There was something about the story that intrigued me, but overall it never grabbed me and fell flat. I'm not sure if video games have desensitised me or if it was just a lack of sympathy for the characters, but I never really felt anything during the important scenes where you clearly are supposed to feel something. I'm glad that it did grab other people and I'm still glad to have played it. I feel that it's an important game even though I didn't really enjoy it, and hopefully in future there will be more stories in games that try to have an impact on people.
Gameplay is nothing to write home about, but the more I think about the story, the more I love it. It's easily one of the most important and revolutionary narratives in gaming.
The above poster is right, the actual gameplay is nothing revolutionary. But the design of the fights so far has been pretty dynamic, much more than I'd expect from a Gears or Uncharted or I'm assuming TR. The command system is decent as well, though my soldiers are a bit too invincible even on the hardest difficulty. I wish they were a bit weaker and there were more cover commands for them. I'm only on chapter 5 so the crazy mindfuck plot hasn't come into view yet. Killing American soldiers is a nice change of pace though.
The above poster is right, the actual gameplay is nothing revolutionary. But the design of the fights so far has been pretty dynamic, much more than I'd expect from a Gears or Uncharted or I'm assuming TR. The command system is decent as well, though my soldiers are a bit too invincible even on the hardest difficulty. I wish they were a bit weaker and there were more cover commands for them.
Haven't been really in a position yet to use it. All fights so far are pretty long ranged. I appreciate they gave me a grenade launcher with a decent amount of ammo though. Usually games give you heavy arms with like 2 shots.
Haven't been really in a position yet to use it. All fights so far are pretty long ranged. I appreciate they gave me a grenade launcher with a decent amount of ammo though. Usually games give you heavy arms with like 2 shots.
You are talking about the licensed music but does anyone else love "ambient19" as well like i do? Its the sad guitar thing that plays. Also last song of the soundtrack i guess.
You are talking about the licensed music but does anyone else love "ambient19" as well like i do? Its the sad guitar thing that plays. Also last song of the soundtrack i guess.
I love the soundtrack in its entirety. The whole damn thing. The instrumental twangy southern grungy guitar parts just screamed 90s. I really wished Alice in Chains' "Rooster" was actually in-game. I kept expecting it to happen. Wouldve been perfect to have started playing when you reached Konrads home.
I actually found the licensed music stuff to be a big distraction when it kicked in during fights. By default it was far too loud, and if my squadmates had anything important to tell me I'd never hear it.
You are talking about the licensed music but does anyone else love "ambient19" as well like i do? Its the sad guitar thing that plays. Also last song of the soundtrack i guess.
I'm loving this game. Got it via PS+ a few days ago.
Very fun game, very dark (in terms of plot), and looks great IMO. Some really cool environments and settings. I'm not a dedicated FPS gamer, so maybe this game doesn't hit me in the same way a hardcore FPS gamer might be. But seems like a great game so far.
It's a super novel game but far too heavy handed to effect me in any way. There's also a lot of parts whet the story and game design are at odds with one another which really annoyed me. I'm glad I played it but it isn't the second coming of video game narrative that some might have you believe.
I always never understood the whole negative stigma around Nolan North being so popular. You know why he gets used a lot, because he is that damn good. It's the game directors fault if he is acting like typical nolan in a title. But when I hear he is voice acting a game I don't auto-think negative things.
Also this kind of game is another of many many reasons PS+ is great. Without it being given for free a lot of people probably would have never played it.
Yeah, I seriously didn't think of that. It just, didn't enter my mind as an option. Then I see someone on GAF mention it and I go "holy shit". The game, if you let it take you on it's ride, really is effective on these subtle little things that make you/main character seem crazy.
It's too bad the gameplay is just so bland and boring. I'm about an hour in and have zero desire to play more.
Also this kind of game is another of many many reasons PS+ is great. Without it being given for free a lot of people probably would have never played it.
This game is a little hard or Im used to all games nowadays are easy as hell, Im dying a lot more than usual.
I just
Saved Gould and Im in a firefight against some dudes and a Heavy
and I alreayd died at least 4 times there lol.
I really liked this game's gunplay, I love the fact that there is no bulletsponge at all, headshots has this little slowmo to them that make them great, the decisions one has to make in this game are amazing.
The part where
a helicopter crashed in a building was incredible looking
I always never understood the whole negative stigma around Nolan North being so popular. You know why he gets used a lot, because he is that damn good. It's the game directors fault if he is acting like typical nolan in a title. But when I hear he is voice acting a game I don't auto-think negative things.
Agreed, he's one of the best in the business. His performance in this game is astonishing, definitely the best I've seen in a game for a long, long time.
I actually couldn't bring myself to shoot those civvies. I was actively looking for a way to get out of there non violently. The game still commands you to do it though, which sort of reminded me of BioShock. In the end I decided to melee one of the guys in front and they all ran away. Overall, it made the scene less impactful than it should've been, but I just couldn't do it.
Yeah, I was close to dying then tried pointing my gun in the air and shot the sky. Wasn't expecting it to work but really didn't want to kill anyone else (or die myself). That was definitely an emotional scene.
There are some pretty hilarious Arabic mistranslations in the game. My favorite was a warning sign that was written in both English Arabic. In English it was "No firearms beyond this point", in Arabic the literal translation was "No fireworks beyond this point!". Talk immersion breaking lol.
The game though, I really appreciated it and I think truly it's an important game for the genre. Mechanics-wise I just can't stand it.
Spec Ops was the most important game released last year and I hope other developers took notice. I don't think it did everything perfectly but at least it did something. Having the effects of killing that much people show was something I'd never thought about earlier. And I think it's gonna make playing other shooters a bit harder, or at least if they don't even acknowledge it. Just the fact that Spec Ops' story can actually be dissected, discussed and interpreted differently says a lot about it since most games don't even accomplish that.
THAT scene spoiler.
I had already read that you were gonna kill civilians during the mortar scenario so it did lessen the impact a bit.
Gameplay is far too frustrating and checkpoints a little too far spaced apart for me, definitely won't try a harder difficulty setting because of this. Running away from a grenade when you're stuck in cover is a nightmare since the same button is used for running and cover in a brilliant design decision...NOT
I also had to replay the aquarium battle 10 times because my AI teammates wandered off when I was busy running down the ammo of the sniper rifle before going downstairs and they got themselves killed too far away...The story is good but the gameplay is way too irritating.
I was out shopping with the Mrs earlier, browsing GAF on my phone inbetween nodding in agreement with whatever item of clothing she had just held up for the 20th time. You know how it is.
Anyway, I saw this thread and made my way to my local Blockbuster to pick up this game and also got Prototype 2 on a 2 for ÂŁ20. True story.
Time will tell if it was money well spent, but I'm certainly looking forward to finding out.
Your experience and impression of this game really seems to hinge on one moment.
I torched all those civilians with no idea they were there. The scene following that was like a direct punch to the gut. I've never experienced anything like it before.
If it doesn't play out that way for you, I can see how the experience would be greatly diminished.
I always never understood the whole negative stigma around Nolan North being so popular. You know why he gets used a lot, because he is that damn good. It's the game directors fault if he is acting like typical nolan in a title. But when I hear he is voice acting a game I don't auto-think negative things.
Absolutely not. In fact, he says directly the opposite in a Eurogamer article:
Eurogamer said:
[...]He suspects his success might have more to do with good old fashioned networking.
"I think it's a much simpler thing," he said.
"Ultimately you always like to work with your friends and I always take it as my responsibility in a session to not only do the best job I can, but also have a few laughs with everybody, have a good time and get it done early.
"You build those relationships... and these people hire you again. 'Hey, I want to work with Nolan - he's not right for this role but let's have him do these roles instead'.
I can practically guarantee you that has a million times more to do with it than raw talent. He's no slouch, but networking, shmoozing, and getting clientele is the One Truth to the entertainment industry - you don't just fill out an application, and as such this is how you get your work. By being personable.
No clue about the soundtrack. I'm not really a soundtrack guy unless it's really in my face, for games or movies. If there's been music playing in the background I sure as eff haven't noticed. Too busy shooting dudes. I assume I'd recognize when some licensed music came on though.
The gameplay itself was pretty standard, though the enemy AI was a bit more clever than what I'm used to in these games. I couldn't stay in one place for very long, and ammo feels scarce except maybe for the default weapon (M4?) and I liked improvising somewhat.
I thought the story itself had the right amount direness to it. Nothing in its imagery shocked me (though the closest moment I felt really shitty about something was the truck sequence), but I still appreciated what they were trying to do without spoiling the events. A lot of what makes the experience worthy of attention and experience is in the performances.
This was $5 on Gamefly a while back and I jumped on it. Glad to have played it.
I think i never posted anything in the OT as i was busy those days. Just finished the game second time one or two days ago in two sittings. Its one of the most impactful stories ever told in a game.
I remember the days i read game's producer interview on Games TM and how he told they wanted to recreate Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now (both are special to me)like story. I got so interested when i read it. And they did it. Awesome story, awesome music, decent gameplay. Its not a great game. But its something gamers should experience...
This thread made me look up news on a sequel as I've been pining for it, and I sadly found this...
"Developer Yager is working on a larger unannounced game, with Friedrich insinuating the numbers for Spec Ops were not good enough to merit a sequel. "To be honest, it doesn't look too great," he said."
Sucks I hope whatever they're working on next incorporates that same focus on story and morals... it doesn't necessarily have to be another 3rd person shooter, but I'd be happy if it was (I thought the gameplay felt tight and great as well).
I feel the need to weigh in on my Spec Ops experience because I've praised the game before but never actually put in my two cents. I guess I'll just black bar it.
My experience was actually interesting because the phospherus scene worked on me as intended. I saw that there was this huge camp and didn't want to deal with it so I took the "out" that the game offered me thinking nothing of it. When I saw what I had done, I was really thrown off and from that point on, I tried to take the high road where I could. When "Konrad" made me choose between the two men, I'll be honest and say that I didn't even think to shoot the snipers (I didn't actually even see them so that was my fault I guess). I ended up waiting the first time hoping that Konrad would see my hesitation and offer up another solution but that failed and the snipers shot me instead so I ended up killing the soldier. When I came to the crowd, I actually thought (and hoped) that shooting into the sky would work so crisis averted there. And when the final scenes rolled around, I really felt that I had done good where the game gave me choices but I still saw that I, as the character, had done some horrifying things. When the mirror scene came up, I actually made the decision that the game offered the entire time. I put the controller down. I let him count down and I had no second thoughts about it. I saw all of the other endings afterwards but I think allowing the fake to shoot me was more poetic than shooting myself in the mirror. It seemed more like a retribution as opposed to giving up. I really felt that I was atoning for my sins by not killing the part of me that had done these horrible things and instead embracing it and the consequences of it.
I know thats a big one and I'm used to LTTPs being spoiler-fests but I noticed others tagging their stuff so I figured I'd follow suit to be sure.
I need to replay this game. There's a lot of stuff I've read here on GAF about it, that I missed or didn't pay attention to while playing it for the first time.
Great game. A little flawed at times, but a fantastic experience overall.
Double ride in the helicopter. Is the supposition that he actually died there, and the last scene never actually occures?
Or is it a device regarding Walker's madness, IE, he didn' really do it twice, but his mind is saying he did?
Either way, I suppose it's a commentary on how history keeps repeating itself, both in terms of war, and in games like this.
Really top notch game overall. I think near the end, it runs into some ludonarrative dissonance in that it still seems to be celebrating the violence, and rewarding you for it. I felt like i was enjoying myself in the final conflicts, and I shouldn't have been.
Double ride in the helicopter. Is the supposition that he actually died there, and the last scene never actually occures?
Or is it a device regarding Walker's madness, IE, he didn' really do it twice, but his mind is saying he did?
Either way, I suppose it's a commentary on how history keeps repeating itself, both in terms of war, and in games like this.
Really top notch game overall. I think near the end, it runs into some ludonarrative dissonance in that it still seems to be celebrating the violence, and rewarding you for it. I felt like i was enjoying myself in the final conflicts, and I shouldn't have been.
I wouldn't be thrilled with this explanation. It sounds like something 2k would ask to put in so they could have an "Out" if the idea of killing american soldiers became controversial.
I wouldn't be thrilled with this explanation. It sounds like something 2k would ask to put in so they could have an "Out" if the idea of killing american soldiers became controversial.
Apparently, the writer wanted this type of idea in himself. Another thing the writer mentioned that is interesting is that
anytime the game loads from/to a black screen, real things are happening, anytime the game loads from/to a white screen, there are some hallucinations going on. From what I've read (someone correct me if I'm wrong because I didn't replay after learning this), everything after the second helicopter crash loads from/to a white screen
Apparently, the writer wanted this type of idea in himself. Another thing the writer mentioned that is interesting is that
anytime the game loads from/to a black screen, real things are happening, anytime the game loads from/to a white screen, there are some hallucinations going on. From what I've read (someone correct me if I'm wrong because I didn't replay after learning this), everything after the second helicopter crash loads from/to a white screen
Didn't care for it myself. I found everything very heavy-handed like the infamous
phosphor bombing. I just found the execution of that scene bordering on the ridiculous
. In terms of story-telling in a video game I appreciate what they're trying to do, and I do think everyone should at least play it through and see it for themselves, but again, it didn't do it for me. I was never emotionally invested in anything that transpired. If the story-part is the only thing that gets praise and attention (and it should, the gameplay is shit), then I'm sorry but I'd rather watch a film instead.
I hope whatever they're working on next incorporates that same focus on story and morals... it doesn't necessarily have to be another 3rd person shooter, but I'd be happy if it was (I thought the gameplay felt tight and great as well).
