Dave suggested people play this on the 16th of February. Despite already owning the game, I never got around to playing it until July. Appropriately enough, July was blazing hot (this game is set in a wrecked Dubai, after a cataclysmic sand-storm), and it really added to the atmosphere of the game.
And I am only just writing about it now.
Standard.
The crucial aspect in most games where the objective is to shoot things is whether the shooting is any good. As it happens, it is solid in this regard. Headshots are satisfying and definitive – if you get your enemies in the head then you know they are down for good – and none of the weapons are what I would class as useless. Shotguns are meaty, assault rifles are accurate, machine guns are handy (and are also a legitimate blind-fire suppression option), handguns great for speedy head-shots, all are deadly. You’re not alone in Dubai. Your two squad-mates add some team dynamics to the combat – you can order them to do all kinds of things, such as supress enemies, provide covering fire, or concentrate their attacks on a specific target. Even though t’s very rare for these two to even come close to in-gameplay death, it’s not a walk in the park. You do need to use the cover that is provided. And beware of enemy grenades, they are utterly deadly. I can’t mention the online multiplayer as I never tried it.
It has a few gimmicks that reveal themselves quite early on, mostly revolving around using the environment as a weapon. Sand can be manipulated to flood enemies, create diversions, or even provide new routes. Sometimes sand-storms whip themselves up, and combat in these can only be described as fighting via orange flashes. The dynamic world can turn from an ally to an enemy in a second, or turn a seemingly lost scenario into a victory. It’s one of the better over-the-shoulder cover-based shooters I’ve played, but… The technicalities are not the main attraction, the videogame aspect of this videogame is not the thing it will be remembered for. It is the story that this game will be remembered for. The reality that it created. The things it makes you do.
First of all, I think this is the only non-music-based game I can recall that has Kula Shaker on it’s soundtrack. It’s a little jarring, to say the least. Anyway, the world and characters are constantly questioning your perceptions and expectations, and is ever-evolving. The squad are initially sent in for reconnaissance, but they soon find some dead American soldiers and encounter a repeating radio signal, they press on, looking to unravel the mystery. It quickly becomes clear that you are not making anything any better by being there – you encounter Dubai natives, insurgents, mercenaries, the CIA, the US military – whose side are you on? Why are you just killing everyone in your way? What are you hoping to achieve?
To begin with, Captain Walker is by-the-numbers. He has a visual on Tangos and neutralises them. By the end of the game, he may grunt a “fuck you”, while gleefully shooting them into dog-meat. To be honest, this is what a protagonist of any modern realistic military shooting game should be like after spending eight hours killing people. Even if they are fictional videogame people. The most controversial scene is expertly built up. You come across a situation where some white phosphorous has just been deposited on some civilians – you see how horrific it is, how it makes bodies burn, how even if you don’t die, you wish you had. Then shortly after, you have to make it across a courtyard, and are given the choice to use some of this deadly white phosphorous on your enemies. I say that you are given a choice, but in reality there is only one choice. Ammo is scarce in the desert, and from the looks of things, there are far too many enemies for you to engage head-on. So you use the phosphorous. Then you go down to cross the courtyard, and make the chilling discovery that the majority of white dots you saw on the mortar targeting screen were un-armed civilians. I almost had to stop playing and question if my morals allowed for such accidents.
The first scene of the game sees the squad aboard a helicopter, with your character manning a machine gun, shooting at enemy helicopters as a sand-storm erupts around them. The sequence ends with the ‘copter crashing. In the next scene, the characters are seemingly fine, have clearly not been in a helicopter crash, or even experienced a sand-storm as they are far too clean and composed. It wasn’t until later on, however, when the squad was aboard a helicopter, and something about the sequence seemed familiar, that I realised this wasn’t the correct continuity. In a game that skews your perceptions, it was a neat touch when, second time around, Captain Walker started mumbling to himself about this being familiar. Sorry to go back to proper “videogame stuff”, but I will just say – I loved shooting through the buildings at the enemy helo’s, sand and shattered glass everywhere, with crumbling steel girders conspiring to knock you out of the sky.
I’ll leave you with one of my favourite elements from the game – these snippets from the loading screens. Traditionally, these sentences are handy hints, reminders of game mechanics that may aid you if you are retrying a particular section, or just adverts for DLC or the games’ companion website. The messages start out like that, but as the character becomes unhinged and the situation gets way out of hand, they change. They evolve. In some cases they become self-aware. This first one crops up when you first realise you may be causing more harm than good.
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two conflicting ideas simultaneously.
After the white phosphorous incident I mentioned above:
Do you feel like a hero yet?
and
You are still a good person.
Near the end:
There is no difference between what is right and what is necessary.
and
Can you even remember why you came here?
And my favourite. After one of your team-mates has been hanged, you have a choice. Uphold your integrity and scare off the civilians who killed him, or shoot them to death, and receive this message:
The US military does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn’t real, so why should you care?
To conclude, all I will say is that the finale reminds me of his first fight with Tyler.
