8 Times You Failed To Be The Hero In Video Games

Spec Ops: The Line - also known as 101 Ways To Break The Geneva Convention - is an odd duck, as it somehow manages to deconstruct macho, jingoistic modern military shooters whilst simultaneously wearing the skin of a macho, jingoistic modern military shooter. The important difference here is its narrative.

You play as Captain Martin Walker, leader of a Delta Force Unit on a reconnaissance mission in a ruined Dubai. Upon finding that The Damned 33rd - the battalion of American soldiers you were tasked with helping - have gone rogue, Walker and his team engage them in open warfare.

Upon reaching the city limits, you deploy white phosphorous munitions on a large group of enemy soldiers reminiscent of moments from such sterling works of art as Call Of Duty. However, unlike in COD, you are then forced to walk amongst the screaming, dying victims of your strike - only to find that the entrenched enemies were, in fact, Emirati civilians, and the 33rd were aiding in evacuating them.

From here on out, Walker spirals into denial and dissociation, takes the aforementioned Geneva convention and wipes his bum with it, engaging in activities including but not limited to: executing an imprisoned combatant, starving an entire city of its water supply, committing multiple acts of friendly fire, levelling entire buildings, and ultimately leading his team to their deaths. The nobler action would have been to switch the game off and never pick it up again.

Well done, hero. You monster.