Spec Ops: The Line; A Look at Video Game Narrative

Back in 1980 Namco released a game about a ravenously hungry monster who abused drugs to gain physical superiority over his competition. While successful at first the monster would inevitably be destroyed by his lifestyle… That game was Pac-Man; which in all honesty has nothing to do with anything that I just said. During the so called “golden age of video games” designers were not often concerned with story behind video games leaving the player to come up with their own insane explanation.  Most games of the period were content with “kill the aliens” or “jump the barrels.” There was no real objective, just a high score. There was no ending, just a Game Over. During the NES days most games had a simple story that was often left in the games manual and never addressed again. Today however many games feature engaging stories that rival many great movies or books. After a recent discussion of what makes good storytelling in a game I decided to look back on one of my favorite video game story lines of all time, Spec Ops: The Line.

As a genre, military shooters aren’t typically known for their grade A storytelling. Many games in this genre are more about flag waving ‘Mericans taking on the evils of the rest of the world than they are about character development. Yager’s Spec Ops: The Line (2012) is different. The game is set in Dubi after a major sandstorm wipes out the city. The wealthy elite evacuate early, leaving the poor underclass to die in the world’s most opulent ruins. The US Army 33^rd Battalion lead by Colonel John Konrad is sent in to evacuate the city but communication is soon lost. Six months later a mysterious transmission is picked up from the city and the military sends a 3 man Delta Force Recon team to investigate. The player takes control of team leader Captain Walker, who formerly served under Konrad in Afghanistan. They find that the 33^rd battalion has remained in Dubi as an occupying force, and are committing atrocities against the civilian population in an attempt to maintain order. The recon team fights their way through the darkness of war and tries to find Colonel Konrad so he can answer for his crimes.

The game plays with the typical conventions of a military shooter and uses them to interesting effect. Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare contained a scene in which the player witnesses the aftermath of a nuclear blast that kills thousands of people in a heavily populated city. It was an incredible scene because it came as such a shock that they tried desperately to emulate in their sequels to varying success.  Meanwhile while a game like Call of Duty will hand the player a mortar launcher and let them go crazy on their evil enemies while chanting “USA USA USA!” at the top of their lungs, Spec Ops gives the player a mortar launcher to kill their enemies and then makes the player walk through the field of burning bodies and listen to the screams of the people they just killed. It makes for a very effective plot device. As reviewer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw put it " Modern Warfare got into the habit of making a shocking moment that illustrated the ruthlessness of the enemy and the resources at their disposal. It's supposed to make you hate and fear them...The Spec Ops shocking moment, contrarily, is designed to make you hate yourself, and fear the things that you are capable of."

A major theme of the game is Walker himself is far from the epic hero of typical war games. It becomes clear throughout the game that he is slowly losing his grip on reality. Walker begins to have visual and auditory hallucinations of enemies and soon his behavior becomes increasingly agitated and violent both towards his enemies and his own men.  His in combat communications go from the stern voice of a professional commander at the start of the game to just psychotic laughter as he mows down enemies from a helicopter mounted mini-gun.  One reviewer pointed out that perhaps we as players are not really in control of Walker but rather his last remaining connection to sanity forced to watch in horror as he loses control of his situation.

Some critics point out that Spec Ops: The Line does not intend the combat to be a fun experience for the player, but rather aims to critique the shooter genre for being a morally ambiguous escapist fantasy. While some reviewers criticized the use of heavy violence as a plot device, Spec Ops writer Walt Williams defended by saying “the violence was intended to evoke anger from players... One of the games endings is simply for the player to put down the controller and stop playing.”

Spec Ops: The Line is a great example of deep video game storytelling, but it is far from the only example. As video games as a medium have matured so too have their themes, acting, and story. Games like The Last of Us, The Mass Effect series, Heavy Rain, the Metal Gear Solid series, ect push the boundaries of storytelling and become far more than just a “high score.” Games are a far more interactive experience than a movie or book and can engage players in ways that no other medium can. In a video game you aren’t just watching the story, you’re part of the story.