1. Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line stands unique among games for actually just deep down hating the player. Really, its an absolute masterpiece of game design from start to finish you step into Captain Walkers shoes ready for an adventure into the heart of ruined Dubai which at first seems like a textbook Call of Duty clone, with your squadmates oo-rahing as you mow down wave after wave of foreigners. But then the game throws you the first of many curveballs American soldiers turn up, and youre forced to kill them, over and over again with repetitive game mechanics designed to mirror post-traumatic stress disorder. Youre mowing down wave after wave of enemies without thought, until it all blends into one and Walkers forgotten what his original mission was, but youre still shooting anyway, even at targets that you as the player know you probably shouldnt be shooting at really. Its troubling, and acts as a slap in the face for gamers weaned on run-and-gun mechanics as you watch your protagonist slowly unravel. Yet while this was part of the package, what really set the game out as a f**k you to the player was in its exploration of cognitive dissonance that is, holding two conflicting viewpoints at the same time through game mechanics. The game makes it clear throughout that youre not doing good, but dresses it up in gaming mechanics which usually make you out as the hero. You fire phosphorous on US soldiers and inadvertently the civilians you didnt know they were protecting and walk through the carnage, youre confronted with loading screens asking you how many Americans youve killed today and later on in the game, youre given the back-story of everybody you kill, including their family information and whether they ran the fantasy football league or not. It was all terribly disconcerting you always felt something was wrong and the game gave you the biggest middle finger at the end by calling you pathetic for attempting to play the hero as a gamer, vicariously living through others because youll never be the hero yourself. Horror games may mentally abuse you, but no game has actively insulted you as compellingly as Spec Ops: The Line did.