I think the crux of spec ops was less about morally judging the player or even the protagonist actions. In my opinion the driving theme of that story was encouraging critical analysis of the media we participate in, in this case, video games. It’s not so much that the player had no choice but to do those bad things, the important part is the way the context of the surrounding narrative framed those choices. And then extrapolating that to other games of a similar ilk and frankly media as a whole.
It’s kind of a cult classic. I remember it getting a lot of praise on neo gas and that’s also why I played it. But in the larger arena of video game culture it’s kind of just a footnote.