misses the 10 due to weak gameplay mechanics and laggy controls.

My only regret is not playing this sooner.

While most war games out there tend to glorify the violence, this game (it's hard to call it a game when it isn't exactly fun and it's so narrative-focused) shows the player the reality of war in all of its horror. In fact, it may even be safe to say that this could be considered a horror game by definition. After going through the campaign on this game, I found myself more appreciative of what our men and women on the frontlines go through every day, because this game, as I said, shows you the reality of war and not its glorified state like in so many others such as Call of Duty and Battlefield. How? It removes the "hero" aspect. This time you're not killing Nazis, Al-Qaeda, or aliens; you're going into the beautiful Middle-Eastern city of Dubai to help evacuate its refugees from the worst sandstorm in recorded history. I won't spoil who the enemy turns out to be. While that does sound well-intentioned, the way the plot unfolds takes Captain Walker and crew into an extremely brutal fight for survival. Unique to video games, there's also non-linear storytelling in the game as well when the player is forced to make some remarkably unpleasant decisions. One may even argue that some of these said decisions are things that real soldiers must make from time to time, just to be called war criminals for doing what they HAD TO DO. There needs to be more (not games) interactive experiences like this.

I have played video games for ages and played lots of them. I like games a lot but every time someone claims that video games and movies are kindred spirits I laugh. To compare games and movies are, in my humble opinion, to give games way too much credit. The story lines are always juvenile at best, boasting scripts that wouldn't even fit the worst b-movies. Characters are usually shallow if not nonexistent. In order for games to elevate themselves, the developers really really need to dare write mature stories and present plots that engage us on a deeper level.

And along came Spec ops: the line, a seemingly run off the mill shooter with nothing new. The setting was somewhat original though, A recon mission into a Dubai, laid to waste by sandstorms. But I was still expecting the usual macho-soldier patriotism, thinking with your trigger finger-stuff. Boy was I wrong.

Someone at Yager has made some truly bold decisions, slowly, the story turns from the standard crap to a story that haunted me. Some of the visuals seriously shocked me and I both wanted to and did not want to find out what would happen at the end. The story is one of the best i have ever experienced in any video game. Ever.

The voice work is excellent, and does not get worse by the fact that Bruce Boxleitner plays the colonel. I still have a soft spot for him since Babylon 5.

I will not comment on the visuals, except to say that they have used it do present some of the most horrendous scenes i have seen in video gaming. The game play is OK, but seems like an afterthought when compared to the story. The game play mostly serves as a method to get us under captain walker's skin, to connect with him, only to make the second half of the game so much more powerful.

Play this. Its good. Really good.

While most war games out there tend to glorify the violence, this game (it's hard to call it a game when it isn't exactly fun and it's so narrative-focused) shows the player the reality of war in all of its horror. In fact, it may even be safe to say that this could be considered a horror game by definition. After going through the campaign on this game, I found myself more appreciative of what our men and women on the frontlines go through every day, because this game, as I said, shows you the reality of war and not its glorified state like in so many others such as Call of Duty and Battlefield. How? It removes the "hero" aspect. This time you're not killing Nazis, Al-Qaeda, or aliens; you're going into the beautiful Middle- Eastern city of Dubai to help evacuate its refugees from the worst sandstorm in recorded history. I won't spoil who the enemy turns out to be. While that does sound well-intentioned, the way the plot unfolds takes Captain Walker and crew into an extremely brutal fight for survival. Unique to video games, there's also non-linear storytelling in the game as well when the player is forced to make some remarkably unpleasant decisions. One may even argue that some of these said decisions are things that real soldiers must make from time to time, just to be called war criminals for doing what they HAD TO DO. There needs to be more (not games) interactive experiences like this. the game is a masterpiece

Spec Ops: The Line is quite possibly the most mature and definitely my favorite game of all time, never has a game hit me and blew me away as strong as this. I even knew about the 'expectation' side of the game. Imagine if I didn't now about it's true identity! (By the way this review is going to be a bit short, due to its 'surprise'. I feel like the game should be experienced with the right expectation. But since I have already mentioned it, you can guess what the surprise is! Is it trippy? Does it have good gameplay? Is it so bad it's good by intention? Is it Funny? Is it so original that people love it? Is it as polished as the great salt lakes? You decide, Either way it's pretty emotional. The ending can also leave people satisfied, because it's ambiguity is intentional!

By this point of the review, you might be wondering 'What aboot the gameplay?!' It's nothing special. But that's intentional! You know what everything in this game is intentional. That was all I needed to say to avoid your suspicion. Anyway this game is so damn fantastic. When you beat it, if you buy this game PLEASE play it in FUBAR! It is way more metaphorical in it's message. So that's it, tenoutaten.