*SPOILERS ENSUE* You have been warned.
Spec Ops: The Line draws the line between a good game and a
soul-crushing experience. The later was more my speed as I was forced to
examine a real lesson behind the guise of a third person shooter; war is not
fun. That should be obvious, but I see how the youth of today enjoy shooters
and it scares me a bit. I got into gaming before shooters became the big ‘thing’,
so I was never conditioned to worship those kinds of games. Sure, one of my
favorite games for the N64 was Goldeneye, but James Bond is hardly a soldier
killing brown people (that, and he's English). Tuitt, Vernon Tuitt.
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| I miss this game |
With such ware games as Call of Duty, there is a clear
divide between good guys and bad guys. From Germans to Japanese, from Arabs to
basically any other brown person you can shake a stick at, it’s usually the
Americans that are gung-ho about taking the baddies out, and they usually win. Amuricah! But what if Americans had to fight other Americans? In a setting where survival
is paramount and the way to go about stopping the opposing force isn’t as
clear-cut and clean as you’re used to, how would you cope with your decisions? Furthermore,
how far would you go to challenge behavior you found appalling?
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| I soiled myself. Damn. |
It’s easy to get lost in the Medal of Honors and the
Battlefields, but it takes some balls in the industry today to bring real moral
dilemmas to your console, make you choose, and then punish you severely for
making said choice.
While I frown upon such a practice, I’m not shaming it entirely
because it actually worked in this game. The story follows Captain Martin
Walker, leader of a three-man reconnaissance team sent to investigate a
distress signal in a sand-covered Dubai. Simple recon turns into a rescue
mission that involves saving a company of soldiers who were thought to be
killed. It turns out that the soldiers failed their own mission and occupied
the city, butchering civilians and taking others hostage. What comes next is a
slew of choices by the captain that lead his team deeper. The chaos and death
that ensues left a bitter taste in my mouth, but in a good way. I was left
wondering about how powerful the human mind real is, and how we can trick
ourselves into believing anything just to escape horror or mask extreme guilt.
The game gives you a false sense of control as it leads you
down a path of fantasy where the villain is clear. However, toward the end,
you’re taken for a loop when you realize that the villain was just a scapegoat
to cope with the atrocities that Walker witnessed/committed. Yes, the rouge
soldiers he fights are very real, and Walkers feels an obligation to stop them
to save lives. Unfortunately, he winds up slaughtering soldiers, civilians, and
then more soldiers by the end. Actually, Walker winds up causing more damage
than the company of soldiers did.
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| I double dog dare you! |
This brings me to another question: is there a clear line
between good and evil? Is everything so black and white? In the game, you get a
sense of who the real enemy is AFTER you accidentally slaughter a bunch of
civilians in a terrible way. But it’s only after the people are dead and you,
the player, realize how not-fun war is. There IS no line between good and evil
because we all have our beliefs. Ponder on your beliefs and think about what
you believe to be ‘evil’. Now think about what you would do to stop said evil.
What if the thing you would do to stop the evil was considered evil by someone
else? I know this is a bad example, but the point is that perception and belief
are powerful. My dad told me that every war in history has been fought over
some belief or ideology, mainly religion. In Spec Ops, the belief of one man
caused the death of countless people. He wanted to be a hero and save lives,
but wound up being the harbinger of destruction in an already destroyed Dubai.
In conclusion, I don’t think that Spec Ops was preachy, but
the realism was there and I appreciated the game for what it was. Not every
story has a happy ending, nor do the good guys always win. I accept this game
into my collection as the one that breaks the fantasy and serves you a truthful
story. There is no work around or a different angle to approach from. There is no have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too
solution. There is only the situation as it is laid at your feet, and you
must accept the consequences for whatever decisions you make.
Despite the repetitive cover shooting and a ridiculously easy
aiming system, the graphics and visuals were pretty nice. I appreciated the use
of destructible environments like glass and columns, but it sucks that
everything wasn't destructible. I appreciate that some things would break apart
if they took enough damage, but almost everything else your character stands behind could withstand a nuke. I don’t play multiplayer because it’s not a
compliment to the game and takes away from the single-player experience (that,
and the internet I use won’t connect with my Xbox 360). Although, the
single-player campaign is about 7-8 hours, so be prepared for a short game.
I’d recommend this game to a friend even though it’s short
because it’s a step away from the ‘Amuricah! Fuck Yeah!’ attitude that some
shooters seem to have. It manages to punish you for killing others, but rewards
you with a new way of thinking. Pin the tail on the donkey.
