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Even now as we stroll into the new year with our heads held high, in the same way one might try to avert their gaze while manoeuvring around a mentally decaying destitute on the way to work, I’m still hard pressed to select a game release from 2012 (that I’ve played) to boast as my game of the year.
Traditionally, my choice is decided by these three factors that I most look for in any game: The amount of fun I had (time spent playing, immersion, etc.), The design quality from as much of an objective standpoint as I can take (which gameplay mechanics, for instance, do and don’t work, etc.) and creativity and uniqueness (offers things I haven’t seen before or give the game a distinguished flair, includes anything from gameplay to narrative).
So despite whatever critiques one could hurl at Game X, if it’s fun, well-made or unique, then I’ll keep my eye on it in any case. A great game, ideally, should at least contain all three. But it seems that, while the past year certainly offered some strong contenders in a variety genres as well as new IP’s being generally well received, the games I enjoyed most in 2012 all have their own asterisks having over them, keeping my hand extended horizontally indifferent when brought up in the GOTY discussion (to which I’ve been instructed to play The Walking Dead but Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade treats Australia like a prisoner in its basement who only gets a dirty bucket of fish heads to eat every few months, hoping his weak but desperate bangings on the reinforced cellar door will reach the ears of the esteemed guests of Mr. Microsoft’s game-swapping tea party, America and Europe, sipping happily away at their warm beverages while tragically unaware of the poison that will soon slither through their arteries).
The dozens of hours it took me to initially complete Mass Effect 3, for example, provided tons of well-written dialogue and character development, suspenseful drama and wonderful set pieces that kept me glued to the controller despite my mind and body’s protests of “Go to fucking sleep, already!”. However, I still feel the combat leaves much to be desired and while the enormous fan outcry over the ending was, while interesting and pleasingly passionate, kind of overblown – I mean, the ending was sloppy but it wasn’t that terrible – but it’s worth remembering that the conclusion of a series can colour everything that came before, a lesson the makers of Death Note and now Mass Effect probably wish they’d remembered.
Other titles that sprung to mind included Lollipop Chainsaw, a game that had me grinning from start to finish by balancing a very hazardous tightrope of switching the sexuality and fetishist humour up to 11 with unblinking confidence while never stepping over the line enough to be misogynistic, but losing points for its short length and shallow combat. Max Payne 3 proved to be the most fun I’ve had with any physics engine since Batman: Arkham Asylum, combining well-flowing and truly organic bullet time mechanics with cringingly brutal, visceral gunplay. But considering how story heavy the game was, it grew increasingly more difficult sympathise with a character who seemed determined to be miserable, distractingly so at times. Combine that with largely unskippable cutscenes and nauseating visual effects, the result was a game that crushes your adrenaline rush just as quick as it gets going.
But if there was one game from 2012 that still has me banging on about it to anyone who will listen, like a fussy mother stressing the importance of correct toilet seat configuration, it was unquestionably Spec Ops: The Line, because when it comes making a statement about violence, particularly regarding the psychological impact of intense warfare, as the aforementioned mother might say: “THIS is how shit is done!”
According to our playable vessel on this journey, Captain Martin Walker, he and his Delta Force comrades, Lieutenant Adams and Sergeant Lugo, are sent into the hot, war torn, almost apocalyptic looking city of Dubai to search for and evacuate survivors as well as locate decorated officer Colonel John Conrad of the 33[SUP]rd[/SUP] Battalion, believed to be dead after one of the largest dust storms in recorded history. Finding clues as they enter the city that things are not entirely as they seem, Walker and his team soon discover the town has actually been taken over by the now rogue “Damned 33[SUP]rd[/SUP]”, resolving to confront Conrad and get some answers.
Having heard the uninspired title, seen the generic box art and read the summary, those unfamiliar are probably sharing the same reaction I initially had: “Spec Ops: The Line, huh? How quaint! What’s next? Modern Battlegun Operations: Brown-ish Beige Edition? Let’s roll replaceable Call of Duty clone up in the most itchy, uncomfortable, dog hair riddled carpet we can find and toss this obvious waste of attention off the bridge of existence, then yawn loudly during the funeral!”
Let me make something clear now: The reason I’m writing this is not to make a GOTY case for Spec Ops, but because I really believe more people need to play it and see this story unfold. The game dresses itself up as an ordinary Modern Warfare-ish shooty blaster, but then slaps you in the face with the very pang of gratification you felt from the lives you took.
See, the brilliance of this game, as opposed to other military shooters like recent Battlefield and Medal of Honor instalments that try to replicate the action in Modern Warfare to match the success of Modern Warfare, is that Spec Ops imitates that game in order to drive home a point about the horror and ugliness of it all, not the thrill. Where Modern Warfare takes delight in supplying an entire smorgasbord of means to obliterate your fellow man, from stabbing the unambiguously evil Russian enemy while in a sewer to playing as the Hand of God, dropping bombs from the sky and watching as the helpless blips on the radar are engulfed in the incredible, scorching hot fireworks display down below, Spec Ops: The Line is going to sit you down in front of a mirror.
So, if you’re like me, the “Games Are Art!” gamer who loves a narrative driven videogame, engaging moments of interactive storytelling laden with subtleties and symbolism that emerge with each subsequent playthrough, yearning for the end credits to roll because you need to email Roger Ebert, you need to get this game yesterday. Without spoiling any pivotal plot moments, Spec Ops attempts to be a deconstruction of the modern military shooter formula and many of the tropes within it, most significantly Modern Warfare’s now token “shocking moment” .
If, however, you’re the kind of gamer who mostly indulges in shooters of all stripes and are looking for something different but not too unfamiliar, I think you especially should check out Spec Ops. The characters you follow are likeable and well-defined, your support NPC’s embodying the Battlefield-esque archetypical traits of trigger-happy demolitions guy and snarky recon dude, each offering different gameplay functions respective to their field of expertise. You can command Adams to use explosives to get multiple enemies out of an entrenched position, and Lugo to take out single, longer range targets.
But like I said while I adore the things this game sets out to do, there’s a reason I couldn’t exactly fault those who don’t see GOTY material. Spec Ops: The Line may be great but it isn’t always functionally competent, like an honour student getting high before an exam. In fact, the game also seems to have brought many of the most loathsome Third-Person Shooter technical issues over for the ride, I suspect not ironically.
There’s the Kane & Lynch 2 problem where, for some reason, taking cover doesn’t completely protect you from bullets. There isn’t much weapon variety and the combat overall, while occasionally gripping, gets repetitive. Sprinting and taking cover are assigned to the same button and since sometimes Walker gets a bit picky about which surfaces he can get behind, so often you’ll find yourself dashing through enemy fire mashing the A button behind a ledge while enemies hose you down, or latching onto a random wall you didn’t want to while running from a grenade. Throw in the usual Blue friendly AI behaviour and long loading times, playing on a difficulty higher than Normal is pure, controller-snapping frustration.
But setting the blisteringly painful gameplay issues aside, I still highly recommend Spec Ops: The Line because it’s still one of the most unique interactive experiences I’ve ever had. Videogames have always had the power to provoke a many number of emotions: Horror, sadness, joy, excitement, loneliness, contempt, curiosity, sympathy. Sometimes I’m a hardened veteran leading the galaxy to war against a ruthless, Lovecraftian alien threat, sometimes I’m a bloke with sunglasses attached to his face, unravelling a sinister corporate conspiracy far greater than he could understand, sometimes you’re a schoolgirl reducing zombies to chunks using a combine harvester.
But until Spec Ops came along, there’s one thing no game has ever made me feel: Guilt. I’ve never felt remorse for the destruction of 1’s and 0’s at any point over the cumulative time spend in my consequence-free utopia, but after the moments where Spec Ops slapped the controller away from me and yelled “What the fuck?”, it was hard not to feel just a bit sickened with myself. Not the things I did, but remembering the psychopathic joy I felt while doing it.
I sing Spec Ops: The Line’s praises from the highest rooftops because I think it’s a game that deserves to be preserved and one of finest examples of videogame narrative I’ve seen in years, one I’d rather not see fall into obscurity.
Spec Ops: The Line may not be… Well, it’s not the best game of 2012, but easily the most outstanding of its competitors and definitely worth your time. If you want change in AAA development trends, this is the kind of game you should be supporting.
Traditionally, my choice is decided by these three factors that I most look for in any game: The amount of fun I had (time spent playing, immersion, etc.), The design quality from as much of an objective standpoint as I can take (which gameplay mechanics, for instance, do and don’t work, etc.) and creativity and uniqueness (offers things I haven’t seen before or give the game a distinguished flair, includes anything from gameplay to narrative).
So despite whatever critiques one could hurl at Game X, if it’s fun, well-made or unique, then I’ll keep my eye on it in any case. A great game, ideally, should at least contain all three. But it seems that, while the past year certainly offered some strong contenders in a variety genres as well as new IP’s being generally well received, the games I enjoyed most in 2012 all have their own asterisks having over them, keeping my hand extended horizontally indifferent when brought up in the GOTY discussion (to which I’ve been instructed to play The Walking Dead but Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade treats Australia like a prisoner in its basement who only gets a dirty bucket of fish heads to eat every few months, hoping his weak but desperate bangings on the reinforced cellar door will reach the ears of the esteemed guests of Mr. Microsoft’s game-swapping tea party, America and Europe, sipping happily away at their warm beverages while tragically unaware of the poison that will soon slither through their arteries).
The dozens of hours it took me to initially complete Mass Effect 3, for example, provided tons of well-written dialogue and character development, suspenseful drama and wonderful set pieces that kept me glued to the controller despite my mind and body’s protests of “Go to fucking sleep, already!”. However, I still feel the combat leaves much to be desired and while the enormous fan outcry over the ending was, while interesting and pleasingly passionate, kind of overblown – I mean, the ending was sloppy but it wasn’t that terrible – but it’s worth remembering that the conclusion of a series can colour everything that came before, a lesson the makers of Death Note and now Mass Effect probably wish they’d remembered.
Other titles that sprung to mind included Lollipop Chainsaw, a game that had me grinning from start to finish by balancing a very hazardous tightrope of switching the sexuality and fetishist humour up to 11 with unblinking confidence while never stepping over the line enough to be misogynistic, but losing points for its short length and shallow combat. Max Payne 3 proved to be the most fun I’ve had with any physics engine since Batman: Arkham Asylum, combining well-flowing and truly organic bullet time mechanics with cringingly brutal, visceral gunplay. But considering how story heavy the game was, it grew increasingly more difficult sympathise with a character who seemed determined to be miserable, distractingly so at times. Combine that with largely unskippable cutscenes and nauseating visual effects, the result was a game that crushes your adrenaline rush just as quick as it gets going.
But if there was one game from 2012 that still has me banging on about it to anyone who will listen, like a fussy mother stressing the importance of correct toilet seat configuration, it was unquestionably Spec Ops: The Line, because when it comes making a statement about violence, particularly regarding the psychological impact of intense warfare, as the aforementioned mother might say: “THIS is how shit is done!”
According to our playable vessel on this journey, Captain Martin Walker, he and his Delta Force comrades, Lieutenant Adams and Sergeant Lugo, are sent into the hot, war torn, almost apocalyptic looking city of Dubai to search for and evacuate survivors as well as locate decorated officer Colonel John Conrad of the 33[SUP]rd[/SUP] Battalion, believed to be dead after one of the largest dust storms in recorded history. Finding clues as they enter the city that things are not entirely as they seem, Walker and his team soon discover the town has actually been taken over by the now rogue “Damned 33[SUP]rd[/SUP]”, resolving to confront Conrad and get some answers.
Having heard the uninspired title, seen the generic box art and read the summary, those unfamiliar are probably sharing the same reaction I initially had: “Spec Ops: The Line, huh? How quaint! What’s next? Modern Battlegun Operations: Brown-ish Beige Edition? Let’s roll replaceable Call of Duty clone up in the most itchy, uncomfortable, dog hair riddled carpet we can find and toss this obvious waste of attention off the bridge of existence, then yawn loudly during the funeral!”
Let me make something clear now: The reason I’m writing this is not to make a GOTY case for Spec Ops, but because I really believe more people need to play it and see this story unfold. The game dresses itself up as an ordinary Modern Warfare-ish shooty blaster, but then slaps you in the face with the very pang of gratification you felt from the lives you took.
See, the brilliance of this game, as opposed to other military shooters like recent Battlefield and Medal of Honor instalments that try to replicate the action in Modern Warfare to match the success of Modern Warfare, is that Spec Ops imitates that game in order to drive home a point about the horror and ugliness of it all, not the thrill. Where Modern Warfare takes delight in supplying an entire smorgasbord of means to obliterate your fellow man, from stabbing the unambiguously evil Russian enemy while in a sewer to playing as the Hand of God, dropping bombs from the sky and watching as the helpless blips on the radar are engulfed in the incredible, scorching hot fireworks display down below, Spec Ops: The Line is going to sit you down in front of a mirror.
So, if you’re like me, the “Games Are Art!” gamer who loves a narrative driven videogame, engaging moments of interactive storytelling laden with subtleties and symbolism that emerge with each subsequent playthrough, yearning for the end credits to roll because you need to email Roger Ebert, you need to get this game yesterday. Without spoiling any pivotal plot moments, Spec Ops attempts to be a deconstruction of the modern military shooter formula and many of the tropes within it, most significantly Modern Warfare’s now token “shocking moment” .
If, however, you’re the kind of gamer who mostly indulges in shooters of all stripes and are looking for something different but not too unfamiliar, I think you especially should check out Spec Ops. The characters you follow are likeable and well-defined, your support NPC’s embodying the Battlefield-esque archetypical traits of trigger-happy demolitions guy and snarky recon dude, each offering different gameplay functions respective to their field of expertise. You can command Adams to use explosives to get multiple enemies out of an entrenched position, and Lugo to take out single, longer range targets.
But like I said while I adore the things this game sets out to do, there’s a reason I couldn’t exactly fault those who don’t see GOTY material. Spec Ops: The Line may be great but it isn’t always functionally competent, like an honour student getting high before an exam. In fact, the game also seems to have brought many of the most loathsome Third-Person Shooter technical issues over for the ride, I suspect not ironically.
There’s the Kane & Lynch 2 problem where, for some reason, taking cover doesn’t completely protect you from bullets. There isn’t much weapon variety and the combat overall, while occasionally gripping, gets repetitive. Sprinting and taking cover are assigned to the same button and since sometimes Walker gets a bit picky about which surfaces he can get behind, so often you’ll find yourself dashing through enemy fire mashing the A button behind a ledge while enemies hose you down, or latching onto a random wall you didn’t want to while running from a grenade. Throw in the usual Blue friendly AI behaviour and long loading times, playing on a difficulty higher than Normal is pure, controller-snapping frustration.
But setting the blisteringly painful gameplay issues aside, I still highly recommend Spec Ops: The Line because it’s still one of the most unique interactive experiences I’ve ever had. Videogames have always had the power to provoke a many number of emotions: Horror, sadness, joy, excitement, loneliness, contempt, curiosity, sympathy. Sometimes I’m a hardened veteran leading the galaxy to war against a ruthless, Lovecraftian alien threat, sometimes I’m a bloke with sunglasses attached to his face, unravelling a sinister corporate conspiracy far greater than he could understand, sometimes you’re a schoolgirl reducing zombies to chunks using a combine harvester.
But until Spec Ops came along, there’s one thing no game has ever made me feel: Guilt. I’ve never felt remorse for the destruction of 1’s and 0’s at any point over the cumulative time spend in my consequence-free utopia, but after the moments where Spec Ops slapped the controller away from me and yelled “What the fuck?”, it was hard not to feel just a bit sickened with myself. Not the things I did, but remembering the psychopathic joy I felt while doing it.
I sing Spec Ops: The Line’s praises from the highest rooftops because I think it’s a game that deserves to be preserved and one of finest examples of videogame narrative I’ve seen in years, one I’d rather not see fall into obscurity.
Spec Ops: The Line may not be… Well, it’s not the best game of 2012, but easily the most outstanding of its competitors and definitely worth your time. If you want change in AAA development trends, this is the kind of game you should be supporting.
