For Christmas my brother got me a new game for my 360: Spec Ops the Line. You might have heard of this: Spec Ops the Line has been creating a stir in the gaming community through it being a deconstruction of the shooter genre. That was my first impression at least and being rather sick and tried of shooter games & the 'must kill fifty guys to get it up' players that flock to them, I thought having game that would challenge it all would require a lot of balls. Well, apparently someone at Yager had the balls so that is worthy enough for my attention. Mind you, my brother noted of my 360 games, with the presence of Bishock, Mass Effect, Gears of War, Halo and the Orange Box, a preponderance of shooters so would Spec Ops the Line be an upset of this?
Well, I like my shooters to be Doom: Fun, exciting and unafraid to place the player in desperado situations against near-impossible odds. That being said I have little to no time for Call of Duty, Battlefield and the like as I find their rigid seriousness/self-importance unappealing beyond basic familiarity. Thus one would I think I would be perfect for Spec Ops the Line.
Well the first thing that struck me about Spec Ops the Line was the use of the menu music: Jimi Hendrix's famous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Then there was the unnerving sight of my XBLA name included in the opening credits - obviously this is a game that isn't fucking around.
At time of writing I had made it to Chapter 4 and already some signs have been detected of the game's deconstructive intentions: The shouts made by characters during the fighting, clues made out via the intel drops, use of sixties metal music, and being led on in a linear fashion. There have already been some unsettling moments but not enough to put me off completely. Sure the gameplay may be a bit broken but somehow one suspects that may have been the point...
So I will continue playing Spec Ops the Line and it would be interesting to see what happens next...
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