Developer: 4A Games
Publisher: Deep Silver / THQ
Rrp: £14.99 (Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam)
Released: 26th August 2014 (original 16th March 2010)
Available on: Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 10 Hours
Originally I was going to compare Metro 2033’s original version to the remastered version but when I thought about it a bit I came to the conclusion that there really is no point. There are very few places you can still actually get the original version and to be perfectly honest, why would you when you can get the remaster (Which is superior in every way)? The only reason I can think of is for the sake of games preservation and that’s it.
You play as Artyom, a young man who has lived almost his entire life within the confines of the Metro, specifically a station named Exhibition. Why does he live in a Metro station? Because that’s where all of humanity (in Moscow) hid when the bombs fell. That’s right this is a game set in the post-apocalypse, specifically post-apocalyptic Russia.
This has to be said now though, one of the main things to remember about this game is that it isn’t Fallout with a Russian skin. If you try to treat it like a Fallout game you’ll die very quickly and likely get frustrated by the linear narrative, try to keep in mind that this was a book first and the developers have tried to keep true to that story. Metro 2033 also has a different, more dark and sombre tone.
I like the way this game does difficulty settings, because they aren’t simply; easy, medium, hard, nightmare. Firstly you get a choice of two ‘playstyle’ options; Survivor and Spartan. The Spartan option gives you a more normal FPS experience, with ammo and health pickups being not too irregular. Survivor option reduces the amount of ammo and health in the world and encourages a more cautious and calculated playstyle. Once you’ve picked between those two you can toggle the actual difficulty between normal and nightmare within the options menu as you play.
The combat in this can be quite a slog (depending on difficulty and playstyle setting), some enemies take quite a lot of damage before falling. However that also somewhat depends on the way you play. Personally I favour a more stealthy approach as that tends to be more conservative on the ammo usage but that isn’t always an option.
One of the most interesting things in Metro 2033 is that military bullets are currency. You find these bullets hidden around the various maps and sometimes upon the bodies of the fallen. What makes this interesting is that they aren’t ‘just’ a currency, you can use them in your weapons and when you do they cause far more damage to your enemies than the normal rounds. Of course for every shot fired that’s one less bullet you can use to get new equipment and upgrade your weapons.
As I mentioned earlier this game is linear, meaning there isn’t an open world for you to wander around in. That being said, exploration within the levels is almost always rewarded, but often comes with a risk that there might be a trap or an enemy ambush.
I love this game, I have done ever since I played the original release back on my Xbox 360 years ago. I won’t say its a perfect game, truly its not but it has something about it that few other games do. One piece of advise I do have to give is that if you do decide to play this game I highly recommend turning on the subtitles because multiple NPC’s tend to talk over each other, however the subtitles favour the major NPC’s.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Metro Last Light
Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl
Half-Life 2
