Garnett,

I disagree vehemently with your take on Spec Ops.

There are a few important distinctions that I think need to be made when discussing the game that you missed.

1) The Delta Force members are never the aggressor in the game. Every time you encounter a new enemy type (be it the 33rd or the Exiled), they fire on you first. In fact, the entire first gunfight with the 33rd is in self-defense, with you and your teammates continually telling them that you're friendly. There's no opportunity to humanize any of your enemies because they keep shooting at you.

2) The other members of your squad constantly talk about the things that are happening on the battlefield, and the atrocities that Walker is committing. They question his orders over and over, and get into fights amongst themselves.

3) The idea that Walker is looking for someone to blame is the KEY POINT of the story. That's the whole thing, right there. He has done such horrible things (especially in chapter 8), that he feels he needs to justify them and by placing the blame on Konrad, he feels as though that's a proper scapegoat. The whole thing is folly. There is no scapegoat that can make the things he's done right.

4) There's a clear point in the story where Walker loses grip on reality. It's during chapter 8. The trauma of that moment puts the entire rest of the game's narrative into motion. Walker was so traumatized by what he ordered that he literally snapped and lost his grip on what was real. He went into an instant dissociative state. Just because they didn't beat you over the head with it (and risk telegraphing their ending), doesn't mean in didn't happen.

I don't like to tell people they missed the point, but all of the things that you criticize the game's narrative for have their purpose in making the themes of the story clear.