10 Amazing Stories Trapped In Mediocre Video Games
1. Spec-Ops: The Line
Whenever someone talks about Spec-Ops: The Line, the primary topic of the conversation will ALWAYS be the story, because there really isn't anything to the gameplay to make it worth talking about.
Whereas the gameplay is some of the most generic, bare minimum cover-based 3rd person team shooting of its time - competently built, but nothing new to it at all - the story is one of the greatest in the history of the medium.
The city of Dubai has been hit with a freak sandstorm, with the populace left struggling for survival, and a team of soldiers have been sent in to retrieve an American commander who got caught up in it. The leader is led by one Captain Martin Walker, who - as the mission becomes more and more perilous and he is forced to cross more and more moral lines as a result - slowly loses his grip on reality.
Spec-Ops: The Line is one of the darkest, bleakest looks at what was the dominant genre of the gaming industry. Which makes how rote the gameplay is just another thematic element to the story. This game does not want you to have fun at all.
Spec-Ops: The Line isn't just a great story trapped in a mediocre game. The mediocre game is the POINT of the story.