Spec Ops: The Line designer lashes out at game’s multiplayer

By: Musa Afridi

  |   August 30th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Uses words “raped” and “low-quality Call of Duty clone” to describe the third-person shooter’s online multiplayer component as well as a “cancerous growth”. Someone is clearly not happy.

When it comes to the entertainment industry one can never get enough of the projects cast and crew going on and on about how brilliant their upcoming film or album is going to be. It is the same case in the video game industry with publishers and developers raving about their games to hype it up and while all of that is acceptable it is refreshing to get a bit of honest truth from time to time.

However, there is one member of Spec Ops: The Line’s development crew who went a little further than just criticizing the game. Although Cory Davis, the lead designer of the game was full of praise for the single player component of the game, one could tell from the terms he used in the introduction to this article that he was far from pleased as to how the game’s multiplayer component turned out.

Davis began by explaining that he and his team were “proud of what we were able to achieve (with the single player), and it was not easy.”

But when it came to the multiplayer, Davis’ tone changed completely and he went on all out, no holds barred, David Jaffe type offensive.

He said, “It (the multiplayer) was literally a check box that the financial predictions said we needed, and 2K was relentless in making sure that it happened – even at the detriment of the overall project and the perception of the game.”

That was not all though as he went on to liken the game to “Bullsh*t” and claimed that it “should not exist…there is no doubt that it’s an overall failure.”

According to him, the multiplayer was not only offensive but it “tossed out the creative pillars of the product.”

As for those who are wondering what exactly those ‘creative pillars’ were, well to sum it up, the game’s developers aimed to bring a level of emotional attachment between the player and make him think twice about killing a non-playable character. There was a sense of emotion and connection, which according to Davis was destroyed by the multiplayer component.

Davis, however, was not done and he went on to further describe the multiplayer as “another game rammed onto the disk like a cancerous growth, threatening to destroy the best things about the experience that the team at Yager put their heart and souls into creating.”

Whether or not Davis is still around at the studio after his outburst remains to be seen but anyone who has played Spec Ops: The Line can do nothing but sympathize with the man.