So, let’s talk about gaming, shall we? Ahh… My favorite hobby… You know what I like even more than a good movie or book (for the most part)?

Yes, you guessed it, a good game. A game that puts you in the shoes of the guy that you just read about…

For those who do not know what I am talking about… Metro 2033 is a novel , AND a game … No, seriously, they share the name, and, if you ask me, it fits both as a glove…

Remember THQ? That’s the publisher behind the game (or was…), the studio being 4A Games, Dmitriy Glukhovskiy is the one behind the book.

I am a PC gamer, and as such, I have to give this one the prize of worst-optimized game I’ve ever seen.You should not ask yourself whether you can run crysis, ask yourself if you can run this instead!

Ambient occlusion, full tessellation support(2010 game), bokeh dof, and as if this stuff isn’t taxing enough when it’s perfectly implemented, when it’s not… Well… You get the picture… The good news out of all of this is that even if you are not running full-on ultra settings, you won’t be calling the game fugly because it isn’t.

In spite of all these technical issues (that could have been solved long ago) , the experience is so immersive, the story engaging, the atmosphere and the environments are spot-on, couple that with the survival mechanics and you really get to feel like you are in a fight for survival, at all times.

There are beautifully rendered horrendous beasts and mutants ready to devour you if you take the wrong turn, and, in case you manage to survive, and your gas-mask gets shattered? Guess what? Meet mister grim on the way to loading the latest checkpoint.

Oh, yes, the setting… Imagine Fallout in Moscow, now take that and imagine the vaults… The vault, in this case is the ruins of the metro, underneath the radiation-riddled wreck of the city.

As I was saying… You know how most book-based movies cut corners to appease to the audience? That doesn’t happen here. AT ALL.

What you read is what you play (give or take), and that’s an amazing experience, also, one would think they would restrict player freedom attempting to maintain the story, but by employing smart level design with minimal ui and a Deus-Ex approach to exploration, it becomes a must-have for any hardcore gamer.