History YMMV / SpecOpsTheLine

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Say what you will about [[TheSociopath The Radioman]], but he has ''impeccable'' taste in music. The sheer SoundtrackDissonance of clearing room after room of insurgents in the second chapter as "Hush" by Music/DeepPurple plays over the loudspeakers is sublime, especially if you look at it as a deconstruction of the same type of scene playing out unironically in a normal military shooter, or as a homage to the [[SignatureScene helicopter scene]] in Film/ApocalypseNow. Speaking of helicopters, there's also the part where he starts blasting "Dies Irae Verdi" as an attack chopper tries to mow Walker down.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: A large amount of criticism the game receives comes from how in its attempt to be a meta-commentary on war shooters, it completely strips the player of choice in how they handle events. The white phosphorous scene in particular is subject to BlamedForBeingRailroaded, as no matter what you do, you physically cannot progress until you use the phosphorous in order for the game to then criticize you for using it. Additionally, the game tips borderline insulting you for continuing to play when you had no option to influence events comes off as rather hypocritical, as despite the game constantly beating the message into you that you can't just push responsibility onto someone else when you make a bad call, the developers are putting the blame onto the audience for continuing to play when they wrote the story such that there is no alternative.

* AngstAversion: As mentioned elsewhere, the game is WarIsHell to the limit, full of war crimes ([[WhatTheHellPlayer while questioning how players manage to still go with it]]) and with [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] playing a major part. It probably helped drive potential players away, as [[https://www.pcgamer.com/spec-ops-the-line-sequel-has-no-chance-of-happening-yager-is-okay-with-that/ even the art director acknowledged how grim it gets]]:

** The ''entire point'' of this game is playing with this trope. [[spoiler:Walker]] starts out wanting to save Dubai, but progressively makes things worse; such as when [[spoiler:he kills dozens of soldiers and civilians at a refugee camp with White Phosphorus, or when he helps to destroy Dubai's water supply]]. Throughout, [[spoiler:Walker]] is pathologically incapable of admitting that he's [[ArcWords crossed the line]] throughout; [[spoiler:he shifts blame onto Konrad to keep up his "hero" narrative, until he sees that Konrad's corpse and realizes the one he was talking to was a manifestation conscience.]] From there the player can decide how redeemable he really is, and force him to accept responsiblity for his actions. Alternatively, in the epilogue, [[spoiler:he can deliberately slaughter the unambiguously friendly soldiers sent to pick him up]]. Very much not coincidentally, [[YouBastard it's something the player will have to consciously choose to do]].

* HarsherInHindsight: With how much the shadow of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror and criticism thereof hangs heavy over this game and how many of the American characters are mentioned as having served in Afghanistan (most notably with Walker and Konrad having taken part in a mission gone wrong in Kabul), the manner in which the real life war in Afghanistan [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_United_States_troops_from_Afghanistan_(2020%E2%80%932021) ended nearly ten years later]] (featuring a chaotic evacuation of Kabul and [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics/kabul-drone-strike-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html accidental killing of civilians]]) adds an especially bitter taste to the game.

* HarsherInHindsight: With how much the shadow of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror and criticism thereof hangs heavy over this game and how many of the American characters are mentioned as having served in Afghanistan (most notably with Walker and Konrad having taken part in a mission gone wrong in Kabul), the manner in which the real life war in Afghanistan ended nearly ten years later (featuring a chaotic evacuation of Kabul and [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics/kabul-drone-strike-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html accidental killing of civilians]]) adds an especially bitter taste to the game.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The game was advertised as a fairly standard military shooter, though it is emphatically not one, because it would be impossible to come up with an appealing way to advertise what the game really ''is'' to the people it was intended for.

** From the dev's point of view, it [[GoneHorriblyRight was too effective at deceiving everyone]]; lots of players judged the game on the merits they would judge a typical war shooter, while the sort of gamer who would value its dark plot and innovative narrative style would be turned off by it ''looking'' just like every other shooter [[FollowTheLeader following the leader]].

* MisaimedFandom: The game has a following among fans of classic/non-military shooters, who adore it for ripping the modern military shooter (and their players) to shreds. The game has an anti-violence message in ''general'' that applies beyond Call of Duty and its legion of spinoffs and imitators.

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* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: As is probably evident from Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, this game's story is just about the only thing worth remembering. It's no accident that the [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode multiplayer mode]], which features no narrative elements whatsoever (and wasn't even designed by the development team behind the single-player mode), is the single worst-received part of the game.

** The game has often been interpreted as a critique of [[AmericaSavesTheDay American military interventionism]] or at least the mentality of "good guys saving the world" that is used to justify such actions. As above, the creators noted ''Spec Ops'' wasn't a specific criticism as such, but came out from criticizing ''Call of Duty'', which is seen as jingoistic.

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: As is probably evident from Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, the reaction among virtually all players and critics to the game amounted to "great story; bland, mediocre, repetitive gameplay" (with the exception of those players and critics who didn't like the story much either). It's no accident that the [[MisbegottenMultiplayerMode multiplayer mode]], which features no narrative elements whatsoever (and wasn't even designed by the development team behind the single-player mode, who hated the ExecutiveMeddling addition), is the single worst-received part of the game.

* FriendlyFandoms: The advent of later postmodern games like ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' has lead to this game getting much newer appreciation from fans of those games. All three are well-loved by the much of the same people for deconstructing the idea that video games are used purely to fulfill the fantasy of their players.

* MagnificentBastard: The fictionalized version of [[spoiler:[[ColonelBadass Colonel John Konrad]] that Captain Martin Walker made up in his head is imagined as a crafty, ruthless, yet cultured and well meaning warlord who took control of Dubai after a failed evacuation, serving as the "[[BigBad villain]]" of Walker's hero fantasy. Konrad's voice gives Walker a "test" between [[SadisticChoice executing a thief or an insubordinate soldier]]. As Walker commits atrocities, leading his men to their deaths, Konrad [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech repeatedly condemns Walker]] while ostensibly forcing his hand, leading to the deaths of his teammates. When Walker discovers the corpse of the real Konrad, the fictionalized one reveals himself to be a manifestation of Walker's conscience, which Walker blamed for his deeds. Forcing Walker to face the truth of his crimes, "Konrad" prepares Walker to [[GoMadFromTheRevelation kill himself]] as he breaks him down. Even if Walker resists this, a surviving Walker is left a miserable wreck of his former self]].

** Some gamers find it hypocritical for the game to call out the player for wanting to be the hero in modern military shooters while ignoring the developers' contributions by producing such games. However, the developers' responsibility is acknowledged in game with Konrad's suicide, a point which [[[[http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/04/09/talking-is-harmful/]] writer Walt Williams notes]] wasn't picked up on by the vast majority.

** The [[spoiler:white phosphorus incident]] is pretty much the defining moment of the game, mainly because of being a massive PlayerPunch and the moment where the GenreShift and the real point of the story (that the guy you are playing is pretending to be someone he is not, a hero...and so are you) lights up.

** The game repeatedly lambasts you for [[BlamedForBeingRailroaded taking certain actions even though it doesn't actually give you any other alternative to progress the story]] (scolding you for not doing recon, but not actually giving you the chance to not do recon, and so on). The developers' rather glib reply to this was that you had another option: [[DontLikeDontRead you could just turn off the game!]] This is essentially saying that the better option than doing something risky and dangerous is just giving up and accepting defeat. But gamers evidently took them at their word, and rather than buy a AAA-priced paperweight so it can call them bastards for enjoying violent video games, they instead [[GoneHorriblyRight passed on the game entirely, leading to the game's poor sales.]]

** The game has the {{Aesop}} of "[[WarIsHell war is]] ''[[WarIsHell horrible]]''", as do a lot of FirstPersonShooter games, but it goes deeper than just that. The game goes on length about how everyone suffers in war and there are no true heroes in war, there is only death, destruction, and trauma awaiting for anyone who engages in war or is a witness to war. This game goes the extra mile and says there is no justifiable part of war, even if you're on the so-called good side, and we should not cross the proverbial line regardless of intentions.

** Chapter 13: "Adams", on any difficulty. That is all.

* VindicatedByHistory: Predicted by writer Walt Williams, who noted in an interview that the game's AudienceAlienatingPremise meant it was unlikely to ever be the sort of game with mass appeal but that word of mouth will eventually give the game the respect it deserves. It had enough of a following amongst certain gamers --usually those who seethe at the current trend of modern military shooters -- enough to have a book written on it. At the end of the 7th Console generation and while still controversial, the game has become acknowledged as a classic of that era and is considered to have one of the best story campaigns for any mainstream game, with some of the richest characterization, and it shows up in lists of best games ever due to its storytelling. The game even has a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase who continue to theorize about the story and the game's messages to this day, and even created their [[https://www.moddb.com/games/spec-ops-the-line/mods own mods]] for the game.

* VindicatedByHistory: Predicted by writer Walt Williams, who noted in an interview that the game's AudienceAlienatingPremise meant it was unlikely to ever be the sort of game with mass appeal but that word of mouth will eventually give the game the respect it deserves. It had enough of a following amongst certain gamers --usually those who seethe at the current trend of modern military shooters -- enough to have a book written on it. At the end of the 7th Console generation and while still controversial, the game has become acknowledged as a classic of that era and is considered to have one of the best story campaigns for any mainstream game, with some of the richest characterization, and it shows up in lists of best games ever due to its storytelling. The game even has a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase who continue to theorize about the story and the game's messages to this day, and even created their own mods for the game.

* VindicatedByHistory: Predicted by writer Walt Williams, who noted in an interview that the game's AudienceAlienatingPremise meant it was unlikely to ever be the sort of game with mass appeal but that word of mouth will eventually give the game the respect it deserves. It had enough of a following amongst certain gamers --usually those who seethe at the current trend of modern military shooters -- enough to have a book written on it. At the end of the 7th Console generation and while still controversial, the game has become acknowledged as a classic of that era and is considered to have one of the best story campaigns for any mainstream game, with some of the richest characterization, and it shows up in lists of best games ever due to its storytelling.

* VindicatedByHistory: Predicted by writer Walt Williams, who noted in an interview that the game's AudienceAlienatingPremise meant it was unlikely to ever be the sort of game with mass appeal but that word of mouth will eventually give the game the respect it deserves. It had enough of a following amongst certain gamers --usually those who seethe at the current trend of modern military shooters -- enough to have a book written on it. At the end of the 7th Console generation, the game has become acknowledged as a classic of that era and is considered to have one of the best story campaigns for any mainstream game, with some of the richest characterization, and it shows up in lists of best games ever.

* MisaimedFandom: The game has a following among fans of classic/non-military shooters, who adore it for ripping the modern military shooter (and their players) to shreds. The game has an anti-violence message in ''general'' that applies beyond Call of Duty and its ilk.

** Some gamers find it hypocritical for the game to call out the player for wanting to be the hero in modern military shooters while ignoring the developers' contributions by producing such games. However, the developers' responsibility is acknowledged in game with Konrad's suicide, a point which writer Walt Williams notes wasn't picked up on by the vast majority. [[http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/04/09/talking-is-harmful/]]

* FriendlyFandoms: The advent of later postmodern games like ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' and ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' has lead to this game getting much newer appreciation from fans of those games. All three are well-loved by the much of the same people for deconstructing the idea that video games are used purely to fulfill the fantasy of their players.

** The game repeatedly lambasts you for taking certain actions even though it doesn't actually give you any other alternative to progress the story (scolding you for not doing recon, but not actually giving you the chance to do recon, and so on). The developers' rather glib reply to this was that you had another option: [[DontLikeDontRead you could just turn off the game!]] This is essentially saying that the better option than doing something risky and dangerous is just giving up and accepting defeat. But gamers evidently took them at their word, and rather than buy a AAA-priced paperweight so it can call them bastards for enjoying violent video games, they instead [[GoneHorriblyRight passed on the game entirely, leading to the game's poor sales.]]