Keiran McEwen
Keiran McEwenI hate war shooters, and I have since I was a child. For my 10th birthday, I had been given the recently released Nintendo Wii and several games, including Call of Duty 3. This was my first foray into the genre now generalized as “war shooters,” since up to that point they have been homogenized into a single category. I continued this series for a while, including notable installments until 2011. By this time the series and the genre had run its course, effectively burning out some in the fanbase, especially those such as myself who don’t like multiplayer.
This means whenever I am instructed to play one of these war shooters, I have a lot of trepidation. This is why being told to play Spec Ops: The Line without much knowledge aside from guns, men, shooting, and Americans, worried me. This is the usual collection of puzzle pieces used to create a game about shooting the bad men. The problem with that thought process is how Spec Ops: The Line is so much more than a black and white morality. I’m not even making a joke about the blatant racial connotations of a Call of Duty, just their lack of nuance when trying to depict ethics.
Spec Ops: The Line is war shooter in all the right ways, from showing the dead as horrific nightmares that will haunt you until the end of time, to exotic locations with impending doom. Set in Dubai after huge sand storms destroy the city, America has drafted half of its own population to help with relief efforts. That plan that goes wrong immediately, as several armed militias are formed, defectors emerge that think they have a better strategy and general selfishness reigns. You play as Captain Martin Walker, voiced by Nolan North, leading his special forces unit into the center of the ongoing mess.
You command First Lieutenant Alphonso Adams and Staff Sergeant John Lugo. These two are your tactical support. Literally. There is an unnecessary tactics mechanic wherein you can order your subordinates to snipe or blow up specific targets. The only lasting effect this mechanic has had is ruining the wheel button on my mouse. Otherwise, Lugo is the character to give you several quips, Adams is the serious and rational one, while Walker is whoever you decide to be.
Throughout the game, you are given choices that affect your ending. However, unlike David Cage games, the choices mean something. It may only be in flashbacks, yet that is still better than a man missing a finger in a scene, as seen in Heavy Rain. Furthermore, several of these decisions aren’t as they seem. You can be given a choice between A and B, even though there can often be a C and D option if you think of a better way around two horrible alternatives.
Then there is one point in the game which I will not spoil, for understandable reasons. However, it is vaguely hinted that you could fight your way through the decision to use White Phosphorus, a type of chemical warfare which is restricted by international law. This weapon is not only used as a smokescreen but also to burn, mutate, and kill through smoke inhalation. This may sound new to a few, though it has been used several times including by American forces as late as 2005. The derision towards this weaponry is not solely for its visible harm, but also the blisters it will cause inside the throat, and continued burning from the inside.
Horrific nightmares aside, this “decision” is forced upon you, for reasons that I can not say because they are the center of the plot. This section not only solidifies a majority of the game but also breaks the major decision-making design set up by friends and the game itself. Spec Ops: The Line requires this moment to go without a player decision, and while I did have an issue with this in my first playthrough, I understood why this decision was made by those at Yager.
Spec Ops: The Line is a linear affair, and I wouldn’t like to spoil anything beyond the aforementioned decision that is forced upon you. However, I have said that I naturally do not like war shooters, for good reason. They are often this homogenized sludge of nationalism and hatred for anyone other than a white, short-haired muscle holding a gun. They have no important message and are instead shooting galleries for children as well as those angry at strangers with no subtext. There is nothing to raise questions about the morality of one’s actions. Spec Ops: The Line does the opposite.
One could pose the question: if a game is centered on shooting people, then questions why you are executing said people, does it defeat its own point? The answer is no. Telling you what you are doing is wrong after you have found it cathartic is a simple tool only video games hold over other mediums. Not only in the case of your crime being portrayed as worth it for the money, to then to lose it or someone you treasure. This mechanism is used to force a question upon you and the reality you have come accustom to. In short: do not get comfortable with Spec Ops: The Line, it will hurt you.
After all, it is said that Spec Ops: The Line is inspired by the Heart of Darkness series, and in-turn Apocalypse Now. One could, and will speculate Colonel John Konrad, the man you head into Dubai to save, is loosely named after Heart of Darkness writer Joseph Conrad. Neither is directly ripped off, as you don’t meet Marlon Brando ruling over the locals nor are your final words being given to your greaving wife.
Once you and your pet humans are in Dubai, you are faced with insurgents against the American occupation. Being three Americans in full camo and equipped with guns, you are not going to be seen favorably in the sandblasted city. However, this is not the only danger you will face. With a number of American forces all taking orders from different captains, some become insubordinate, and worse is the man on the radio drumming up tensions between the two. Followed by you standing in the middle, an American bewildered by the situation you find yourself in, you have to do what is right.
When you find Americans lined up against a wall (bullet wounds and all) in the middle of a civilian refugee camp, there’s only one conclusion. To set up further confusion, inside this camp sits the CIA. This is just the beginning as you soon find American soldiers gunning down unarmed civilians who are running for their lives. To Walker, there is only one answer: Find Konrad and fix this mess.
As for gameplay, I’ve already spoken of the awful tactics mechanic, which that has caused my mouse to be picky with the middle mouse selection. There has also not been a revolutionary turn of events with pointing at the man and killing him. Often you are better off shooting than using the tactics of your team. The only issue some may find is the lack of ammo as the game does like it to feel like hell, not just by a story of nightmares, but also gameplay.
The setting is unlike any other, as you are in the Arabian playboy millionaires paradise juxtaposed by the nightmares and horrors of war. One moment you may be standing on the sands that have buried the city, the next you delve into those buildings and come out into beautiful lobby of a hotel with marvelous statues standing in the stillness. You may walk into the sands above buildings to find yachts sitting askew or find dilapidated builds in ruin.
In conclusion, if you are sick of the usual “kill the Russians!” or “kill the foreigner!” in your first and third person shooters, Spec Ops: The Line is the answer. Not only is it story driven, but it also takes no prisoners. If you are a fan of the modern shooting gallery games, then you may enjoy Spec Ops: The Line as well. However, being unable to spoil the story, it becomes hard to say any more, other than giving my own seal of approval.
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🔥638Spec Ops: The Line
$9.03
Pros
- A Tonally Perfect Story
- Beautiful and Horrific Art Direction
- Meaningful Decisions
Cons
- Decisions Pulled from You at Times
- Useless Tactics Mechanic
