Third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line has been removed from sale from Steam due to expiring "partnership licenses", according to a representative for 2K Games.
]]>Sit down at the boiling pot, stranger. Let me tell you a tale. A sordid tale, full of fascinating lands and captivating characters. A story of wonder and flame, strangeness and warmth. Would you like to hear it? Great. Just play this rubbish cover shooter for a half hour. I’ll start the introduction when you hit the first checkpoint.
Welcome to the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. This week we’re discussing some great stories that come packaged with terrible games.
]]>Spec Ops: The Line is free over at the Humble Store right now. It's only available for 48 hours, ending March 31st at 10am Pacific, so I advise you to go there now. Congratulations! You are hopefully now the proud owner of a game about the horrors of war. It's hell, in case you hadn't heard, and many people are unsure what it's good for. Hu-ah.
Here's wot our Alec thought back in the day.
]]>The latest offering from Humble Bundle is a stack of 2K games, including third-person horrors-of-war shooter, Spec Ops: The Line [official site] in the lowest tier. That's yours for a dollar or more but (the horror, the HORROR) you'll have to take a copy of Duke Nukem Forever as well. The Darkness 2 is the much more palatable final third of that one dollar selection. Jumping to the next tier, with a minimum buy-in of $8.37, gets you a copy of Civ V, NBA 2K16, Mafia II and...a Battleborn skin pack. Civ V is decent, even without the expansions, but I'd be tempted to wait until October for the sequel.
Spec Ops is the star here. At that price, it's close to unmissable.
]]>All Walls Must Fall [official site] is the first commercial release from inbetweengames, the indie studio founded by former members of Yager, developers of Spec Ops: The Line. It's a "tech-noir tactics game" set in Berlin 2089. This is a Berlin still divided by a wall and a world where the Cold War never ended. To navigate its perils and its nightlife, you'll use a combination of social stealth, time travel and combat. It looks delicious, like a propaganda-powered, post-Syndicate dream.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Spec Ops: The Line [official site] is a pretty fun third-person cover shooter about shooting people in their faces, then sometimes feeling a bit bad or confused about killing them. I think BioShock made folks a bit excited about shooting games where shooting people was sometimes a bad thing, so reactions to Spec Ops were over-enthusiastic, but it's still pretty decent as face-shooters go. Its sandstorm-swept Dubai is a heck of a sight too.
]]>We all have different ways of dealing with loss. Some of us lash out and hurt others while some of us turn inwards and dwell on that pain. The Mammoth: A Cave Painting [official site] is a free game about loss and how we choose to overcome it.
]]>Somehow we haven't written about Yager's flying battleship combat game Dreadnought since going COR BLIMEY YEAH I'LL HAVE A BIT OF THAT PLEASE THANK YOU back during E3 week. Time to correct that. Time to correct that with massive great spaceships.
]]>Rarely do I effusively recommend a bundle made up entirely of games I already own, but it's kinda hard to argue with every BioShock, Spec Ops: The Line, Mafia II, The Darkness II, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, among others. The Humble 2K Bundle does come with a slight catch (a flat rate of $20 if you want a couple of the more recent games), but even then it's a formidable deal. Unfortunately, this will technically count as purchasing The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, but don't worry: I won't tell anyone.
]]>Who shoots the shooters? Well, I don't think Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 3 writers Walt Williams and Jeffrey Yohalem have ever shot anybody, but they are attempting to skewer gaming's shooter genre – or at least give it a good paddling. In the previous two installments of this gigantic chat, we discussed everything from the art of critique, to violence, to the effect of treating gamers like they're stupid, to Dante's Inferno and the Sistine Chapel. Seriously. It's been a very long and interesting road, but now we're finally at its end. In this thrill-a-millisecond conclusion, we discuss real, long-form criticism of games (including that one guy who wrote a book about Spec Ops), what's next for these sorts of dissection of videogame culture, games as tools for exploring the future, and where games like BioShock Infinite fit into that.
]]>When last we joined Spec Ops: The Line writer Walt Williams and Far Cry 3 writer Jeffrey Yohalem, they discussed everything from the problematic nature of modern escapism to Western culture's disturbing disconnection from real violence. Today: art! Or rather, the process of creating it using someone else's money when that's not really what they wanted in the first place. Also, we delve into the notion that gamers (often rightly) assume games think they're dumb, and how that factored into the receptions of both games' messages. In the process, the likes of Mass Effect, Shadow of the Colossus, the Sistine Chapel, and Dante's Inferno (the literary work; not the bizarre EA game) get ruthlessly dissected. NO ONE IS SAFE. Flee beyond the break while you still can.
]]>The shooters! They've become self-aware! Now they're in the vents, skittering around menacingly and writing lengthy commentaries on why the very mechanics that make them tick might just be hyper problematic for, you know, society. Two games, especially, have claimed the forefront of this movement and have succeeded to - erm, depending on whom you talk to - varying degrees. If nothing else, however, Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 3 should be applauded for aiming right down the sights at a very important topic. Thing is, they furrowed their proverbial brows at shooters in extremely different fashions - Spec Ops by charting a slow descent into bodycount-borne madness, and Far Cry by "straight-faced" (and/or frustratingly obtuse) satire. So, during GDC, I brought their respective writers, Walt Williams and Jeffrey Yohalem, together for a wide-ranging chat about, well, everything. In part one, we talk the industry's emotional disconnect from the realities of shooting, how to critique violence without accidentally glorifying it in the process, getting these critiques past publishers, and tons more. Oh, and of course, beware of SPOILERS.
]]>No doubt there are big things yet to come from the last quarter of 2012, but even by October it feels like it's been an uncommonly important, even vital, year for games. The hit rate of great things, expected and unexpected, has been pretty steady, but on top of that there have been major emerging trends as gaming starts to move out of the awkward transitional phase between olde worlde boxed sales and anything-goes online existence.
I'm really just ruminating on a truly fascinating 10-ish months to myself here, but see if you agree with - or better still can add to - any of these arguably defining aspects of the year nearly gone.
]]>Polygon's interview with Yager about their 2K-published shooter Spec Ops is worth a read, and not just because the lead, Corey Davis, attacks the practice of tacking on mandatory multiplayer to an ostensible single player project. He reportedly describes it as "bullshit", and delivers this descriptive ankle-bite:
]]>You've finished Spec Ops: The Line. You've seen its harrowing tale through from start to finish and felt the moral conflict claw its way into your gut. So then, what now? Do you go back to other shooters - which are significantly lacking in both awareness of their own problematic place in the cultural landscape and heaping mountains of sand? At one point in time, I would've hung my head low and sent you on your way, but now you can play in Yager's sandy cesspit of human filth for just a little bit longer. And you can bring friends!
]]>Yager/2K's deceptively dull-named third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line goes on sale in the UK today, having been out in the US since Tuesday. Alec crept into the heart of its ravaged Dubai, never to be heard from again - save for these blood-soaked notes.
]]>Spec Ops' handsomely bearded writing lead, Walt Williams, talks about the personalities that make up Spec Ops: The Line's team - both player and non-player characters - in a new development diary installment, which you can see below. Williams claims that the moral choices in the game are "about holding up a mirror to yourself", which in my case would reveal a tired-looking man with a serious head-cold and a dire need of a haircut. I am not sure what that says about my morals, but I suppose I could do with looking in a mirror once in a while.
Anyway, clickwards for what might be a bit of a spoilery dev diary. Mr Meer is playing Spec Ops: The Line RIGHT NOW for his ultimate verdict.
]]>And not just because it seems like a billion of these things have popped up in the past week or so, either. See, a recent developer diary about Spec Ops' potentially uncomfortable marriage of meaty, blood-spattered fun and the grim truths of war prompted me to wonder if the whole thing wasn't like duct-taping a cat and dog together. And while Hollywood tells us that'd lead to a heartwarming adventure of self-discovery, reality isn't generally so kind. So along comes Spec Ops' launch trailer, and yeah, this reeeeally doesn't look like it's trying to downplay the glamorous lifestyle of videogame life-ending. You know the drill: buildings, vehicles, and people get shredded into bloody confetti while caught in gooey bubbles of slow-mo. So now I'm confused.
]]>For me, Spec Ops: The Line is like watching a child play with a balloon. Like, I want it to be good, and I think it definitely has the tools to do so - but I'm still tensing every muscle and waiting for a deafening POP. Maybe it's a sign of early onset cynicism, but plenty of other shooters have promised non-black-and-white moral choices and a "true" battlefield experience. Also, while probably purposefully bereft of those things, the demo didn't exactly make a believer out of Richard. So now, on the eve of the eve of the eve of the eve of the eve of the eve of Spec Ops' release, 2K calls for another supply drop of big promises. But will Yager deliver?
]]>Arriving slightly later than on consoles - boo, hiss - you can now check out the Heart of Darkness inspired shooter Spec Ops: The Line in all its sand-strewn glory. It doesn't just want you to murder your way through armies of crazy people in the remnants of fallen Dubai, but to think a little while you do. And not simply 'which gun should I shoot this guy with?' You'll get sand in your eyes, sand in your pants, and sand in your sandwiches, but try this demo if you're still feeling... wait for it, wait for it... Dubai-us! (accepts applause and thrown undergarments)
]]>What follows is a moment-by-moment recounting of my facial expressions while watching Spec Ops: The Line's multiplayer trailer - in ultra-vision. Exposition-y stuff: an expectant stare followed by an eye roll so hard it nearly detached my retinas at the phrase "This is their war." Cover shooty runny 'splodey stuff: a furrowed brow as if to say, "Is this all?" and "Why waste a slow-mo shot on a reload?" Class-based skills and rewards, etc: drooping eyelids, a hint of spittle dangling from the corner of my mouth. SAND AVALANCHE: Eyes wide-open, mouth creaking into a tentative smile, head cocked in much the same way as a dog saying, "Baroo?" Still though, it's a bit worrisome that they actually had to spell out "Sand is a game-changer," as though saying, "No, wait, don't go! We're sort of different, see?" And see you shall, if you opt to check out the trailer after the break.
]]>Having read Adam's hands on with Spec Ops: The Line, I've found myself intrigued by a game I suspect I might have otherwise ignored or dismissed as another military shooter. While it's very much about men shooting each other, the themes of the collapsing Dubai being eaten by the desert, not to mention the underlying occult weirdness, looks like something I'd like to explore. The latest trailer (via Blue), below, is intensifying that feeling, too.
]]>Spec Ops: The Line is on a mission to prove it's not just the sand that's gritty with this new "Community Gameplay Trailer". Whoever the Spec Ops community is, they're sick puppies, as this is nothing but a catalogue of human misery: Argos filled with skulls, a Littlewoods of pain, an Innovations dedicated exclusively to a helmet that stops brain matter from staining your nice rug. Bad things might go down in the desert, but you won't have to worry about worming bits of lobe out your finest shag with the Brain Buster! Act now and get Butt Blaster, the amazing all-in-one rifle butt cleaner and clockwork radio.
]]>Ooh, I've come overall military. Let me try that again: "I don't know what I've been told, Spec Ops: The Line is out June 29th". Ah, military cadence is a wonderful medium for delivering game news. The Dubai set Gears of War-ish shooter that Adam liked but I have concerns about is taking advantage of the sweltering heat of summer and potential beach holidays. Imagine, an entire marketing campaign claiming to have brought about sand and sun. There's also a multiplayer video that shows off the perks of pre-ordering, below.
]]>Drawing inspiration from Joseph Conrad as much as the series that it seeks to reinvent, Spec Ops: The Line is a brutal, plot-driven third person shooter. After playing a few chapters of the game, I sat down with senior designer Shawn Frison to talk about Dubai, war stories, and the tension between horror and entertainment.
]]>As I sat in 2K’s lobby waiting to play Spec Ops: The Line, a man played The Darkness II on a nearby consolebox. If I were to estimate, I’d say 84% of his time was spent eviscerating people, tearing them limb from limb, punching gaping holes through their most precious parts and lopping off their screaming faces with a twitch of his tentacles. It truly was one of the most gruesome displays I’ve ever been witness to. That man was Shawn Frison, senior designer at Yager Games. In Spec Ops, he has helped create something far more brutal than the comic book killfest of The Darkness.
]]>We sent Craig into what I can only assume was the heart of a diabolical sandstorm to take a look at Spec Ops: The Line. Despite misgivings, he admired the impressive spectacle, most of which seems to be due to the game's setting in a decaying and sand-suffocated Dubai. A new trailer, which shows a fair bit of gameplay, does manage to impress with its sense of scale. There are towering, shattered buildings and a beach's worth of sand being dumped onto unsuspecting enemies. That goes along with some cover-based shooting and some excessive violence, including a foot stomp that Isaac Clarke would be proud of. Put on your shades, then take a look.
]]>You might well have noticed that Craig had a look at Spec Ops for us, and wrote about it. 2K have now also released a trailer, which contains a large quotient of noise and fury, ending on what appears to be a supernatural (?) note. It's a bit weird. Go take a look.
]]>The Spec Ops series has been going since 1998, although came to an abrupt end after eight games and an abandoning of the PC, in 2002. Now, a decade on, it's back with Spec Ops: The Line. We sent Craig to take a look at an early build of the military shooter to see if it's a welcome return.
Sand, like bullets, can kill a man. You need sufficient quantities, but it'll eventually either crush, suffocate, or get in so many sandwiches that the victim grinds his insides away. Given the choice of what I'd rather die of, I'd go with a lead sandwich (bullets) over a sand sandwich (an actual sandwich with sand).
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