| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 6.80 |
| Overall | 6.80 |
|
By now you have probably heard that Spec Ops The Line is not your typical shooter, well it is but the story is not. Having known this I played it, its the only reason anyone actually plays this game. Perhaps knowing the story is supposed to be different messed with my expectations a bit. All I know is that the story to me was poorly told and is no where near as interesting as people make it out to be. Also any message they were trying to deliver is lost in the noise of the non stop action gameplay. Surprising to me I found the gameplay to be very decent and it is the best aspect of the game. Spec Ops is one of the most generic shooters I have ever played. There is no unique hook to it, not one interesting gameplay idea that sets itself apart from the rest. It is a straight up cover shooter with very scripted setpieces where lots of things explode. It is the Call of Duty of third person shooters, completely brain dead but kind of fun. While it maybe generic the gameplay is solid with basically all mechanics working very well. The weakest part of the controls is trying to get into cover, that is mapped to the run button and for some reason many times you reach a cover and you press the X button and your guy doesn't respond correctly. Also for some strange reason leaping over cover is a different button, it made maneuvering around cover a bit of a pain. Outside of that everything works extremely well. Shooting has the right amount of power so it does not feel you are spraying bullets. Headshots end with a glorious head explosion with a volcano of blood erupting from the now gaping hole in the neck. Enemies explode into tiny bits when you launch a grenade, which come in a few varieties, the best one a sticky which if you land it on an enemy will cause the enemy to panic and run to one of his teammates, hilarity ensues. You have two squad mates which you can slightly command in a few ways. You can tell them to target a certain enemy, just note they are slow to respond. When you are pinned down you have the option for them to throw a flash grenade to help you excape. And if one goes down you can command a teammate to help him. It does not add much to the gameplay, on the flip side they are not stupid AI, I never once lost a life cause the AI was doing something stupid. They just do as they do and are slightly helpful. Sand plays a role in the gameplay as you can shoot glass that may cause some sand to land on enemies or you may use a grenade to wisp up a sand cloud to stun enemies. Think of sand as a replacement red barrel, they sort of serve the same purpose. Like most shooters today Spec Ops is extremely linear where you simply move from big setpiece to big setpiece with no exploration or any reason to replay the levels. Its also extremely short, about 5 hours even with dying multiple times. I am a sucker for big dumb action so I enjoyed most of my time with the game. You will battle hundreds upon hundreds of enemies in buildings, rooftops, sand, streets, on trucks, offices, you know the drill the locations keep changing but the action remains the same. The setpieces are every bit as ridiculous as stuff you find on CoD but on a slightly smaller scale. There is even a "air strike" sort of moment, of course the get on the turret segment, the shoot while on a moving car segment. There are a few new enemy types introduced as the games go on, most are just more armored versions of what you have fought before. The gameplay gets old quick so the 5 hour length was a blessing as any longer of the same thing would get really boring. So you just read three paragraphs of The Line gameplay talk, I guess I made you wait enough, time to get into the story. This game gets massive praise for having a story that deals with the horrors of war and the psychological impact it has on soldiers. It takes inspiration from "Heart of Darkness" (which means its like Apocalypse Now) and has a message that will make you feel guilty about all the violence you enjoy playing. At least thats all the bullshit the devs want you to feel but I do not buy it. You cannot attempt to have a serious story with some half assed message when 95% of your game is spent in the most brain dead idiotic action moments. The best way to sum up this game is if a Michael Bay movie spends 2 hours blowing everything up with shallow one dimensional characters leading the way and then in the last 5 minutes the movie attempts to have a dramatic conclusion. Sorry that does not work, if you want to tell a dramatic story you have to commit to it far more than this game does. Its impossible to really dissect the story without spoilers so right now its time for those who have not played the game to turn away, scroll down to where it says spoilers end. SPOILERS Basically the reason I do not share the same love for this games story as others do is cause I did not buy into the story they were telling because all the overwhelming action in the game made the situations so unbelievable. I am supposed to buy into an entire army platoon deciding to try to kill three other american soldiers simply cause one man mistook them for CIA, a 5 hour long war erupts cause no one decides to simply talk. Then comes the motivation and character development which is almost non existent. The entire cast is extremely boring, the most stereotypical of dumb action movie army dude, there is not one relatable character in the entire game. Even Walker's decent into insanity is handled in the most basic of ways, ohh look crazy Eternal Darkness effects, LOOK HE IS CRAZY! Not so subtle. Nolan North does the best he can with the role but they don't ask him to do much of anything except get more loud as the game goes on. Cutscenes last about a minute or two and then its back to BANG BANG BOOM EXPLOSION!!! AMERICA F YEAH!!! How am I supposed to feel anything for these characters when not even they care about anything that is happening. The most dramatic moment of the game, the phosphorus gas killing civilians is done so poorly I could only shrug. I assume the game wants to make you feel guilty, um sorry do I have any choice in the game, nope. You cannot make the gamer feel guilty and not offer the player any options to make their own decisions. The game developers killed those civilians, I did nothing, I am just watching what they designed. So its up to the narrative to create some emotional weight, well what you get is about a minute of Walker having a concerned face, your teammates cussing and then immediately Walker saying "WE MUST GET REVENGE!!!" Two seconds later its back to stupid Michael Bay mode. Where is the dramatic tension? Where is the character development? The devs clearly did not care about that, so why should I care about what happens to these people. The best stories make you care about the characters and what they are going through, this game fails in that key aspect. Just cause the story is different does not make it good. Just cause it has a neat twist ending, does not make it clever. The games we have been getting this year, stuff like Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us absolutely DESTROY the storytelling of Spec Ops The Line, its the difference of an award winning film to a a big dumb summer movie. That said yes this games story is definitely more interesting than most shooters but in no way should this game ever be mentioned when speaking of the best stories in games. END OF SPOILERS END OF SPOILERS Graphically Spec Ops is average, not ugly but not particularly pretty. One of the best aspects of the game is the music selection. On top of a very decent score there are moments where some licensed music plays which do a great job of enhancing an action scene. Most of the music is old school rock but my favorite moment comes when you have Motown being played during an office shootout, more games need Motown music in them. There is a multiplayer component to the game which I never tried so this is a single player only review. Spec Ops The Line is an average shooter with a story that is ambitious but ultimately is handled poorly. The action is front and center for the grand majority of time, if you are expecting some well told narrative that drives the action this is the wrong game. Almost all the time you will simply be shooting everything that moves, the same kinds of enemies over and over, then finally a cutscene shows up to give you a breather before you do it all over again. I have played far worse shooters than this and almost all of them don't have a story any where near as interesting. Is this game worth playing, at 5 hours in length its not a large investment of time and the gameplay is pretty good. Clearly most people don't agree with me on the story so odds are you will enjoy it more than I did. For me though Spec Ops The Line is a decent but predictable shooter with a story that is interesting but not well told. |
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Posted by Dvader Mon, 09 Sep 2013 06:22:24
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travo (1m)
Could not disagree more. This is not an anti-violence film. It is a study of one man's reaction to the actions he has chosen to take in his life.
It could just as easily been a game about a gardener, but games, movies and books being what they are they get more attention if guns are involved. You are mistaking the setting for the story.