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Thoughts on Spec Ops: The Line

Thoughts on Spec Ops: The Line

I finished recording Spec Ops: The Line this evening, it’s a short game that’s a third-person cover-based shooter with the emphasis on it’s story. And that story revolves around war(crimes), which makes it interesting. It’s not a terrific game or anything, but I remember hearing quite some debate over it’s story when it came out. As such I wanted to play it at some point. And considering it’s a short game the cover-based shooting wouldn’t trouble me that much.

I have to say that the game turned out to be rather good on the shooting part, all the weapons felt good to use which kind of surprised me. Normally average games don’t have a good ‘feel’ to the action, but that definitely wasn’t a problem here.  The gameplay itself was completely fine; standard chest-high-walls everywhere for cover and masses of enemies to shoot. Nothing fancy, but if the shooting feels good it’s not a big issue for me, though I’m not a fan of cover-based shooters as you may recall.

The story however was interesting in the way it focused on the horrors of war, and the mentality that goes along with it. They definitely intended to make you think about what you’re doing, if you should listen or not. On the other hand some moments (mainly the white phosphorous) felt entirely unnecessary and forced upon the player.

At such moments it felt really weird to not be able to say “no” to what the story was alluding you to do. But largely I would say the story was quite interesting and left you wondering what the fuck was going on, only made worse by the ending(s). And that’s not a bad thing; because I believe this game wants you to think about war and what is right and wrong, and everyone will have a different outcome on that subject.

 

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Queen anne’s revenge finished

Queen anne’s revenge finished

It’s definitely a looker, it draws attention to itself and from a distance you can’t even tell it’s lego.

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Got some lego in the mail today

Got some lego in the mail today

Unfortunately I didn’t have time to build it all last night due to interruptions. This means that I’ll be wanting to do this for the next couple of days, but won’t have any free time until saturday. This’ll be frustrating, in fact it already is.

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Agalloch and Fen concert

I’m on my way back from a local show by Fen and Agalloch. Fen was a really solid opener and as such did their job well. Both bands are atmospheric blackmetal and thus very ‘floaty’.

This is something I’ll occasionally listen to and enjoy, but I honestly would’ve been fine with both bands playing a little shorter. Nonetheless; both were quite fantastic and well worth seeing!

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Impulsive? I call it buying what I’ve really wanted for quite a while

Impulsive? I call it buying what I’ve really wanted for quite a while

I’ve been wanting some nice lego pieces for quite a while. this is partly due to nostalgia, but I think the tested.com guys livestreaming building some of the biggest lego sets helped along this process as well. So I’ve been looking around for quite a while and there’s only actually a few lego sets that are of any interest, most are very average and not interesting/nice to look at. But then I stumbled upon the Queen Anne’s Revenge and the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Carribean-sets.

Both of these sets are just gorgeous to look at and get super good scores from reviews from people that’ve bought them.  They’re quite nice to look at even as a decorative piece, combining that with lego nostalgia, it was something I had to have and being the sucker I am for red and darker colors; I had to go for Queen Anne’s Revenge. The thing with lego sets is though is that they stop making them rather quickly and they never really go down in price, pretty much ever. Clever on their part to not flood the market of course but it does mean that if you see a set you like; you have to be on the ball and actually be on time to buy it.

Yesterday when lego came up when drinking with some friends I was reminded of this set and that I hadn’t checked it’s status in a while. When I did check I saw it was discontinued and as such would become really rare really quickly. Considering I was having a pretty damn awful day and my holiday pay is coming one of these weeks along with my salary; i figured I would go ahead and order it while I still can. And so I did, so now I’m awaiting it’s delivery in the coming day; hoping it’ll be as good as I’m expecting. :)

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Here’s what I’ve been playing recently.

Here’s what I’ve been playing recently.

Quite a good looking game and rather enjoyable too thus far. The only downside so far is the disparity between in-game Lara and cutscene-Lara.

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Reel Big Fish – Beer pretty much describes how I’m feeling right now.

This song says a lot more about my current state than it possibly should. Lovely song as well though, everyone should’ve heard it at some point!
Funny note: I’m not actually drinking beer though, but more liquor. :P

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Beautiful day out

Beautiful day out

Currently spending it on my bike enjoying the sun while venting frustration.

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Fez – what a lovely looking game

Fez – what a lovely looking game

I very much want to play more of this! I can’t get off work fast enough today.

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Right below my window

Right below my window

This was last night, queensnight in my town.