Five years on, I remember the set-pieces of the game: the burning Burj Khalifa, the helicopter crash, the white phosphorus. This wasn’t a unique take, and, as I soon realized, it was also far too disturbing content for a high school activist publication. My angle was how it got in your head, the way the game made you the ‘just following orders’ protagonist as he burned civilians alive, killed American soldiers, and destroyed water supplies. Soon after it make its opening waves, I started writing a piece for a friend’s local zine about the game. It’s been five years since Spec Ops: The Line released. I surrender to the count, and let Konrad reach five without resistance.Jacob Geller analyses the lasting impact of Yager’s traumatic third-person shooter, Spec Ops: The Line. What disturbs me more is I’ve never had a game made me feel that I ought to die for my actions, that I ought to let the main character die for the countless virtual lives I’ve taken.Īnd if I agree, I merely need to do nothing.Īfter all we’ve done, and all the people we’ve killed, I do not feel we deserve another chance. I’ve thrown myself off bridges to see what happens, fired rocket launchers at my feet to try and launch myself skyward, and I’ve even failed quick time events just to see the gruesome result.īut I’ve never been asked to kill myself as part of the narrative. If I feel Walker deserves his fate, I need to do nothing active on my part. I can press in on the right trigger and fire first.Īnd I somehow know what happens if I don’t.Īnd its happening in a way I’ve never confronted. I somehow know two things without being explicitly told. We turn a corner to find Lugo strung up by neck, hanged by the refugees. Lugo is the most affected by our actions, as evident by his sudden assassination of the radio man. “That’s not what I’m talkin’ about and you know it!”Īnd I do too. He scolds me, and blames me for Lugo’s increasingly fragile state. He’s getting harassed by the locals.Īt one point, Adams stops me. I start to reconsider my darker theory as everything remains down to earth. Adams and I meet up, and begin making our way to Lugo. ![]() The game progresses with shootouts and gunfire as the 33rd hunts us through the barren lake. Everyone appears to have survived the crash, though after the scene I just witnessed, I am starting to think Walker did not. Riggs and Gould walk by us with haunting visages, bodies made of sand, pieces of them blowing into the wind.Ī fitting location, considering what we’ve done.Īs usual Adams is first to check in. “I thought my duty was to protect people from the storm. Konrads voice shouts down as Walker stumbles forward. I’m greeted by a giant pillar with a burning top, like Sauron himself. The next scene that takes place makes me think it did all end, but in a very different way. When the screen comes back, I’ll be greeted to a dying walker, crawling across the desert with broken bones. The Helicopter crashes, just like the opening.įor a moment, I suspect everything is over. ![]() Walker, Adams, and Lugo haven’t done this together before. On foot.īut I’m struck by a different interpretation of his words. This isn’t right! we’ve done this before!”īut the game didn’t start with a helicopter crash. Or at least I think so, but then Walker shouts out “Wait, wait. I’ve reached the Mise en scene moment that started everything. How am I reaching higher and higher points of Dubai? ![]() Now the game draws my attention to it as clearly as it can, as it lets me pause to look over the cityscape of Dubai.Īs we look off into the distance at the radio tower, the right question finally hits me. Its a sensation that has struck me multiple times, usually as I descend a zip line or drop down into a pit. Maybe we should’ve started with this plan.Īs we approach the tower, I’m struck by something that’s been bothering me all game. We are no longer chasing CIA agents and insurgents, or following orders from long-dead ghosts in Dubai. Its the simplest move we’ve devised so far, and perhaps more importantly, its actually one of ours. Walker plans to seize the radio tower by force and use it to organize the citizens for evacuation. All game we’ve been harassed by a man in charge of a radio tower loyal to Konrad. Fucked everybody.”Ī lengthy shootout ensues with the 33rd, but in the end we reunite with Adams and Lugo. After killing Riggs, we made contact with Adams.
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