Every decision-especially the decisions he is unaware he is making-has a lasting effect on him. Over the course of The Line, however, Walker is constantly changing, both mentally and physically. We are used to thinking of videogame characters as blank canvases, as mere vehicles for the player's intentions to travel from the start of a game to the end. The majesty of The Line is in its character development, something completely absent from the majority of videogame stories. The 'line' that the characters cross isn't a single moral choice but the constant, stubborn refusal to just stop killing people. By the end of the game, Walkers's squadmates are dead and he is an utterly broken man. The squad sees things and, worse, does things that irrevocably changes them. Eventually, they've gone too far and 47 refugees are dead at their hands. They go a bit further to check on something else. Then they go a bit further to rescue a captive (they fail). At this point, Walker's team is meant to withdraw and call for backup, but instead they go a bit further to see what is happening. Inevitably, it doesn't take long before the shooting starts. It's in the slow-motion headshots that don't feel like celebratory gore so much as being forced to look at what you have done. It's in the wounds on Walker's body, obtained in cut-scenes, that persist and multiply throughout the course of the game. It's in the upside-down American flag and eerie, stretched-out Jimi Hedrix rendition of Star-Spangled Banner on the menu screen. But it's clear long before this point that something is different about this game. The moment from which there is no turning back for Walker and his team. The game says to the player, "What? You thought bombing people was really going to resolve things neatly?" Of course, beyond the burnt husks of the dead Americans are the equally charred bodied of the exact refugees that Walker thought his violent act would save. But before the dust settles, the player is forced to walk through the devastation they caused the game rubs your face in it. The deed is performed on a black and white screen, in a homage to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's "Death From Above" level. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.Sure, there's the infamous white phosphorous scene where the player, staring through the reflection of playable character Captain Martin Walker, launches white phosphorous shells at former US troops. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior.
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