I tried a bit of the demo. Blowing up birds is kind of fun. Maybe I'll buy the game someday.
I do have to wonder if killing wantonly in video games has any impact on how we view killing in real life. Otherwise there really isn't a point to the game's criticism is there? I guess it might act as unintentional propaganda in the case of war games. Though is unintentional propaganda effective?
Personal anecdote here - Burnout is one of my favorite games of all time. I very much enjoy driving like an idiot and crashing into things and watching the cars come apart.
I was involved in a head on collision once, somebody ran a red light. Luckily everyone was unhurt, aside from some bruises. The thought that I could have been killed or in some way responsible for somebody else's death is still a pretty chilling thought, to this day. It also hasn't had any sort of effect on my enjoyment of Burnout, Need for Speed, Grand Theft Auto, or any other games involving vehicular stupidity. That being said, I think it'd be really interesting to see some kind of driving game that highlights how ridiculous driving games can be. They revel in complete irresponsibility, something that in real life I'm deathly afraid of.
I think that's all Spec Ops is trying to do - it's pointing out a logical discrepancy. A lot of people never really think twice about their entertainment. As I mentioned earlier, you definitely don't have to hate something to deconstruct it; in fact, I'd wager that most of the best satirical/parody/deconstructionist films, books, and games have come from people with a great appreciation for the genre they're picking apart. Spec Ops isn't trying to get you to feel bad about enjoying violence or shooting in games, it's simply trying to get some critical thinking cogs moving. It never suggests that the player should stop playing games or not enjoy action, it simply takes the fairly toothless big-budget action genre and looks at it through another lens. Sometimes art doesn't have to have an end goal, it just needs to provoke a "huh, interesting" or what have you.