Spec Ops takes place in a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai, occupied by a rogue U.S. ![]() Spec Ops ventures to counter two ideas,“violence is necessary” and “Killing is Harmless,” through a medium that seems to accept these ideas as fact, but, through the player’s role as “both audient and participatory,” is predisposed to countering them as well. Throughout Spec Ops, the player is forced to question their role in the horrific events that play out before them, as they serve as Walker’s puppet master, putting their puppet in place to enact horrible war crimes executed by the game. Along the way, Walker and the player commit atrocities based on unclear motives and a burning desire to discover more about the twisted world they finds themselves in. The player explores these issues by taking control of Captain Martin Walker, and both watches and participates as he changes from a calm, composed Delta Force operative to beaten and broken man. For this reason and many others, the game has been hailed as one of the most powerful examples in the medium of critique and exploration of difficult ideas and ethical issues. Using these well-established stories as a foundation, the game begins its critique of Western conceptions of violence. The team at Yager was fully aware of the genre’s history when they began work on Spec Ops, and, in an uncommon decision for a genre generally filled with mindless action titles, decided to base their game on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic reimagining, Apocalypse Now. The genre is full of blockbuster titles that glorify the American military and fetishize violence, such as the enormously popular yet critically despised Call of Duty franchise. Spec Ops is a military shooter, a genre defined by gameplay centered around shooting a grossly unrealistic number of enemies. So opens Yager Development’s 2012 video game, Spec Ops – The Line, a production that has received great critical acclaim and sparked discussion in the emerging academia surrounding video games. It is subtle, and easily missed, but long before the narrative suggests that anything is out of the ordinary, this twist makes you feel uneasy, makes you think that you aren’t about to become the hero in your own, seven-hour action story, and maybe, the villain is you. The camera then snaps up to the second helicopter, which you now realize is yours. But, the helicopter abruptly explodes into fiery wreck, and spirals down towards the sand-covered ground below. Jumping into the action, you prepare to man the side-mounted minigun in your helicopter. The camera follows it, and another helicopter comes into view. The game’s title screen becomes the game itself, and a helicopter roars past. You grip your controller, and press start. ![]() Jimi Hendrix’s distorted rendition of “ The Star Spangled Banner” plays far in the distance three symbols of American and capitalist ideals warped in one way or another. The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, looms over the skyline as an inverted, tattered US flag flaps idly to the side. You begin overlooking a city ravaged by horrible sandstorms, standing in ruins of its former glory. ![]() It, like all games, is best experienced on your own. If you plan to play it at any point, I would highly recommend avoiding this essay. Spoiler Content: This post contains MASSIVE, GAME RUINING spoilers for Spec Ops – The Line. To kill for entertainment is harmless.” – Spec Ops – The Line
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