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[AgentOtaku]

Yes, another Spec Ops thread.... im sorry

SPOILERS ahead

But.. I couldn't help be concerned when I see so many threads here on GAF claiming this game to be some misunderstood, passed over cult piece.
Finished this morning before heading to work. Had a decent amount of time on my commute to digest.

I can honestly forgive the completely flavorless gameplay.... everything else though? Not so much.

- Nolan North, what could have been a standout performance eventually devolves into lots of angry shouting. Given the context of the story, this is fine except none of it is earned due to mediocre writing. The whole, they're supposed to be military stereotypes is a poor excuse. None of the characters are relatable or likeable. As in, because they're merely constructs, not because of their actions. There's Battle:LA levels of characterizations at times.

- Broad, dopey grim stuff that's supposed to be evocative but really isn't. "How many Americans have you killed today?" Isnt Meta, its fucking dumb.

- Despite the praise it seems to get, I found it to be a fairly marginal looking game as well. Like they had a great evironmental art team and they really wanted to show that off, even though the city/geography doesnt make that much sense. Also, I know its shallow as hell, but I couldn't get over how dopey Walker's character model looked.

- twists that you see coming from a mile away, including the conclusion.

- Despite it suggesting that it might be trying otherwise, game ultimately sacrifices subtle for spectacle. And its spectacle moments are mediocre as well

I really wanted to like this one but for a game that supposedly wants to be a commentary on bland military bro shooters, it still ends up being one ultimately. It's story has some interesting moments, but thats about it.

 

[Fracas]

The game itself isn't that good but the story is gripping.

 

[brandonh83]

antitrop agrees.

It wasn't really for me either. I have nothing against it, it's just not my type of game. I did read up on the story and ending and thought that was very interesting though.

 

[Fugu]

Videogames that protest the characteristics of videogames through plot miss the point of videogames.

 

[Levito]

The gameplay is pretty mediocre but everything else is fantastic.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

OP.

Antitrop 'bout to take you out.

 

[Linkark07]

- twists that you see coming from a mile away, including the conclusion.

Don't touch unless you finished the game... You have been warned.

Spoiler

Anyone here expected Konrad to be dead?

 

[Angelus Errare]

"Hey guys stop saying you like this game and think it's good. Here's my opinion on why it sucks! Now change your opinion!"

 

[-COOLIO-]

People mostly only praise the story, and while I appreciate its critique of video game mass murder, I didn't think it was all that captivating.

 

[LakeEarth]

I completely agree that the game itself isn't special at all, and has some frustrating parts. Most noteably, the part where you have to blow open doors for your partners with a gattling gun, but the doors just don't want to open.

Still a game you should play though. It's only 5-6 hours long.

 

[SmokyDave]

I really enjoyed it personally, especially toward the end. Still, you can't please 'em all.

 

[antitrop]

It's okay that you didn't like the game, but I'm not going to stop saying that I think it's good, or that it was my favorite game of 2012.

 

[Adry9]

It's a mediocre shooter with and interesting plot twist. Just that.

 

[npa189]

Its just a surprising twist and homage to Apocalypse Now for what starts out as a bro-down shooter. The gameplay is terrible and the voice acting is bad, but the story went few places other games go. It was certainly never my GOTY or anything, just interesting.

 

[ZeroMaverick]

Spoiler

Anyone here expected Conrad to be dead?

It was incredibly obvious.

 

[StuBurns]

It's trash, and the story is terrible.

The music was great though, having it in the environment, very cool.

 

[Fevaweva]

The actual game-play is slightly above-average. But everything around it makes it great, particularly the story. Deal with it OP.

 

[Linkark07]

It was incredibly obvious.

Then I don't pay too much attention

 

[CosmicQueso]

Think you might have missed the point.

It is not only a good game, it was an important game to be made at the time, and contains social commentary that is rare in the medium.

 

[CypherSignal]

Best loading screen tips of any game ever, among other things.

(spoiler, maybe) http://rbjohnzee.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/50300_screenshots_2012-11-29_00014.jpg

As a plain jane shooter, it's unremarkable. As, like, a commentary on the state of plain jane shooters? I think it's downright incredible.

 

[SJRB]

Spec Ops was fucking awesome.

How the fuck did you see the twist coming "a mile away"?

 

[nckillthegrimace]

I liked the part in the hotel where there's just randomly a civilian who runs out a tent. I almost shot her, which was a holy shit moment. That's the stuff that's praiseworthy, not dumb forced choices like the white phosphorous.

 

[Percy]

It is the Deadly Premonition of third person shooters.

 

[SoraanTribal]

It's a mediocre shooter with and interesting plot twist. Just that.

This is how I feel as well. Overall, I'm glad I played it and I thought the story went some interesting places, but as a whole, the game was pretty mediocre.

 

[Coffee Dog]

Gameplay was serviceable, but it's a game with its focus elsewhere, and it greatly benefits from it.

 

[jacobeid]

I couldn't make it past three hours of mediocre gameplay. My backlog is too big to spend that much time on a game and not have fun.

I'll just reread Heart of Darkness.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

You don't get it, it's deliberately bad. Thats what makes it good!

 

[adamantypants]

It was obvious, but it's not like they were trying to hide it. The whole second half of the game you have your buddies doubting all of your decisions and making small remarks about the whole situation.

 

[Sephzilla]

It was incredibly obvious.

The gameplay is pretty mediocre but everything else is fantastic.

Yep. That's kind of the point though.

My only legit complaint with the game was that the gunfights themselves go on for a tad too long.

 

[whitehawk]

I have to agree. It was ambitious what they were trying to pull of in the story, but the execution wasn't there. Also a good story can't make up for bad gameplay. I was told the story was great so I finished it, but all the gameplay parts were dull and repetitive.

 

[antitrop]

It was incredibly obvious.

Yeah, probably now, because so much of the intended subversion the game goes for has been widely discussed and publicised.

I played the game at launch and just expected it to copy Apocalypse Now's ending. I played the game without really knowing anything about it, so a somewhat unique experience, considering how many copies the game sold at launch.

 

[Domstercool]

I seem to be one of the few who felt the gunplay was solid. It was no Gears of War in that element, but I felt the shooting was good and solid. The sand environment was a neat touch, shame they didn't use it more often for environmental destruction, as the little bits we saw could have been so cool if fully fleshed out.

The ride with the plot through the game was really good. Truly enjoyed it.

I personally thought it was great - http://darkzero.co.uk/game-reviews/spec-ops-the-line-xbox-360/

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

It sucked. Even if it was some meta commentary on combat in general, the shooting dragged, the plot dragged, and the characters were still stereotypical machomen.

The game tried so hard to deliver this important message that it failed to actually be engaging.

 

[Toki767]

More fun than it is good really.

 

[BigTnaples]

Had a blast with the gameplay and loved the story. So yeah...

 

[ipukespiders]

Awesome game, I loved it.

 

[anexanhume]

I'm really tired of this meme. I feel like it amounts to thread whining at this point. Not calling you out specifically, though, I just don't care for this image. People are entitled to their opinions without feeling like expressing them needs to be justified against the underlying idea in this image.

The thread title is baiting though. It's like "I'll be downvoted for this...", "You'll probably hate me for saying this...". It's trying to create a controversy right in the title and setup responders to either strive to prove them wrong or join their valiant cause by saying they also hate thing. The spirit of the image is to defuse and say not everything has to be a controversy. It's anti-thread whining.

 

[Rebel Leader]

You missed quite a few things.

 

[antitrop]

More fun than it is good really.

More good than it is fun, you mean. Even I'm someone who admits that the gameplay is so routine as to be better serviced by turning the difficulty down to Easy and "playing for the story".

 

[Fantastapotamus]

I disagree. But I've talked about that too much already so....it's okay to not like a thing.

 

[GavinUK86]

Gameplay was standard TPS stuff and the story was pretty average with a neat twist that I didn't see coming. That's all I can say about it. Nothing special. I could say the exact same about a dozen other games really.

 

[Dyno]

As low as it was rated it's still an overrated game. It is the very definition of forgettable B-tier shooting. Spec Ops threads always end up with people parsing mediocre from poor. It's simply not worth it.

 

[Morts]

I loved it. Gameplay is average but it does a lot of cool things with storytelling, characters, and soundtrack. Even the loading screens played into it, as pointed out in this thread.

 

[maxcriden]

The thread title is baiting though. It's like "I'll be downvoted for this...", "You'll probably hate me for saying this...". It's trying to create a controversy right in the title and setup responders to either strive to prove them wrong or join their valiant cause by saying they also hate thing. The spirit of the image is to defuse and say not everything has to be a controversy. It's anti-thread whining.

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think it's intended to be baiting per se. I think OP is frustrated that he feels like the only person who does not care for this game and wants to know (a) who agrees, and (b) what people are seeing in the game that he's not. He seems reasonable to me, and open to opposing viewpoints. No different than me starting a thread saying Yoshi's New Island was great, why did people hate on it? (And I would gladly start that thread, and be interested in debating both sides.)

 

[-tetsuo-]

Bad gameplay and a super try hard story. It is also like 4 hours long. Mediocre game at its very best.

 

[Raptor]

This game is a really good game with decent gameplay that doesn't rely on bulletsponge enemies to keep you entertained, headshots has this little slow motion to make them punchy and feels great, character arc in this is another thing I really appreciated, by the end you character was fucking insane and enjoying killing everything, the story is really good while generic but ho wis told and how it all ended make you revaluate how we see videogames, especially this kinds of games, I already knew Im not a psychopath because I enjoy killing and lots ofgore in my games and this game makes sure you know that there is nothing wrong with that is just a videogame.

There is choice in some events of this game and while they may seem non consequental they do offer various ways of playing it and experience it, even your companions notice and say things about how you behave and what you are doing in the game.

Sure you could say is a generic shooter with generic characters and generic story and I could agree with you if and this is a really important "if", IF I haven't played it myself and experienced it.

This game IMO is really great so I completly disagree with your thread premise.

 

[Denton]

Well, at least it was much better than any Gears of War, so there's that.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Spoiler

Anyone here expected Konrad to be dead?

Either that or a Tyler Durdin scenario, yeah. Its not exactly original. Could have been a cool reveal, but the sloppy setup kind of negates that :/

 

[FriedConsole]

I enjoyed it for a grade "B" shooter. There are a lot of hipster gamers that need a game to say something important to enjoy a shooter lest they be mistaken for a "bro". Call of Duty games have been making the same points that Spec Ops did for years (albeit with mixed messages of being "pro" military too) but the cool kid gamers can't play COD despite it actually being a much better shooter game play wise. Face it hipster gamers - shooters are fun. I enjoy a good indie game but I am not above having fun shooting virtual bad guys in face.

I did not think the story was interesting until the end where it goes into crazy town. Wish the story was all crazy town.

 

[Barryman]

I have to agree, I was not a fan of this game, and was somewhat annoyed with all the hyperbolic praise about the story.

The game tries to critique rote "dudebro" military shooters in which all you do is unquestioningly shoot hundreds of enemy combatants. BUT THAT IS ALL THIS GAME IS. In order for a game to critique military shooters, I feel like it should try to propose a viable alternative style of play. No such luck here. Even Call of Duty mixes its pacing up more than this game did! Spec Ops just gives you one increasingly-tedious kill box scenario after another.

It wasn't even as though the narrative was particularly novel: it was just a basic repurposing Bioshock's thesis about player agency delivered in a remarkably similar way. The embedded critique of the games industry rang incredibly hollow for me.