Spec Ops: The Line is an interesting game; very rarely do
you get a shooter which sets out to make you question what you are actually
doing. Call of Duty and the infamous ‘No Russian’ level had a slight tilt at
this moral conundrum, but it wasn't the central theme of the game. For Spec Ops
to task you with killing enemies and then get you to question whether what you
are doing is the right thing is very rare in our medium.
The premise of the game is that as the captain of a Delta Force team
you are charged with going to Dubai and finding out what has happened to
Colonel John Konrad and his battalion which was sent into the city six months
earlier to help evacuate the populace after a massive sandstorm hit. Dubai is
now cut off from the rest of the world by a giant storm wall that prevents any
communication from going in or coming out. It is your job to go in and find out
what has being going on and why the 33rd Battalion has defected; so far so generic, but it isn't long before the situation
starts to unravel and you learn that perhaps things are not quite what they
seem. As you progress through the city the mental state of both the player
character and his team-mates begin to unravel as the acts you are required to
undertake, in order to get to the truth, become more and more
questionable.
There were times during the game where I really had to sit back
and think about what I had done. One part in particular, which I wont go
into as to do so would spoil the experience, really stood out and made me really question whether
the lives I had taken were justified by the mission objective. This became even
harder when the original goal to evacuate Dubai and save the populace was
overtaken by the desire for revenge. It is at this juncture that I felt the
game faltered slightly. To change direction in such a way means it's a whole
lot easier for the game to make you feel bad about what you are doing. Whilst the saving of
innocents can often justify deplorable acts, when it becomes just about revenge
there is less ambiguity and it is much easier to see such acts for what they
really are. Consequently the question of what behaviour is acceptable during
warfare becomes less effective. While I applaud Yager Development
for sticking to their objective, I feel that this change in tact did the game a
disservice and watered down the central conceit about what is truly acceptable
in combat.
However Yager Development should be commended for
following through on their promise to centre the game around this question and
they generally succeed in their objective. There are a lot of violent games
released every week, but this is the first time I can remember actually
questioning all the carnage. That they managed to invoke that response is
testament to the world they have created. At times it can come across as
slightly hackneyed, but it is mostly conveyed with finesse.
There have been complaints from various media outlets that the game
surrounding this moral quandary is not up to scratch. While I will agree that
in places the graphics look a bit ropey and the combat is not on a par with
other cover based titans, such as Gears of War, it is functional and I found it
enjoyable to play as a shooter; besides quibbling about such things is missing
the point. Journalists and
commentators are forever bemoaning the fact that games never bother to tackle
moral issues. It is always clear who is the bad guy and you always play the
good guy. However, when a game comes along that tries to tackle the issue of
the morality of war, instead of recognising the bravery of such a move, the
focus is instead on how the game isn’t as technically sound as the best games
in the genre. There are already enough Gears of War clones in the market and
Yager should be praised for trying something different. Games seem to be able
to get away with average story when backed-up with good gameplay, but not when
the story excels and the gameplay doesn't. To me this is wrong
headed; the industry needs to grow up a bit and understand that gameplay is not
the be-all and end-all.
If, like me, you have a desire to see the shooter
genre move forward and for third person shooters in particular to move away
from the sterile arena in which they have been trapped, then I recommend that
you take a look at this game. Don’t expect a technical marvel, but do expect to
encounter something a little different; a game that is willing to buck the
trend and get the player to really think about what they are doing.
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