How Spec Ops: The Line's Opening Manipulates You

You could have played something else.

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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/c...
2 - Star Marshall -    • Spec Ops: The Line 100% (FUBAR) Walkt...  

MUSIC
Spec Ops: The Line OST (A Mix)

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