Apocalypse Now: TEH VIDYA GAEM
Spec Ops: The Line went on sale on Steam. I'd like to claim it's my Christmas present to myself, but to be honest, I get shit for myself constantly, so... not really.
The hype I had heard about this game before playing it was that it was based on Heart of Darkness, deconstructs the shit out of military shooter video games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, horriblly depresses the player, shows video games can wear artsy grown up pants and one of the developers actually said the multiplayer was tacked on bullshit that the publisher demanded... okay, so this sounds like something I wanna play.
After a playthrough, the short version is my subject up there. I'm not saying it follows Apocalypse Now exactly (it's modern military and in Dubai) but the DJ seems an awful lot like Dennis Hopper's character, and even the songs that aren't from the 60s sound like 60s classic rock.
The jabs at other shooting games is pretty much aimed squarely at their appeal, being soldier hero guy and shooting them dirty foreigners, AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!
You spend most of the time in this game shooting rogue American soldiers. And you'll probably pick up on it quickly, but even if you don't they spell it out for you at the very end... Everyone would of been better off if the guy you're playing never showed up. A good way into the HORRORS OF WAR bit and even the loading screens are fucking with you on this. "Feel like a hero yet?" "How many Americans did you kill today?"
People have said parts of playing this game have been like being punched in the gut. I didn't get that feeling, but then I'm a jaded misanthrope, so that's probably why. There's a couple sections where you have to walk through areas after white phosphorus has been used, which with the interactivity of video games is used to fuck with you, since the second time, you're the one who shoots it off with a mortar.
Gameplay-wise... I play very few military shooters, so where everyone else is "not as good as CoD or BF!", I really couldn't tell. It felt like Gears of War to me, minus alot of the gimmicky fights, so I liked it. And the moral choice system in this game is awesome. What you decide to do is determined by what you do. Sure, some of it will be presented to you obviously, but you go through with the game's regular controls to actually do it. Gonna shoot the CIA guy you don't trust? Go and shoot him then. This feels alot more organic and immersive than "Press A for choice 1, Press B for choice 2." And you can always mess around and try to find other solutions.
My only real complaint is that the "war is hell" theme (much like in Gundam series) is a bit muddled. There's lots of fun guns to shoot people with, and limitless ammo turrents, and I get achievos for each variety of kill once I do it for a few hundred times, and then they try to guilt me for it. "How many people were still alive yesterday before you showed up? How many will still be alive tomorrow?. Now, here's a grenade launcher to play with. You probably will enjoy this, YOU SICK BASTARD."
This is kinda why Apocalypse Now didn't have alot of awesome surfing footage. You can maybe say the tonal dissonance is to keep you off balance or something, but criticizing and pandering at the same time don't work, at least not on me. It's like if there was a porno where the participants lecture you on the evil of sexual objectification. That is a message I'm sure is getting lost.
The hype I had heard about this game before playing it was that it was based on Heart of Darkness, deconstructs the shit out of military shooter video games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, horriblly depresses the player, shows video games can wear artsy grown up pants and one of the developers actually said the multiplayer was tacked on bullshit that the publisher demanded... okay, so this sounds like something I wanna play.
After a playthrough, the short version is my subject up there. I'm not saying it follows Apocalypse Now exactly (it's modern military and in Dubai) but the DJ seems an awful lot like Dennis Hopper's character, and even the songs that aren't from the 60s sound like 60s classic rock.
The jabs at other shooting games is pretty much aimed squarely at their appeal, being soldier hero guy and shooting them dirty foreigners, AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!
You spend most of the time in this game shooting rogue American soldiers. And you'll probably pick up on it quickly, but even if you don't they spell it out for you at the very end... Everyone would of been better off if the guy you're playing never showed up. A good way into the HORRORS OF WAR bit and even the loading screens are fucking with you on this. "Feel like a hero yet?" "How many Americans did you kill today?"
People have said parts of playing this game have been like being punched in the gut. I didn't get that feeling, but then I'm a jaded misanthrope, so that's probably why. There's a couple sections where you have to walk through areas after white phosphorus has been used, which with the interactivity of video games is used to fuck with you, since the second time, you're the one who shoots it off with a mortar.
Gameplay-wise... I play very few military shooters, so where everyone else is "not as good as CoD or BF!", I really couldn't tell. It felt like Gears of War to me, minus alot of the gimmicky fights, so I liked it. And the moral choice system in this game is awesome. What you decide to do is determined by what you do. Sure, some of it will be presented to you obviously, but you go through with the game's regular controls to actually do it. Gonna shoot the CIA guy you don't trust? Go and shoot him then. This feels alot more organic and immersive than "Press A for choice 1, Press B for choice 2." And you can always mess around and try to find other solutions.
My only real complaint is that the "war is hell" theme (much like in Gundam series) is a bit muddled. There's lots of fun guns to shoot people with, and limitless ammo turrents, and I get achievos for each variety of kill once I do it for a few hundred times, and then they try to guilt me for it. "How many people were still alive yesterday before you showed up? How many will still be alive tomorrow?. Now, here's a grenade launcher to play with. You probably will enjoy this, YOU SICK BASTARD."
This is kinda why Apocalypse Now didn't have alot of awesome surfing footage. You can maybe say the tonal dissonance is to keep you off balance or something, but criticizing and pandering at the same time don't work, at least not on me. It's like if there was a porno where the participants lecture you on the evil of sexual objectification. That is a message I'm sure is getting lost.