I wanted to finally try out his game since I'm a huge fan of post-apocalyptic setting. I had so much fun playing through this game and actually got challenged through parts of it. It's scary, you need to rely on good survival skills and combat isn't always the right answer. For a FPS shooter it's definitely not like the others; it has a great story that kept me captivated and combat that's a ton of fun.



Story:



After the tutorial the game starts you out in Exhibition and the world has been ravaged by nuclear warfare and is set in a post-apocalyptic world. Everyone is living underground to avoid the mutated creatures and radiation in manmade cities around the giant metro system that was in place before war ravaged the world.



Dark Ones started becoming more aggressive and make people go crazy if damaged by them. They are also pushing the underground towns back and attacking them all the time infecting more and more people each time. Something needs to be done, or humanity will be eradicated. Artyom is thrown into this conflict thanks to Hunter's advice and you're sent on a quest to find a way to save Exhibition.

The setting is really awesome to be in and you have to constantly be on your guard or die. With radiation, mutated creatures, and other humans fighting against you, the dark setting really fits right into this and makes you feel alone in the Metro's. With the overarching story mixed into this setting really sets up a great story telling experience.



Gameplay:



I really found the survival aspect to be really refreshing to the FPS genre. As a fan of the classic Resident Evil's, I love the fact I have to be careful with bullets running out or my gas mask failing if I mess up. Parts of the game are actually pretty freaky and had me jump at stuff. Not many games can make me get scared, but this one does a good job at it; especially towards the end of the game.



When you press the M button you bring up a journal and a lighter. This is the only way to find out what you have to do and get a waypoint/compass guiding you where you need to be. The lighter is just to light up your journal in dark areas. Another cool thing they added to the game, is allowing you to run and reload at the same time (Which comes in handy when you're outnumbered and need to run away).



The loading is really fast (1-3 seconds max if you have a decent pc) and each main loading screen has a paragraph the main character reads to you. That paragraph is usually what's happened so far with a mix of future events to be. Since the game was created from a novel, I think this is a wonderful call back to the original material.



Combat:



The game actually gets difficult at parts, even on normal. I find this to be a nice change of pace with games that you can just blow through. On top of that since you have to manage your ammo, you have to make sure your shots are on target and not missing.

At times your character gets impaired and the controls get a bit wonky, like what would happen if you were doing that specific task. For example, you have to pick up something semi heavy, so your reticule moves slowly and you can't run anymore. I like this little addition for the immersion of the atmosphere and it's pretty cool when these events happen and change gameplay a bit.



Exploration:



Every now and then you get access to city like hubs that you can barter for weapons, ammo and health packs. NPC's have little side conversations while you're walking around and you can learn a lot about the setting just listening in. One fun thing to do is go around and knocking on people's doors, just to hear all the random little comments they yell at you.



You also collect pre-war ammo that is the games main currency. In the hub cities you can purchase guns, ammo, weapons with modifications (Like a silencer) and gas mask filters. You also have an option of trading your normal ammo for pre-war ammo currency.



Survival:



Gas masks are extremely important in this game. When you start to venture outside and radiated areas you need to put on your mask or die. You slowly use the filters you currently have over time. Only the first few towns allow you to buy filters, so savaging them is going to be the only way you can survive.



The PoV changes when you put on the gas mask, as if you are actually wearing it and the corners are a bit blurred like it has degraded over time. If you take damage the mask starts to crack, so if you you're not careful it can break and kill you. That damage stays until you change your mask and you can only change it every now and then.



While you are provided with guns as your main firepower source, ammo is pretty scarce and it makes you feel like you have to take time with your shooting. You can't run around spraying and praying, unless you like using your knife all the time when you run out of ammo. The health packs have to be manually used, and it stops what you're doing to heal yourself. Makes trying to heal more strategic; instead of just healing randomly on the fly (Healing over time still happens, but you can't be hit).



Soundtrack:



Weapon firing noises are extremely well done. All of them sound really diverse and what I would imagine the real life firing noise would be. You can also recognize each weapon that gets fired, so you know what type of guns are being fired near or at your direction. Mods also change the sound to the weapons as well, like the silencer reducing the noise of the gun itself. Enemies can still hear the muffled silenced shot if close though (Which makes sense, if I heard that in real life, I would turn around).



Music plays time to time and only really when an important action scene is happening. The loading screen has its own creepy theme but most exploration has no music playing in the background. I love soundtracks in video games but I think having less music fits this game perfectly. It adds to the immersion and listening to everything else is much more important (Breathing, enemies, footsteps etc).



Graphics:



Since everything is post-apocalyptic you feel a sense of doom where ever you travel. As you progress through the game the settings actually change and have different looks to them. Even though you are going though the metro most of the game, the different environmental effect makes them feel fresh and new.



They did an amazing job with the outside landscape and the feeling of utter devastation. The nuclear winter makes Moscow look even more eerie with the nuclear wasteland. The buildings outside are really creepy, and I found myself looking all around making sure nothing would jump out of the shadows.



IMO, this is the best game to capture the lighting effects and shadows. Different types of light source give a range of Illumination. So your flashlight is bright if you're fully charged or a really weak light if it's out of juice. All the lights in the game can be shot out, which allows you to sneak through the shadows to kill enemies with stealth.



Verdict:



This game is so worth the asking price: especially since it's really cheap now. It was cool trying to survive in this wilderness, the story was unpredictable and the combat was really rewarding when you stealth kill enemies. This game is more linear than the Fallout games but I still recommend this to fans of those games, since I loved the Fallout games and I loved this game as well. With all the crappy FPS games coming out these days, this is a fresh breath of air.



~ Written: 07-12



Positive:

* Fast loading

* An fps that actually requires survival

* Most exploration has no music playing in the back which adds to the immersion

* Amazing immersion and you feel quite alone

* Everything feels dangerous wherever you go and you can easily get freaked out

* Amazing atmosphere that feels devastated

* Weapon sounds are unique and enemies react to them



Negative:

* Glitchy at times

* Only relies on auto saving, no manually saving the game