Spec Ops: The Line is the best (military) shooter ever

4RM3D

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When Spec Ops: The Line was released I barely gave it any attention. I thought to myself: oh gee another generic military shooter, no thanks. But then Zero Punctuation and Extra Credits started talking highly of the game. So it got on my radar. Yesterday in a Steam sale I finally bought the game. And I can say this:

Spec Ops: The Line is the best (military) shooter ever

Yes, it owns all Battlefields and Call of Duties added together (well, minus Modern Warfare 1).

I have never played a military shooter before that made as much as an impact as Spec Ops did. This game really truly shows the ugly side of war. This is the first time a game like this really made me think about what I was doing. And then there is the ending, which I won't spoil. It was amazing.

Besides the story, the game also has solid gameplay. And some of the level design is pretty cool with the sandstorms and all.

It basically comes down to this: if you are a fan of military shooters, then you have to give this game a try.

I do want to point out two things specifically. First, as you might have guessed, I was talking about the single player only. And second, the game is in third person, which might be an issue for some people.

The game is still on sale for 2 more days: http://store.steampowered.com/app/50300/
 

DioWallachia

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Well no shit, given that the competition isnt even trying, that is a given. Noneless, its existance is apreciated even if i am not sure if the developers made their money back, because people were put off by the demo of the game and didnt want to play it.

How does one measure correctly the success of a game and not a movie? we know that movies measure it by the first week ONLY and other countries dont count.
 

King Billi

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I actually bought this game soely for the praise it recieved from Zero Punctuation and Extra Credits as 4RM3D mentioned above, just as a small show of support for the industry doing something even just sightly different with such a well worn concept.


After playing the game though(it is indeed awesome!) I've gotten irritated with the fact that nearly all the praise I've since heard for this game constantly have to keep bringing up how much it "owns" Call of Duty and Battlefield and such?

As though the only noteworthy this that Spec Ops has done is beaten these games at something they weren't even trying to do in the first place... ugh.

In the end check this game out if you haven't but try not to go into it thinking about comparing it to Call of Duty or anything else cause honestly it's not better or worse than any of those games at all, it's done something much more remarkable. Its managed to be something totally unique in a genre that's become hard to distinguish.
 

xDarc

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For 15 bucks, I'm going to give it a try. But people keep gushing about it so now I have to see. I can tell you right now they're going to have to do better than killing some children/civillians in the game because it has been done to death.
 

janjotat

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I bought it recently and I loved it after the halfway point I felt like humans are the worst beings ever. It made me think of all the sociology experiments that prove humans are innately evil. After I was finished I didn't want to do anything besides stare up at the ceiling for a few hours. The only qualm I have with it, is that its a bit short. I know it might have lessened the impact of the message but a 4 hour campaign is way to short for me.
 

Glasgow

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Spec Ops: The Line isn't the best (military) shooter ever. It's a deconstruction of the genre we have grown to love. Speaking of its mechanics and controls, the game itself isn't that good or polished.
 

Nonomori

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Gameplay wise? Probably not (the cover system is very wonky).

But that's a small price to pay for a game who makes you think... about games. Definitely one of my favorites of this year.
 

hazabaza1

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It's certainly an impressive commentary, yes.
The only reason it's so good is because of the swell of generic military based "shoot da guy an win da day" games.
 

Gethsemani_v1legacy

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The reason so many of us think so highly of Spec Ops: The Line is because it deconstructs the military shooter genre and it does so in a very effective manner. In this it is quite similar to Bioshock, a game, with average or slightly sub-par gameplay, which deconstructed storytelling in gaming in such an effective manner that its' twist scene is now infamous.

Spec Ops isn't the best third person shooter experience I've had, but it makes up for it by having a strong narrative that works on an in-universe and a meta level. Arguably, it would not have been nearly as effective in its' narrative ambition if the shooter genre hadn't been so over-saturated with mindlessly violent games that fail to grasp even the basic level of emotion and tragedy that their subject matter actually contains and instead opts for gung-ho violence glorification.
 

DioWallachia

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King Billi said:
I actually bought this game soely for the praise it recieved from Zero Punctuation and Extra Credits as 4RM3D mentioned above, just as a small show of support for the industry doing something even just sightly different with such a well worn concept.


After playing the game though(it is indeed awesome!) I've gotten irritated with the fact that nearly all the praise I've since heard for this game constantly have to keep bringing up how much it "owns" Call of Duty and Battlefield and such?

As though the only noteworthy this that Spec Ops has done is beaten these games at something they weren't even trying to do in the first place... ugh.

In the end check this game out if you haven't but try not to go into it thinking about comparing it to Call of Duty or anything else cause honestly it's not better or worse than any of those games at all, it's done something much more remarkable. Its managed to be something totally unique in a genre that's become hard to distinguish.
I am not so sure if the developers reeeeeeeeeeeeeally intended that though:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/07/spec-ops-the-lines-lead-writer-on-creating-an-un-heroic-war-story/

"The concept we currently have of player agency [in most video games] is that since I'm the player and I'm the hero and this world revolves around me, it has to react however I want it to react," he said. "If I want to be the good guy, it has to back up my choice and let me be the good guy. And that's just not the way the world works. ... We wanted the choices in the game to be realistic in that you walk into them and you don't know all the information. You simply know what's going on in front of you and you have an idea of what you can do... yeah it's going to go a particular way based on what you've done, but ultimately there's more information than you know."

The quote makes me question THAT scene (you know). If realism is what they wanted then why i DONT have the option of NOT using that and trying to being sneaky or even TRY to listen to the soldiers and realize that they are US soldiers PROTECTING the bloody innocent people? You know, real options for a "real" world.

Or does the developer think that armed situations CANT be solved by diplomacy or deceit?
 

Nonomori

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Gethsemani said:
The reason so many of us think so highly of Spec Ops: The Line is because it deconstructs the military shooter genre and it does so in a very effective manner. In this it is quite similar to Bioshock, a game, with average or slightly sub-par gameplay, which deconstructed storytelling in gaming in such an effective manner that its' twist scene is now infamous.
I somewhat agree, but that's an unfair comparison. Gunplay isn't the strongest point of Bioshock, but the game encourage creativity and experimentation. It's far from the generic, scripted gameplay of The Line.

By the way, I finished Bioshock today (yeah, after 5 years). Loved the plot twist.
 

Gethsemani_v1legacy

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DioWallachia said:
The quote makes me question THAT scene (you know). If realism is what they wanted then why i DONT have the option of NOT using that and trying to being sneaky or even TRY to listen to the soldiers and realize that they are US soldiers PROTECTING the bloody innocent people? You know, real options for a "real" world.

Or does the developer think that armed situations CANT be solved by diplomacy or deceit?
Both of which are pretty ludicrous options. The game makes it pretty clear that the camp is too much for three men to take on on their, which is why they resort to the option they do. The second option also assumes that the guards would be standing around saying stuff like "Man, sure feels good protecting them civvies, right?" "Yeah bro, we doin' the right thing." which, to be honest, would be an obvious exposition dialogue no matter how well you wrote it. That's before we even get into stuff like the fact that you just recently saw these soldiers gunning down civilians (which would indicate that they really aren't that high on the whole "keeping them safe thing") and that Walker and his mates are isolated in a city with a full battalion of soldiers that have demonstrated that they aren't keen on the whole "sit down and discuss what's going on with the Delta Force guys who have just shown up in Dubai" but prefer shooting first.

Any sensible soldier would not try to make diplomatic contact with the enemy in a situation like the one Walker is in, that's the realism of the situation. Walker is a soldier and he chooses a course of action that he knows how to run. It ties into the theme of violence begets violence that the game has. It is a shame that you don't appreciate the narrative or its' themes, but it is no fault of the game.

Captcha: get over it. I swear, that app is psychic.
 

ohnoitsabear

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If we're talking strictly modern military shooters, then yes, I would say that it is the best. The only game that is any competition is Call of Duty 4, but I don't think that would hold up nearly as well (for me, at least) after playing Spec Ops: The Line.

However, if we're including World War II shooters, then I would say that Allied Assault and the first Call of Duty just edge it out, primarily because they are both have much better gameplay (especially Allied Assault). Of course, that may just be a bit of personal bias, because I'm really not a fan of wait behind cover while your wounds magically heal type gameplay.
 

ClockworkUniverse

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I disagree. It's a pretty bad military shooter, what with specifically being designed to be unfun and all. It's a very good horror game about military shooters, though.
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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In terms of gameplay, well it's not the worst but it's certainly not the best (although it has been said the mundane gameplay works in the overall game's message)

In terms of the narrative, it definitely is up there as one of the best, and certainly one of my games of the year this year.
 

NearLifeExperience

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The best military shooter ever? By no means, OP.
The best story in a military shooter ever? Abso-fucking-lutely!

The gameplay is nothing more than a generic cover-to-cover squad based shooter, plagued by some severe flaws.
Like the sprint function for instance. It would've been nice to have a pace between a sunday stroll in the park, and a blistering speed that would make sonic jealous. Now this may seem like a small nit to pick, but it actually isn't. I found myself often in harms way because I ran past cover and into the enemy lines. Or the camera was busy admiring the textures of a nearby wall, while I desperately tried to find cover before being reduced to swiss cheese, using the sprint, and of course, ran straight into the enemies' gun barrels again.

And the AI.. Oh blimey the AI! The enemies didn't bother me as much, but those morons Lugo and Adams just seem to have some sort of wall allergy that rears it's ugly head every 3 minutes or so. Sometimes they both would just stand there looking dopey, while rogue soldiers were busy unloading their every clip on them. Or I'd command them to take out a target and they just disregard any common sense and run right into the open, which brings me to my next complaint.

This whole 'tactical' aspect the game claims to have. The only somewhat tactical decision you can make is selecting a single target and telling one of your mates to take it out. Adams blows stuff up and Lugo snipes faraway targets. And that's it! Not even an option to tell them to get the fuck back into cover, or where the best location is to take cover. Oh, right, there are these situations where you can shoot glass covered with sand to bury your foes, which I thought was a nice touch, but waaaay too contextual. There's maybe like 5 situations in which you can do so.

My last complaint is the repetitive gameplay. It's seriously nothing more than a few hours sprinting from cover to cover and emptying your guns until everything that wishes you harm is no more, with the only change of pace being the shooter-on-rails sections. However, I only noticed this on my second playthrough, because on the first I was busy being absorbed by the game's gritty atmosphere and mindblowing storytelling, which only goes to show how great the story is.

Because it IS great, superb even! All of the above mentioned complaints are completely overshadowed by the sheer epicness of the story and the way it unfolds. The game is constantly throwing you for a loop, fucking with your mind to a point where you're not even sure you're with the good guys anymore, probably to teach you the fact that there are no heroes in war. The way this personal hell takes it's toll on Captain Walker and his men is also worthy of being praised into the heavens and beyond. Like how the professional "Lugo, take out that sniper", when issuing a command, turns into the rather psychotic "KILL HIM NOOOW!!!" over the course of the game. Absolutely brilliant.

Bottom line: If you're into military shooters, this is a must-have. Actually, scrap that. Even (or perhaps especially) if you're not into military shooters, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GET THIS. It's a truly magnificent and thrilling emotional rollercoaster that will drag you in and haunt your mind long after it's all over.

At the very end, when the rescue squad arrives to take you home, you can go with them, kill every one of them, or die trying to kill them. I died trying to kill them, tried it again a couple more times, but then decided it's best to just have Walker die and put him out of his misery. Is there anyone around here that managed to kill them all? If so, can you maybe describe the ending for me? Thanks in advance
 

crazyrabbits

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NearLifeExperience said:
At the very end, when the rescue squad arrives to take you home, you can go with them, kill every one of them, or die trying to kill them. I died trying to kill them, tried it again a couple more times, but then decided it's best to just have Walker die and put him out of his misery. Is there anyone around here that managed to kill them all? If so, can you maybe describe the ending for me? Thanks in advance
"Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai."

CAPTCHA: "vicious cycle". Best timing ever.
 

NearLifeExperience

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crazyrabbits said:
CAPTCHA: "vicious cycle". Best timing ever.
No way dude :p no way! So even the captcha generator approves of this game? Epic :D

It was already explained to me in pm, but I appreciate it!

Someone should introduce this game to Bioware, maybe then they'll get the slighest hint of what a good story should be like.