10 War Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

Spec-Ops: The Line may have been marketed as just another standard fare third-person military shooter, but Yager Development's thoughtful and provocative effort has so much more on its mind than its generic presentation might first suggest.

Without delving into spoilers, Spec-Ops is ultimately a game about not only war but also video games themselves, drawing a neat parallel between the orders administered to soldiers in combat and players while holding a controller.

Though the game absolutely could've taken this metaphor further, the end result is still one of the most distinctive and ambitious games of its kind, placing an uncommon emphasis on the atrocities of war with some shocking narrative sleights of hand.

While the jaw-dropping violence and distinct anti-war tone ensure it's not much of a fun experience, Spec-Ops holds a mirror up to the player's own complicity in glamorising warfare in such a way that it continues to endure as a bonafide classic almost a decade later.