That Bloke with the beanies 38 hour gaming roundup, or Metro 2033 and Resonance of Fate reviews…
The smell of oil and decay hung heavy in the air as I made my way down the barely lit tunnel. I scanned the walls and ceiling for any Dark Ones ready to turn me into their next meal. The endless drip, drip, drip from water seeping through from the world above echo around my skull in time with my heartbeat. Suddenly a sound! I whipped round, only to be greeted by my own footprints in the dirt and the slightest wail of and escaping wind down the tunnel. They were still out there watching, the things beyond all the nasties that you would see in the tunnels. Something darker, more unnatural…
I turned back to the track, I blinked for a moment, and then my vision was covered in a bright blue light. It was here! I had to run. Turning on my heel I ran against the sudden burst of wind pulling me down the tunnel with unnatural force. I’d felt them before, survived them before, but not this time, I could tell. The Metro had chosen me to punish, I’d got too close to the secrets it had kept hidden after the war and all the darkness and death that came with it. No matter how hard I pushed, the wind pushed harder, it wasn’t taking any chances. The Metro wasn’t some dumb arch evil villain soaking in its own arrogance and hubris, it was more than that a deep ruthless yet playful evil. In Soviet Russia, Metro takes YOU!
Metro 2033 is a strange creation. On one hand it’s a well detailed atmospheric shooter that makes the most of its underground setting punctuated by some surface action. On the others it’s incredibly average with what can be very poor A.I, run on the mill weapons and a fluctuating difficulty. In my mind, it feels as though it’s several years behind the curve of current generation FPS’s. Yes the linearity suits the game pretty well for what it is, the graphics are pretty nice and it’s atmospheric. But there seems to be something missing in my mind, a certain je ne ce quoi that stops this game from being on par with FEAR, Gears of War or Halflife.
The story is pretty decent and creepy, an unwinding tale of the Moscow metro after a nuclear war and the horrors that it created.
What you have to bear in mind is that the team which made this took ideas and inspiration and also originally worked with the guys who brought us the STALKER games which mixed a large open world with creepy dungeons to good effect. The problem with Metro is that, even utilising the confines and creepiness of the Moscow underground is that you’re limited in the variation and, well, environments it can use. I know this might seem pretty petty for what is an all round decent game but…I guess I just wanted a little bit more from this. Yes the various stations and their inhabitants do add a nice feeling to the game, but the constant near indifferent Russian accents even for the children you see playing make it seem, strangely bland. The weapons, while feeling, like I said in my preview, real in the situation you find yourself in are annoyingly ineffective against some enemies you find yourself up against.
Now to something more positive, the monsters. They’re all creepy nasty buggers who will have you screaming “Arghhh! Die! Die you mother fucker die! Shit!”. Especially the evil overgrown meerkat monsters you fight on the surface that will have you going from chuckles to cussing in 0.5 seconds. Unfortunately the simple swarm A.I again leaves it lacking. You only feel hunted when the A.I is scripted to do so. While they are still challenging there’s more than a few moments of stupidity especially on the human side which breaks the immersion.
I’m 18 hours in and still not finished so you’re getting a lot of game for your buck, but I’m unsure as to how repayable it will be. Due to problems on my PC I had to play the 360 version and fair warning, unless you’ve got a decent TV or monitor, its MUCH less impressive than it should be. Consider this a tentative recommendation. If you want to try something different, rent this, if you like it buy it. This is a very marmite game with very little in the way of middle ground. My next game however…
Stay tuned to Plus XP this week for Part 2 of That Bloke In The Beanie’s Epic Reviews
- That Bloke In The Beanie
