When I had heard that Metro 2033 was to be a graphical powerhouse, the likes of which have only been seen on a game like Crysis, I knew I had to play this game.
You start out in the game playing a character named Artem. It has been 20 years since there was a nuclear war that has for the most part, wiped human life from the face of the planet, except 40,000 Russians who took refuge within the vast Moscow Metro tunnel system. Your home Metro Station has been increasingly held under attack from an unstopable new race that has evolved in this new post apoctalyptic world, call the "Dark Ones". Your job is to find a way to stop them.
The story takes you through a large portion of the metro system in which moving between each station is a hostile and scary experience. You will run into mutated creatures, Red Army Soldiers, Nazi Soldiers and the times that you make it up to the surface of Moscow, you will also run into some flying mutated creatures.
Atmosphere is the main word I would use to describe this game. Its one of the scariest, on the edge of your seat shooters I have ever played. Everything from the lighting and ambience in the rail tunnels to the beautiful snow covered "ghost town" of Moscow is a sight to behold. While playing this game I was always wondering what would await me around the next corner, and it was like this throughout the entire game. One element of the game that enhances your level of anxiety is the full face respirator that you must wear when you are in toxic areas underground and when you are up on the surface, due to radioactive fallout in the air. The condensation and the fogging of the inside of the mask adds to your anxiety as it affects visibility, as do the sounds of your breathing getting harder as you use up the filter which needs to be changed periodically or you will die. This can make things tough, especially when you're caught in a gunfight on the surface, and you're running low on filters.
The way you obtain weapons in this game is by using ammo as currency. You can find ammo laying around certain metro stations, guard outposts and on dead bodies that are all throughout the game. If you're not willing to spend your ammo on weapons, fear not, as you will find weapons all over the place where there are dead soldiers bodies laying around. Not only can you buy weapons with ammo, but you can also buy "military grade" ammo which was produced before the nuclear attack. The military ammo packs a larger punch over the ammo made after the nuclear attack down in the Metro. The problem with the Metro made ammo is that it is less accurate and less powerful than military grade ammo. This can make some aspects of the game to become a chore, as it takes alot of bullets to bring down your enemies. I know that the point of this was to make the game more realistic and believeable, but I think that for the sake of making a game more fun, 4A could have done without the poor quality ammo.
Overall game gave me a rush, and it screwed with my mind, and at the end of it all I was left in awe. This game is a must buy!
A look back at 4A Games' admirably consistent post-apocalyptic shooter franchise.
Metro 2033 mechanics that would adapt perfectly to VR, and the upcoming Metro Awakening by Vertigo Games this year.
The Metro video game series started with a humble b-list title, before building a strong fanbase and becoming a pioneer in the industry.
Good review. Although I disagree with the low-grade ammo. I didn't feel it was a chore until I ran out, which was believable, but I needed to find that right balance of using the remaining military-grade ammo to get low-grade. It was a bit of a chore, yes, but I DID think it made it more realistic and it immersed me into the experience a bit more. Still, a great review and that's coming from a actual reviewer.
... I kept wondering why the enemies were so easy to kill, and why I only had so much little ammo despite all the looting I did.
... then I realized I was shooting currency. =/