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Spec Ops: The Line - I: How to Restart a Franchise - Extra Credits - YouTube
Channel: Extra Credits
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holy hell I did not see this game coming
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speck off the line is really something
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you guys I don't even know how to start
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talking about it it is not at all what I
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was expecting I think most of us are a
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bit jaded by now if I see the saturated
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box art with a grim dude and modern
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military gun holding pose I feel like I
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know exactly what I'm going to get when
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I pop that disc in in many cases
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especially with the lower quality games
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in that genre I feel like I could break
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them down in a paint-by-numbers fashion
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but man this time I could not have been
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more wrong and what's incredible about
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it is that the dev team knows exactly
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what expectations you're going to be
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walking into the experience with and
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then they turn those expectations on
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their head to make a point so we're
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going to talk about spec ops the line at
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length and we're going to do it with art
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assistants by our new friend here our
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witness Bresnik is we try to think of a
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way to do so without spoilers but that
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would be more or less impossible and
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severely handicapped the discussion
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we're itching to have so here's the plan
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this week we're going to talk about as
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much as we possibly can without spoiling
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anything next week will be a spoiler
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storm cool ok so first let's talk about
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the frame of mind you have to be in to
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get the most out of spec ops because one
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of the things we found most fascinating
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about it was the fact that it asks you
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to be in a totally different mindset
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than most any other triple-a game you've
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played it is straight up not very fun
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engaging as all hell but not fun alright
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so if you haven't heard of spec ops the
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line a little bit about the game some of
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you might remember spec ops as a
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middle-of-the-road shooter series from
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the PlayStation 1 era there hasn't been
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a new entry in the series since 2002 and
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man what a way to restart the franchise
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so often we see a series die a slow
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death because the teams behind them
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decided to play it safe and compete in
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the same arena as Call of Duty and
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Battlefield as if that were somehow less
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risky well spec ops is many things safe
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is not one of them it's based on Joseph
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Conrad's Heart of Darkness they even
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went so far as to name one of the
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characters Conrad just to make sure you
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know it and it deals with issues ranging
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from post-traumatic stress disorder to
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the use of white phosphorus which was a
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huge ethical question for the US
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military in the Iraq war and most of
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your enemies turned out to be Americans
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specifically US soldiers that detail
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alone had to send some people in
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marketing running for the hills I'm just
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going to say it green lighting this took
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balls I don't know if the team just
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initially convinced people that it was
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going to be you know a Call of Duty
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competitor of some sort or if the folks
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at 2k were just on board with this whole
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crazy experiment from the beginning but
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Wow hats off to you guys in far too many
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boardrooms this game would have been
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chopped down
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apps and then paste it back together as
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a low-budget modern warfare knockoff it
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would have come out no one would have
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bought it and then a week later no one
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would even remember it existed this is
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the way to restart a franchise you know
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you can't compete with Call of Duty or
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battlefield you don't have the massive
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budget you don't have the installed fan
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base or the marketing so you decide to
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go big or go home and you go big in a
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smart way you don't try to out call of
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duty call of duty the only way to make a
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shooter that has any chance of breaking
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into the market today is to not compete
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with those games to do something
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radically different that fills some
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other player need because frankly the
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majority of Call of Duty and Battlefield
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fans are still going to be playing the
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latest entry in their favorite series
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right up until the next one comes out
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there is no competing directly with that
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now I've seen a lot of reviews of this
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game that dock a bunch of points for its
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weak multiplayer mode with all due
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respect to the game reviewers who said
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this many of whom we know personally and
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the great folks but that's insane
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come on don't do that who said every
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shooter has to have a multiplayer mode
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much less one that's equal or superior
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to the campaign we didn't mark down GTA
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4 for its lackluster multiplayer mode we
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don't think any less of half-life just
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because deathmatch exists if Silent Hill
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2 had forgettable multiplayer attacked
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on would you think any less of the game
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today if not if the game isn't worse for
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it being there you can't be taking
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points off here just take the mode from
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what it is attacked on extra like bonus
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materials on a DVD any additional
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resources they might have poured into
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that multiplayer mode would have been
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diverted from the solo campaign and the
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game absolutely would have suffered as a
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result
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just please don't perpetuate the idea
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that every shooter needs multiplayer the
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industry actually does listen to that
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kind of thing multiplayer modes are a
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major investment of development
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resources when someone from corporate
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wanders in and says we need multiplayer
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or the reviewers are going to hate it
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other aspects of the game are guaranteed
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to suffer take this as a personal plea
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from a developer who's seen it happen
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too many times
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reviews like these are the very reason
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you see tacked on unnecessary and
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forgettable multiplayer in so many
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shooters on that note I'm pretty sure
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that spec ops the line will suffer a
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great deal from the fact that it just
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looks so much like a modern military
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shooter on the surface I think a lot of
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reviewers went in prepared to judge spec
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ops as a Call of Duty clone just like I
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did and they came away saying yep that
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sure was a mediocre Call of Duty game
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rather than evaluating it on its own
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merits which is almost ironic because
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spec ops the line is actually the
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harshest indictment of modern military
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shooter games that I've ever seen
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harsher than anything foxnews has ever
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been able to muster what's so very
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strange and in my opinion courageous
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about spec ops is that it uses all of
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the
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oops we expect from a paint-by-numbers
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modern military shooter to point out
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things about the genre and help drive
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the narrative which is why you can't
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evaluate this as a Call of Duty game
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because the reviewers are right it's a
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pretty bad Call of Duty game the gunplay
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isn't as good the enemies come an
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obvious video gaming spawn points rather
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than the chaotic set peace moments we're
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used to seeing and perhaps most
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importantly its principal way of
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engaging the player isn't through fun
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this game is great in a lot of ways and
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it can be very very gripping but it is
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distinctly not fun even the running and
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gunning have been reduced to a banal
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slog but even that helps to reinforce
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the game's point what's really crazy
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about this game though and what
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impresses the hell out of me is that
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they spend the first hour or two of the
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game trying to look like a low-budget
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Call of Duty ripoff just so they can
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pull the rug out from under you later
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and turn all of your expectations on
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their head using modern military shooter
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gameplay to point out just how ludicrous
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modern military shooter gameplay is when
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contrasted with the real thing
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Jaeger I don't know how you folks ever
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convinced people to let you ship this
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but Wow Bravo all right next week we
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rain down spoilers like well you'll see
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if you haven't had a chance to check out
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spec ops yet I'd love to say just go out
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and buy it because I feel like they
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deserve your purchase but admittedly
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this is a game you can easily beat in a
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weekend if you're a little stretched for
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cash borrow it from a friend or see if
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you can track down a blockbuster that
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hasn't closed yet and rent a copy the
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game is full of flaws but we're in the
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doldrums of summer here if any of what
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I'm saying has piqued your interest
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check it out if for no other reason than
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to be able to join the discussion next
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week I guarantee you it may not look it
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but this is something unique and for
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those of you who do play it this weekend
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when you hear a character say the line
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because you wanted to feel like
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something you're not he's not saying
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that to your character that line is
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pointed at you I'm not sure I've ever
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had a game punch me in the gut so hard
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thank you our witness for helping us out
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we'll see you guys next week
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you
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you
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