Metro 2033 Review (PC)

Metro 2033 was an odd one. Very rarely to you see games like this anymore. Let me explain, it isn't a RPG, it isn't a gun crazy game, it offers some pre-made customization options, but what it does have is a universal commodity in video games......atmosphere.

In Metro 2033, the world is not as it once was. The sky is dark, and the clouds are thick. Humanity has been forced into living out their lives in Metro stations. Once used for moving us forward in our lives, has been made into a permanent fixture. The future is bleak. More than just cold or radiation threaten the homes of those who survived. Beasts, will stop at nothing to rid the world of the minority that humanity has become. The communists break families apart, force young men into service for "the good of the country". The Nazi's are the Nazi's. In a world where it seems necessary we band together, a divide still exists. This game offers a unbelievable level of atmosphere, and no gameplay feature or story matches the importance of atmosphere in a game like this.

The stations are full of life and light, some people sit around conversing about the struggles they all endure, but most of the worlds inhabitants focus on making themselves and their children happy. Metro 2033 makes you feel like it's warm and coozy in here, but outside a terror is constantly waiting. It's a daunting feeling, for fear of romanticizing the atmosphere (although it seems I already have) I don't want to get carried away but, the game offers a world that seems terrifying to picture but not hard to imagine.

You play as Artyom, a young man who meets a ranger named Hunter and tells him a terrible fate is to befell his home station. A group of creatures known as "Dark Ones" are coming. Hunter gives Artyom a token and sends him on a journey to Polis to gain help from Hunter's fellow rangers. Along the way has his fair share of contact with the mutants, Reds, and Nazi's.

Metro doesn't innovate the genre in anyway, it boasts a story full of excitement and wild characters and for a low budget game, surprisingly big set piece moments. It's especially odd because it doesn't even seem like Metro 2033 has a genre. It's a shooter, that provides stealth options, and it's a survival horror game. Add in it's a post-apocalyptic game, which has emerged as a genre on its own. So maybe by the skin of the genre it matches some of the examples I provided. Maybe this is part of what makes Metro 2033 great.

This game has it's share of technical problems, it occasionally glitches and it becomes tiring constantly walking behind a character who seems to be going as slow as possible. The game tries to make stealth a really viable option, and it can be hit or miss. Sometimes you perfectly place a throwing knife into back of an enemies neck and he drops, but there's no way to move the body to avoid detection. It would have been awesome if the stealth system had a couple things such as, a stealth kill animation, the aforementioned ability to move bodies, and maybe a disguise system where you could take a dead man's uniform and use it to move through the station freely. From what I've read Metro 2034: Last Light is to implement things like this so hopefully we don't have to wait long for a Metro game that boasts those gameplay features.

It's important to mention that a year or so ago I played about half of this game on my xbox 360. I got stuck and had to return the game. So when I got it on my pc, it became immediately apparent how much more refined combat is on the pc version. To put it frankly aiming, and combat in general on 360 version was a mess. You never felt like you had full control over the game. Well, I'm excited to say that the PC version doesn't have this problem. I have total control over my actions and it all feels smooth. The good news is, this game isn't really about the gameplay. This game is a sum of all it's parts. If it was missing even the smallest portion it would not be the same game. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this game. From the start, it pulled me and I couldn't stop.

So now my verdict, well if I was to base this review and score off some of the gameplay's short comings and only those it wouldn't be rated very highly. Lucky for you I pick apart what was meant to be the strengths of this game. Story, Atmosphere, and the ability to choose how to fight. If this game had just come out I'd say rent it, but it came out about a year ago. So just buy this thing, the developers deserve it and look I'll make it easy for you. You don't have to leave your house, and go spend $8 dollars to rent it just spend $15 and own it. It might just be the pride of your collection.

http://www.amazon.com/THQ-40470Metro-2033-Metro-Download/dp/B0047T7UE4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1307977796&sr=8-3

Reviews: The Existential Debate

I realize that this article should have come before I ever did a review. Never mind the fact, it's here now. If you've paid great attention to my reviews, you'll notice they don't end with scores in the typical fashion. There's a reason for this and it forms the basis of my disagreement with modern reviews.

The easiest way to start is to cite an example. Here's a review from IGN, they're reviewing Borderlands. A game I believe is a modern classic and will be remembered fondly. (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/103/1035922p1.html)

Now they give Borderlands an 8.8, which according to their scale isn't even close to a bad score. Yet, I'm not really worried about the actual score. If you read the entire review, the reason the game gets an 8.8 instead of the usual 9.5 for anything truly great. Stems from their areas of review, what is the story like? is it good? does it make me care? Is there competitive multi-player? Borderlands did away with a need for all those questions. Borderlands has a story, but it's designed so that if you, your friends just want to rip through and kill bad guys you can. So by that token the story isn't engaging, it isn't really good, and it probably won't make you care. Ign scores it lower because it technically doesn't offer a full package. The main problem with this style is that each game cannot be held to the same prerequisites.

One game to the next isn't going to stress the importance of story or online multiplayer. It's still a mystery to me that Dead Space 2 got such a high score, despite having a god awful tack-on multi-player to weight it's score down. In the end, what upsets me about these reviews most is the lack of consistency to even that reviewing procedure, like hey IGN if that's what you're about then at least to stick with it. I can tell you that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Borderlands probably have the same level of story in their games. The only difference being it seems Call of Duty is trying to set up these big moments and characters hoping that you get caught up in these insane conflicts but who cares? All I know is Borderlands is 8.8, the cusp of being great for it's lack of story. Yet Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a 9.5, a slightly flawed masterpiece in IGN's eyes. Yet if you re-read those last two sentences don't those scores and follow-through seem inter-changeable between those two games.

I love and hate video games, while borderlands did occasionally frustrate me, being a game of this generation I don't believe there's much else they could have done to make this game more appealing.

So going forward you are going to see a new system implemented in my reviews and they will be short and understandable. It all starts with what will be my three available scores. Buy, Rent, Run Away but, these won't be in concrete. The scores will be nuanced, it won't just be Rent this game, it will be "If you love post-apocalyptic shooters, and are looking for a cheap, cool game to add to your collection. You could easily turn that rent into a fifteen dollar purchase." Each ruling will be specific to the situation the game is in. If a game comes out retail $ 39.99, then it might be more appealing for immediate purchase. Or if they're asking you for $59.99 for a game that isn't even worth half of that. Then it will be a warning to shy away from this purchase. I'm going to help my readers out. I understand that no matter what the only opinion you can trust is your own. If you heed my words, I believe I can help you from making some bad expenditures.

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (PC) Review

The way I see it is, this is basically my first review. Mainly because, looking back Brink wasn't really a game. So it's only natural it's review shouldn't be valid.

This game was insane. Incredible highs and somewhat low lows. The Witcher 2 has the ability to beat the hell out of you. Unlike many games of the last couple years. This one does not hold your hand. You are told to get the quest done. You aren't even really given the right tools to get it done. You have to find them. This is Witcher 2.

Now I didn't play The Witcher, but I read into the story just to grasp some character motives.You play as Geralt of Rivia, also known as The Witcher, or as The White Wolf. You're a man of many names. The only problem is you can hardly remember any of them. Or anything for that matter. Geralt is suffering from Amnesia, his memory is hidden from him. Over the course of the game parts of his past begin to unfold to him through some very cool looking cutscenes.

The game starts with Geralt in prison. He's been arrested for murdering the King. Vernon Roche, the leader of an elite Temerian kill squad is tasked with questioning you. It's here where the prologue is explained and you play out what happened leading up to your arrest. Now I should mention while Geralt has amnesia over the first game he remembers some people and some things, so it's not like he's walking around asking who he is or where is he. He seems to have a good idea what's going on.

At the end of the prologue, you see a giant man kill the king. Vernon believes you, but knows he can't just release you. Geralt promises Roche, that if freed he will track down the true Kingslayer. You do manage to escape and leave on a boat heading towards Flotsom, this games city of Thieves. This would be a good time to introduce Triss Merigold. A sorceress who served as adviser to the King. Triss is also (if you want her to be) Geralt's lover. She's eager to figure out what really happened as well.

This is where the game really starts in my opinion. You're thrown in to this mess of a city and you have to juggle a wilderness full of angry elves, and monsters. As well as a city of corrupt lawmen, and traitors. When you arrive you meet Iorveth, an elf infamous for his slaughtering of humans. The elves in this game, aren't the friendly sort. Their kind is oppressed and aren't allowed the freedoms you and I so often have. So there is a reason, Iorveth is the person he is. He doesn't just kill for fun.

Iorveth is working with the actual kingslayer, in some plot to remove as many royal powers as possible. Just for the sake of doing it, or is that so? You'll find out. You finally arrive in town, to find two of Geralt's close friends about to be hung. You have to find a way to save them. This is where you meet Loredo, one of the many corrupt lawmen I was alluding to before. In order to save your friends, he propositions you to hunt down and kill Iorveth for the "safety" of his town. You accept the quest and go on with your business. This is one of the many things you have a choice involved with. I can't go into detail, but almost every large decision is made by you.

It's important I talk about gameplay and more directly combat. The combat in this game is unrelenting. To begin the game you just don't feel like you're given an actual chance. You're constantly up against groups of enemies when nothing about your character at this point is designed to fight multiple targets. So for awhile you must scrap and dodge to get through every fight but later on a switch is flipped and you will finally be able to fight with an unbelivable level of grace. So just stick with it guys.

As you fight humans and monsters, you'll have to switch between your Steel and your Silver swords, one more suited at fighting one group over the other. You also have five magic abilities that work in-sync with your swordsmanship. Yet, as intricate as the combat can be. It's left click for light, and right click for heavy attack.

I'd have to say that the story is one of the coolest I've experienced in a while for a game. Nothing felt out of place or unnecessary, I was never forced into making a decision that made no sense as to what was currently going on. Also not trying to give away too much, but when's the last time you played a game and at the game you could choose to fight the "epic" last boss or just let him walk away.

So as you've probably gathered, I loved this game. Difficult, Aggravating, and Amazing are all words that come to mind when thinking about the Witcher 2, but I honestly mean these words in the best way. The Witcher 2 is out now for the PC, and it's coming to Xbox 360 this fall. Please play this.

Thumbs up.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Preview

Now before I start, I wanna make it clear that this is a preview not a review. I was only able to play a small portion of this game and I must say that what I saw was promising.

It takes place in the year 2027, located in a futuristic Detroit. If you don't this game is the third of the series, it doesn't seem to hurt you. In the time I played, my lack of knowledge about the series didn't seem to hurt my experience.

In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you play as Adam Jensen. Who at the start is the lead security officer for a company researching human tissue augmentation named Sarif Industries. You later realize that Adam is involved with one of the lead researchers on Sarif Industries biggest project, Megan.

The game starts with an on-rails camera moving cut-scene. It will bore you, but it sets up what's to come. Megan is taking you to their lab to show some of the progress they've been making when oh no you guessed it. Everything goes to shit. Specially trained Operatives burst in and start killing everyone and destroying everything.

Adam jumps into action, finally giving me a glimpse at the game itself. In my preview build, the graphics lack edge or style. It was like shifting contrasts. One minute the lighting looked right, then you would notice what I'll describe as a fog of light. Bear in mind this is a advance build and lacking in overall polish. I was satisfied with the graphics for the time being, one of my only problems is that it seems like the only character that was meant to look cool or unique is yours.

Onto gameplay, in the prologue you don't have any special abilities or augmentations. So it's basically just you and a gun versus people who know what they're doing. The game features a smooth cover system, and the ability to stealth on the fly. The goal being that when the time comes you can choose to handle each situation (besides boss fights) any way you want.

At the end of the Prologue, a large explosion goes off and everyone dies. Yes, that means you to. Adam dies and his body is pretty destroyed. So like many other recent games, you must be built back up and with new super powers!

Well for the player this is sweet, but for Adam it's got to be a bitch. After this is when the game gets really good. You're a fully upgradeable killing machine. Over the course of my playing time I was given access to some of those abilities such as, seeing through walls, advanced hacking tools, cloaking, and advanced speed. From what I saw they were giving you, the player all the tools to play the game how you wanted. Do you want to constantly be in the thick of the action, taking bullets and firing them back? or Are you the kind of player who sneaks around, killing whoever he has to? It's entirely up to you.

The easiest way to make you understand what this game feels like is to compare. I can say that this game will give you some of the best vibes that you've gotten from some of the best games. Mass Effect 2, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid, and Splinter Cell. The game just made me feel cool. I was given an opportunity to choose how I wanted everything to go. Do I boost up my armor and run through the electrical storm or do I search for an alternate route. Like going into the sewers looking for a way around. I had a good time with the limited offering I was presented with. This game comes out August 23rd, 2011. It will be available on all systems. So enjoy.