An interesting thing about a game that has perhaps the most spoiled moment in video games is that when you play through it for the first time, you can’t exactly get that thought off your mind. The second cloud meets Aerith it becomes tragedy, a slowly marching clock to when the big moment comes. And in between those moments you play a pretty good rpg. I suppose this sort of inevitability is what the remake trilogy thrives on, even for my own personal time spent in 7’s occasionally industrial mostly classic fantasy world I am, in some way creating my own final fantasy 7 remake. Every time you use an ability is a reminder of what’s going to come next, a cute date sequence becomes the closest thing both characters have to what could have been, and even if you’re able to recognize the point of which it happens you hope in the back of your mind that it won’t happen, that maybe there’s a one in a trillion chance she lives. But then Sephiroth plunges down and shifts the story.

A less spoken on benefit to one of gaming’s biggest spoilers is that it acts as a lightning rod for the rest of the game. While I may have the cutscene of Aerith’s deaths memorized through sheer cultural osmosis, I saw even more beautiful, quiet and poignant stories about people who live in a beautiful world and wish to fight for it. The world of Final Fantasy VII is full of people, people with dreams and aspirations who may impact your life even if they were in them for a brief moment. Memories are a beautiful thing, but they are designed to drift away, leaving mossy ruins where there once was a city.

you know what? fuck it. spec ops: the line is worth five stars and then some. for a long time i sat on the fence about it, and had it collecting dust, uncommentated, at 4.5 stars - no more.

the fact this game was shuffled out-of-sight by 2k games, that an attempt is being made to erase its existence from the public under dubious pretenses at worst, or that it's been dropped in a double-whammy of corporate greed and convenient timing at best, shows us that this game is just as sorely needed now as it was 12 years ago.

many like to do a little joking about its "look what i made you do"-narrative, but those people are unaware that this precise portrayal of leadership at the hands of a vague authority is part of the point. this is taking down not merely the modern military shooter alone, but the entirety of the military industrial complex and its implications. the game design here is a direct analogue of the military chain of command, and the way it attempts to dissuade individuals and society as a whole from seeking blame in the hands of the actor.

on february 25th 2024, united states airforce member aaron bushnell self-immolated rather than continuing to maintain part in the u.s. military's support of yet another genocide - a genocide funded and fueled by this global force for despicable violence, a genocide committed, in part, with white phosphorous used against a civilian population.

the timing is just a bit TOO on-the-nose. we are supposed to forget that the same thing fuels this propaganda as fuels the systematic dehumanisation and killing of several peoples in asia and africa. spec ops, unlike every single other "modern military shooter", didnt flinch, and didnt lie. and for that, it had to disappear.

this is the only game that had the guts to give the player a gun, and let them shoot at a peaceful civilian population - then stand there with the implications of their actions. no fade-out. no game over. only you and the simulacrum of a dead body.

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free.