Yes |
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21.2% (111) |
No |
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78.8% (412) |
Poll: Is Spec Ops: the Line overrated? Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT | |
Oh Daystar, you just didn't get it. On Topic.... It's not as good as people make out, not by a long shot. As games go it's just an average 3rd person shooter that's held up by a semi decent plot. In fact, to call it average is an insult to average TPS. Yes we know that's "the point" but knowing that doesn't make it any less of a shit shooter. | |
Based on story, no its not over rated. But, when you add the shitty gameplay into the mix, yeah it becomes rather overrated. | |
I wasn't saying that you were all in favour of binary black-and-white choices. I was saying that in this specific instance, with the white phosphorus, there is no feasible way to introduce an alternative that is worse than using the white phosphorus. Adding literally any other option to that scene would create a black-and-white moral dilemma, simply because the WP choice is so horrifically black that any other option looks white in comparison. You'd have to either remove the white phosphorus, or add an alternative that is just as bad. If you did the former, you're cutting the most pivotal and creatively inspired scene in the game and creating a huge plot hole. If you did the latter, you're not really adding a "choice" because the player is still forced to do something terrible.
Why is it so ludicrous? The whole point of Spec Ops is that we shouldn't be playing these types of games. If you don't want to be a party to Walker's actions...don't play. That's their answer. Turn the game off. You can do it at any time. Can't you? | |
the game is less stable than fallout new vegas and so far i haven't heard a single person talk about any of the glitches, and fallout got blasted from the inside out for being unstable. yes it is overrated. | |
No because I am opposed to the idea that we should play games that make us want to turn off and walk away from out of shock/horror/disgust and so on. That goes against the very reason I play games and would be a terrible design to have in any game. Video games should be about adventure, escapism, competition what have you. I don't want a game that tries to tell me this is bad and I shouldn't enjoy myself. | |
Is it overrated? Erm... maybe, certainly in part. Does it get to be overrated because it's one of the all too few examples in gaming of something that actually has a higher point to prove and is trying to make a difference to the medium, and until we can start seeing stuff like this, and better, on a more regular basis then it needs to be played and promoted? Yes. | |
hrrr, are you a troll... Are you (-),(-), nope moving on.... | |
I do think some people don't think in the right mindset when it comes to this game. The main criticism it gets from people who don't like it is the gameplay is mediocre, which if it was left to stand on its own merits I would agree with. However when it is coupled with the story it changes because one of the stories messages is war isn't fun. The game needed sub par shooting in order to tell its message. I think of it in the same way I think of survival horror games and their controls. Amnesia and Silent Hill are both games with clunky awkward controls but they add to the experience the designers were trying to create and both games would be worse off without them. | |
Some people like rom-coms, some don't, some like horror, some don't. Some like drama's etc etc Looks like this type of story/game isn't your cup to tea. | |
I'd say criminally underrated. The guys at Extra Credits explain it better than I could: | |
No don't you see this goes beyond genres. This is a game telling you to hate it and what it represents and walk away. Who would want that? | |
Yes. Overrated. Boring, repetitive gameplay. Boring, convoluted story. And a twist ending that channels BioShock's "Would you kindly...", a twist that I didn't find really genius either, but at least it had some meta irony. The Line's ending didn't even make 100% sense to me and the general writing of the game was sub-par. Also: lame, copycat writing in video games makes me assume ANY mission giving NPC is a twist waiting to happen - especially if they only communicate via radio. | |
I think it deserves the praise just because somebody had the balls to pitch it in the first place.
That would work against immersion though. You're Walker, so if other characters were saying things to you like 'remember that one time at x' you'd be like 'nope. I don't.' He works better as a blank slate. The other characters could do with it though. Glad someone linked this. Too hungover to bother defending it myself atm. | |
That was the turning point for Walker so if you could get through that scene without using white phosphorous his subsequent guilt and hallucination would never happen and the game would be pointless. On the issue of choice; You are not playing as yourself you are playing as Walker. The white phosphorous aftermath is where you figure it out because you see Walker's reaction as you also react to the consequence. You don't choose Walker's reaction. This is where the disconnect happens when Walker goes more and more random. He deflects the blame and insists on moving forward while most players are thinking 'what?'. While his squad mate says 'He turned us into murderers!!!'. That's what the player is thinking of the game right now because we feel it wasn't our choice. At the final scene the Konrad hallucination tells walker and us the player you could of just stopped. You wanted to be the hero so you continued. That goes for Walker and the player. The player didn't have to carry on playing the game at the white phosphorous choice, but we did because we wanted to be a god damn hero! Just like Walker. Oh wait...but you can reject this completely by just shooting Konrad and reject all responsibility if you want to. That's the only real choice in the game. Do you accept responsibility for the 47 deaths? or do you blame the game/devs/ impossible situation. To disconnect you from Walker and then to break the 4th wall anyway was pretty cool. A game,story, film, song are made to evoke different emotions and responses, why can't it make you feel sick or shameful and sad!? Many stories are made about the downfall of a character where he has good intentions but completely messes everything up, I don't see the issue here. Apart from it being done more in the movies and being very rare for video games | |
Okay, yeah amongst the gaming community it does get quite a bit of press, however have you met someone who is not an avid gamer ( Joe Blow) who actually knows that it exists? Because I have not.... Anyone off the street if you were to say Call of Duty or Halo would know that you are talking about a video game, if you were to say "Spec Opps the line" or "Spec Opps" would they think you were talking about a video game, I doubt it, they would probably think of Seal Team 6 and the Osama raid. | |
Again no Spec Ops goes beyond this. From what you guys are arguing about me with. The message of this game is that you should not enjoy this and you are wrong to enjoy the genre. Again a terrible message and one that should have no place in a video game. | |
That's fine. You're not going to like everything. But your insistence that because you don't agree with the message it shouldn't be in a video game is random. Even if it was critising the genre, it's allowed to say it. The message I got from the game (in regards to other games) was when you try to play as hero it might not be that cut and dry. &also Possibly Pointing out how lame it is to keep playing as a hero to feel like a hero. would you continue if the character stopped being a hero? If your annoyed that it's questioning your other FPS campaign missions then even if you didn't like it. It achieved it's purpose | |
Then don't play the game, lol. | |
I bought it based on all the hype on here. I'm not too far in but I'm fiding the gameplay very lacklustre which in turn is making rather apathetic about the story. | |
Video games are a medium of storytelling an a way that movies and books can't convey due to interactivity as well as length. Tell me, why should this message not be conveyed in video games? | |
Don't go on forums then! yeah combat is mediocre, but as it's a short game the story should start to kick in. you might actually notice small things about how the combat atmosphere evolves that actually draws you further into the game. That's all I'm going to say Play till the end. it's a nice little ride. | |
Yes that is what I am arguing. | |
If it was a film the horrible things would have a lot less impact as it would be just some guy doing horrible things and not you doing horrible things. Also as a side note one of the loading screen texts brings unfortunate implications of how the gaming market is seen as only beeing Americans. | |
Because he doesn't like the way it feels...lol and he doesn't like his genre being criticised or turned on it's head It's a subjective view (well within his rights) but he tries to turn it into an absolute by the blanket statement 'this message should not be in video games'. I think it shows how mature half of the gaming community is when a genre can be ripped apart by another game (making us question ourselves) and we celebrate it | |
Because no-one should be told that they are wrong to enjoy a certain genre of video game. And no one should have to pay money for a game that tells them to stop enjoying the games they love. | |
Yeah, a bit. The fans do rather like to bang on about it, huh? I still liked it though. If nothing else, I appreciate what it was trying to do even if the implementation was on the sketchy side. Also, I actually enjoyed the combat somewhat, even though I apparently wasn't supposed to, because, y'know... subveeeersive. | |
Yes. It is. It is a good game, but not THAT fucking good. Everyone on this side is rage masturbation over it story-line. Yes, the storyline is really damn good. WE get it. But here is the thing: I seen the story done before. It is called Apocalypse now. Sure, it is a movie and this is a game but whatever, I seen it before. | |
You just need to take a step back and see it a bit more like art and bit less like a game. Spec Ops doesn't have fun gameplay as a prime goal, but critique on tropes and the FPS genre and players in general as it could only be delivered in an interactive medium and a self-aware audience. It's similar to a bit of the Stanley Parable (not gonna spoil it for you if you haven't played it, but if you have you should see the parallel). Do traditional games mostly focus on having fun? Yes. Does this mean we should restrict the interactive medium to this goal? No. There's plenty of space for dramas, horror entries and fourth-wall-breaking critique in this medium. | |
I thought the narrative aspect was good, but the fact that fun gameplay was sacrificed to make it so was not a good decision my eyes. Also I a left wondering how much praise it would've garnered if it HADN'T come out when it did, amidst a torrent of modern military shooters. In short: overrated, but still good. | |
Why not? A developer is allowed to make a game with any message they damn well please. (Y'know, unless they break the law. But somehow I doubt commenting on video game genre conventions breaks hate speech laws.) Nobody "has to pay money for a game that tells them to stop enjoying the games they love" becuase they can, y'know... not buy the game. | |
I can understand your point. But to have to pay money in order to play a game that tells you not too enjoy yourself and to stop playing is something that I cannot support. | |
I feel like it's been hindered by hype. I went into the game expecting an emotional rollercoaster which would leave me alternating between crippling guilt and existential terror as I contemplate the nature of my own hobby. Instead, I feel emotionally underwhelmed by a better-than-average story that told of, to me at least, not a man performing terrible acts in the school of war, but a man dragged along from one impossible situation to another. In short: I never felt like I'd chosen to do something awful. I felt like I'd been steered to do something awful. And it's hard to hate myself when I know I'm supposed to do something awful, that there was no way to avoid doing something awful. I spent five minutes scoping around looking for an alternative to the white phospforous scene. I found none. There was exactly one road left open to me. It was that or turn off the game and go outs- Wait. Was that the point? Damn son, I retract my statement. | |
No. Spec Ops' message is not 'you are awful for playing for shooters', it's 'just stop for a second and think what you're doing'. Like all the best deconstructions, Spec Ops simply asks that you reflect on whether you're okay or not with the points it raises. If, at the end of Spec Ops, you decided 'fuck you Yager, I like games that don't judge me for gunning down hordes of brown people', that's fine. It's a perfectly valid answer to the question Spec Ops poses. And if you feel that Spec Ops didn't deliver that message, or ask that question, that's fine too. Feel free to not like it. But you have to understand that some of us did get smacked in the face by that message. I felt awful after I completed it. And after reading the suggestion that I always had a choice, as did Walker - the choice to just stop, it really made me think. So even if I didn't think the voice acting, pacing and atmosphere was excellent, I would praise the game to the high heavens simply because it got me to think, and reassess some of my opinions on videogame violence. As to the question of it being 'stupid' for a game to make you not want to play it, that it's obviously a failure on the part of the developers... well, I'd explore that through movies - the go to comparison for stories, I guess. Let me ask you, have you seen Schindler's List, or Gran Torino? If you have, did you enjoy them? Because I sure as hell didn't. The latter in particular made me very uncomfortable at times, but I still hold them up as absolute brilliant movies because I was still thinking about them hours afterwards. Yes, this analogy is horribly flawed, because there are so many other things about those movies to appreciate. The quality of the acting, the cinematography, the tightness of a script that isn't strung out by hours of pure gameplay. But my argument is that these are both films that are not meant to be 'enjoyed' as a two hour diversion with a bag of popcorn - they're points for consideration. I don't think that posing the question 'do you really want to keep playing this?' is a failure on the part of the developers, so long as you realise the question is being asked and think about your answer. I suppose the big difference between games and movies is that going to see a movie that raises uncomfortable questions isn't a £40 investment. And if you don't think Spec Ops challenged your preconceptions, or did it in a forced manner, that's fine. Just understand that everyone that did is going to praise it, and be wary of calling it 'overrated' just because it provoked a deep impact for a lot of people, but not for you.
Actually, it's a book and it's called Heart of Darkness. The main bad guy is even named after the author ;-p | |
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Why do people praise this game by saying it makes you want to quit playing it? How is that a good thing?
Please just think about it for a moment. If that is the case then the developers have designed a game that sends the message that they do not want you to play this game. In that case perhaps they are doing something wrong and should find a different industry to work in.