A helicopter scenario in the opening of the 2012 military cover shooter Spec Ops: The Line is so extravagant it seems as though director Michael Bay downed the whole world’s supply of Red Bull.
Spec Ops is the first indication that it is not just another ooh-rah mil-shooter, despite looks to the contrary. Contrarily, it is a criticism of the war, battlefield realpolitik, and all the typical defenses, explanations, and situational morality used in conflict areas that the majority of video games seldom even mention.
Spec Ops: The Line Storyline Is Extremely Enjoyable
For a game in a genre (and a medium) that might just as easily live by the maxim “weapons out, fun’s out,” here we are.
On the surface, the Spec Ops: The Line narrative appears to be clear because it is based on the 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now, which in turn was inspired by the 1899 book Heart of Darkness. You have been given the task of leading a 3 Delta Force recon team into Dubai, which has been decimated by an ecological calamity and is partially buried in the sand. You are US Army Captain Walker.
Death, hopelessness, and devastation are what is waiting. The scenario quickly becomes worse. In the opening, future-set sequence of Terminator 2, twisted victims imprisoned in their cars are compared to the skeleton remnants of fleeing humans caught on the highway. Walker and his colleagues are understandably horrified. They enjoy thinking of themselves as upright guys.
That idea is quickly put to the test. Mechanically, Spec Ops: The Line has become dated. Although it never claimed to have the most complex systems, its shortcomings as a third-person cover shooter with difficult controls and no roll button are more obvious than ever. However, that is not the purpose. Spec Ops gave us allusions to lost wars and American military contractors strung up(opens in new tab) over the Euphrates bridge in Iraq.
It was released in a world where military shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Homefront were idly imagining what would happen if America was invaded, portraying themselves as the heroes. It questioned how supposedly nice individuals became bad.
