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

[In Search of Username]

I love the whole concept of the game but to be fair the gameplay is completely generic and boring - I know that's kind of to draw you into thinking of it as just an average shooter, but still a problem for me.

But yeah, great game.

 

[4RM3D]

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

It depends on what you think is the most important of a game. I rarely remember games that have epic gameplay. Maybe because gameplay on its own rarely stands out. Story, characters, atmosphere... that's something different. As someone else mentioned, if you add those together you get something like Bioshock.

Spec Ops gameplay is okay and good enough to show you want it sets out to do. But yes, it is still flawed.

*snip*

As for the other points...

Yes, the AI is crap. But I am used to it. Spec Ops is no exception here. As for my team mates' AI, I don't really care. They weren't excessively 'dying'. Actually they rarely they rarely died at all. So I wasn't really bothered by it.

I didn't really think of the game as a tactical shooter. More like a cover-based shooter, which works fine. I didn't have the issue with running past your cover, but I did have an issue with taking cover. On a few occasions the character didn't respond fast enough or did something else instead, which led to my untimely death.

The gameplay is repetitive, but the story(telling) makes you forget that.

It's a shame the game is very short. But I do have to wonder, if the game would have been longer, whether or not the same impressive narrative could have been delivered to the player. I mean, the bigger and the more open worldly the game, the more difficult it would have been to maintain a good story flow.

 

[Full]

It seems this game is a 50/50 split in both the critic and gamer spectrum; one side says it's good, and succeeds in being unique with dark themes that no game has gone to before, the other side says it's just another boring war game that falls flat in trying to be edgy with lame attempts to shock you.

I'm in the former category, I thought it succeeded in being the first AAA game to really pull off the "good but not fun" thing. I don't think people in the hating camp realize how diverse the moral choices are.

Spoiler

You know that one place where you find those 2 guys hanging, and you have to pick between them? Well you actually have at least 4 options there (I know I'm missing at least one): Shoot down either-or (which results in ones death), shoot the ropes (killing both of them), assault the snipers (killing both of them but also showing Konrad he's an ass), or run away (killing your squad and you). Not very diverse or consequential from each other, but still, all the moral choices are like that.

It's all context with this game, and what you were feeling in the moment.

 

[WanderingFool]

Its not a great game, in terms of gameplay (I felt GRFS did better). But its a deconstruction of every Modern Military shooter out there. Thats where it really hits it off.

 

[Reece Borgars]

the story aspect of the game was amazing - by far the best plot to a military shooter, and the mechanisms to help build on the story really were done well. The gameplay itself, however, was far from mind-blowing. It was good, and i did enjoy it, a lot. But i dont think i enjoyed it anymore than i would have if it were a film - that is to say, its fantastic, but the interactivity aspect, the basis of any game, didnt add much to the overall effect.

You could argue that it shows how twisted this genre really is because of how similar actions in other games are portrayed, or that certain parts hit you that little bit harder because it was you that it hit, rather than an actor. And fair enough, there's some truth in that. I just dont think the gameplay (which obviously has to be judged on a separate plane to the story) was polished enough to really strengthen the player-npc connection that makes games immersive.

I often found myself disliking Walker throughout the game, which is why i think it'd be done better as a film. But overall verdict - fantastic, but not the best ever.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

The gameplay is quite sub par, I'll give it that.
When I reached the pivotal halfway mark (we all know the scene) my jaw fucking hit the floor so fast and hard it created a hole leading to China.

Oh, God, I don't like thinking about that scene... WHY GOD, WHY!?!

Yeah, I bought Spec Ops on release cuz I was super hyped and the story met all expectations and I actually quite enjoyed the game play for the most part, it had a nice flow, it was visceral and it helped convey the feeling that I was totally out numbered...

 

[elvor0]

Oh totally, it's an excellent game. I did it in one split sitting, although I must agree the gameplay itself is rather mediocre, not terrible, but not great either. It does it's job.

Actually after finishing it, (pulled an all nighter to do so, yeah I was playing on ultra hard, bite me) I walked into my front room, where I have a demolished building as my view, where I had sickly orange light pouring through the window, making outside look just like the ruined Dubai, I had flashbacks to the WP scene. Not pleasant I must say.

But it's all the little touches that help as well, Walker gets more agressive in his executions and voice clips as you go through the game, starting out sounding like your generic modern FPS dude, and just cleanly killing people, cut to the end, he's screaming for death like a Chaos Marine, and smashing their heads into bloody pulps with his bare hands.

Plus the loading screen tips changing, the model changing, and like Extra Credits said, you're always going down, likening it to descending your own personal hell.

Not only that, but the few moral choices that were in this game were leaps and bounds ahead of most games, purely by virtue of the fact that it didn't tell you what your choices meant, and there were options beyond what the game told you to do. The whole point of a moral choice, its that you have to decide what the best option is, not just pick from +5 good points/+5 evil points, otherwise it's meaningless.

Plus the soundtrack rocked ass.

The only thing I didn't like was the bit where you do the chopper bit again and walker says "Wait we've done this before!", it just didn't make any sense, sure the game breaks the fourth wall to talk to the player quite often, but it still works in context of the characters talking to each other, that bit just jarringly shattered the fourth wall for no reason.

The problem with Spec Ops was that it was advertised as this yet another generic military shooter with yet another generic military story line. The god awful demo didn't help it either.

Little did most of us know that the full game (besides the multiplayer) was actually a diamond in the rough. An un-expected yet pleasant surprise.

It's just a shame that the developers marketed this game HORRIBLY and that they were forced to add in multiplayer to cater to the casual audience. Which is why this game also sold badly.

It's one of the problems with something like this, it's like Fight Club, that was marketed as well...what the title would invoke in you had you never heard of it before. You can't market it for what it is, otherwise it'd spoil it, but at the same time, if you market it as a modern shooter, people into them aint gonna play it, because well CoD, and people who it would actually interest won't want to play it, because well... CoD. Luckilly it's found steam through the internet, where it's rapidly on course to become an important piece of gaming history and a cult classic. Had it came out in the 90s, it would've been fucked.

I reccomend Spec Ops to people all the time, but I can't tell them why, otherwise it'd spoil the experience.

 

[jollybarracuda]

I definitely need to pick this game up when its on a good sale again, i saw it for like 8 bucks just a bit ago, but i was dumb and took a pass. It's a shame the game didn't get the proper advertising leading up to its release, because until it came out and people realized just how excellent the story telling is, it honestly was being portrayed as a generic military shooter with neat sand physics. What it could have benefited from was a trailer similar to what Dead Island did, except, you know, actually being a sad game related to the trailer.

Anyways, hopefully the game slowly builds in popularity enough to warrant a sequel, or similar type of game from the company, as I always felt that military shooters, when done right like Spec ops, could actually have some incredible stories that are grounded in reality and show a much more dark side to wars and what they bring.

 

[Grimbold]

The praise it got made me buy it when it was full-price (which is not what I usually do). And I was really pleased with it, though not enthusiastic about it. I recently reflected about the whole experience and I have to say that in hindsight it seems even better to me than when I played it. Good game. Multiplayer sucks.

 

[Duffeknol]

It's not a game. It's an examination of military shooter games, and the player's role in a narrative.

 

[BreakfastMan]

OP, get off dat crack pipe. I could possibly understand if you had STORYWISE as the first word in your topic. (even though I haven't played it, I heard the story was it's strength)

But lets not forget about a little something called GAMEPLAY. LOL


The best military shooter ever is Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the Resistance expansion for it.

We are talking about shooters here, not simulators. Try to keep up.

OT: I wouldn't really say it is the best military shooter ever. As a shooter, it is fairly average on the gameplay front. Yes, this plays into the story of the game, but it still has pretty average gameplay. The story and whatnot is where the game really shines, and even then it is only a military shooter in the same way that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a stoner movie, Watchmen is a super-hero comic, or The Venture Brothers is an adventure show.

 

[N3squ1ck]

I remember I picked up the game for 20 bucks in the store and started playing "just a short time" and then played it through until 5 am in the morning, and then couldn't sleep. I have to play it again, in the end I was rather tired and can't recall most of the details

EDIT: since I hadn't such a thrill playing any other modern military shooter before, I guess that makes it the best of that kind in my book?

 

[Magikarp]

Just finished playing it (on FUBAR difficulty, no less) & I agree, it's amazing. If it was left to stand on gameplay alone though, I think it would be completely overlooked compared to COD & BF, since the shooting part isn't great.

 

[Unsilenced]

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.

Spoiler

I got to that scene and successfully killed all but one humvee without killing the civilians. The game put the humvee right next to the pit of clearly unarmed people and told me I *had* to fire to continue. That basically broke the game for me. It was placing the gun in my hand, then pulling the trigger itself. I can't feel bad for that. I had felt bad for some of the previous decisions, ones that actually looked like my hand was being forced by something other than the writers, but I have to have some level of control in order to feel bad about what Walker does. There's a difference between having the character do something horrible because that's the only thing you can do and having the character do it because that's how they were written. Really they might as well have had a cutscene of Walker kicking a puppy.

And then there was the part where it tried to convince me that I had destroyed the entire city's water supply by destroying 4 tankers. Either there's only a dozen people left in the city, or they were all going to die of thirst in the next few days anyways. Either way, having a hard time giving a shit about the constant radio reminders that I'm a horrible person. Seriously the city was fucked anyways if that was all the water they had.

I appreciate what the game is doing, and sometimes it works, but for the real "you monster" moments it always seems forced

 

[books of war 13]

No your wrong

IT IS THE BEST GAME EVER PERIOD
Name one deeper experience then spec ops the line

 

[BreakfastMan]

OP, get off dat crack pipe. I could possibly understand if you had STORYWISE as the first word in your topic. (even though I haven't played it, I heard the story was it's strength)

But lets not forget about a little something called GAMEPLAY. LOL


The best military shooter ever is Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the Resistance expansion for it.

We are talking about shooters here, not simulators. Try to keep up.

OT: I wouldn't really say it is the best military shooter ever. As a shooter, it is fairly average on the gameplay front. Yes, this plays into the story of the game, but it still has pretty average gameplay. The story and whatnot is where the game really shines, and even then it is only a military shooter in the same way that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a stoner movie, Watchmen is a super-hero comic, or The Venture Brothers is an adventure show.

OFP is a shooter. A tactical shooter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Flashpoint:_Cold_War_Crisis Look where it says genre on the right over there. Virtual Battle Station (VBS) is the simulator which has been used by military forces in training http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q82RWGuuESU

Try and keep up, please.

And right next to that it says battlefield simulator game, which is a far more accurate description for a game that is focused on simulating realistic combat situations. It looks like someone needs to learn how to read...

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Spec Ops: The Line is the best (military) shooter so far.

And I would argue that it is actually a very poor spunkgargleweewee, since those like to take you on a power trip full of Michael BaySPLOSIONS and glorified military bravado where you can live out the fantasy of being a one man whirlwind of destruction. They're rollercoaster rides, all thrills but little substance.

Spec Ops at first seems like it follows the rule, but then it starts subverting it. You're shown not to be a paragon of virtue who can do no wrong. combat tends to drag on and can at times actually be boring (most likely purposefully designed that way). And of course, at the end, you are shown just how immature any fantasies of the glories of war you may have had actually are.