Ignore hours played, I finished the game. Moved save file over from non-steam version.



Tunnels

Most of Metro 2033 takes place underground in metro tunnels. Sounds boring, right? A leveldesign challenge is always to avoid corridor, room, corridor syndrome. So why would you make the main stage tunnels? Tunnels are a lot like corridors. Well, in tems of leveldesign 4A Games knocked it out of the park by making the metro system much more than that architecturally. They threw in a good amount of scripted events, turning it into an engaging audiovisual experience. The relative lack of freedom to roam means the devs could focus their efforts on the parts of the game world that the player would actually see. Being stuck underground for most of the game made scripting easier because it's predictable where the player is going to go next.



The World

I didn't feel like the world portrayed in Metro suspended disbelief as if it really existed. Its setting is unique, but for all its amazing glory it still felt somewhat like the stage for a shooter, instead of the shooting being secondary to the game world. For that, the world's lore and characters just weren't well enough fleshed out. It wasn't very well introduced either and I didn't feel emotionally invested, so for a postapocalyptic game its world felt comparatively shallow.



First-Person Shooter First

You are often attacked by many mutated monstrosities. These are often very challenging and frantic fights in which tough, strong, fast enemies instantly move into melee range. It does it well, but I equally don't think Metro does shooting any better than other shooters. The difficulty to defend yourself even on the easiest difficulty mode is meant to add to all the other means of making the situation feel dire. As someone who used to play Unreal Tournament competitively, the frantic shooting I could've done without. If you're looking for an action shooter though, you're in luck. You can only carry 3 weapons, 2 if playing Ranger mode like me. This is a bit anti-fun, although I get why they did it, and it works. It does mean you will die a lot trying to reload your weapons while under melee attack: you only have one or two loaded weapons to switch to. As a result, I couldn't swap out a main gun in favor of a less practical, lower damage but silent "utility weapon", opting instead to throw knives when trying to keep quiet.



Other Elements Second

There is some optional sneaking involved. However, Metro is more action oriented than you might think - it does not focus on the human experience, in case you were expecting that from the post-apocalyptic setting. Sprinkled on top are paranormal activity and, occasionally, anomalies and radioactivity. Exploration takes a backseat, so don't expect the Fallout kind of postapocalypse. Metro isn't entirely on rails, but relatively close to it. Keeps the story moving.



Story (no spoilers)

The story does the job of giving the game structure and a reason to progress. I didn't find it particularly engrossing. To get the most out of it you'll have to read all the written notebooks you find in the game world. Many of them just reiterate what you've already experienced though, so I wasn't motivated to read all of them. Gameplay wise the ending seems like it was made by a clueless intern: the game degenerates into a walking simulator on rails, with deaths you couldn't reasonably avoid. Reload checkpoint, repeat.



Saving

You can't save manually. The checkpoint save system requires you to replay the same sections and sometimes it saves just before you inevitably die. There is only one save. While you can still restart the entire chapter, it's a problem. One checkpoint save in particular occurs before an in-engine cutscene you can't skip, which leads into a scripted chase sequence that expects you to know where to run to while being shot at with shotguns in close quarters. On Ranger mode especially, shotguns kills you very quickly. It took me at least 10 restarts from the beginning. On another occasion, the game checkpoint saved as I jumped a gap and made it across. I perished later, and reloading caused me to fall to my death every time. I had to restart the entire chapter, only to get stuck on a trash can while trying to look out of a window, prompting a reload from the last checkpoint.



You Died

Too many of your deaths feel unfair like there was nothing you could have done about it. Like that scripted chase sequence I was talking about. That wasn't the only scripted sequence that felt like the devs were out to get me. There's one in which you are in a rail cart passing by a platform full of enemies firing at you. Suppressive fire from your weapon only goes so far until a few random bullets decide it's time to reload from the last checkpoint. Sometimes you'll simply run out of filters for your gas mask and die that way. It doesn't combine well with the checkpoint save system.



Rough Edges

Metro has a few rough edges, but only a few. Some literal: I walked an invisible ledge all the way up a wall. Weapon and ammo vendors annoyingly repeat the same line each and every time you select something in their shop. It wasn't always clear where to go: I spent a long time walking around "Black Station" before checking youtube how to continue. One NPC grinds an axe in perpetuity, in an unnaturally robotic way, his hands only moving along a line on the horizontal plane, away from the grindstone and back to it again. Speaking of NPC's, if you look away from one, their speech cuts out instantly in most cases. You can miss important clues that way.



Follow Me, Come On!

Far too often an NPC is moving ahead of you, and talking to you to get you to hurry up. It makes you feel rushed and frankly it's irritating. When you arrive at a certain big place, an NPC calls your name and if you approach him, a scripted event to the next chapter is triggered without giving you time to shop for weapons, ammo, weapon mods, and crucially: gasmask filters. I had to reload my save. When an NPC tells you to hurry because the train is leaving, take your sweet time. Trust me, it's not going anywhere until you get there.



Ranger Mode

Besides making combat deadlier, Ranger mode removes most of the information from the HUD. Reducing HUD elements would've been better left as a separate menu option.



Final Thoughts

The gameplay is generally solid but doesn't stray far from what you'd expect from a first person shooter. If you're looking for new gameplay mechanics, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a single player action FPS that focuses on very challenging gunplay, optional basic sneaking, impressive leveldesign and visuals in a very unique setting, and you don't get frustrated easily, there is enough here for a recommendation.



After finishing Metro 2033 I had Metro Last Light refunded. I don't regret playing 2033, but I did not enjoy the overall experience enough to want more of the same. For that, the audio-visual experience and unique setting didn't strongly enough outweigh some of the frustrations.

[i]Ignore hours played, I finished the game. Moved save file over from non-steam version.[/i] [b]Tunnels[/b] Most of Metro 2033 takes place underground in metro tunnels. Sounds boring, right? A leveldesign challenge is always to avoid corridor, room, corridor syndrome. So why would you make the main stage tunnels? Tunnels are a lot like corridors. Well, in tems of leveldesign 4A Games knocked it out of the park by making the metro system much more than that architecturally. They threw in a good amount of scripted events, turning it into an engaging audiovisual experience. The relative lack of freedom to roam means the devs could focus their efforts on the parts of the game world that the player would actually see. Being stuck underground for most of the game made scripting easier because it's predictable where the player is going to go next. [b]The World[/b] I didn't feel like the world portrayed in Metro suspended disbelief as if it really existed. Its setting is unique, but for all its amazing glory it still felt somewhat like the stage for a shooter, instead of the shooting being secondary to the game world. For that, the world's lore and characters just weren't well enough fleshed out. It wasn't very well introduced either and I didn't feel emotionally invested, so for a postapocalyptic game its world felt comparatively shallow. [b]First-Person Shooter First[/b] You are often attacked by many mutated monstrosities. These are often very challenging and frantic fights in which tough, strong, fast enemies instantly move into melee range. It does it well, but I equally don't think Metro does shooting any better than other shooters. The difficulty to defend yourself even on the easiest difficulty mode is meant to add to all the other means of making the situation feel dire. As someone who used to play Unreal Tournament competitively, the frantic shooting I could've done without. If you're looking for an action shooter though, you're in luck. You can only carry 3 weapons, 2 if playing Ranger mode like me. This is a bit anti-fun, although I get why they did it, and it works. It does mean you will die a lot trying to reload your weapons while under melee attack: you only have one or two loaded weapons to switch to. As a result, I couldn't swap out a main gun in favor of a less practical, lower damage but silent "utility weapon", opting instead to throw knives when trying to keep quiet. [b]Other Elements Second[/b] There is some optional sneaking involved. However, Metro is more action oriented than you might think - it does not focus on the human experience, in case you were expecting that from the post-apocalyptic setting. Sprinkled on top are paranormal activity and, occasionally, anomalies and radioactivity. Exploration takes a backseat, so don't expect the Fallout kind of postapocalypse. Metro isn't entirely on rails, but relatively close to it. Keeps the story moving. [b]Story[/b] (no spoilers) The story does the job of giving the game structure and a reason to progress. I didn't find it particularly engrossing. To get the most out of it you'll have to read all the written notebooks you find in the game world. Many of them just reiterate what you've already experienced though, so I wasn't motivated to read all of them. Gameplay wise the ending seems like it was made by a clueless intern: the game degenerates into a walking simulator on rails, with deaths you couldn't reasonably avoid. Reload checkpoint, repeat. [b]Saving[/b] You can't save manually. The checkpoint save system requires you to replay the same sections and sometimes it saves just before you inevitably die. There is only one save. While you can still restart the entire chapter, it's a problem. One checkpoint save in particular occurs before an in-engine cutscene you can't skip, which leads into a scripted chase sequence that expects you to know where to run to while being shot at with shotguns in close quarters. On Ranger mode especially, shotguns kills you very quickly. It took me at least 10 restarts from the beginning. On another occasion, the game checkpoint saved as I jumped a gap and made it across. I perished later, and reloading caused me to fall to my death every time. I had to restart the entire chapter, only to get stuck on a trash can while trying to look out of a window, prompting a reload from the last checkpoint. [b]You Died[/b] Too many of your deaths feel unfair like there was nothing you could have done about it. Like that scripted chase sequence I was talking about. That wasn't the only scripted sequence that felt like the devs were out to get me. There's one in which you are in a rail cart passing by a platform full of enemies firing at you. Suppressive fire from your weapon only goes so far until a few random bullets decide it's time to reload from the last checkpoint. Sometimes you'll simply run out of filters for your gas mask and die that way. It doesn't combine well with the checkpoint save system. [b]Rough Edges[/b] Metro has a few rough edges, but only a few. Some literal: I walked an invisible ledge all the way up a wall. Weapon and ammo vendors annoyingly repeat the same line each and every time you select something in their shop. It wasn't always clear where to go: I spent a long time walking around "Black Station" before checking youtube how to continue. One NPC grinds an axe in perpetuity, in an unnaturally robotic way, his hands only moving along a line on the horizontal plane, away from the grindstone and back to it again. Speaking of NPC's, if you look away from one, their speech cuts out instantly in most cases. You can miss important clues that way. [b]Follow Me, Come On![/b] Far too often an NPC is moving ahead of you, and talking to you to get you to hurry up. It makes you feel rushed and frankly it's irritating. When you arrive at a certain big place, an NPC calls your name and if you approach him, a scripted event to the next chapter is triggered without giving you time to shop for weapons, ammo, weapon mods, and crucially: gasmask filters. I had to reload my save. When an NPC tells you to hurry because the train is leaving, take your sweet time. Trust me, it's not going anywhere until you get there. [b]Ranger Mode[/b] Besides making combat deadlier, Ranger mode removes most of the information from the HUD. Reducing HUD elements would've been better left as a separate menu option. [b]Final Thoughts[/b] The gameplay is generally solid but doesn't stray far from what you'd expect from a first person shooter. If you're looking for new gameplay mechanics, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a single player action FPS that focuses on very challenging gunplay, optional basic sneaking, impressive leveldesign and visuals in a very unique setting, and you don't get frustrated easily, there is enough here for a recommendation. After finishing Metro 2033 I had Metro Last Light refunded. I don't regret playing 2033, but I did not enjoy the overall experience enough to want more of the same. For that, the audio-visual experience and unique setting didn't strongly enough outweigh some of the frustrations. Check this box if you received this product for free (?) Do you recommend this game? Yes No Cancel Save Changes