You know, in the beta version of the game, there were options to have Walker obey orders to leave Dubai at the start or even fight without using the white phosphorus, but too many beta testers took those options. So the developers had to take those choices out because it ruined the stupid narrative.
@@Mark-fc7tu Did you know? That Mark346533243 is so pathetic he copies and pastes this exact comment on every spec ops video he finds? Over 30+ videos and counting. Anyone with that with that high a pretentious viewpoint has no credibility the second they copy the same post. And so now I’ll do the same to everyone of his posts to let people know how pathetic he is.
@@CYB3RxPRO Did you know? That Neon Phantom is so pathetic he copies and pastes this exact comment on every spec ops video he finds? Over 30+ videos and counting. Anyone with that with that high a pretentious viewpoint has no credibility the second they copy the same post. And so now I’ll do the same to everyone of his posts to let people know how pathetic he is. :D
They're both different genres cod mw is a classic fun first-person-shooter that focuses on multiplayer while Spec Ops the line is a third person psychological horror shooter game which focused on the single player more than cod mw did
@@Yeahimman32MW used to be ( around the same time as Spec Ops) a powerhouse in storytelling rather than multiplayer focused like their competitior, Battlefield.
Incorrect comparison imo Spec ops the line is an art house installation that mimics third person shooter And cod mimics nothing, it IS straightforward shooter
The perfect song for realizing that people don't see you as a knight in shining armor, but as a broken, darkened embodiment of death. National colors faded and scorched. The smell of burning flesh and chemicals following you. The land around you invisibly burning with the writhing forms of ghosts.
This game is probably the best piece of anti-war media I have ever seen. The game sends chills down my spine just thinking about it. Jesus this is the most immersed I've ever been in a game
+EC87 The 33rd : The Christ died hen he was 33 Konrad : "There were 5000 people living in Dubaï before you arrived" : The Christ fed 5000 people multiplying the bread Konrad : " Your orders killed 47 innocent people" 47 is the equivalent of JESUS in the gematria A soldier you hear talking : " Shit!... forgive them, they don't know what they're doing" These are the words pronouced by the Christ when he was crucified. The woman with her baby on Konrad's painting looks a lot like the "Sister madonna", painted by Raphaël and showing Marie holding little Jesus. There must be others I don't remember now. Someone taught me all. In a general way, the game can be viewed from a catholic point of view, because it is full of christianism, you just need to know very well this religion and I don't, Someone taught me all the references.
+EC87 Well it is, the fact is that the game, the story has many levels of interpretation : war ethics, shooter games in general, colonialism (Vietnam war) , mythology, religion, environment, etc. That richness makes it the best military shooter game ever. But the ignorance by the majority of players, critics and even 2K has made it SO UNDER-RATED.
That point when the man is gone, and only a monster remains. One of the under-appreciated gems of our generation, a game that kicks the ass of every other war shooter by showing us that there is no glory in the blood, only scars and broken people.
Do you remember when shooters were about killing demons from hell? Those were good days. Perhaps this is an inevitable part of gaming growing up, as our childish fantasies are torn from us and we are forced to confront consequences in an unfair, uncaring and unavoidable world of hatred, misery and death.
***** i guess thats the Point: if you make a game with these themes, it has to be offensive and slap the Viewer in the face, cause the target Group probably isnt sensible enough for the subtile so that the message gets lost....
gar nichts True. I mean how many people don't realize that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's story was about the dangers of nationalisim gone too far when the game had Michael Bay-esque setpieces in almost every mission.
Pingevin1 even tho i understood the game, i still enjoyed it, and still id like to see more games with a sense behind everything, something that goes beyond everything shown before, and i clearly dont want the same cod clone bullsh*t again and again and ...
"Home? We can't go home. There's a line men like us have to cross. If we're lucky, we do what's necessary, then we die. No ... all I really want Captain is peace."
One of the most complex and compelling video games ever made, disguised as a simple third-person shooter. It made you upset, angry, bloodthirsty even... and then guilty. And the developer simply asks: "Well, how did you think immersing yourself in an intense military shooter was going to make you feel? Happy?" Brilliantly done.
It took my breath away when this theme was playing while during the executions, I noticed something interesting. The soldiers you knocked down actually start displaying more fear of you. One execution I had when knocking down a Zulu SQD member had him begging and holding out his hand saying, “Wait, no, please!” Before Walker just shot him down in cold blood. Perfect transition from the professional soldier he was initially at the beginning to a cold blooded, ruthless murderer that wanted nothing more than blind vengeance and the death of his enemy after losing everything. Truly a great portrayal of what war can do to a person, especially those that partake in the conflict. Magnificent.
Far Cry 2 had something similar with their 'Reputation System'. such a crying shame that modern day games do not implement this system in place and perfect it. Such potential.
@@esothetics Far Cry 3 had it too. At the beginning, every execution and animal killing would always displease Jason where he would say nothing but an occasional "Eghh" or Eww", and even breathe heavily when engaging the enemies because he is afraid. As the game progresses, you start to notice how more and more enemies go from the usual "Oh, enemy, kill him!" to "SHIT IT IS JASON!" but yeah, such a shame how modern games don't tend to implement such changes with the character, they all feel like emotionless robots on a mission to kill everyone and everything.
Andriykobin when I reached that part, this soldier on the mic made me more determined to finish off the 33rd but the part that really broke me was when Adams sacrificed his life to save Walker despite his hatred towards him because this is the definition of a true soldier because he never bucked orders.
@@thebatman6781 and that's his greatest sin. He just followed orders. He didn't stop Walker in his tracks and say, 'bro, we just Willie Pete'd 47 civilians and a US company, and now you're talking to two hanging corpses.' Instead he felt safer letting someone else take the wheel.
@@judyhopps9380 the ones who are idle are just as guilty as the criminals who committed the crime, following an objective without question, simply following the yellow line on the minimap without question on why you're doing it.
On my third playthrough of the game. I actually managed to kill Lugo, even though i played it twice before and knew it was a Heavy Soldier, I still felt bad for killing him after hearing his final words. "The only villain here is you, Walker."
Seeing Heavy Lugo made me sick to the stomach. It was a _terrible_ moment, even worse than when he was hanged and I spent half a minute staring at the civilian survivors that killed him before sweeping them with LMG fire from right to left, because that's what I figured Walker would do. Only five managed to escape because I ran dry. Silly me thinking I wouldn't be even more broken by the game...
I was like, "You're not Lugo. You're just a phantasm!" I was unprepared for the actual Heavy so I had to redo that part, and the illusion wasn't there.
Steven Ford I guess I got lucky, I cowered behind cover the whole time while Adams wailed away at the Lugo-Heavy with his machine gun. Went down in my first playthrough without me having to fire a shot.
Spec Ops did more than just frighten me, it angered me at times. There are parts of the game where it's legitimately self-defense and in those moments, you realize that any conceptions of morality you may have had were pointless, caught up in the gunfire and death. And then you're haunted by those horrific murals throughout the city of eyeless children. And in almost every level, you're always descending- but is it into madness, or base human nature? It's impossible to divine what purpose there was in all of it, only that by the end we knew that we couldn't keep carrying on... because we had crossed the line. And we can never go back.
+darkfireslide That white phosphorous scene, That wasn't self-defense now, was it? You could just choose to end it, to stop going forward, Leave, but you didn't. "You marched on". This game makes you wonder upon the fact that if you were given the same choice, you'd enjoy killing people, I enjoyed blasting people with the mortar , I felt so sick , I didn't play the game for hours. Even when I knew this game would make me feel guilty, It did more than that.
It compares players desire to slaughter rest of 33rd and finish the game, and enjoyment he gets out of the carnage, to Walker's own descent into madness all to end up a hero. He will save Dubai, even if he has to burn it, kill everyone in it and destroy it. It puts the mentality of a shooter player into a real military prospect, how would continuous slaughter end up eventually.
That is the point of the game. The game developers wanted you to see them as Walker sees Conrad. "I didn't want to shoot WP all over the civilians. But I had to do it. The game developers made me do it. It's all their fault". I have to admit, the moment I realized that, the game became about a 100 % more awesome for me.
+Ahmed Gulam _"That white phosphorous scene, That wasn't self-defense now, was it? You could just choose to end it, to stop going forward, Leave, but you didn't."_ Let's not kid ourselves. Even if you take the white phosphorus scene as a real life situation (which you *_shouldn't_*, no matter how much the game is asking you to suspend your disbelief - it's narrative-drven game after all, your experience matters), there's not much lee-way given. In-game, the game is literally programmed to not give you a choice. You can not move forward from the platform the mortar is on and you can't retreat, either (not like Walker could call for a "Time out!" if it was a real scenario, either). Enemies will spawn infinitely until you eventually die. *_You are meant from a narrative standpoint to use that mortar._* It's the same as turning a page in the book. The only way you can "choose" anything is to not play the game. I do not accept the argument that there is "choice" when in order to experience the story you have to do what the game forces you to do. Your option when you get to that scene is "continue as the game is scripted" or "uninstall/take a hammer to your game disk - wash hands of purchase." Realistically, I actually don't fault Walker's actions all that much. He gets a heap of shit thrown on him for using the white phosphorus when military targets were unknowingly embedded with civilians. He did nothing differently than what Russia, Turkey, America or about two dozen other countries do all the time with striking targets of opportunity and calling civilian casualties collateral damage. I don't think anyone could argue that Walker would have used the mortar had he known civilians were there. Governments wouldn't give a shit if it was a drone or an attack aircraft and would have just written off the civilian deaths.
As the ending suggests, Konrad explains how Walker wasn't even supposed to be in Dubai. If this was a real life situation, I'd retreat. Because there's a way, don't fight. Turn back. "None of this would have happened if you just stopped". But Walker wanted to do good in order to erase his bad, Be a hero. It was his fault. It was YOUR fault, it always will be. Don't get yourself involved in shit you can't handle.
There are 3 types of feelings you get playing this game. One - You do not like the things shown in this game, you feel guilty for what you did in the game. Even when you mow down an army of soldiers you feel like a dick. Two - You feel guilty for the bad things you did but you still have fun with the game. Three - You don't feel guilty, they're just AI bots and you just want to beat the game and kill Colonel Konrad or whatever. Infact, its enjoyable killing the enemies. One represents Lugo who does what he does because he has to Two represents Adams who puts his mission above his feelings but still has strong beliefs Three represents Walker who just wants to complete his mission, he doesn't care what he does so long as he does his job. The game puts you in the shoes of one of each character. Think about it. Spec Ops The Line and the Metal Gear Solid franchise are what real war games are. They do not glorify war but elaborate what impact war has on your well being and your philosophy. SOTL covers what war can do to your soul while MGS conveys how soldiers are pawns and tools in the hand of their treacherous government and that they should fight for their own ideologies, not their government's ideology.
I agree with everything you said until you mentioned MGS. MGS is nothing like a real war in any way shape or form. Its about as subtle with its themes as a freight train, and its premise is to outlandish to be taken all that seriously. There are some strong themes, but they are shown in a very overdramatic way. None of them are put forth as well as Spec Ops as well
First, you're horrified. Witnessing these atrocities fills you with heroic resolve. They forgot their purpose, they must be put down. Then, you're in shock.You couldn't have possibly done that. There is no way. You're angry. This is unfair; how could you have known any of this? This is their fault. You break. Everything you learned to care about is being forcefully stripped. A line, crossed. You stop caring. Your hatred is what keeps your going. Deep down you just want this to end. Maybe, if you kill him, things will finally turn better. But that's not really what you came for, is it? Just like them, you've also forgot your purpose. You just want him to die. You desperately want to take his life. Yet you're late. Two weeks too late. The final stage, acceptance? It's up to you. You've got the solution in your hand and a lie that refuses to keep existing. It's time to make a choice. Are you a strong man? Will you keep denying what's in front of you? Perhaps chase the Road to Glory? Or will you accept your part in all of this? Finally give a Farewell to Arms? Whatever you choose, the game has achieved it's goal. You have become Walker, and you feel the same emotions he felt throughout the game, even if they're aimed at different things.
I think the devs tryharded their storytelling ...damn that was a great story and message at the end...i literally felt thr depth of this game instead of playing it as a generic third person shooter
@@stevenpotts2752 After what Walker did, there is no living with himself. If he returns ro society he returns as a broken shell of a man. He would most likely retire on the spot and have to re-integrate into society. He wouldn’t last long.
@@leatherlass6730 He would defintely leave the military, but if he had a family to support, or or years of therapy. He would survive. The crew of the Enola gay lived with themselves. He could find a way too.
So the year is 2020. Self isolation and etc, I was alone at home, surfing steam. I bought spec ops with some crazy discount like 90% or something. I actually remember this game, I’ve seen trailer back in 2012, but I haven’t played it. So I grab this game, start playing. I thought I just gonna play a few hours at this Friday evening and will go to sleep. But damn, I finished the game in one take, found myself at 3 of the night smoking cigarette after cigarette while staring at the monitor.
Not gonna lie. Lit them the fuck up and would have irl too in that situation, and I say that as a combat vet. No way you can wear the civilian shield after hanging one of my own right in front of me, regardless of whatever their reasoning might have been. Coulda been you hung like an animal, after all. They made themselves a part of the fight and paid the price
Remember when you first came here? To Dubai? It all seems like a distant memory now. Those two days, soon to be three, have taken their toll on your body and mind. How ironic that you imagined this to be a simple recon... it turned into a rescue mission at the drop of a hat. You are doing the right thing. These people, the insurgents, the Damned 33rd... they're the real villains in all of this. They aren't soldiers. They aren't human. They aren't fellow patriots like you. They turned their back on their homeland! They have no right to stand in your way! You have to finish this mission. You must find Konrad, and deliver justice for the deeds he forced you into doing. It was never your fault. That's what you've been telling yourself. Ever since the incident at the Gate. There was never a choice. Now look around you. Look at the destruction and death you have caused. Look at the wounds coating your body. The shell casings on the ground. The medical hypos and bandages you have applied time and time again to your bloodstained gashes. But it's a small price to pay. As long as you can find Konrad... as long as you can stop him, and make him pay for what the 33rd has done... you can still be a hero. That's what you are. The hero, here to save this ruined city by any means at your disposal. Remember when you first came here? To Dubai? I wonder what the 'you' from back then would say about what you're doing now.
War makes monsters of us all, molds us into machines that simultaneously feel empathy for other humans yet are capable of gouging out eachothers eyes and burning eachother alive at a simple becking call ir an order
"There were over five thousand people alive in Dubai, the day before you arrived. How many are alive today, I wonder? How many will be alive tomorrow?"
@@RestlessBogatyrNow without remaster it is forever legally gone. You can't buy it in Steam or any other marketplace. Tally-ho lads, warcrimes are still available at green seas!
Only game that made a comeback during the PS1 era and taunt you for playing and gave a new perspective about the atmosphere of the military shooter genre.
I enjoy how the music seems to reflect Walker's, Lugo's, and Adam's state of mind. It starts off slow, almost tired, trying to take a breath and recuperate before the other instruments really kick in and it's back into the fight, knee-deep in death and sand. They can't stop until they complete their mission, because those 47 charred bodies would've died for nothing, Konrad has to die, even if it means they die too, but they'll take the entire Damned 33rd with them if that's what it takes.
I love this game so incredibly much. No game has ever hit me so hard so fast. No game, by the end of it, has made me sickened with myself. I wanted to cry, I wanted to vomit. I wanted to curl up into a ball and stop existing. It's a hell of a ride. Beat it in one caffiene-fueled night, took a break for maybe fifteen minutes between two roughly 4 hour play sessions. And honestly? There could've been no better way to experience the game. I loved it from the second I booted it up. The artstyle, the HUD, the sounds. But I never knew what I was getting into. To this day, I still think about this game. It haunts my memories. Nolan North did an amazing job voicing Walker. There could have been no better. And as the game progresses, in addition to a more beaten and bruised model of Walker, his lines get more frantic, more angry, guttural, and desperate. Walker is clinging to his sanity by a thin line. And then he loses it. Months later, I still listen to this song. It still brings tears to my eyes. I can still feel myself trying not to be sick. The filthy, angry echoes of the electric guitar coupled with the somber twanging of an acoustic will never cease to melt me inside. This song is harsh, it's filthy. There's no comfort in it. This is not only the best song from Spec Ops: The Line, but my favorite game song of all time. It perfectly fits the entire theme of the game, all the events leading up to and after it. There are no happy endings. Even the "Good" ending of Walker returning home terrified me. I felt so awful. Now every time I play, I have him shoot himself. It's such a strange yet fitting option to give him. After all those atrocities, all the war crimes. Everything he's done. There isn't a redemption, but at least the world will be rid of a monster like Walker. I could keep gushing about just how amazing this game is. I really could. But I'll leave with this: I wish I had actually payed for the game. I got it free from Humble Bundle. I would sell mine and the remaining fragments of Walker's soul to re-experience this game.
The worst form of PTSD: No words can describe it and no amount of time given or granted can ever be able to process or rationalise all that had happened.
This is probably one of the greatest depictions of a personl hell. The world in flames, the sand filled with corpses of people that either hate you, that you dissapointed, that you crush them for being in your way without even wanting to, you being alone as the failure you are. But the worst part is that not only you created this all by yourself, but when you are just tired to keep looking at it you can't just drop and joing the corpses in the sand. You have to keep looking at what you did, until you look at everything and you say to yourself: "I did this."
My cognitive dissonance started much earlier, when I realized that this was Walker's story, not necessarily mine. In the first level, I tried to go back and radio Walker's superiors. The game does not let you.
The game is practically telling us to think outside the box, it's not going to reward us an alternate ending or anything for "leaving Dubai early"-we gotta go beyond the game.
Well one interpretation of the game is that Walker died in the opening scene in the helicopter and what plays out after is him reliving past events repeatedly in a kind of purgatory. So because Walker chose not to follow orders and leave Dubai as soon as he encountered survivors in real life, that option is closed to you the player as well. All that remains is the descent. Only when he chooses to relinquish his weapon in the end can he escape his purgatory and move on to the next stage of his existence.
Yeah, like people say it's kinda meta narrative. It is really Walker's story. You might say there was really no choice for you. So said Walker but there is always was the choice. It just wasn't obvious for you at the moment, nor it was for him. Since you felt dissociation, you could just stop "but on you marched". You could never start that journey and never really care, but you were already too involved, in the middle of it. You might have felt disgust for you action. But it wasn't you, right? It was Walker, who left you no choice, it was his fault all along! Like it was Conrad for him. There are a lot of games i paid for and abandoned or even never played. And it was like I wanted to get worth of my money when i kept playing Spec Ops. I was genuinely enjoying it. "What happened here was out of my control" and "None of this is real". So, are we that different in the end?
This game is what happens when you let a good writer who has a story to tell work with their singular vision, and no one else's. Spec Ops wasn't tainted by any external forces. It was directed with purpose.
If there's one good saying that perfectly describes this game (especially this scene in particular irony), then it's this. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Thinking about the ending still gives me chills and makes me think about all of the theroies about this game's story, that is truely amazing considering I finished it 4 times and got the platinum trophy over a year ago and I still think about this game and all it represents. Masterpiece.
The idea of a harsh , brutal desert where people are clutching onto the symbols of their army while fighting to simply survive kind of reminds me of the Divide from New Vegas.
And the Courier reminds me of Walker, both unknowingly doomed these places with their actions. Walker more so murdered the city after the storm, while the courier launched the original nuke and then another one. Dooming it even worse than before. Both end up making things worse in the long run
This game is one of the most accurate and realistic depiction of war in entertainment media history. It starts off like any military action shooter but overtime it turns into a horrifying experience. It's a masterpiece.
god i love this music. the bravado of the earlier tracks are gone. theres still a feeling of grit and determination in this one, but in a different way. It feels more somber and tortured. As if Walker knows what hes doing is wrong, but because accepting the atrocities hes committed would be too much for him to handle, he decides not to. Walker is literally fighting his own conscience the entire time. He knows he is a monster, but he will not accept it.
This it shows how walking is doing it. It shows how he is crossing the line. he has killed so many innocent people and now he is forced to put down his best friend lugo and is forced to abandon his friend Adam. We see the insanity the suffering walker is going through. We see how he is losing sense in reality and is going out of his way to make things right. But is he really trying to make things right out of the kindness of his heart or maybe it’s a illusion to trick us on how terrible walker as a human being is and how he just want to be what he never was a hero.
After awhile, the game became so difficult, that the phrases the loading screen tries to use to guilt you feels less like the game is judging you and more like the game is mocking you for sucking.
The bridge is my most favourite level in the whole of my days of gaming just the feeling of two men Vs a whole army who are afraid of how evil you are is the most badass thing ever because you are unstoppable because you are pure evil
Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Chaplain the paradise that turned into hell thanks to some soldiers who wanted be something they're not... heroes. P.S. John Konrad is included amongst the infamous idiots who tore the city!!!!
I played this song while I played through the ending of Far Cry 5 when all of the nuclear bomb are going off and everything is getting torched around you. This song just fits in that ending.
I like shooters and play a lot of them. I got Spec Ops the Line on a Steam sale during the holidays in 2012. After playing it, I felt like an asshole and I swear I could not play shooters for a very long time. The mature, dark, and provocative story in the game made me question an entire genre. I don't think any game I've ever played had that kind of impact on me. Even now, Konrad's speech in the final chapter is stuck in my head. He was not only speaking to Walker, but me the player, questioning why I play these kinds of games and what I think I'm getting out of them. The only wishes I had for the game was that it wasn't saddled with an unnecessary multiplayer mode and the most generic of names: Spec Ops. Who knows maybe it would've sold a few more copies if the name stood out more on store shelves. I almost wish it were a Silent Hill game, as it can be viewed a psychological horror.
2K forced Yager studios to put the competitive multiplayer mode into the game. There's also a co-op mode that improves upon all the gameplay of the singleplayer, though it only has 4 loosely connected levels as opposed to a campaign/coherent story, which sucks, I was hoping for a co-op version of the campaign where player 1 controls Walker and player 2 has thier choice of playing as either Lugo or Adams with the scene with the civilians playing out differently if player 2 chose to play as Lugo, or perhaps even it's own campaign entirely. Modders, please make this happen.
This game is downright evil. I couldn't sleep 2 weeks straight because of this, not because of the creepy symbolism, not because of the corpses, not even the white phosphorus scene. I was afraid of myself, Spec Ops: The Line freaked me out by showing me myself. I couldn't sleep because I was afraid of myself.
Groxworld1 (The person giving this quote is on a small boat, just outside the mouth of the river Thames in England.) "Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. “We have lost the first of the ebb,” said the Director suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky-seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." That quote is from the end of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", the book Spec Ops was based on. The quote in specific is the writer's thoughts after hearing a friend relate his experiences traveling up a river in the jungles of Africa, looking for the missing Mr. Kurtz. I highly recommend reading it, as it looks at many of the same themes Spec Ops does, only in a different, but no less dark, setting. It's available on Wikisource (a part of Wikipedia) for free (here: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness ), as it has entered the public domain.
Groxworld1 it showed us that what looks right is not, and that there's no good or evil no right or wrong its just a matter of perspective but i did like this game for it shows that even today in the age where every one thinks that only multiplayer sales you can make a game that will enter the history books as one of its best by investing in single player a couple extra hours more then the compatition.... yes EA im talking to you 5 years with no solid single player says alot
*"Shit, another fucking heavy! Take cover, goddammit!"* *"LUGO?"* *"You outta your fuckin' mind?!"* *"YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!!!"* *"Shit, open fire!!"* *"DON'T YOU GET IT? IT'S ALL A LIE!!!"* *"NO!"* *"YOU'RE NO FUCKIN' HERO!!!"* *"I tried to save you!"* *"YOU CAN'T SAVE ANYONE!!!"* *"I TRIED!!!"* *"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! YOURS!!!"* *"JUST FUCKIN' DIE!"* *"The only villain here is you, Walker. There's only you..."*
It's funny actually. I played this game and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got the majority of the messages that were implemented here. But I was not emotionally distraught like (apparently) most that played this game. And I'm not here to judge either. These dark themes are in the game for a reason. To provoke an emotional response from the player and get them to think. But even as I was doing "unspeakable" things in the game, I felt the way I do most times with any game I play: completely desensitized. Like one of the tips in the game's loading screens' reads: "The US Military does not condone the killing of innocent civilians. But this isn't real. So why should you care?" I don't. I didn't care. I don't think I ever will care when I slaughter people in a video game. Maybe I'm a monster to you. Maybe I don't fully allow myself to be immersed or emotionally invested in a piece of (albeit, great) fiction because I've played so many violent video games and have grown numb to the violence. Maybe I see the world more in black and white than in shades of grey. Who knows? All in all: great game! Good voice acting. Solid game mechanics (The shooting, the melee, the executions and how they grew more and more vicious as Walker plummeted into savagery, etc.). And a very good story. Most certainly not what you'd expect in a modern military shooter these days.
something is wrong in this game, character models, fucking great, aim, ehh not so good, but the fucking eyes are black, they are not even white near that NO IT'S A FULLY BLACK FUCKING EYE
This isn't a shooter, it's a survival horror video game and you are the monster.
Nice take. I like it.
just like doom but depressing as shit
It's like DOOM, but you're the demon.
Spec Ops is Doom huh?
*Loads White Phosphorous with sadistic intent.*
"This is where the fun begins."
@@UnknownOps NO
Phosphorus is white,
Water is blue
Welcome to hell Walker, I've been waiting for you!
Water? The trucks are destroyed! Though when Walker is about to meet the rescue squad it rains xD
How about-
Phosphorous is white
Red, white and blue
Welcome to hell walker
We’ve been waiting for you
Imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery, I thank you.
@@obamacheck3567 Red, white blue from American flag. Ingenious.
@@williambrady9578 but its also the most blatant way of mediocrety
"Where's all this violence coming from? Is it the video games? I bet it's the video games..."
Metafiction, I love it.
News channels: write that down
You know, in the beta version of the game, there were options to have Walker obey orders to leave Dubai at the start or even fight without using the white phosphorus, but too many beta testers took those options. So the developers had to take those choices out because it ruined the stupid narrative.
@@Mark-fc7tu Did you know? That Mark346533243 is so pathetic he copies and pastes this exact comment on every spec ops video he finds? Over 30+ videos and counting. Anyone with that with that high a pretentious viewpoint has no credibility the second they copy the same post. And so now I’ll do the same to everyone of his posts to let people know how pathetic he is.
@@CYB3RxPRO Did you know? That Neon Phantom is so pathetic he copies and pastes this exact comment on every spec ops video he finds? Over 30+ videos and counting. Anyone with that with that high a pretentious viewpoint has no credibility the second they copy the same post. And so now I’ll do the same to everyone of his posts to let people know how pathetic he is. :D
"Your friends, dead. The world on fire. And you...alone. You're a failure. Finally, something we have in common."
It's crazy people are praising CoD MW for doing something Spec Ops did better
They're both different genres cod mw is a classic fun first-person-shooter that focuses on multiplayer while Spec Ops the line is a third person psychological horror shooter game which focused on the single player more than cod mw did
@@Yeahimman32MW used to be ( around the same time as Spec Ops) a powerhouse in storytelling rather than multiplayer focused like their competitior, Battlefield.
It's too bad the multiplayer couldn't be more.
It can be said that Spec Ops The Line is art because it transmits several feelings to you, a great game.
Incorrect comparison imo
Spec ops the line is an art house installation that mimics third person shooter
And cod mimics nothing, it IS straightforward shooter
The only villain here is you, Walker. There's only you.
No, all of this, it was YOUR fault!!
"It's Konrad. He did it. All of it." And we players are telling the same,from the begining to the end "It's Walker. He did it. All of it."
@@wojszach4443 WAIT, WE DID THIS ALREADY!
Walker really is in Hell, and he won't even try to get out.
@@chaospacemarine8330 maybe he can't?
@@wojszach4443 he would "if he'd just stop", no?
The perfect song for realizing that people don't see you as a knight in shining armor, but as a broken, darkened embodiment of death. National colors faded and scorched. The smell of burning flesh and chemicals following you. The land around you invisibly burning with the writhing forms of ghosts.
SR Brant get a life
Says someone that posted on a 2 year old post that now I have posted on a 3 month post.
Nejc Philistine.
That was beautiful, like poetry!
@@SunsetLotus amateurs. i am far more late to this comment section than you could ever imagine
"You're no saviour. Your talents lie elsewhere"
This game is probably the best piece of anti-war media I have ever seen. The game sends chills down my spine just thinking about it. Jesus this is the most immersed I've ever been in a game
+EC87 It's funny because Jesus is also multi-referenced in this game
Really? Never knew that
+EC87 The 33rd : The Christ died hen he was 33
Konrad : "There were 5000 people living in Dubaï before you arrived" : The Christ fed 5000 people multiplying the bread
Konrad : " Your orders killed 47 innocent people" 47 is the equivalent of JESUS in the gematria
A soldier you hear talking : " Shit!... forgive them, they don't know what they're doing" These are the words pronouced by the Christ when he was crucified.
The woman with her baby on Konrad's painting looks a lot like the "Sister madonna", painted by Raphaël and showing Marie holding little Jesus.
There must be others I don't remember now.
Someone taught me all.
In a general way, the game can be viewed from a catholic point of view, because it is full of christianism, you just need to know very well this religion and I don't, Someone taught me all the references.
Wow! I'm speechless. This game has so many layers to it. Its nigh on impossible to explore everything this game has to offer
+EC87 Well it is, the fact is that the game, the story has many levels of interpretation : war ethics, shooter games in general, colonialism (Vietnam war) , mythology, religion, environment, etc.
That richness makes it the best military shooter game ever. But the ignorance by the majority of players, critics and even 2K has made it SO UNDER-RATED.
That point when the man is gone, and only a monster remains. One of the under-appreciated gems of our generation, a game that kicks the ass of every other war shooter by showing us that there is no glory in the blood, only scars and broken people.
Do you remember when shooters were about killing demons from hell? Those were good days. Perhaps this is an inevitable part of gaming growing up, as our childish fantasies are torn from us and we are forced to confront consequences in an unfair, uncaring and unavoidable world of hatred, misery and death.
Trustworthy Tim the true victims of war are the civilians caught in the middle of the crossfire!!!
Mortablunt *blows long raspberry*
@@thebatman6781 Yes, because the dead soldiers and the survivors with ptsd clearly aren't "true" victims
I dont know why but I like this comment a lot. Make a point to read this whenever I come on this song :D
This is what having to work on a group project all by yourself at 12 AM sounds like
Roses are red,
Our situation seems grim,
It takes a strong man, to deny what’s in front of him
...Stronger then you were.
@@kazukokirigaya8043 Whatever you say, Walker.
No matter what happens next, don’t be too hard on yourself Walker
@@Jamaldidntdoit Even, after all you've done, you can still go home.
Lucky you.
@@Azazelium. Command, This is Falcon-1, I think we found him , Captain Walker
Great game but the question is
"Do you feel like a hero yet?"
@@LiceDuhaPRODUCTIONS oh.... ok then
*I FEEN LIKE KILLIN A BUNCH OF DUNBASS DUBAIS .....YEEEHHHHHHHHAW BICH!*
I do to
I feel like cringing on movies and games whenever a character tried to be the so called "Hero".
Occasionally
i really hope there will be a game like this again but for now this game is absolutely awesome
NieR? It beat Spec Ops with similar themes two years prior. But it might be harder to notice since NieR is alot more subtle.
***** i guess thats the Point: if you make a game with these themes, it has to be offensive and slap the Viewer in the face, cause the target Group probably isnt sensible enough for the subtile so that the message gets lost....
gar nichts
True. I mean how many people don't realize that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's story was about the dangers of nationalisim gone too far when the game had Michael Bay-esque setpieces in almost every mission.
If you really wish for a similiar game, you clearly didn´t understood the point of the game.
Pingevin1 even tho i understood the game, i still enjoyed it, and still id like to see more games with a sense behind everything, something that goes beyond everything shown before, and i clearly dont want the same cod clone bullsh*t again and again and ...
"Home? We can't go home. There's a line men like us have to cross. If we're lucky, we do what's necessary, then we die. No ... all I really want Captain is peace."
Price: You draw the line wherever you need it, Sergeant.
We get dirty and the world stays clean. That's the mission.
One of the most complex and compelling video games ever made, disguised as a simple third-person shooter.
It made you upset, angry, bloodthirsty even... and then guilty.
And the developer simply asks: "Well, how did you think immersing yourself in an intense military shooter was going to make you feel? Happy?"
Brilliantly done.
I don't think that the game was complex.
Bro this was years ago
@@notsoawesomeguy5109 Hm?
@@Mark-fc7tu The comment you replied to was from 3 years ago, dude is never gonna see your reply lol
@@LewdSCP1471A Is the irony truly necessary?
"None of this would have happened if YOU had just Stopped."
The riff of despair
It took my breath away when this theme was playing while during the executions, I noticed something interesting.
The soldiers you knocked down actually start displaying more fear of you. One execution I had when knocking down a Zulu SQD member had him begging and holding out his hand saying, “Wait, no, please!” Before Walker just shot him down in cold blood.
Perfect transition from the professional soldier he was initially at the beginning to a cold blooded, ruthless murderer that wanted nothing more than blind vengeance and the death of his enemy after losing everything.
Truly a great portrayal of what war can do to a person, especially those that partake in the conflict. Magnificent.
Far Cry 2 had something similar with their 'Reputation System'. such a crying shame that modern day games do not implement this system in place and perfect it. Such potential.
@@esothetics Far Cry 3 had it too. At the beginning, every execution and animal killing would always displease Jason where he would say nothing but an occasional "Eghh" or Eww", and even breathe heavily when engaging the enemies because he is afraid.
As the game progresses, you start to notice how more and more enemies go from the usual "Oh, enemy, kill him!" to "SHIT IT IS JASON!" but yeah, such a shame how modern games don't tend to implement such changes with the character, they all feel like emotionless robots on a mission to kill everyone and everything.
“Shit!”
“Another fucking heavy take cover goddamnit”
“LUGO?!”
“You outta your fucking mind!?”
“You left me to die”
We tried to save you!!!
@@johnkongsaisy7014you can’t save anyone!
"Don't you get it?! It's all a lie!"
@@happysebas1185 NO!
@@Combine_elite168
"You ain't no fucking hero!"
Code Red, Delta is in the area! The marina has fallen, the whole fucking city has fallen! All remaining units are inbound, get to your stations, move!
This is when I really felt felt like the ultimate bad guy , so epic.
Andriykobin when I reached that part, this soldier on the mic made me more determined to finish off the 33rd but the part that really broke me was when Adams sacrificed his life to save Walker despite his hatred towards him because this is the definition of a true soldier because he never bucked orders.
@@thebatman6781 and that's his greatest sin. He just followed orders. He didn't stop Walker in his tracks and say, 'bro, we just Willie Pete'd 47 civilians and a US company, and now you're talking to two hanging corpses.' Instead he felt safer letting someone else take the wheel.
@@judyhopps9380 the ones who are idle are just as guilty as the criminals who committed the crime, following an objective without question, simply following the yellow line on the minimap without question on why you're doing it.
@@judyhopps9380 Even worse is that Adams was the one who suggested using the mortar with WP rounds.
"It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him" - Colonel John Konrad 33rd C.O. MIA
Ze German Fox Stronger than you...
***** I don't believe what I'm seeing...you...you're fragmenting and falling apart in faults and pieces...what is this?
It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him. - Captain Martin Walker
*KIA
@@Loydthehighwayman no hes MIA nobody knows if Konrad is dead or still alive
You know a game is good when you search for the soundtrack alone to, one last time, have that feeling
On my third playthrough of the game. I actually managed to kill Lugo, even though i played it twice before and knew it was a Heavy Soldier, I still felt bad for killing him after hearing his final words.
"The only villain here is you, Walker."
"There's only you..."
Seeing Heavy Lugo made me sick to the stomach. It was a _terrible_ moment, even worse than when he was hanged and I spent half a minute staring at the civilian survivors that killed him before sweeping them with LMG fire from right to left, because that's what I figured Walker would do. Only five managed to escape because I ran dry.
Silly me thinking I wouldn't be even more broken by the game...
I was like, "You're not Lugo. You're just a phantasm!"
I was unprepared for the actual Heavy so I had to redo that part, and the illusion wasn't there.
It's starting to feel like I'm the only one that beat him for the first time, and I started the game on suicide mission.
Steven Ford I guess I got lucky, I cowered behind cover the whole time while Adams wailed away at the Lugo-Heavy with his machine gun. Went down in my first playthrough without me having to fire a shot.
Spec Ops did more than just frighten me, it angered me at times. There are parts of the game where it's legitimately self-defense and in those moments, you realize that any conceptions of morality you may have had were pointless, caught up in the gunfire and death. And then you're haunted by those horrific murals throughout the city of eyeless children. And in almost every level, you're always descending- but is it into madness, or base human nature? It's impossible to divine what purpose there was in all of it, only that by the end we knew that we couldn't keep carrying on... because we had crossed the line. And we can never go back.
+darkfireslide That white phosphorous scene, That wasn't self-defense now, was it? You could just choose to end it, to stop going forward, Leave, but you didn't. "You marched on". This game makes you wonder upon the fact that if you were given the same choice, you'd enjoy killing people, I enjoyed blasting people with the mortar , I felt so sick , I didn't play the game for hours. Even when I knew this game would make me feel guilty, It did more than that.
It compares players desire to slaughter rest of 33rd and finish the game, and enjoyment he gets out of the carnage, to Walker's own descent into madness all to end up a hero. He will save Dubai, even if he has to burn it, kill everyone in it and destroy it. It puts the mentality of a shooter player into a real military prospect, how would continuous slaughter end up eventually.
That is the point of the game. The game developers wanted you to see them as Walker sees Conrad.
"I didn't want to shoot WP all over the civilians. But I had to do it. The game developers made me do it. It's all their fault".
I have to admit, the moment I realized that, the game became about a 100 % more awesome for me.
+Ahmed Gulam
_"That white phosphorous scene, That wasn't self-defense now, was it? You could just choose to end it, to stop going forward, Leave, but you didn't."_
Let's not kid ourselves. Even if you take the white phosphorus scene as a real life situation (which you *_shouldn't_*, no matter how much the game is asking you to suspend your disbelief - it's narrative-drven game after all, your experience matters), there's not much lee-way given. In-game, the game is literally programmed to not give you a choice. You can not move forward from the platform the mortar is on and you can't retreat, either (not like Walker could call for a "Time out!" if it was a real scenario, either). Enemies will spawn infinitely until you eventually die. *_You are meant from a narrative standpoint to use that mortar._* It's the same as turning a page in the book. The only way you can "choose" anything is to not play the game. I do not accept the argument that there is "choice" when in order to experience the story you have to do what the game forces you to do. Your option when you get to that scene is "continue as the game is scripted" or "uninstall/take a hammer to your game disk - wash hands of purchase."
Realistically, I actually don't fault Walker's actions all that much. He gets a heap of shit thrown on him for using the white phosphorus when military targets were unknowingly embedded with civilians. He did nothing differently than what Russia, Turkey, America or about two dozen other countries do all the time with striking targets of opportunity and calling civilian casualties collateral damage. I don't think anyone could argue that Walker would have used the mortar had he known civilians were there. Governments wouldn't give a shit if it was a drone or an attack aircraft and would have just written off the civilian deaths.
As the ending suggests, Konrad explains how Walker wasn't even supposed to be in Dubai. If this was a real life situation, I'd retreat. Because there's a way, don't fight. Turn back. "None of this would have happened if you just stopped".
But Walker wanted to do good in order to erase his bad, Be a hero.
It was his fault. It was YOUR fault, it always will be.
Don't get yourself involved in shit you can't handle.
This game is a perfect example of not doing "violence because violence" instead it uses violence as a way to send a powerful message
There are 3 types of feelings you get playing this game.
One - You do not like the things shown in this game, you feel guilty for what you did in the game. Even when you mow down an army of soldiers you feel like a dick.
Two - You feel guilty for the bad things you did but you still have fun with the game.
Three - You don't feel guilty, they're just AI bots and you just want to beat the game and kill Colonel Konrad or whatever. Infact, its enjoyable killing the enemies.
One represents Lugo who does what he does because he has to
Two represents Adams who puts his mission above his feelings but still has strong beliefs
Three represents Walker who just wants to complete his mission, he doesn't care what he does so long as he does his job.
The game puts you in the shoes of one of each character. Think about it.
Spec Ops The Line and the Metal Gear Solid franchise are what real war games are. They do not glorify war but elaborate what impact war has on your well being and your philosophy. SOTL covers what war can do to your soul while MGS conveys how soldiers are pawns and tools in the hand of their treacherous government and that they should fight for their own ideologies, not their government's ideology.
awesome a completely new angle to the context of the story cool:).
you have met a terrible fate, haven't you
***** You are right. There are no winners in war. No inherent "goodies vs baddies" like the news seems to often say
Well said.
I agree with everything you said until you mentioned MGS. MGS is nothing like a real war in any way shape or form. Its about as subtle with its themes as a freight train, and its premise is to outlandish to be taken all that seriously. There are some strong themes, but they are shown in a very overdramatic way. None of them are put forth as well as Spec Ops as well
I’ve heard so many praise this game but never once talk about the ost, my god it’s great
First, you're horrified. Witnessing these atrocities fills you with heroic resolve. They forgot their purpose, they must be put down.
Then, you're in shock.You couldn't have possibly done that. There is no way.
You're angry. This is unfair; how could you have known any of this? This is their fault.
You break. Everything you learned to care about is being forcefully stripped. A line, crossed.
You stop caring. Your hatred is what keeps your going. Deep down you just want this to end. Maybe, if you kill him, things will finally turn better.
But that's not really what you came for, is it? Just like them, you've also forgot your purpose. You just want him to die. You desperately want to take his life.
Yet you're late. Two weeks too late.
The final stage, acceptance? It's up to you. You've got the solution in your hand and a lie that refuses to keep existing. It's time to make a choice.
Are you a strong man? Will you keep denying what's in front of you? Perhaps chase the Road to Glory?
Or will you accept your part in all of this? Finally give a Farewell to Arms?
Whatever you choose, the game has achieved it's goal. You have become Walker, and you feel the same emotions he felt throughout the game, even if they're aimed at different things.
I think the devs tryharded their storytelling ...damn that was a great story and message at the end...i literally felt thr depth of this game instead of playing it as a generic third person shooter
Why not take the Road Back? Accept your part in it, and find a way to live with yourself.
@@stevenpotts2752 After what Walker did, there is no living with himself. If he returns ro society he returns as a broken shell of a man. He would most likely retire on the spot and have to re-integrate into society. He wouldn’t last long.
@@leatherlass6730 He would defintely leave the military, but if he had a family to support, or or years of therapy. He would survive. The crew of the Enola gay lived with themselves. He could find a way too.
@@stevenpotts2752 what happened with the Enola Gay?
So the year is 2020. Self isolation and etc, I was alone at home, surfing steam.
I bought spec ops with some crazy discount like 90% or something. I actually remember this game, I’ve seen trailer back in 2012, but I haven’t played it.
So I grab this game, start playing. I thought I just gonna play a few hours at this Friday evening and will go to sleep.
But damn, I finished the game in one take, found myself at 3 of the night smoking cigarette after cigarette while staring at the monitor.
A Line, Crossed...Chose vengeance.
for Lugo...
for Adams...
hell...
for me
***** it takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him
+desertwarfare 141 but if the truth is undeniable, you create your own
''I didn't mean to hurt anybody''
''No one ever does Walker''
Hah. Hell you said. Welcome to Dubai, gentleman.
Not gonna lie. Lit them the fuck up and would have irl too in that situation, and I say that as a combat vet. No way you can wear the civilian shield after hanging one of my own right in front of me, regardless of whatever their reasoning might have been. Coulda been you hung like an animal, after all. They made themselves a part of the fight and paid the price
"The only villain here is you, Walker."
"There's only you."
Remember when you first came here? To Dubai?
It all seems like a distant memory now. Those two days, soon to be three, have taken their toll on your body and mind. How ironic that you imagined this to be a simple recon... it turned into a rescue mission at the drop of a hat.
You are doing the right thing. These people, the insurgents, the Damned 33rd... they're the real villains in all of this. They aren't soldiers. They aren't human. They aren't fellow patriots like you.
They turned their back on their homeland! They have no right to stand in your way!
You have to finish this mission. You must find Konrad, and deliver justice for the deeds he forced you into doing. It was never your fault.
That's what you've been telling yourself. Ever since the incident at the Gate. There was never a choice.
Now look around you. Look at the destruction and death you have caused. Look at the wounds coating your body. The shell casings on the ground. The medical hypos and bandages you have applied time and time again to your bloodstained gashes.
But it's a small price to pay. As long as you can find Konrad... as long as you can stop him, and make him pay for what the 33rd has done... you can still be a hero.
That's what you are. The hero, here to save this ruined city by any means at your disposal.
Remember when you first came here? To Dubai?
I wonder what the 'you' from back then would say about what you're doing now.
Okay edgy boy
they had one helluva day man
War makes monsters of us all, molds us into machines that simultaneously feel empathy for other humans yet are capable of gouging out eachothers eyes and burning eachother alive at a simple becking call ir an order
@@cerberuskane5061 man shut up
Awesome
"There were over five thousand people alive in Dubai, the day before you arrived.
How many are alive today,
I wonder?
How many will be alive tomorrow?"
"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."
YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!!!
"Lugo?!"
James Robbins you are not a hero!
RobPlays.HDP
Don't you get it? It's all a lie!
RobPlays.HDP The only bad guy here, Walker... Is _you_...
@@feunap "You can't save anyone!"
[insert quote from game here]
GRENADE!
"Well, there goes my fantasy football league.."
"is it the video games? i bet it's the video games."
Shot-gunner heading this way!!!
Gerbs1913 "WATCH OUT, CRAZY FUCKER WITH A KNIFE!"
"If you get this far, why stop now?"
Welcome to hell, Walker. We've been expecting you.
This soundtrack sends chills down my spine every time I listen. Awesome soundtrack to an awesome game.
This game needs a remaster
No... its perfect the way it is...
@@RestlessBogatyrNow without remaster it is forever legally gone. You can't buy it in Steam or any other marketplace.
Tally-ho lads, warcrimes are still available at green seas!
@@calluxdoaron1903you can buy a physical copy tho it’s expensive.
So Yar Har sail the seas, being a pirate is alright with me
today's gaming industry wouldnt have the balls for it
-YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!
-Lugo?!
-You out of your fucking mind?!
Red blood, white phosphorus, blue water.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“No one ever does.”
"You're no saviour, your talents lie elsewhere. -The truth Walker is: that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not, A hero."
Only game that made a comeback during the PS1 era and taunt you for playing and gave a new perspective about the atmosphere of the military shooter genre.
"If you woke up at a different time, at a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"
-Tyler Durden
your profile pic made me hate you, but nothing else did.
it depends, if your mind is still intact
Didn't the Narrator say that?
Have you ever watched in YOUR entire existence an unsignificant movie called "Fight Club"?
Ahmed Ghulam yes, but it's not easy!!!
I enjoy how the music seems to reflect Walker's, Lugo's, and Adam's state of mind. It starts off slow, almost tired, trying to take a breath and recuperate before the other instruments really kick in and it's back into the fight, knee-deep in death and sand. They can't stop until they complete their mission, because those 47 charred bodies would've died for nothing, Konrad has to die, even if it means they die too, but they'll take the entire Damned 33rd with them if that's what it takes.
I love this game so incredibly much. No game has ever hit me so hard so fast. No game, by the end of it, has made me sickened with myself. I wanted to cry, I wanted to vomit. I wanted to curl up into a ball and stop existing.
It's a hell of a ride. Beat it in one caffiene-fueled night, took a break for maybe fifteen minutes between two roughly 4 hour play sessions. And honestly? There could've been no better way to experience the game.
I loved it from the second I booted it up. The artstyle, the HUD, the sounds. But I never knew what I was getting into. To this day, I still think about this game. It haunts my memories.
Nolan North did an amazing job voicing Walker. There could have been no better. And as the game progresses, in addition to a more beaten and bruised model of Walker, his lines get more frantic, more angry, guttural, and desperate. Walker is clinging to his sanity by a thin line. And then he loses it.
Months later, I still listen to this song. It still brings tears to my eyes. I can still feel myself trying not to be sick.
The filthy, angry echoes of the electric guitar coupled with the somber twanging of an acoustic will never cease to melt me inside. This song is harsh, it's filthy. There's no comfort in it. This is not only the best song from Spec Ops: The Line, but my favorite game song of all time. It perfectly fits the entire theme of the game, all the events leading up to and after it. There are no happy endings. Even the "Good" ending of Walker returning home terrified me. I felt so awful.
Now every time I play, I have him shoot himself. It's such a strange yet fitting option to give him. After all those atrocities, all the war crimes. Everything he's done. There isn't a redemption, but at least the world will be rid of a monster like Walker.
I could keep gushing about just how amazing this game is. I really could. But I'll leave with this: I wish I had actually payed for the game. I got it free from Humble Bundle. I would sell mine and the remaining fragments of Walker's soul to re-experience this game.
Well written comment
The man’s gone, the killer remains
The worst form of PTSD: No words can describe it and no amount of time given or granted can ever be able to process or rationalise all that had happened.
This is probably one of the greatest depictions of a personl hell. The world in flames, the sand filled with corpses of people that either hate you, that you dissapointed, that you crush them for being in your way without even wanting to, you being alone as the failure you are. But the worst part is that not only you created this all by yourself, but when you are just tired to keep looking at it you can't just drop and joing the corpses in the sand. You have to keep looking at what you did, until you look at everything and you say to yourself:
"I did this."
this game really changed my perception towards fps games, and specifically the military shooter genre.
My cognitive dissonance started much earlier, when I realized that this was Walker's story, not necessarily mine. In the first level, I tried to go back and radio Walker's superiors.
The game does not let you.
shyftor it's more like Walker doesn't let you, the hero wannabe in walker would never let you leave
The game is practically telling us to think outside the box, it's not going to reward us an alternate ending or anything for "leaving Dubai early"-we gotta go beyond the game.
Well one interpretation of the game is that Walker died in the opening scene in the helicopter and what plays out after is him reliving past events repeatedly in a kind of purgatory. So because Walker chose not to follow orders and leave Dubai as soon as he encountered survivors in real life, that option is closed to you the player as well. All that remains is the descent. Only when he chooses to relinquish his weapon in the end can he escape his purgatory and move on to the next stage of his existence.
Yeah, like people say it's kinda meta narrative. It is really Walker's story. You might say there was really no choice for you. So said Walker but there is always was the choice. It just wasn't obvious for you at the moment, nor it was for him. Since you felt dissociation, you could just stop "but on you marched". You could never start that journey and never really care, but you were already too involved, in the middle of it. You might have felt disgust for you action. But it wasn't you, right? It was Walker, who left you no choice, it was his fault all along! Like it was Conrad for him.
There are a lot of games i paid for and abandoned or even never played. And it was like I wanted to get worth of my money when i kept playing Spec Ops. I was genuinely enjoying it. "What happened here was out of my control" and "None of this is real".
So, are we that different in the end?
"It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him"
This seems strangely relevant now
This game is what happens when you let a good writer who has a story to tell work with their singular vision, and no one else's. Spec Ops wasn't tainted by any external forces. It was directed with purpose.
That's also how Infinite Warfare happened and ended up as good as it did. In the credits it just says written by Brian Bloom
The "Lugo" Heavy.
I find it hilarious it was tankyer then the real Lugo.
Like, seriously.
Elisha Cross killed him with a sticky grenade after ordering Adams to keep him off me for 2 seconds, works every time!!!!
When I started this game I was wondering what "The Line" in the title was, once I finished it I knew exactly what it is
"The only thing the 33rd fears is you Captain Walker" ahh banger
-Shit another fuckin heavy!
-take cover gooddamit!
-Lugo?
-You out of your fuckin mind?!
-You left me to die!
If there's one good saying that perfectly describes this game (especially this scene in particular irony), then it's this.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Скорее самообманом.
"Lugo ?!"
"YOU LEFT ME TO DIE !!"
*Don't you get it!? It's all a LIE!*
NO!
*YOUR NO FUCKING HERO!!!*
NO I TRIED TO SAVE YOU
"The only villain here... is you, Walker... _there's only you..."_
Thinking about the ending still gives me chills and makes me think about all of the theroies about this game's story, that is truely amazing considering I finished it 4 times and got the platinum trophy over a year ago and I still think about this game and all it represents. Masterpiece.
now imagine a game mode where you're a soldier of the 33rd and walker is the final boss...shit...
The idea of a harsh , brutal desert where people are clutching onto the symbols of their army while fighting to simply survive kind of reminds me of the Divide from New Vegas.
And the Courier reminds me of Walker, both unknowingly doomed these places with their actions. Walker more so murdered the city after the storm, while the courier launched the original nuke and then another one. Dooming it even worse than before. Both end up making things worse in the long run
This game is one of the most accurate and realistic depiction of war in entertainment media history.
It starts off like any military action shooter but overtime it turns into a horrifying experience.
It's a masterpiece.
Welcome to hell, Walker. We've been waiting for you.
A soldier in war is like a cigar, slowly burning away until there is nothing left
Whoo doggie. All these years later and this song still gets the blood pumping
The best bait and switch in gaming
god i love this music.
the bravado of the earlier tracks are gone. theres still a feeling of grit and determination in this one, but in a different way. It feels more somber and tortured. As if Walker knows what hes doing is wrong, but because accepting the atrocities hes committed would be too much for him to handle, he decides not to. Walker is literally fighting his own conscience the entire time. He knows he is a monster, but he will not accept it.
1:11 That guitar riff really made me think of Ace Combat 5's "Supercircus" theme.
ikr
another moment in a video game when it all goes to hell
*"Do you feel like a ace yet?"*
@@xRlyCorrection_ I was just trying to save a nation...I just wanted to be a hero for my country..
Dressed like a generic third person shooter, underneath... Spec ops the line gives you the message which most of the CODs miss...
Deep down, you knew we all had to die.
Sheltron 1 to tower, do you read?!?
copy Sheltron, what's the situation?
we need back up!
what???
don't ask questions! just send backup!
This it shows how walking is doing it. It shows how he is crossing the line. he has killed so many innocent people and now he is forced to put down his best friend lugo and is forced to abandon his friend Adam. We see the insanity the suffering walker is going through. We see how he is losing sense in reality and is going out of his way to make things right. But is he really trying to make things right out of the kindness of his heart or maybe it’s a illusion to trick us on how terrible walker as a human being is and how he just want to be what he never was a hero.
The bass line on this is fire
The only thing that kept me sane while playing this game was getting killed so i was reminded that it's just a game.
After awhile, the game became so difficult, that the phrases the loading screen tries to use to guilt you feels less like the game is judging you and more like the game is mocking you for sucking.
I wish the OST was on Spotify.
Same
The bridge is my most favourite level in the whole of my days of gaming just the feeling of two men Vs a whole army who are afraid of how evil you are is the most badass thing ever because you are unstoppable because you are pure evil
"You left me to die!"
"You're no fucking hero!"
"You can't save anyone!"
"This is all your fault! Yours!"
Peter I "The only villain here Walker is you, there's only you."
"Walker....Help..."
Ryan Cannon "Lugo!"
Did any of you notice that Adams aims his MG at you right before that part instead of lowering it after all the enemies are killed?
You have no one to blame but yourself.
“Feel like a hero yet?”
Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai....
Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Chaplain the paradise that turned into hell thanks to some soldiers who wanted be something they're not... heroes.
P.S. John Konrad is included amongst the infamous idiots who tore the city!!!!
"Nothing would have happened if you just stopped...."
I played this song while I played through the ending of Far Cry 5 when all of the nuclear bomb are going off and everything is getting torched around you. This song just fits in that ending.
All I really want captain... Is peace
"Welcome to Hell Walker."
I know it's late as shit but I just realized that a comma can make a difference:
"Welcome to Hell, Walker" *OR*
"Welcome to, Hell-walker"
This is all your fault.
I like shooters and play a lot of them. I got Spec Ops the Line on a Steam sale during the holidays in 2012. After playing it, I felt like an asshole and I swear I could not play shooters for a very long time. The mature, dark, and provocative story in the game made me question an entire genre. I don't think any game I've ever played had that kind of impact on me. Even now, Konrad's speech in the final chapter is stuck in my head. He was not only speaking to Walker, but me the player, questioning why I play these kinds of games and what I think I'm getting out of them.
The only wishes I had for the game was that it wasn't saddled with an unnecessary multiplayer mode and the most generic of names: Spec Ops. Who knows maybe it would've sold a few more copies if the name stood out more on store shelves. I almost wish it were a Silent Hill game, as it can be viewed a psychological horror.
The name Spec Ops is... well... because it is a Spec Ops game. The 9th.
"Where is all the violence coming from? Video games? I bet it's video games..."
I know this comment is 3 years old but they didn't actually WANT to make an mp mode, publisher made them. Dev team views it as a cancer on the game.
2K forced Yager studios to put the competitive multiplayer mode into the game. There's also a co-op mode that improves upon all the gameplay of the singleplayer, though it only has 4 loosely connected levels as opposed to a campaign/coherent story, which sucks, I was hoping for a co-op version of the campaign where player 1 controls Walker and player 2 has thier choice of playing as either Lugo or Adams with the scene with the civilians playing out differently if player 2 chose to play as Lugo, or perhaps even it's own campaign entirely. Modders, please make this happen.
You started off in an evac mission, but now fast forward. look around you! lonely in a city of dead people.
That intro is soo good
Road to hell is paved with good intentions
This game is downright evil. I couldn't sleep 2 weeks straight because of this, not because of the creepy symbolism, not because of the corpses, not even the white phosphorus scene. I was afraid of myself, Spec Ops: The Line freaked me out by showing me myself. I couldn't sleep because I was afraid of myself.
Groxworld1 (The person giving this quote is on a small boat, just outside the mouth of the river Thames in England.) "Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. “We have lost the first of the ebb,” said the Director suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky-seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."
That quote is from the end of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", the book Spec Ops was based on. The quote in specific is the writer's thoughts after hearing a friend relate his experiences traveling up a river in the jungles of Africa, looking for the missing Mr. Kurtz. I highly recommend reading it, as it looks at many of the same themes Spec Ops does, only in a different, but no less dark, setting. It's available on Wikisource (a part of Wikipedia) for free (here: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness ), as it has entered the public domain.
Thanks, I've been meaning to read that.
Groxworld1 it showed us that what looks right is not, and that there's no good or evil no right or wrong its just a matter of perspective but i did like this game for it shows that even today in the age where every one thinks that only multiplayer sales you can make a game that will enter the history books as one of its best by investing in single player a couple extra hours more then the compatition.... yes EA im talking to you 5 years with no solid single player says alot
Exactly. I feel like if I were in Walker's place, I'd make all the same choices.
It's not evil; war is. And it's showing war as it is.
"This wasn't my fault."
This theme is so badass
*"Shit, another fucking heavy! Take cover, goddammit!"*
*"LUGO?"*
*"You outta your fuckin' mind?!"*
*"YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!!!"*
*"Shit, open fire!!"*
*"DON'T YOU GET IT? IT'S ALL A LIE!!!"*
*"NO!"*
*"YOU'RE NO FUCKIN' HERO!!!"*
*"I tried to save you!"*
*"YOU CAN'T SAVE ANYONE!!!"*
*"I TRIED!!!"*
*"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! YOURS!!!"*
*"JUST FUCKIN' DIE!"*
*"The only villain here is you, Walker. There's only you..."*
It's funny actually. I played this game and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got the majority of the messages that were implemented here. But I was not emotionally distraught like (apparently) most that played this game. And I'm not here to judge either. These dark themes are in the game for a reason. To provoke an emotional response from the player and get them to think. But even as I was doing "unspeakable" things in the game, I felt the way I do most times with any game I play: completely desensitized. Like one of the tips in the game's loading screens' reads: "The US Military does not condone the killing of innocent civilians. But this isn't real. So why should you care?" I don't. I didn't care. I don't think I ever will care when I slaughter people in a video game. Maybe I'm a monster to you. Maybe I don't fully allow myself to be immersed or emotionally invested in a piece of (albeit, great) fiction because I've played so many violent video games and have grown numb to the violence. Maybe I see the world more in black and white than in shades of grey. Who knows?
All in all: great game! Good voice acting. Solid game mechanics (The shooting, the melee, the executions and how they grew more and more vicious as Walker plummeted into savagery, etc.). And a very good story. Most certainly not what you'd expect in a modern military shooter these days.
+Dakota Harrison Don't worry, you're not a monster. Just an edgy neckbeard.
It's open to interpretation. Take what you will from it.
+falloutworldrecord really
Yeah
something is wrong in this game, character models, fucking great, aim, ehh not so good, but the fucking eyes are black, they are not even white near that NO IT'S A FULLY BLACK FUCKING EYE