Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
You could have played something else.
PATREON: patreon.com/montyzander
TWITTER: twitter.com/MontyZander
Spec Ops: The Line is dressed in the sand, and sheen, and glitz of an abandoned Dubai, but at its core it’s most interested in asking the player a question. Who is responsible for a war crime? Who should bear the brunt? How much social responsibility can we assign to a soldier who pulls the trigger? Or should we turn our anger towards the decision-makers who conditioned them?
It’s the military shooter which ruined military shooters for me – and that’s the most ringing endorsement I can give it. Nothing has compared since. It’s the sort of experience Call of Duty: Modern Warfare wishes it could give its players.
But how exactly does it condition a player to see it as just another generic shooter? What does its framework say about its inspirations? Why is its opening so effective?
FOOTAGE/REFERENCES USED
1 - Combat Psychology, Learning to Kill in the US Military - https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=graduatetheses
2 - Star Marshall - youtube.com/watch?v=2ASY7tGuVaM&list=PLb-4t1-03HEetplwEolXRjBbGWZEYS-jw
MUSIC
Spec Ops: The Line OST (A Mix)
MOTION GRAPHIC BY: https://www.instagram.com/icarotkd/?h...
Find him on Twitter here: @icarogabriel17
You could have played something else.
PATREON: patreon.com/montyzander
TWITTER: twitter.com/MontyZander
Spec Ops: The Line is dressed in the sand, and sheen, and glitz of an abandoned Dubai, but at its core it’s most interested in asking the player a question. Who is responsible for a war crime? Who should bear the brunt? How much social responsibility can we assign to a soldier who pulls the trigger? Or should we turn our anger towards the decision-makers who conditioned them?
It’s the military shooter which ruined military shooters for me – and that’s the most ringing endorsement I can give it. Nothing has compared since. It’s the sort of experience Call of Duty: Modern Warfare wishes it could give its players.
But how exactly does it condition a player to see it as just another generic shooter? What does its framework say about its inspirations? Why is its opening so effective?
FOOTAGE/REFERENCES USED
1 - Combat Psychology, Learning to Kill in the US Military - https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=graduatetheses
2 - Star Marshall - youtube.com/watch?v=2ASY7tGuVaM&list=PLb-4t1-03HEetplwEolXRjBbGWZEYS-jw
MUSIC
Spec Ops: The Line OST (A Mix)
MOTION GRAPHIC BY: https://www.instagram.com/icarotkd/?h...
Find him on Twitter here: @icarogabriel17
