I really think its more so about when you play a video game you are automatically the hero and they are automatically the villain. And anything you do is right because you are a good guy, and anything they do is bad cause they are a bad guy. Spec Op's wanted to grab a more realistic take on it. Their are consequences for your actions in war and people will be affected by the decisions you made. People will feel the loss of those you killed. The game is a bit heavy on the de-construction of genre like you said. But it was about time someone made a game that tried to captured some of the evil's of war instead of just pure glory and heroism.
Thats what I've noticed so far already in spec ops and I haven't gotten all the way through just yet. Was going to yesterday, but wasn't really in any condition to do much regrettably on friday. Never get up fast after just having had any plasma drawn from ya, can cause some annoying problems
and I was left a little off for it. Anyhow, I am glad from what i've seen of spec ops that it doesn't paint the whole thing in black and white, which is actually I think it's real strong point.
On the opposite spectrum, I'm also having a LOT of fun with serious sam 3. So far i've just gotten to the first level with the devastator, but since it's a first play through, been missing a lot of the secrets so I am naturally struggling to have sufficient ammo for everything in a couple spots for key weapons. Not a huge deal, but I am kind of welcoming the challenge of the game. It's certainly not strong on it's story but admittedly, I'm noticing it's better then some really early ones(at least sam clearly has a crush on someone). But I like how the game allows you to switch weapons fast and also blast hordes away. Just wish I knew where a secret minigun was(found a secret cannon and managed to get some nice cannon shots on the occasional biomech major).