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[QuantumDerp]

I agree, it's a bit of a sad failure.

I agree to, it was a bit of a bad failure.

 

[NullPointer]

I felt like shooting dudes and experiencing an awesome narrative, Spec Ops delivers. The gameplay isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Spec Ops is essentially a really flashy B tiered/non AAA game.

Exactly my take.

I think the expectations game has messed this up for some people. I just wanted a solid b-tier shooter and I got far more than I bargained for. Combat was enjoyable and the story smacked me in the face cold a few times, and had me pondering it afterwards.

But it got so much attention that I think the ante went up in terms of what the game is supposed to offer. The more hype the higher that ante gets raised.

 

[AwShucks]

I think people harping on the gameplay are text book examples of expecting too much in the modern gaming age. We've already done almost everything. Third person shooters are fairly old and it's not easy to reinvent them. And Spec Ops: The Line was not trying to reinvent the gameplay. The gameplay is serviceable and that's all it needed to be. It wasn't bad. It wasn't the best TPS ever. The story was original and not the same concept that gets rehashed year in and year out. Had the gameplay been atrocious it wouldn't have worked because it would have been a pain to play. But since it was decent you were able to get from story point to story point.

Now, if you didn't care for the story then of course just decent gameplay isn't going to be enough for you. Especially if TPS isn't one of your favorite genres. I guess some people are just more picky than others.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

I disagree with you, OP. I think it is a good game.

Edit: More substantively, I often wonder about the reaction this game elicits from certain people. Like why do so many seem to take some sort of offense that others find this game meaningful? Is it because it criticizes a genre they happen to like?

Spec Ops tries to play up the absurdity of role-playing a hero who just kills people by the truck-load. When people criticize the game for not making that "more fun from a gameplay perspective," I honestly feel like they miss the point of the game by a country-mile. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually a mechanics/gameplay first kind of guy, but there is no solid rule of game design that says that the only aim worth achieving is "fun" -- that mechanics can't be used to elicit other responses in the player: like dread and disgust; feelings of futility and disempowerment; or simulating the grim tedium of endless combat and death.

I can imagine some people rolling their eyes at what I just wrote, but Spec Ops honestly elicited those feelings in me. (And, yes, I am an educated, mature adult who has read more than one book in his lifetime.) I don't just think Spec Ops is a good game -- it's a fantastic one.

I respectfully dissent.

 

[Riposte]

This game is definitely in my top 10 of last gen. The gameplay is the same as every other shooter, but that's kinda the point. Critising Spec Ops gameplay but giving a game like Gears of War or Uncharted a pass is hypocritical. You're basically doing the same thing...

That's only true if your ability to judge third person shooters is broken and you just hate those games because of it (and if you think "bad gameplay" is like this meaningful statement, then it makes sense Spec Ops would be an exception here). There's nothing hypocritical about it, what you are saying about them "basically being the same thing" is frankly ludicrous to me and I'm sure to plenty of others who like Gears of War or Uncharted (especially in multiplayer) and do not like Spec Ops.

All I'm going to say is, I would be okay never seeing those loading scene quotes again. I just think of Jaden Smith's twitter account whenever someone makes them try to sound really deep.

 

[dab0ne]

I thought the game was ok but the story wasn't anything special. The best part of the game, for me, was that it only cost $5 on amazon.

 

[kewlmyc]

I liked the game a lot. Loved the way the story progressed and the gameplay as decent. Sorry if that offends you OP.

 

[Cornbread78]

I just started playing it recently and have been entertained so far..

I'm still waiting for all the deep amazing emotional story elements I was told about though...

 

[Crossing Eden]

Well, your argument boils down to "These aspects you may have liked, you are wrong about, why do you persist in saying things I disagree with?"

Which I don't find particularly compelling or persuasive.

.

 

[Canis lupus]

It's an average game that gets some attention for it's above average story and therefore hailed as one of the best writing(lol) in games by some. Yeah it was much muuuuuch better than what's typical of what comes out of this genre but that's a really low bar to beat(they're sinking cities with giant worms!!), it's not super special.

 

[Zxrophantom]

Well spec ops the line is a mixed bag for me because the average gun play really feels like padding halfway into the game when firefights take forever and every enemy later on take way more bullets than needed to take down. The story is the payoff of sorts, sure some of the themes and things that happened feel very forced but the story was a interesting ride that had a message that few shooters try to do or get right.

Also how the game wraps up i felt was handled really well. I don't think i have played a shooter of recent memory that lets you own the narrative in such a way at the end. Also the different outcomes feel very natural and not a perfect ending or evil bad ending kind of way. I don't think i will hold it up as a favorite or anything but i would recommend a friend or anyone into shooters to check it out if i think they will dig the story.