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spec ops the line

June 2021

…jumping off point to think about the meaning and wish-fulfilment of alien invasion theories. (Autocaptions) [embedded advertising]

Spec Ops: The Line – A Literary Analysis – Games As Literature (1:12:33)

The Game Professor argues that the way Spec Ops: The Line explicitly positions and critiques player expectations for both choice and reward is fundamental to its anti-war messaging. (Autocaptions)

The Wendigo… In Video Games | Cryptid Month – Painticus (17:02)

Painticus reviews three games featuring the Wendigo, lamenting the misrepresentation and appropriation of myth from indigenous American culture. (Autocaptions)

Room for Improvement

Design

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July 22nd

…post for Gamasutra, regaling us in tales of game industry corporate incompetence. It probably won’t cheer you up, but the stories are so absurd they might just anyway.

Meanwhile, TWIVGB regular Josh Bycer takes aim at a few recent “hard” games and asks where their difficulty really comes from: “it’s easy to make a hard game. The quandary and where a good designer is needed, is being able to separate hard from challenging.”

For more in-depth textual reading, we turn to Michael Clarkson, who takes Spec Ops: The Line to task for the cowardice of its critical message:

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February 12th

…– Haywire Magazine (Content warning: middle-east wars) Miguel Penabella revisits 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, bringing a new perspective to its nihilism and embrace of ignorance.

“The game may resemble conventional third-person shooters, but its ugly power fantasy has close parallels with Spec Ops: The Line in particular, albeit with a meta-commentary not deliberately authored but emergent […] while Spec Ops directly skewers and subverts these conventions to comment on the morality of violent videogames, Blood on the Sand wholly embraces its violence, resulting in a differently sobering perspective on videogame culture.”

The darkest…

November 25th

…This week might be the single greatest boon for long form game criticism I’ve seen since I’ve started doing this.

Brendan Keogh has finally released his book, Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line, for purchase. If you like criticism and want to see it properly supported and hopefully allow the medium to take one more step forward, buy it. It is available until December 21st for $2.99 and then on will be $4.99. If you want to pay more, Brendan says it would be more than appreciated. You can read an excerpt on Kotaku…

December 2nd

…an unexpected paratextual gutpunch while going through the game’s campaign missions.

REVIEWING IS HARMLESS

Brendan Keogh’s Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line released last week to generally enthusiastic response. Now Keogh brings us a roundup of some early and very worthy reviews of his book, acknowledging what his critique does and doesn’t accomplish.

LIVE, EAT, GAME

At Unwinnable, Jenn Frank pens this emotional introspection on her work in games, the death of her mother, hanging on and letting go. Also worth reading is this very valuable B-side.

Daniel Starkey pays…

This Year In Videogame Blogging: 2013

…anti-shooter long before Spec Ops: The Line.

Ceasar Bautista takes Susan Feagin’s The Pleasures of Tragedy and applies it to Far Cry 2.

Alex Duncan of The Animist blog look at what The Unfinished Swan as to say about creation and self-creation.

Matt Sakey at Tap Repeatedly puts his Roman History degree to use and explores why Total War: Rome II fails to allow the player to be Roman.

Liz Ryerson counters the indie game scene’s trusisms regarding Michael Brough’s Corrypt.

And finally, like last year, we end this section on Sparky Clarkson’s epic round…

Bioshock: Infinite

…impressive. But, it didn’t really give me much to write about.

In February of 2014, Stephen Beirne compared Infinite to Spec Ops: The Line, and how each game plays with expected behavior and rules. Maddy Myers at Paste Magazine looked at a fan-made porn parody of Bioshock Infinite and how it comparatively allowed Elizabeth more agency than the game it was parodying.

At Ontological Geek, Albert Hwang interrogated the game’s use of baptism, especially in relation to Booker’s past as a participant in the massacre at Wounded Knee, what that says about the game’s bifurcated timelines, and…

Now Accepting Submissions for TYIVGB 2016 Edition

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July 9th

…Cameron Kunzelman argues that speed runners who rely on a performance of skill might be impressive, but those who have memorized tricks and glitches reveal more about the nature of the games they are playing.

Five Years Later, ‘Spec Ops: The Line’ Still Hates Military Bullshit – Waypoint Brendan Keogh locates the game he once wrote a book about in the context of more recent anti-war games and interviews with the developers.

“[…] if you wanted to play a powerfully anti-war videogame, you would be better off playing Unmanned or September 12 or even This War…

September 2nd

…but these are flimsy when you take a look at the superfluous things a developer does decide to include instead. Or maybe there’s the uncomfortable implication that Caucasians are, as far as the game is concerned, actually more important than other races—and that’s why there’s more options for them.

On the subject of games and agendas, here’s a piece on Spec Ops: The Line straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were: a feature from narrative designer Richard Pearsey on the narrative objectives and process of the game.

Over on my old stomping grounds of PopMatters Moving…