Zero Punctuation: Spec Ops: The Line

[Ariseishirou]

This is pretty much exactly what I thought of it. I was expecting another "America, fuck yeah" game with a multiplayer focus - then I saw pretty much all of the reviews state that the MP is perfunctory and mediocre but campaign is rich and has lots of replay value. And I was like: wow, it must be opposite day! I'll give that a try!

Yep, it's pretty much true. The story is awesome. And the second my roommate gets done with it I'mma beat it again and make different choices this time.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Waiting for the fart at the end... Waiting for the fart at the end...

... Theeeeeere it is...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Spoiler: *snip*

Oh so it's another dull grey brown... wait you kill Americans in this one? SOLD!!
.
.
.
.
I'm kidding, don't hurt me.

HA! I knew you damn maple leafs had it in for us!
It's time we settled this once and for all!
http://www.9wsyr.com/media/lib/17/1/0/a/10a3a245-4515-4580-a805-a8a4eb8e5bea/Story.jpg

Oh that calls for epic theme music.

I've got the perfect song!
<youtube=IhnUgAaea4M>

I was thinking something more like this:

Well if you lot are going to take credit for what the British did, we'll take credit for BEATING you!
<youtube=50_iRIcxsz0>

British my ass!
Well whatever, we're still bigger than you.

Well We're more Bad Ass.
<youtube=mt84J7U75e0>

...
Ok I'm outta songs. You win.

Ah, so you ARE from Quebec.

wait for it...

Actually no, but I see what you did there.

 

[him over there]

Any money next week's Extra Punctuation is about if the fact that games must be inherently engaging to be successful means that it undermines any tragedy in the story. That having interactivity destroys narrative because it isn't empathy but actual suffering because of having to interact and play out your conflict.If the fact it's impossible to feel guilt because whatever is creating it is mandatory and forced onto you.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I actually didn't expect a recommendation from this one to be fairly honest.

A bit grim video,but I took it well and didn't laugh at it much(which I guess it's normal?).

 

[DementedSheep]

Huh...I never even bothered watching a trailer for this game. I assumed it would be another generic ?America, fuck yeah!? shooter. I guess I?ll check it out after all.

 

[orangeapples]

It isn't often that Yahtzee says that the story to a first person shooter was good. The only reason FPS gameplay is getting bland is because we've all gotten used to FPS gameplay. No sense in reinventing the wheel. Now the area that many FPS can be improved is the story.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Game's a pile of wank and failure; boring story that fucks around in circles for half the game, terrible graphics, player decisions that aren't explained until much later, after you've been forced to decide with no idea at all what it is or why you're doing it, and bland, samey, unoriginal and utterly sleep inducing gun play.

Game: "Murder everyone or turn the game off -- those are your two options."

Player: "Okay..."

Game: "Oh my god! How could you! You killed all those people! Don't you just feel the emotion weight on your soul."

...

And I thought that was what all today's "brown-shooters" did. I hate it when games actively hate you for playing them. I get there needs to be challenge in the game and obstacles to overcome, but to be called an awful person for it just makes no sense! I'm just gonna leave this here:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouBastard

 

[FallenMessiah88]

"The turning point alone comes when Walker and the player unwittingly do a bad thing". That sentence alone made me want to pause the video and go out and buy this game.

 

[MagmaMan]

Not sure what "Jam" is going to be about other then "an apocalypse... with JAM in it!" but what teh *bleep*, I'll look into it. I'd also look into this game but I can't say it sounds appealing to me, I know how bad this stuff can be I don't need a depressing game to tell me about it. Now to return to staring at the calender waiting eagerly for the day Fall of Cybertron comes out.

 

[scw55]

I do like it when Yahtzee has room to put on his academic hat and explores themes and thinks about them in-addition to entertaining us by pointing out video game flaws.

 

[krazykidd]

Aww, Yahtzee, you shouldn't hesitate to go all serious on us, we won't leave! You could do an Extra Punctuation on The Line; you obviously have a lot to say about it, but you felt you couldn't stuff it in the video without you audience going: "Six minutes of talky nonsense and no farting sounds?! I'm never watching this series again!"

Anyway, The Line makes me cream myself with every new review that I read/watch. It's like a mighty, echoing slap to the face of dudebro manshoots. But it's less of a finger-wagging killjoy, and more of a "yes, it's been fun the first five times, and it's been tolerable the next twenty times, but now it's just getting silly, guys" directed right at the industry's overworked FPS machine.

captcha: "never give up"
Wow, where do you get these from, Escapist? I feel more motivated every time you check whether I'm a bot.

Don't overestimate the average viewer of ZP.

OT: WoW. I want this game name now. Am i to understand this is the Silent hill 2 of FPS ?

 

[the abyss gazes also]

Can a game make you feel guilty for doing something it told you to do? I have three words for you: Weighted. Companion. Cube.

*Sniffle*

(I wish I was cool enough to think of this on my own, but my wife brought this up.)

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Having played the demo I was utterly bored before I finished it, but if it's a little more than shoot his face, then shoot her face, then I might get it out the bargain bin some time.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Game's a pile of wank and failure; boring story that fucks around in circles for half the game, terrible graphics, player decisions that aren't explained until much later, after you've been forced to decide with no idea at all what it is or why you're doing it, and bland, samey, unoriginal and utterly sleep inducing gun play.

Game: "Murder everyone or turn the game off -- those are your two options."

Player: "Okay..."

Game: "Oh my god! How could you! You killed all those people! Don't you just feel the emotion weight on your soul."

...

And I thought that was what all today's "brown-shooters" did. I hate it when games actively hate you for playing them. I get there needs to be challenge in the game and obstacles to overcome, but to be called an awful person for it just makes no sense! I'm just gonna leave this here:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouBastard

The funny thing is that this trope is closely tethered to the point of this game's story and is pulled off pretty well too. As to what that point is well - you have to play till the end to find out. Suffice it to say that the point certainly justifies the "You Bastard" trope being used.

I'm pretty sure that if someone's going to play this game with the intent of "Ahhh, let's escape my dreary RL by shooting up some shit for teh lulz." then yeah, this game is definitely not for you and the trope mentioned is bad to you. So play some other FPS that tells you how cool you are instead and you'll have a much better time.

However if you approach this game with the intent of say...finding out what it'd feel to actually fight a war without having to do so IRL - this game is pretty much for you and the trope mentioned really manages to bring that feeling up beautifully.

It's all about what you expect from a game really. Thing is, there are already plenty of FPSes that tell you how cool you are for killing virtual monsters/NPCs. But this is the first FPS that seems specifically designed to get a very grim point across - one that is much more tethered to reality and does not exist to please your ego. Even if one of the game's endings, that you get to choose, does come off as insanely badass.

 

[Warforger]

Finally, a curveball for Yahtzee, a game that surprised him so much that he had a hard time making jokes.

I love it when he has these running-gags in his reviews, like the wolfenstein limerick and the Brink drinking game.

Wolfenstein was awesome but Brink was just annoying because every other game rips off another some way (oh it has guns doom clone), that's always been the case so it was just stupid for him to shove it down our throats.

 

[rayen020]

well i really want to read extra punctuation next week...

 

[PinkiePyro]

wow an fps I am actually interested in never thought I would see the day (hat generator 2 doesn't count)

also I now feel childish for laughing at the farting imps

 

[synobal]

o.o

o.0?

0.0!!

he LIKED it o.o;; a modern set 'relistic shooter'? and he LIKED it o.0

guess i should probably give it a look then, since Yahtzee and i tend to hate modern FPSs with the amount of fervor

quote unrelated

like your avatar

And I yours. Also I was as surprised as the next guy that he seemed to give the game a positive review.

 

[marurder]

I'm looking forward to the Extra Punctuation that will cover this more.