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.
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