[ENG] Spec Ops: The Line and The Horror of War

   (Minor spoilers ahead, any bigger spoilers will be marked)

Many games have tackled the topic of war, you have your most popular series like Call of Duty or
Battlefield which... Well, they turn the serious and traumatic experience of war into action-packed, combat game (of course I am not talking here about every single part of those franchises; from what I've heard the newest CoD Modern Warfare gets serious just like some older entries in the franchise). I understand that from game design standpoint it's much easier to get players attracted by making your game packed with speed and action (and sometimes a lot of explosions). Some time ago there also was a series called Medal of Honor which took, in my honest opinion, slower pace than both aforementioned franchises (it's worth noting that I have played only a few entries of Call of Duty, Battlefield or Medal of Honor so I don't have a full picture of these long-time series). And then finally you have games that mostly flew under the radar, eclipsed by more popular series. Games like Spec Ops: The Line...

In Spec Ops we take control of Captain Martin Walker, the leader of Delta Squad containing Walker, John Lugo and Alphanso Adams. Delta Squad has been sent to find and deal with Colonel John Konrad, commander of the "Damned 33rd", Infantry Battalion of USA (Original target was a reconnaissance mission). The game was inspired by a book called "Heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad (see the resemblance?). Action takes place in a scorching and harsh Dubai which is suffering from terrible sandstorms. Spec Ops: The Line was supposed to be reboot of Spec Ops series and... The Line was a relative success from what I know, but since 2012 there wasn't another entry in the franchise. SO:TL is a tactical shooter, you technically play as the whole Delta Squad. You yourself play as Walker, although Lugo and Adams are controlled by a AI, player can give them orders like where they should go, who they should focus etc.

Some games introduce a morality system, where you have both good and evil choices that push your general reputation in one of two ways - for example Mass Effect or Fallout. Almost always you have these kind of choices placed in dialogue choice or more or less obvious actions. In Spec Ops: The Line, there are no good or bad choices. You can only choose lesser evil. And despite being mostly (unless the final one) 'illusionary choices' (which basically means that player's choices don't really matter). There are very few choices and a lot of them isn't pointed out like - "Do this or do that". They are introduced seamlessly during gameplay and at first glance they don't look like choices but a normal gameplay part.
There are also few endings to Spec Ops: The Line from which... None of them are really good. Just like with gameplay choices - you can only choose lesser evil. And... That's brilliant.
Too many games try to keep you on the good path or encourage you on staying good and heroic, very same games often punish you for doing the bad thing, and Spec Ops: The Line shows that you can have bad path and create a powerful journey (powerful in the sense of deepness and showing the emotional downfall)

The game has pretty varied arsenal of weapons to use, ranging from basic handguns, through assault rifles and machine guns, ending on HMGs (Heavy Machine Guns), sniper rifles and flamethrowers.. It also offers certain level of attachments to them like telescopic sights or suppressors. As this game isn't your typical run-and-gun type of game, you can (and almost always have to, if you wanna survive) hide behind covers, peek out of them, give orders to Lugo and Adams to deal with someone when you need a breather.

[HEAVY SPOILER ZONE! - CHOICES, ENDINGS AND EVENTS IN GAME - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK]

(I leave this section without photos so no one accidentally sees a spoiler)

Walker's mental health is deteriorating down since the beginning, he starts rationalizing his morally questionable choices by making Colonel Konrad a scapegoat, blaming him for all the things Walker has done. There is a pretty visible difference when things are real and when Walker is hallucinating - whenever game fades to black in transition between scenes - things are real; but whenever game fades to white - Walker is either hallucinating or deceiving himself

At some point Walker with his squad finds a soldier and a civilian tied up and with snipers aiming at them. Konrad informs Walker through the radio that civilian stole the water (which is considered an extreme crime) and the soldier killed the civilian's family when he was sent to apprehend him. Walker has to shoot one of them as trying to stall or leave will result in snipers gunning him down. In a cruel twist, at the end of the game it is revealed that Lugo and Adams tried to figure out what's wrong with their Captain, due to Walker talking with corpses. The hanging men were corpses and Walker hallucinated about them and snipers. 

Approaching the end of story, Adams and Walker are looking for Lugo. When they find him, he's dead, lynched by refugees. And here is another choice. You can either shoot in the air to make civilians flee, or fueled by rage and grief of friend's death you can mow down the refugees, slaughtering them. Similar choice is given few chapters before, where Walker has one, singular bullet and he meets dying CIA Agent Riggs. Walker can either leave him and let him burn to death or give him a merciful death [Coup de grâce]. 

The most powerful and strongest [and probably most recognizable] game event has to do with White Phosphorus [highly flammable and self-igniting substance]. At some point in the game, Delta Squad finds an entrance guarded by whole company of 33rd soldiers. Walker stumbles upon an abandoned 33rd mortar loaded with... You guessed it - white phosphorus. Lugo tries to be the voice of reason and convince rest of the squad that using white phosphorus is too cruel to use as he saw the effect of it on 33rd's previous victims. Adams and Walker ignore it and fire the mortar. In effect, the phosphorus obliterates the soldiers, but... The 33rd only tried to help the civilians. Due to the mortar strike, both soldiers and innocent civilians - women and children get burned to death. Walker shows no remorse and moves on whereas Lugo and Adams are angry and traumatized, only confirming his already shattered mental condition.

Both Lugo and Adams die during the course of a game, which leaves Walker alone with his stronger and more constant hallucinations

During the final scene, Walker finally finds Konrad - though in reality he is dead, Walker sees hallucination of Colonel and has two choices. Either allowing Konrad projection to shoot Walker, or shooting Konrad's reflection. The first one ends the game by Walker committing 'suicide' and the second one causes 33rd Soldier to come up and ask Walker what to do. When he turns around, both soldier and Konrad's body disappear. 

Continuing the second choice, Walker is sitting alone in the desert, wearing Colonel Konrad's uniform and AA-12 (powerful shotgun). A convoy of Humvees approach walker and that's where the final choice happens. Either shoot the patrol or surrender. 

If you decide to shoot the patrol, there are 2 possible outcomes - either getting killed by patrol or killing the entire patrol. If Walker obliterates entire patrol, he picks up the radio and sends a message to U.S Command "Gentlemen, Welcome to Dubai". 

If you decide to shoot and get killed by Patrol - Walker slowly passes away lying in a pool of blood, remembering his remarking of returning home, where Konrad replied that there is no way men like them could come back home.

If player decides to give up, patrol will evacuate Walker. Soldier that is driving the Humvee has looked through the whole city for Walker, often finding results of Walker's actions. He then proceeds to ask the question, how did the Walker survive - he coldly replies "Who said I did?".

[END OF SPOILER ZONE, LET'S HEAD TO SUMMARY!]

Spec Ops: The Line is a beautiful game, filled with hard choices, often reflecting the horrors of war that soldiers need to face on a daily basis, trauma and carrying often painful consequences of their actions. I honestly wish there were more games showing the true face of war instead of action-packed, fast-paced titles. It's a bit of a shame that there wasn't any successor to The Line, and there is no sign of another one coming - and it's been 7 years. Nonetheless, after all those years - I truly recommend for anyone who still didn't play this game to do so. You often can get it for really low prices or even for free, but the experience and the true horror of war game gives you back is... More than enough. It's also a game with good shooting system, tactical commands and sandstorms often changing the battlefield. One of the best system of choices as it doesn't break the pace or immersion, instead of that, this system seamlessly integrates with gameplay. Though you can see the choices and consequences, the game never tells you whenever you have to make one (Well... If we exclude achievements which break the immersion and pretty violently tell you whenever you made a decision). 

Due to game being relatively short (I think it took me barely 6-7 hours to finish on my first playthrough), I think even the busiest people should manage out those few hours to experience this shooter filled with psychological face of war. Despite looking like another typical heroic war shooter, the player is quickly knocked out from this way of thinking and is presented with many, many things that you can only dream to find in your most-popular titles.

Kind Regards,
Wing.

Post Scriptum - I often referred to videos and Wikipedia to double-check some information, despite completing the game thrice, the last time I finished the story was 2 years ago so I decided to make sure that my memories aren't too foggy.