‘Do you feel like a hero yet?’: Spec Ops, Call of Duty and the Problems of Playing Soldier

Abstract

During the Global War on Terror the modern military shooter became one of the most popular genres of video games. This article examines the way modern combat was portrayed in Spec Ops: The Line in contrast to its genre contemporaries, particularly the Call of Duty franchise. It articulates that despite the game’s commercial failure it asserted itself as an important historical document for analysing media portrayals of modern warfare. By questioning the ethics of military video games, and the role of the player themselves, Spec Ops functions as a locus for new perspectives on the video game industry.