Interesting...I may have to play this. I've been hoping for something a little bit more original in FPS' for a while. The fact that this coincides with what I've wanted is downright uncanny.

DVS BSTrD:
Jesus Fuck! Someone in Australia better get out and check on Yahtzee
I think Spec Ops might have...

*puts on sunglasses*

...Rectum

Also JAM!

I hereby declare this your greatest pun yet. Well done, have an internet.

Wow.

I usually don't give a damn about modern FPS games, but this review actually makes me want to play it.

Genuine Evil:
I personally would like to congratulate Spec Ops: The Line for being one of the worse games I played ( more accurately tried to play) this year . first of all my gaming rig is by no means bad I play the witcher 2 on max settings (Ubersampling on) with a steady 40 -45 PFS . Spec Ops: The Line on the other hand ran at around 20 with all the setting turned down or off . but fine whatever I got it running on a laptop ( which is obviously much worse ) and it ran fine(ish) with an ok 24-27 FPS ..... fine whatever its not the first time I run into a game with shity optimization.

So I start playing speck ops and the first thing I notice is the horrible mouse acceleration ..... and my god was it annoying. it doesn't make the game unplayable but I certainly makes shooting small objects very difficult and since the game tries to make itself more exciting by making ammo scarce you often find yourself in a situation where you have to reload because your team too fucking stupid to get the last 3 or 4 guys on the map .(even after I told them to go do that )

Another thing I found was the weird disarray between the story and gameplay . the game does a good job showing the horrors of war and does everything it can to distance itself from the "America fuck yeah " attitude lots of recent game have been showing. but then It turns around and lets you shoot so many people you forget why you there in the first place .
Later about an hour into the game I found myself having to reduce the gamma to almost pitch black because the lighting and bloom effects were so bright I couldn't see the 4 snipers sitting 50 feet above me . and at that point I said FUCK IT I love me a good story I play adventure games and RPG's because I love the characters and the worlds they present but no fucking story is worth this poorly optimized mess where even the story seems to be diametrically opposed to the actual gameplay . yes war is horrible but I keep forgetting that after I just killed 300000 soldiers with my slow-motion bullet cam .

So fuck you Spec Ops: The Line .

I had the exact opposite results as you, I bought and installed the game after seeing the review, put everything on max (not a godly rig though),and it ran smooth as butter. Not a single frame rate drop at all. So id say the game is decently optimized but you seem to have a compatibility issue you can't figure out and its easy to blame it on the game.

The mouse acceleration was annoying.....for the first 10 minutes until I changed my mouse settings and solved that problem. Honestly to me it sounds like you are nit picking. Yes the AI partners arn't as sharp as human allies but for AI i've dealt with worse (RE5). Actually I liked the fact ammo was scarce. It made things more tense but not in a brutal sort of way but more of a challenging.

The story and gameplay meld quite well together in my opinion. I knew the objective because I listened to the characters and what was going on. Not once in playing the game for 2 hours straight did I not know what was going on or what I was doing. Maybe playing other shooter games with crap story's have made you block it out but if you let the game drag you in, it can be an intense, sad, and gripping experience. Yeah phosphorous is very blinding and that was the point. It is a very inconvenient and powerful element. You don't need to tweak your settings for every little thing the game throws at you to try and cheat your way through.

Sounds quite cynical and depressing.

I'm intrigued.

However, I will say Yahtzee is wrong in one respect. Dubai is awesome. It's the one place in the middle east I want to go back to.

This is pretty much exactly what I thought of it. I was expecting another "America, fuck yeah" game with a multiplayer focus - then I saw pretty much all of the reviews state that the MP is perfunctory and mediocre but campaign is rich and has lots of replay value. And I was like: wow, it must be opposite day! I'll give that a try!

Yep, it's pretty much true. The story is awesome. And the second my roommate gets done with it I'mma beat it again and make different choices this time.

Waiting for the fart at the end... Waiting for the fart at the end...

... Theeeeeere it is...

DVS BSTrD:

canadamus_prime:

*snip*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

Ah, so you ARE from Quebec.

wait for it...

Actually no, but I see what you did there.

Any money next week's Extra Punctuation is about if the fact that games must be inherently engaging to be successful means that it undermines any tragedy in the story. That having interactivity destroys narrative because it isn't empathy but actual suffering because of having to interact and play out your conflict.If the fact it's impossible to feel guilt because whatever is creating it is mandatory and forced onto you.

I actually didn't expect a recommendation from this one to be fairly honest.

A bit grim video,but I took it well and didn't laugh at it much(which I guess it's normal?).

Huh...I never even bothered watching a trailer for this game. I assumed it would be another generic "America, fuck yeah!" shooter. I guess I'll check it out after all.

Clearing the Eye:
Game's a pile of wank and failure; boring story that fucks around in circles for half the game, terrible graphics, player decisions that aren't explained until much later, after you've been forced to decide with no idea at all what it is or why you're doing it, and bland, samey, unoriginal and utterly sleep inducing gun play.

Game: "Murder everyone or turn the game off -- those are your two options."

Player: "Okay..."

Game: "Oh my god! How could you! You killed all those people! Don't you just feel the emotion weight on your soul."

...

And I thought that was what all today's "brown-shooters" did. I hate it when games actively hate you for playing them. I get there needs to be challenge in the game and obstacles to overcome, but to be called an awful person for it just makes no sense! I'm just gonna leave this here:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouBastard

Not sure what "Jam" is going to be about other then "an apocalypse... with JAM in it!" but what teh *bleep*, I'll look into it. I'd also look into this game but I can't say it sounds appealing to me, I know how bad this stuff can be I don't need a depressing game to tell me about it. Now to return to staring at the calender waiting eagerly for the day Fall of Cybertron comes out.

I do like it when Yahtzee has room to put on his academic hat and explores themes and thinks about them in-addition to entertaining us by pointing out video game flaws.

Seneschal:
Aww, Yahtzee, you shouldn't hesitate to go all serious on us, we won't leave! You could do an Extra Punctuation on The Line; you obviously have a lot to say about it, but you felt you couldn't stuff it in the video without you audience going: "Six minutes of talky nonsense and no farting sounds?! I'm never watching this series again!"

Anyway, The Line makes me cream myself with every new review that I read/watch. It's like a mighty, echoing slap to the face of dudebro manshoots. But it's less of a finger-wagging killjoy, and more of a "yes, it's been fun the first five times, and it's been tolerable the next twenty times, but now it's just getting silly, guys" directed right at the industry's overworked FPS machine.

captcha: "never give up"
Wow, where do you get these from, Escapist? I feel more motivated every time you check whether I'm a bot.

Don't overestimate the average viewer of ZP.

OT: WoW. I want this game name now. Am i to understand this is the Silent hill 2 of FPS ?

Having played the demo I was utterly bored before I finished it, but if it's a little more than shoot his face, then shoot her face, then I might get it out the bargain bin some time.

Darth_Payn:

Clearing the Eye:
Game's a pile of wank and failure; boring story that fucks around in circles for half the game, terrible graphics, player decisions that aren't explained until much later, after you've been forced to decide with no idea at all what it is or why you're doing it, and bland, samey, unoriginal and utterly sleep inducing gun play.

Game: "Murder everyone or turn the game off -- those are your two options."

Player: "Okay..."

Game: "Oh my god! How could you! You killed all those people! Don't you just feel the emotion weight on your soul."

...

And I thought that was what all today's "brown-shooters" did. I hate it when games actively hate you for playing them. I get there needs to be challenge in the game and obstacles to overcome, but to be called an awful person for it just makes no sense! I'm just gonna leave this here:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouBastard

The funny thing is that this trope is closely tethered to the point of this game's story and is pulled off pretty well too. As to what that point is well - you have to play till the end to find out. Suffice it to say that the point certainly justifies the "You Bastard" trope being used.

I'm pretty sure that if someone's going to play this game with the intent of "Ahhh, let's escape my dreary RL by shooting up some shit for teh lulz." then yeah, this game is definitely not for you and the trope mentioned is bad to you. So play some other FPS that tells you how cool you are instead and you'll have a much better time.

However if you approach this game with the intent of say...finding out what it'd feel to actually fight a war without having to do so IRL - this game is pretty much for you and the trope mentioned really manages to bring that feeling up beautifully.

It's all about what you expect from a game really. Thing is, there are already plenty of FPSes that tell you how cool you are for killing virtual monsters/NPCs. But this is the first FPS that seems specifically designed to get a very grim point across - one that is much more tethered to reality and does not exist to please your ego. Even if one of the game's endings, that you get to choose, does come off as insanely badass.

Finally, a curveball for Yahtzee, a game that surprised him so much that he had a hard time making jokes.

Renegade-pizza:
I love it when he has these running-gags in his reviews, like the wolfenstein limerick and the Brink drinking game.

Wolfenstein was awesome but Brink was just annoying because every other game rips off another some way (oh it has guns doom clone), that's always been the case so it was just stupid for him to shove it down our throats.

well i really want to read extra punctuation next week...

wow an fps I am actually interested in never thought I would see the day (hat generator 2 doesn't count)

also I now feel childish for laughing at the farting imps

Lunar Templar:
o.o

o.0?

0.0!!

he LIKED it o.o;; a modern set 'relistic shooter'? and he LIKED it o.0

guess i should probably give it a look then, since Yahtzee and i tend to hate modern FPSs with the amount of fervor

synobal:
quote unrelated

like your avatar

And I yours. Also I was as surprised as the next guy that he seemed to give the game a positive review.

I'm looking forward to the Extra Punctuation that will cover this more.

krazykidd:

Don't overestimate the average viewer of ZP.

*chuckles*
Indeed.

ON TOPIC:
The only game that really made me aware of what I was doing potentially had dire ethical consequences in relation to the plot was ironically, Chrono Cross.

Looking back as an adult, I see that the entire plot for that game was incredibly contrived and shit.
But without going too far down the rabbit hole, scaling Terra Tower knowing full well that the big baddies at the end were actually right to take revenge on us. Basically their entire utopian existence got buttfucked for reasons that were beyond their control and totally our fault. So it kind of felt like having to putting down Old Yeller...only he was trying to kill me and my whole race for being manipulative twats.

Well that was surprising -- I was expecting it to get butchered- - I played the demo and couldn't be bothered to finish it cause it was just so boring and repetitive - who would have thought that the story would be the saving grace of a dull third person shooter rather than its worst part.

J-Alfred:
The moment Yahtzee first wheeled out the farting noises gag, I paused the video and said "This episode shall end with deep, serious analysis, and then another fart noise"

And lo was it so.

Predictable, yet not entirely unlikeable.

Hmm, a recommendation, eh? Now that's interesting. I may have to pick this up at some point.

The fart noises made it.

In all seriousness, halfway through this game right now and it seems interesting so far. The gameplay's completely standard, but the setpieces have been impressive and the plot seems to be developing into the whole Heart of Darkness thing talked about here. This is looking like a good one. Something to make everyone who bought it expecting another Call of Duty/Battlefield think.

PsychedelicDiamond:

CronoT:
So, it's like an FPS game version of the movie Eyes Wide Shut?

That's... a pretty abstract comparison. I mean, Eyes Wide Shut was about a wealthy married couple having strange sexual adventures in New York.

I aims to please.

;-)

mrm5561:

2 words my friend family video (or the nearest movie rental store) you can get a game for a week for less that 10$ saves you money and gives you a definitive yes or no on if your going to buy it. unless your a pc gamer then just prey to the steam gods i guess

Yeah, PC gamer.

And the steam gods are vice incarnate.