Critical Miss: Top Five Games of 2012 #5

[antipunt]

I think The Walking Dead series did something that also made me feel like an 'arsehole' at times. But I'm older and less naive than I used to be. Given a specific context, anyone could be forced 'into being kind of a dick'. It's human nature, and we all do the best we can (er...OK, not ALL of us, but you get the idea). It'd be more surprising to me if someone just White Knighted it completely, because in terms of the real world, that's simply foolish.

 

[Mike Fang]

"What makes The Line brilliant isn't the way it - quite boldly, for a game - suggests that the American military might not be the force for universal good it's often made out to be, and that our collective obsession with violence, both real and imagined, might not be healthy. It's the fact it does this in a way only a game could."

Really? So, the American Military is often made out as a universal force for good...and saying both that and that society's obsession with violence is unhealthy are bold statements?

*Looks at the movies "Full Metal Jacket,""Three Kings,""The Invisible War,""Jarhead,""Body of Lies," and the following news stories, op-ed pieces and sites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/international/asia/22abuse.html?ex=1274414400&en=35951e72c65a2185&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/27/us/women-sue-military/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/19/us/bales-court-martial/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/military-sexual-assaults-personality-disorder/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16510852-military-suicide-rate-hit-record-high-in-2012?lite

http://prospect.org/article/media-violence-versus-real-violence

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Hate-Americas-Obsession-ebook/dp/B00APDE2BA

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/11/biden-talks-video-game-violence-with-industry-representatives-to/

http://voices.yahoo.com/is-american-society-obsessed-violence-529611.html

http://ncronline.org/blogs/making-difference/americas-deadly-obsession-violence-and-guns

Riiiiiiight. Look, I'll concede that video games are a new medium to explore the concepts about the atrocities of war and the issues of morality when taking violent action against others. In that way, Spec Ops: The Line is an experiment in an interesting new perspective to approach such subjects. BUT...the statements being made in this game aren't revolutionary, going-against-the-flow sorts of things that should get the developers of Spec Ops: The Line proud badges to wear that read "Bad Ass Maverick". The truth is, they're just jumping on the bandwagon that Hollywood and much of the mainstream entertainment media AND mainstream news media have been on for the longest time and bringing up issues about violence that have already been talked about PLENTY of times before. But from the degree to which reviewers and gamers alike are orgasming over this game, you'd think it was the first to ever broach the subjects in ANY medium, like all unflattering talk and facts about the American military up to this point has been nothing but underground whispering and nobody's ever taken a good, hard look at how much violence has become a norm in our society from an entertainment perspective.

News flash people: Spec Ops: The Line is NOT forging ahead into completely unexplored territory here. More like it's going over very well-trodden ground with a different set of glasses on.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

Remember No russian? remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0

Do you feel like a hero yet?

You could fire over their heads. You could not fire at all. You could take one of the many prompts the game throws up and skip it entirely.

You can fire over their heads. The civvies still die in front of you. You can fire not at all. The civvies still die in front of you.

You can skip it entirely, and guess how that would translate into spec ops. I guess, I dunno. You could maybe stop playing the game. <,<

Waah! Waaah! I had no choice! The game never allowed me to avoid being sucker punched into a guilt trip. Guess what. Spec ops is not a choose your own adventure game. <,<

Context! It's all about context! No Russian had you as a deep cover operative embedded into a terrorist cell lead by the most ruthless bastard in the western world. Sure civvies still die, but not by your hands. According to information at the time, you could not stop the massacre without blowing your cover, and you did not have standing orders to kill Makarov, merely lie in wait. Not aiding in the massacre is all you can do.

And it all means dick at the end anyway, as Makarov caps you in the face before getting away.

Also, for the record, if the purpose of WP was to guilt or shock me, then it failed by several orders of magnitude. It's little different from the Token Shocking Moments from the Modern Warfare games. Especially since I've done way worse things to people in other games. Expecting me to feel bad about killing people I've never met or, indeed never seen, is just stupid.

They are by far the exact same scenes. The agent had a choice there. A choice that entailed breaching his own cover, but he didn`t. Walker had a choice too. He could have gone home, but he didn`t. Instead he used whatever means necessary to advance and move forward. Just like the player of both games uses whatever means to advance the game. So he can feel like a hero.

Modern warfare used the scene to paint the situation as a fairly dark vs white, pro jingoistic scenario, and used it to paint the protagonist / player as a hero.

The Line used the scene as a turning point to try and express what such a scene would have actually done to the man being played, and the player playing it.

No Russian doesn't get the chance to show what happens to the the players psyche, because they just get killed anyway. The fact that it doesn't shame you for it make it all the stronger for it.

 

[Madkipz]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

Remember No russian? remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0

Do you feel like a hero yet?

You could fire over their heads. You could not fire at all. You could take one of the many prompts the game throws up and skip it entirely.

You can fire over their heads. The civvies still die in front of you. You can fire not at all. The civvies still die in front of you.

You can skip it entirely, and guess how that would translate into spec ops. I guess, I dunno. You could maybe stop playing the game. <,<

Waah! Waaah! I had no choice! The game never allowed me to avoid being sucker punched into a guilt trip. Guess what. Spec ops is not a choose your own adventure game. <,<

Context! It's all about context! No Russian had you as a deep cover operative embedded into a terrorist cell lead by the most ruthless bastard in the western world. Sure civvies still die, but not by your hands. According to information at the time, you could not stop the massacre without blowing your cover, and you did not have standing orders to kill Makarov, merely lie in wait. Not aiding in the massacre is all you can do.

And it all means dick at the end anyway, as Makarov caps you in the face before getting away.

Also, for the record, if the purpose of WP was to guilt or shock me, then it failed by several orders of magnitude. It's little different from the Token Shocking Moments from the Modern Warfare games. Especially since I've done way worse things to people in other games. Expecting me to feel bad about killing people I've never met or, indeed never seen, is just stupid.

They are by far the exact same scenes. The agent had a choice there. A choice that entailed breaching his own cover, but he didn`t. Walker had a choice too. He could have gone home, but he didn`t. Instead he used whatever means necessary to advance and move forward. Just like the player of both games uses whatever means to advance the game. So he can feel like a hero.

Modern warfare used the scene to paint the situation as a fairly dark vs white, pro jingoistic scenario, and used it to paint the protagonist / player as a hero.

The Line used the scene as a turning point to try and express what such a scene would have actually done to the man being played, and the player playing it.

No Russian doesn't get the chance to show what happens to the the players psyche, because they just get killed anyway. The fact that it doesn't shame you for it make it all the stronger for it.

uH, the fact that it doesn`t shame you for it, detracts from the gravity of the scene in question. No russian is basically just a scene made to cause controversy without any of Spec Ops`s depth.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

Remember No russian? remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0

Do you feel like a hero yet?

You could fire over their heads. You could not fire at all. You could take one of the many prompts the game throws up and skip it entirely.

You can fire over their heads. The civvies still die in front of you. You can fire not at all. The civvies still die in front of you.

You can skip it entirely, and guess how that would translate into spec ops. I guess, I dunno. You could maybe stop playing the game. <,<

Waah! Waaah! I had no choice! The game never allowed me to avoid being sucker punched into a guilt trip. Guess what. Spec ops is not a choose your own adventure game. <,<

Context! It's all about context! No Russian had you as a deep cover operative embedded into a terrorist cell lead by the most ruthless bastard in the western world. Sure civvies still die, but not by your hands. According to information at the time, you could not stop the massacre without blowing your cover, and you did not have standing orders to kill Makarov, merely lie in wait. Not aiding in the massacre is all you can do.

And it all means dick at the end anyway, as Makarov caps you in the face before getting away.

Also, for the record, if the purpose of WP was to guilt or shock me, then it failed by several orders of magnitude. It's little different from the Token Shocking Moments from the Modern Warfare games. Especially since I've done way worse things to people in other games. Expecting me to feel bad about killing people I've never met or, indeed never seen, is just stupid.

They are by far the exact same scenes. The agent had a choice there. A choice that entailed breaching his own cover, but he didn`t. Walker had a choice too. He could have gone home, but he didn`t. Instead he used whatever means necessary to advance and move forward. Just like the player of both games uses whatever means to advance the game. So he can feel like a hero.

Modern warfare used the scene to paint the situation as a fairly dark vs white, pro jingoistic scenario, and used it to paint the protagonist / player as a hero.

The Line used the scene as a turning point to try and express what such a scene would have actually done to the man being played, and the player playing it.

No Russian doesn't get the chance to show what happens to the the players psyche, because they just get killed anyway. The fact that it doesn't shame you for it make it all the stronger for it.

uH, the fact that it doesn`t shame you for it, detracts from the gravity of the scene in question. No russian is basically just a scene made to cause controversy without any of Spec Ops`s depth.

There's being deep and then there's amateur ham-handedness. Spec-ops falls in the latter category.

 

[Madkipz]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

Remember No russian? remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0

Do you feel like a hero yet?

You could fire over their heads. You could not fire at all. You could take one of the many prompts the game throws up and skip it entirely.

You can fire over their heads. The civvies still die in front of you. You can fire not at all. The civvies still die in front of you.

You can skip it entirely, and guess how that would translate into spec ops. I guess, I dunno. You could maybe stop playing the game. <,<

Waah! Waaah! I had no choice! The game never allowed me to avoid being sucker punched into a guilt trip. Guess what. Spec ops is not a choose your own adventure game. <,<

Context! It's all about context! No Russian had you as a deep cover operative embedded into a terrorist cell lead by the most ruthless bastard in the western world. Sure civvies still die, but not by your hands. According to information at the time, you could not stop the massacre without blowing your cover, and you did not have standing orders to kill Makarov, merely lie in wait. Not aiding in the massacre is all you can do.

And it all means dick at the end anyway, as Makarov caps you in the face before getting away.

Also, for the record, if the purpose of WP was to guilt or shock me, then it failed by several orders of magnitude. It's little different from the Token Shocking Moments from the Modern Warfare games. Especially since I've done way worse things to people in other games. Expecting me to feel bad about killing people I've never met or, indeed never seen, is just stupid.

They are by far the exact same scenes. The agent had a choice there. A choice that entailed breaching his own cover, but he didn`t. Walker had a choice too. He could have gone home, but he didn`t. Instead he used whatever means necessary to advance and move forward. Just like the player of both games uses whatever means to advance the game. So he can feel like a hero.

Modern warfare used the scene to paint the situation as a fairly dark vs white, pro jingoistic scenario, and used it to paint the protagonist / player as a hero.

The Line used the scene as a turning point to try and express what such a scene would have actually done to the man being played, and the player playing it.

No Russian doesn't get the chance to show what happens to the the players psyche, because they just get killed anyway. The fact that it doesn't shame you for it make it all the stronger for it.

uH, the fact that it doesn`t shame you for it, detracts from the gravity of the scene in question. No russian is basically just a scene made to cause controversy without any of Spec Ops`s depth.

There's being deep and then there's amateur ham-handedness. Spec-ops falls in the latter category.

That is subjective as all hell. Clearly a lot of people do not agree, and clearly some do agree. When put into perspective of gaming media in general, and compared with all other FPS`s in general. The Line is a shining star above a dirty, brown village with burly bromen that salute flags and can do no wrong.

 

[Weaver]

The game has some problems, but mainly in it's press coverage.

I, personally, absolutely just skip anything that seems like a generic shooter.
However, I heard this WASN'T just a generic shooter; it had a smart story and it was mature and it was special! This is inherently the problem.

I could see the game's story being shocking and having great twists if you were just mindlessly plowing along, shooting enemies; but I wasn't doing that. In fact, I never play games like that. Even in CoD I would try to analyze the narrative and second guess what the game was telling me. This became impossible, as there really wasn't one; and what there was was a huge messy shit I just couldn't stomach, so I stopped playing them. In spec-ops, I did the same; I was carefully trying to pick apart the story. However, due to press coverage, I was constantly waiting for all these big twists.

What I got was nothing short of massively disappointing.
I'm glad I only paid $5.09 for this game, because it was essentially a waste of my time.

IMO, the press coverage for this game absolutely ruined the only good part of it. Even just alluding to it's smart story ruins it for players, because you're looking out for it - or in my case, expecting something that was at least above average. Seriously, this game's story really isn't that good. Just because it's alright, people are propelling it into this legendary status; but it's not.

And really, what does the game teach you? Mindlessly killing everyone is bad. We all knew that. And as a person who is generally outspoken on war; especially on America's current and past conflicts (keeping in mind, I'm not American), I just feel almost insulted that the game felt it needed to "teach" me these things.

Maybe above average for shooters, but in terms of more narrative driven titles, it absolutely falls flat.

 

[Madkipz]

The game has some problems, but mainly in it's press coverage.

I, personally, absolutely just skip anything that seems like a generic shooter.
However, I heard this WASN'T just a generic shooter; it had a smart story and it was mature and it was special! This is inherently the problem.

I could see the game's story being shocking and having great twists if you were just mindlessly plowing along, shooting enemies; but I wasn't doing that. I was carefully trying to pick apart the story, and I was constantly waiting for all these big twists.

What I got was nothing short of massively disappointing.
I'm glad I only paid $5.09 for this game, because it was essentially a waste of my time.

IMO, the press coverage for this game absolutely ruined the only good part of it. Even just alluding to it's smart story ruins it for players, because you're looking out for it - or in my case, expecting something that was at least above average. Seriously, this game's story really isn't that good. Just because it's alright, people are propelling it into this legendary status; but it's not.

And really, what does the game teach you? Mindlessly killing everyone is bad. We all knew that. And as a person who is generally outspoken on war; especially on America's current and past conflicts (keeping in mind, I'm not American), I just feel almost insulted that the game felt it needed to "teach" me these things.

Maybe above average for shooters, but in terms of more narrative driven titles, it absolutely falls flat.

The press coverage for this game had to happen for you to even notice Spec Ops in the first place -.-

I agree, the story isn`t clever, in fact the setting is poorly researched and unrealistic, but the game is at least trying to give you a different experience (and make a statement about the current trends within the fps market itself )while adhering to the core gameplay of a third person Jingoistic shooter.

I loved the polish and care presented in lot of the basic features of The line`s game mechanics as they evolve to reflect the story ( stuff like evermore grueling and rough edged executions, ingame "chatter", to the ever downwards spiralling squadmembers, and morphing apperances). The Line has tried to polish every aspect of this unlike say a mass effect where backstory, ingame actions, and everything in between is just "fluff" (to pad out a checklist of things that lack any sort of gravitas added to it outside a very contrived and shoehorned decision).

So yes, please direct me to a more complete experience / game. I would love to see a list.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I just bought this game. You guys better not have lied to me.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

You always have a choice, you can stop playing.

[small]Okay, obviously you're going to finish the game you paid for, but that what's the theme's going for, and I think it does it well.[/small]

 

[Darth_Payn]

The way I interpret this comic is it's a joke on all the game critics lining up to kiss SO:TL's ass. Why would we go with Erin's opinion? She's nuts! Even before her accident, she was a hateful misanthrope (Yahtzee with boobs) and bit of a mad person.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

Yes, there's a choice not to play, but if you've just spunked your cash on something you want your damn moneys worth.

I think you're missing the point with this line of thinking. The never actually wants you to stop playing. I'm quite sure the developers are happy you paid for their game and want you to experience the whole story they worked hard on. It has more to do with why the player would want to play the bland, militaristic shooter the game initially presents itself as.

Honestly, I almost wish the game didn't get all the publicity it did because the story's power comes from its subversiveness. If you already know the game's deal and start playing thinking "Okay, ready for this arty game to teach me a message about violence" it's not nearly as effective.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

It would be more effective if there was an actual choice. Rather than being forced too.

Remember No russian? remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NMnnMRWJ-0

Do you feel like a hero yet?

You could fire over their heads. You could not fire at all. You could take one of the many prompts the game throws up and skip it entirely.

You can fire over their heads. The civvies still die in front of you. You can fire not at all. The civvies still die in front of you.

You can skip it entirely, and guess how that would translate into spec ops. I guess, I dunno. You could maybe stop playing the game. <,<

Waah! Waaah! I had no choice! The game never allowed me to avoid being sucker punched into a guilt trip. Guess what. Spec ops is not a choose your own adventure game. <,<

Context! It's all about context! No Russian had you as a deep cover operative embedded into a terrorist cell lead by the most ruthless bastard in the western world. Sure civvies still die, but not by your hands. According to information at the time, you could not stop the massacre without blowing your cover, and you did not have standing orders to kill Makarov, merely lie in wait. Not aiding in the massacre is all you can do.

And it all means dick at the end anyway, as Makarov caps you in the face before getting away.

Also, for the record, if the purpose of WP was to guilt or shock me, then it failed by several orders of magnitude. It's little different from the Token Shocking Moments from the Modern Warfare games. Especially since I've done way worse things to people in other games. Expecting me to feel bad about killing people I've never met or, indeed never seen, is just stupid.

They are by far the exact same scenes. The agent had a choice there. A choice that entailed breaching his own cover, but he didn`t. Walker had a choice too. He could have gone home, but he didn`t. Instead he used whatever means necessary to advance and move forward. Just like the player of both games uses whatever means to advance the game. So he can feel like a hero.

Modern warfare used the scene to paint the situation as a fairly dark vs white, pro jingoistic scenario, and used it to paint the protagonist / player as a hero.

The Line used the scene as a turning point to try and express what such a scene would have actually done to the man being played, and the player playing it.

No Russian doesn't get the chance to show what happens to the the players psyche, because they just get killed anyway. The fact that it doesn't shame you for it make it all the stronger for it.

uH, the fact that it doesn`t shame you for it, detracts from the gravity of the scene in question. No russian is basically just a scene made to cause controversy without any of Spec Ops`s depth.

There's being deep and then there's amateur ham-handedness. Spec-ops falls in the latter category.

That is subjective as all hell. Clearly a lot of people do not agree, and clearly some do agree. When put into perspective of gaming media in general, and compared with all other FPS`s in general. The Line is a shining star above a dirty, brown village with burly bromen that salute flags and can do no wrong.

Which is, ironically, and oversimplification of the genre.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Yes, there's a choice not to play, but if you've just spunked your cash on something you want your damn moneys worth.

I think you're missing the point with this line of thinking. The never actually wants you to stop playing. I'm quite sure the developers are happy you paid for their game and want you to experience the whole story they worked hard on. It has more to do with why the player would want to play the bland, militaristic shooter the game initially presents itself as.

Honestly, I almost wish the game didn't get all the publicity it did because the story's power comes from its subversiveness. If you already know the game's deal and start playing thinking "Okay, ready for this arty game to teach me a message about violence" it's not nearly as effective.

Maybe that was my problem. Massive expectations for this game, with an equally massive letdown followed by critical disgust.

 

[DataSnake]

I'm glad I only paid $5.09 for this game, because it was essentially a waste of my time.

Borderline off topic, but where did you find that kind of deal?

 

[Weaver]

I'm glad I only paid $5.09 for this game, because it was essentially a waste of my time.

Borderline off topic, but where did you find that kind of deal?

On greenmangaming.com they were having a sale on Spec Ops, and they also had a 30% off voucher!

 

[jaker693]

snip.

That's what you'd call worship? It's a bit like saying that the United States worships non-felons over the age of 18, but okay.

There's a big difference between elevating a group that does something extra and punishing a group that committed a crime.