Spec Ops: The Line. This is my dream, this is my nightmare

So yesterday I finished Spec Ops: The Line

O my god.

I've always felt that video games have potential to be the current form of narrative. Like books, video, TV, or what have you... Video Games are the new form of story telling. They aren't something to simple be played any more. The problem with this is that most games bank on hooks and game mechanics which provide replay value. In this day in age when the gaming market is so competitive you need to give the player something that's worth investing their time and money in.

This leads to shit like multiplayer games, death matches and what not. Simple game hooks that are easy to pick up and carry on so as not to loose the gamers attention.

It's with these things in mind that I wonder how the heck did Spec Ops: The liner ever get made, and I know that there are other critics that share my sentiments.

"The Line's" hook isn't so much in the gameplay, although I really enjoyed it, instead The Line brings you in with story. And yes there are heaps of games with great stories but the Line does an incredible job of slowly soaking you into itself.

Spec Ops: The Line tells the story of a small squad of Delta Force operatives sent to the shattered city of Dubai after a massive sandstorm has rendered the city uninhabitable. You play as Walker, the leader of the Delta squad. Your mission: locate the survivors of the 33rd Brigade led by the mysterious Colonel Konrad.

It starts off pretty average, you shoot at people and yell out orders.

But then something happens. Your character starts to question what's going on. Why are we shooting these people... do we need to kill so many to move. It's this semi breaking of the 4th wall to make you question your actions that starts Spec Op: The Line's descent into darkness.

The thing is, it's not that The Line doesn't make you do things you don't already do in other shooters, in stead it's innovation lies in the fact that it makes you feel like shit for doing it.

Anyone who has read Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or seen Apocalypse Now will be familiar with the story. "The Line" is the gaming link to Conrad's Novel the way Apocalypse Now was the film link.

There are heaps of articles and such all over the net now about how awesome this game is, and so many articles discussing the ideas and theme the game puts across. There's even a really cool write up which has a real Marine commenting on the game and giving his 2cents on all the cool stuff the game accomplishes. And this one in particular called "Don't be a Hero" is a great read as it has a lot of insight shared by the Devs in the making of the game. There even an article that tries to break the game down psychologically.

Earlier I was talking about how a game like this would be such a hard pitch to sell to a publisher. Because the beauty of The Line is in exploring the narrative and like all good narratives, it's the ending that nails it. The narrative being so focused does aim the whole thing towards a more leaner style and one might think that this takes away from such things as "re-playability" but I found myself immediately starting the game again on a higer difficulty.

And like all good narratives... I didn't mind "reading" through it again. The ending totally floored me, and though I could see hints of it coming it didn't diminish the impact in any way. As if the ending wasn't enough of greatness... the game throws in a killer epilogue as well.

Choice and consequence is what resembles a "hook" in The Line. And though a lot of decisions seemed forced on to... it feels legit because you feel these same limited choices can forced on to real people out the fighting wars. Its so easy to sit back and criticise those involved in conflict,  accusing them all of all sorts of things while not really know what it's like to be in their war torn shoes.

I'm not saying that The Line is an exact replica of what these people go through... but it's clear that the devs wanted to hammer some of that feeling home. Watching the characters decay and break as you lead them from one circle of hell to another is intense and engaging.

Also... to some extent. Spec Ops the line feels like a horror game. Not in 100% of the term, but in the way it messes with your head, making you question everything around you... and the way there's something horrifying waiting to be seen around the corner.

I've played a lot of games... and loved them for all kinds of reasons. But I can't remember the last time I played a shooter and thought to myself: "damn what have I done?"

There's a quote in the game which really struck me when I heard it, and of all the 4th wall breaking stuff... this one really naild it:

"The truth, Walker (player), is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not: A hero"

Play any game... what are you if not the hero?

Not here... not in The Line. A hero doesn't do what I did to get to the end. A hero doesn't stand for any of this. Spec Ops: The Line takes situations and scenarios that would otherwise be considered "Bad Ass" in other shooters and makes you feel like a psycho for doing it.

There's nothing glorious in killing... no matter what it's in name of, and The Line will cut and bleed this idea into your head... before it makes you shoot it off.

And then?

And then my Girlfriend and I broke up.

For the better part of almost 5 years she was the most wonderful part of my life, and through an act of carelessness on my part it ended. I miss her dearly and right now I wonder if I'll ever meet anyone who can be as good a friend and partner in crime as she was for me. She supported me through everything I took on, she was my best friend and I never dreamed of being without her. But as Mr Harrison had said; All things must pass. :( 

... Moving on.

I also got to check out Malaysia! which was pretty farking awesome. I've never been that far away from Fiji before and Malaysia was a country I've always wanted to visit.

It was such a great experience, particularity the size of Kuala Lumpur. Just this massive city with so much to do. Of course I hit all the malls looking for video game shops and books. I found a massive book shop at the KLCC towers and spent hours and hours there just going through the many books. At the end I only bought like three books. My boss is going over there soon (To Malaysia) and I've asked him to pick up some the books I'd left behind.

I also bought Dead Space 3 and I'll be doing a separate update on that later.

What I miss most about Malaysia though is the food. I would spend hours every night hitting the food stalls on the street sometimes eating 2 or 3 meals a night. The food was so awesome and freaking cheap as and it breaks my heart to know I won't be tasting those delicious flavors anytime soon...  not authentically anyway.

I have however picked up a Malay cook book... so lets see what that brings.

Funny thing is I felt KL was a lot like Fiji but with bigger buildings. The people there were nice and the street culture was very similar to the way things happen here in Suva.

Visiting the China market was a trip as well and so was the Indian market. Again the items there were pretty cool... but I spent so much on the fruits there. Just so many stalls with fresh fruit ready top be consumed. 

So yeah it was a great trip. And I never knew I would get into food so much. But I think it's because I farking love a good curry and all the chow there were curry based. They did have like BBQs and such ... but mostly I had the spicy stuff.

And I did a lot of mucking around. To the point where I was coming back to the hotel room at like 3 in the morning.

Though the food and such was pretty cheap, I found booze a little expensive, esp coming out of Fiji and the clothing stuff was a little on the other side of the budget. Mostly because a lot of the malls only had designer wear. I was itching for a thrift shop somewhere to see what I could find.

In case you're interested I was in Malaysia for a workshop on Ozone Depletion and it's relation to climate change / Global warming. The next part of my involvement with the project is to create an awareness on the subject.  So that's what is taking up most of my time right now... that and Dead Space 3.

What else...

I have been going out a lot recently which hasn't been nice to the wallet. Most of these night outs have ended with me stumbling home at like 4am and then hitting the office at 8am. But I think this is all part of the grieving process... and I will phase this out. Eventually.

I will however be giving up on beer before anymore of this beer belly takes effect. I'm thinking strictly vodka, tequila and rum for the night outs. Plus since I just got out of a long relationship, a lot of these night outs are kinda slow until I get at least a little bit tipsy.

And how come all the interesting ladies already have dates? What's up with that?

So yeah... that's kinda what I've been up to recently. Well that's the kinda the high lights at least. With the first 1/4 of the year almost done, it's been a pretty "hit and miss" start... but I'm sure things can only get better from here.

Routine Q&A

Routine is the up coming exploration/ horror game from indie English developers Lunar Software. Routine is a Steam "Green Lit" game and is frankly one of the better looking game that's part of the line up. With a strong sense of exploration  and discovery over straight Horror, the game brings a fresh new take on the genre I think.

Recently the Dev crew requested some questions for a Q&A video they were going to put together and I was lucky enough to have some of my questions addressed in the video.

Check it out - my Questions are at about the 3:44 mark

I'm really looking forward to this game as I am a sucker for exploration and sci-fi horror. Lunar Software is looking for an April release for Routine - I can't wait to get my hands on it.

And then?

And then I had a great day off yesterday. Chowed all over town, did a bit of working out, caught up on my reading.

All in all it was a very productive day, though it did get a little depressing when my PS3 died. After corrupting my 250 hour Dark Souls save last weekend, the Piece of Shit 3 finally decided to give me the finger and call it quits. Luckily one of the retail outlets here has a reasonable price on PS3s and give them out on hire-purchase, so I'm hoping to pick up a new one next week. I need to get one because if I don't play the Last of Us I'll die. (That's right Kayla - I will)

But thanks to the awesome Steam sale that's been happening since last week, my gaming fix won't be lacking any time soon.

Since Sunday I've been mucking around with Deadlight which has to be one of the better takes on the zombie apocalypse for video games. The only travesty with Deadligth is me taking so long to buy it, but thanks to the wait and the sale I managed to get it at a great price. I was actually hard out for this game for some time, ever since I saw it release for Xbox Arcade back in July. As far as story and atmosphere goes, Deadlight is a trip to play, and the ending actually left me sad and moved.

 
The game itself plays like Limbo with zombies, with puzzles and platform elements pasted against a 2D design. If I had to complain about anything it would be that the jump button sometimes lags a bit, but aside from that the game is a downloadable masterpiece. Plus the Steam edition comes with a host of extras including all the promotional materiel for the game along with developer diary videos and concept art to unlock.

It took me about 4 hours to finish the game, and this was with me taking my time to find as many secrets and such as I could. The supposed game time was one of the factors that put me off buying the game right away because in terms of Fijian Dollars, a short game for $30 can be a little disheartening. But for the sale price of $15 bucks I felt the game was a great deal. But then again $15 was intended international market price. Though the story is short, to pay through it is quite a feeling. A lot of the games themes and atmosphere reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Plus I'm a sucker for survival games and even now I'm debating if I should pick up I'm Alive as well.

I think it's safe to say that Deadlight is one of the best zombie games I've played, and for a budget downloadable title it does a lot to elevate the genre over some of its AAA contemporaries.

Tonight I'll be doing some creative writing as Alan Wake since I picked that up on Steam as well this morning. This is another game that I was interested in when it first came out but for some reason or other just never got around to playing. I'm actually sort of in the mood for the whole Twin Peaks thing that the game seems to have going on.

Aside from the vidya games my girlfriend and I have been brushing up on our 80s horror movies. Since Halloween we've been digging up all sorts of 80s B movie goodness. Mostly we've been after movies that are considered "under rated" gems. Though a lot of what we found should have been left 'unseen' - a lot of it was very entertaining. I've actually  got a couple of new faves now as well. One of them being the Jeffery Combs flick From Beyond.

 To be fair though this film is already considered a cult classic, so falling for it is not too obscure, plus Jeffery Combs is like one of my favorite horror movie actors.

Another movie I had to watch was Alligator, because as a kid I had this one VHS rip of the animated feature Fire and Ice and the trailer for Alligator was at the beginning of the tape and I'd watch it over and over because I thought it looked like an awesome creature feature. I was glad to find out that the film was not a let down and was in fact very well put together. It reminded me a lot of Jaws, and it was very well acted with some great one liners. It's also one of the better "it came from below" horror movies I've seen - right up there with C.H.U.D. (or down there?)

Another thing my girl friend and I have been spending a lot of money on recently is eating out. We've been visiting a lot of restaurants and dinners that we normally pass by, just to see what kind of specialties they might have.

Last night was funny though because I've been trying to watch what I eat, especially for dinner. So I had this great Thai Chicken salad and was all like - ok I'm set. But then like two hours later I was so damn hungry I could eat a baby. Lucky there was some left over Chili- chicken in the fridge. So I guess I gotta polish my dinner options a bit.

I'm looking forward to chilling this weekend, as i had spent the last weekend at the office working on a documentary for FBC TV.

And I can't believe where are days away from kicking of December, man this year went by so fast, and I know we say that about every year, but 2012 really did just fly by. I'm hoping to use my Hibiscus trips either in late December or maybe early next month.

What have you got planned for the rest of the year?

Dead Space 3 Preview (Inside Gaming Extended)

A closer look at co-op and weapon building, as well as something even more interesting. How two players co-oping together actually see the story differently because of the "Dementia" mechanic.