izigame.me

"Home? We can't go home. There's a line men like us have to cross. If we're lucky, we do what's necessary, then we die. No, all I really want, Captain, is peace."
Hung corpses, lynched comrades, valleys of stripped and meatily rendered dead men. The sands of Dubai are marked with the worst of humanity - the ever looming shadow of death that radiates like a mirage's aura from a lost horizon. In this "post apocalypstick" setting of a Dubai completely sanded over by a historic storm, terror is delivered to the surviving populous - brought forth by the hand of once courageous men who are now out of chances, out of hope, nearly out of supplies and water... but some of them are simply out of their minds. While others, are merely there to make sure no one learns the truth of what happened here.
This is Spec Ops the Line.
One of the most harrowing games of all time, this game had absolutely captivated a niche audience back in the day, even gaining the approval of some of the most jaded and cynical of gamers. Usually the people who got filtered by this game or believe it overhyped (admittingly, many of its great aspects were lovingly exaggerated by enthusiastic fans, but that shows just how cherished it is) are actually NPCs who only see game stories in shades of narrative tropes or 'sins'. I think these people have completely lost touch with gaming as a narrative, interactive story telling medium and they have completely lost the ability, ironically through the overindulgence in more "polished" games, to empathize with the human aspects of fictional characters.
When games take an anti-war stance, they often go the "war is hell" route, but the smart games go the Blood Meridian/Heart of Darkness route. Spec Ops the Line is certainly that, but it does so while making an extremely solid and fun to play game. Mechanically, the game did nothing new, but it looks spectacular and only suffers from some brief control jank that dominated its genre.
This game came out in an oversaturated market of shooters with this colour palette (and that being said, very few of its contemporaries manage to have the same soul as its presentation) and that makes this game's "genericness" its best subversion. I had a colleague in I knew from school and I recommended this game. He merely played the first level, returned my physical copy to me and simply gave me an unconvincing "7/10!" and a thumbs up. From there, I knew he was an NPC and the rest of his life proved to be further proof of this.
But that is what is great about this game, it effectively gatekept the very players it critiqued from the game itself. Why? Because they are the gamers that don't play for narratives that are creative, but merely narratives that are trope hook after trope hooks to justify a multiplayer setting, if at all. The game rather coldly critiqued the military industrial complex's place in its propaganda-laden support for certain games as mini-recruitment campaigns and at the same time, the game also compliments its medium as one that allows for a type of critique that will reach more young people than say, a modern book may. After all, video games are the most profitable and enjoyed entertainment medium out there and there is perhaps, not a single other form of entertainment, that will benefit younger audiences as video games in many ways.
The gameplay is solid enough, but most people are no doubt attracted to this game for its message and its presentations. The protagonists become shells of themselves in both psyche and appearance. The level of detail and focus on highlighting the real impact of battle on their bodies is not only fantastic and immersive, but completely plays well into its narrative.
By now, everyone knows the twist of this game and it becomes rather apparent early on. However, the game did not need to be subtle, in fact, its esoteric moments can be mistakenly considered to be spoonfed by the end. But this game is not about tricking you, but forcing you, the player - as the commanding force behind Captain Walker, to confront his sins.
The game really has more guts than any of its brothers, taking place after a hypothetical and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Captain Walker is a man already once broken, having survived what was apparently a vicious battle in Kabul - who must confront the man who once saved him.
Konrad was a hero to Walker and many others, but he was not a hero to himself. Devastated with the lost mission in Afghanistan, he wanted to truly regain the dignity of his men, of the mission - only to lose control entirely. The side intel the game paints is a vivid and interesting picture of the Damned 33rd: a seemingly competent if not entirely remarkable battalion of US Army soldiers, who have been pushed to the brink by necessity and paranoia and inner factionalism, falling into direct antagonistic relations with their former nation and the CIA.
One remarkable thing I noticed on my most recent playthrough, via one of the intel pieces, we find out that Konrad burned the stars off of an American flag - which inspired the initial mutiny of his top command, that you find dead later on in the game. The intel tells us more than what the characters assumed and actually helps us understand the story behind Konrad that actually isn't explored as much as one would think in the gameplay and active plot itself. Konrad was a man who loved his country unconditionally and yet, in his dismay, in a misguided attempt to build a new symbol, he blackened and charred out the blue and white stars on the flag. The stars obviously representing the unity of the American states, but the blue represented the values of vigilance, perseverance and justice. What remained, was the original frontier - the thirteen stripes that represented the original colonies of America, finding themselves in a new nation with a "hostile" native population at their mercy and vice versa. But not only that, Konrad's flag still carried the red and the white. The red representing hardiness and valor, while the white symbolizes purity and innocence. Much like Walker in the game, Konrad believed himself the hero and had lost his sense of integrity, his idea of justice and upholding himself to a higher standard. Believing blood and hardiness, "survival" alone would justify his actions. Its a small tidbit of information in a game with a lot of depth, but this alone reminds me why this game has one of the best narratives for a third person linear shooter while also one of the best ambient-stories having gone on in its immediate background.
I played this game many times before, just not on Steam. I will note that the PC version is superior in every way, with 33rd gear having custom markings on their weapons and entire sections being a tad longer, as well as some different choice real-time cutscene shot renders and some slightly dialogue during these same scenes.
This game is an enduring, perfect mix of hyper violence, superb graphics for its time, remarkably inspired locations in the atypical Dubai setting (which in itself, is a city of luxury painted over with sand, perhaps a jab at how Americans have begun to view the "world over" in the Middle East and Gulf as merely a sandbox) provide strong contrasts and styles. This game was certainly built in a certain era, as the soldiers wear UCP camo with a variety of National Guard-esque gear, perfect given the 33rd were there originally as a humanitarian force and not the occupiers they became and their special forces, as brief as they appear, almost resemble the Helghast from Killzone. Some characters resemble Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, as well, rather intentional most likely.
There is something so grounded about this game, simply because it was written by one man with a very inspired, motivation mission and not a board of people who wanted to make a game that was inoffensive in its critiques.
A legendary game that is the unparalleled anti-war story.