Premise

6 months prior to the start of the game, Dubai had been experiencing the worst sandstorms in recorded history and only the most wealthy and influential had managed to secretly evacuate leaving many Emiratis and foreigner aid workers behind.

Colonel John Konrad, commander of the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the US Army, and his unit were en route back to America from Afghanistan when these storms struck. Konrad disobeyed orders to try and provide relief to the city, deserting with his entire battalion.

The worsening of the storms created a huge “storm wall” that stopped communication, air travel and surveillance. The last communication from Dubai said the 33rd was attempting to lead a caravan out of the city. It never arrived. The United Arab Emirates declared Dubai a no-man’s-land and banned travel to the city. The 33rd were disavowed for treason and no more was heard from the city…

That is, until a looped radio signal is received 2 weeks before the start of the game: “This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai ended in complete failure. Death toll… too many.”

The US covertly sends an elite, 3-man Delta force to investigate Dubai. Captain Martin Walker, the leader of this force, served alongside Konrad and reveres him as a hero. With First Lieutenant Alphonso Adams and Staff Sergeant John Lugo, Walker must confirm the presence of survivors and
immediately radio back for extraction.

Gameplay

Spec Ops: The Line is a cover based shooter. You hide behind things, shoot things, move. You had the standard FPS formula of 2 guns allowed, swappable guns, limited ammo that you’d need to collect from enemies or ammo crates, explosives handled the same way and at times there are turrets you can use.

Adams and Lugo become NPC assistants at killing enemies. You can give simple commands to Adams and Lugo such as shoot that guy and stun those guys. If they get shot too much either you can heal them or get the other uninjured one to heal the other.

The AI is definitely not that great in Spec Ops. Typical NPCs, they’d get in your way at the worst moments, directly lining up to be killed by you, alerting the enemy, walking into enemy fire ahead of you etc.

Movement through environments in Spec Ops is a bit different from other games, in 2012 and even now in 2019. It’s surprisingly good. At times, it’s seamless to transition from cover to cover. Leaving a wall, or swapping sides of a doorway, vaulting over barriers; all of it is very natural when it’s working.

There are times when, either because of clunky controls, human error, or bad nav mapping, your movement can tear the immersion out of you and end up killing you. A few times I had trouble reconciling the unusual keyboard layout, [Left Shift] was used for vaulting and [Spacebar] for sprinting. I had issues running and then sticking to cover (this is usually automatic – otherwise it is prompted by [Spacebar]) – often standing behind the wall and watching bullets rip Walker to bits.

Presentation

Spec Ops has clunky, rough gameplay and, at times, has some issues when NPCs are talking. I laughed my head off in a particular instance. After accidentally shooting Adams, I died under a rain of bullets, only to hear him say “You’re a dead man!”. The dialogue can be super cheesy or cliche too. AI, as stated earlier, is not the best. The camera during certain cutscenes is also super shaky and can get annoying.

There are still fairly big bugs after nearly 5 years: enemies standing still in place (rarely), a level that I had to restart twice despite killing all enemies (I waited for them to move up rather than killing them ‘too fast’?), Walker pushing Adams onto the top of a pillar he couldn’t move from until I reached the next cutscene (I never tried this again).

I also didn’t even bother with multiplayer since all the praise leveraged at Spec Ops was for its story and the opposite for the multiplayer. Somehow people are still playing it now… 5 years later!

Credit deserved

Spec Ops has an extremely interesting setting and, despite the graphics being outdated, the setups are grand and felt intense. Dubai is well known as being a symbol of wealth. You fight through fallen skyscrapers with beautiful furnishings, downed aircraft, sports cars, sandstorms, dunes and surviving settlements built from the rubble.

An added element of gameplay which improved immersion was how you could shoot out windows with sand behind them, drowning your enemies in sand. Enemies can also break through glass roofs. The sandstorms worked to this effect as well disrupting enemies and limiting your range of vision.

The narrative direction of the game was rarely heard of at the time: critique of US military presence in a foreign country, the horrors of war, etc. At times I did think the dialogue or events were overdone a bit. But perhaps they were done like that as a bait and switch? Spec Ops was intended as an antithesis of games that glorify war and death after all so maybe it was done ironically.

The story is intense (and I really don’t want to say too much so I’ll try my best to give you a good hook). You enter this unknown territory and have no idea of the events that have taken place since the last communication. As you play through the game, things will get more interesting, confusing and shocking. The presentation of certain, important events is done so well you’d put them on a good movie’s level. The framing, the colors, the audio – where it counts, the developers took a lot of care.

Walker and his team get physically more and more spent – wounds, dirt and stress build up over time and can be seen on their faces. Even the main menu becomes more ‘distorted’ as you finish chapters. You learn bit by bit the secrets of what happened and is currently happening… Until, at last it comes to a beautiful, amazing end.

Overall

Seriously, the worst thing that can happen to you before you play this game is to get the ending spoiled. I am so glad I played blind. I am now going out and asking other people to play because honestly it’s amazing. Perhaps not as a “game” but as an “experience”.

Games can tell stories like no other because you, the player, are actively pushing the story forward. You are the one who is “making the decisions”. The one “pulling the trigger”, setting off flags, starting new chapters, becoming a part of the story. You feel it. You are it. Spec Ops: The Line is one of those games where you wish you could forget it…

So you can feel it all over again for the first time.

Spec Ops: The Line
Release Date: June 26th, 2012
Platform: PC (reviewed), Xbox 360, PS3
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Yager Development
MSRP: Currently sitting at $29.99 USD on Steam

The post Spec Ops: The Line (PC) Retro Review appeared first on BrutalGamer.

Erich, Jason and Nadia had a lot to talk about. They dig into Call of Duty, Code Vein, The Surge, Professor Layton, Playstation, StarCraft and much much more.

We also dig into some free discussion. Has Injustice 2 gotten too many trailers? In our opinion, yes, it has. It is also joined by Prey and the new Quake.

Take a listen below or on Youtube, and let us know what you think!

The post Brutally Honest Podcast 23: Too Many Trailers? appeared first on BrutalGamer.

Taking off the nostalgia goggles:

So, here is the thing. I played The Lion King as a young child and continued to play it through my seemingly entire life. There was time in the middle there where I didn’t play, but just recently I returned to and finished this game for the first time.

There is a lot to say about The Lion King. The soundtrack is ripped right from the movie and aesthetically, the game is close. These don’t help me to easily take off the glasses.

The point I am trying to make here is that I have returned to The Lion King recently, and what I found is a platformer that not only is passable, but stood the test of time.

Visual pride:

Alright, lets get down to the first, and probably easiest to throw away category for review purposes. The Lion King looks alright. Simba looks a little washed out and bland on the Genesis, but on the Super Nintendo, he looks a lot better. 

On both versions, the environments are rich and colorful. The colors pop and each level is distinct and beautiful.

In addition to each level being set in an obviously different part of the film, the colors and aesthetic tones of the levels come together to make each level unique, memorable and an overall joy to play in. There is one specific level, Simba’s Exile, which pales ion comparison to the rest of the game. It is really just a pallet swap and flipping around of the first level of the game.

I just can’t wait to listen to this soundtrack:

It isn’t a secret by this point that I grew up with The Lion King. Both versions, film and game, played a huge role in my childhood. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I love the music. I don’t have any problem with the music in this game as a whole.

I will say though, that the Super Nintendo version has superior music. The music sounds better and has more distinct pieces. The music in the Genesis game is still passable though, and I still enjoyed it.

Hardcore platforming:

The Lion King has some of the best and worst platforming I have ever experienced.

Okay, that may be a bit of a hyperbole.

Let’s say this. When the platforming in the Lion King works, it works well. And when it doesn’t, I’m not sure why it didn’t and don’t know what I could have done better.

The parts of the game that people complain about: giraffes, graveyards and all work better than they get made out to be. I found that these parts were easier than made out to be. The harder parts really come from places where the platforming should be simple. Jumping up rocks sometimes doesn’t register and you fall down. Other than a few spots here and there, though, the platforming overall gets a bad wrap in The Lion King.

Niche gameplay:

There are levels in The Lion King that differ greatly from the rest of the game. The first of these is the Stampede level, where as  young Simba, you’re running away and through a stampede.

You need to dodge the stampeding herd and jump over rocks. This is one of the tensest levels in the game, and I really enjoyed playing it. Graphically, this level also stands the test of time and looks decent even in 2017.

About three quarters of the way through the game, Simba grows up. The gameplay changes dramatically here. As adult Simba, you’re less nimble. You’re also much more powerful, though. The hyenas who gave you problems fall by the wayside.

As a while, I find that the adult Simba gameplay is more satisfying than cub Simba. This is just preference, though, as both control very well. there are no glaring problems with either iteration of the character.

The Lion King
Original release date: December 8th, 1994
Platform(s): Sega Genesis, SNES
Publisher: Virgin Interactive
Developer: Westwood Studios

The post The Lion King (Sega Genesis) Retro Review appeared first on BrutalGamer.

While many modern movies attempt to be terrifying, bloody and disturbing, quite often it doesn’t work and the end result is a badly acted, (more often than not) sex-filled mess that isn’t disturbing or enjoyable to watch. Not only is Texas Chainsaw fun to watch, it’s absolutely heart-wrenching, more than a little disturbing, and pretty uncomfortable to watch (which, in this case, is a good thing).

The plot starts out with the five main characters on their way to visit their grandfather’s grave (and their own… I’m sorry that was lame). Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker near a slaughterhouse where the grandfather used to work. The hitchhiker invites them over to his family’s house for dinner after bringing up multiple questionable (to say the least) topics of main discussion… as well as cutting open his hand and burning a photo after threatening every one in the van. Needless to say, he wasn’t in the van for very long. The group, while worried, continues to the grandfathers house nonetheless.

It doesn’t take all that long after that for the actual killing to begin. And while there is actually very little blood (for a horror movie anyway), the deaths are all pretty gruesome and the music, or lack thereof, doesn’t give any insight to an upcoming murder. That means you have no clue, as a viewer, when something terrible is about to happen and it really does manage to keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting for someone to die.

Texas Chainsaw plays the old game, “Guess Who The Main Character Is” though. The person who seems to be the main character, while not the first one dead, is indeed not the last survivor (though you really don’t expect him to be anyway).

It’s taken me a bit to bring it up, but the acting is phenomenal. The crazy people act genuinely insane, to a point that I backed away from the screen with both of my eyebrows up. The screaming of typical horror movies isn’t too much of a bother either, well, until the last ten minutes or so, but by that time you’ll understand why it’s okay. By “you’ll understand why it’s okay”, I of course mean the infamous dinner scene. The entireity of the dinner scene I found myself swallowing hard, and making faces of disgust by the way. I was actually horrified.

Final Thoughts

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is without a doubt a classic in all senses of the word.

It’s tense, it’s terrifying, it’s not too long or too short. I will say this however: the utter violence that takes place in the movie, especially the dinner scene, disturbed me greatly; I honestly got sick to my stomach. While it’s perfect in every sense of horror, it’s almost too perfect. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I would watch it again willingly, especially not by myself.

The post Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Retro Movie) Review appeared first on BrutalGamer.