So, I bought this game yesterday and have played it for about 4 hours. Overall I'm quite happy with it. It's a good game. It is a linear shooter... levels have only one way to move through them and you can't go back or travel around an open world or anything. I usually prefer open-world / sandbox type games, but that doesn't make this game bad.

You spend the majority of your time in the Moscow metro, so it's pretty dark and confined. There're definitely some claustrophobic moments. Stuff also comes out of the shadows at you. Plus there's this weird supernatural vibe thing going on. It makes the game pretty tense in spots

The voice acting is, imo, pretty damned good, even though everyone has a Russian accent. There're some oddities... like how are there Nazis in the sewers of Moscow? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

At any rate, if you're looking for a pretty fun/tense linear FPS, I think you'll dig this game. It reminds me of a combination of FEAR and STALKER, though it lacks STALKER's open world and FEAR's retarded level design. As far as bugs, I haven't really run into any. The AI isn't very smart, but that's not abnormal. Some of the UI decisions are a little questionable, like if you're looting weapons it's hard to tell if something is better than what you already have. But that's pretty minor. You also can't haul along extra weapons to sell, though you can lug around a metric ton of ammo.

There are several really cool things they've implemented, though. If you go into some areas, you start choking until you put on a gas mask (usually low areas in the sewers and anywhere on the surface). If you get beat up while wearing it, the goggles can get cracked, screwing with your sight. You also have to carry extra filters, and as you use one you can hear your breathing get more labored with time, until you're pretty much choking until you swap out filters. Realistically, a gas mask filter lasts quite a while, but it's a fun game mechanic.

Anyway, a few videos.
http://clankiller.com/stuff/Metro2033trainstation-1.wmv
http://clankiller.com/stuff/Metro2033moscowdemons-1.wmv
http://clankiller.com/stuff/Metro2033gettinghigh-1.wmv
http://clankiller.com/stuff/Metro2033cr ... back-1.wmv
http://clankiller.com/stuff/Metro2033bar-1.wmv

The gas mask touch sounds pretty great

Looking forward to the vids when I get home.

Linear? Hmmm, that's an ultra turn off for me. I'll download the videos. Hopefully they'll show me something remarkable that makes up for it.

EDIT: Looks like a Fallout 3 mod.

lol, it's not even remotely close to F3. Besides, F3 is sandbox whereas this is linear.

At any rate, I'm enjoying it, at least thus far. It's very atmospheric Mostly it's you on foot in the sewers, quite often with someone else. There've also been a few rail portions.

I liked the vids. Especially the bar scene looked like a very "warm" place to be after running around on the freezing surface or in dark tunnels. Didnt look too interactive but damn if it didn't feel cosy!

lol @ the bong. Why are you doing a hit in the middle of a gunfight anyway? This ain't nam!

COnsider my interest in the game raised some more.

hehe... as a word of warning, there's pretty much no interaction in the human-populated areas. They could've made it so you pick up missions and blah blah blah, but they don't. From what I can tell, though you can talk to some people, mostly it's just atmospheric and you're following mission after mission. that's not knocking the game... what it does, it does quite well. Just don't expect it to be an RPG, because it's not.

A minor irritation is ammo and mask filters... I've had a hard time restocking on those recently. You loot quite a bit during missions, but I don't like running out. Also, some of the creatures are really fucking hard to kill. The "librarians" are so hard to kill I ended up just sprinting through the mission in an attempt not to die repeatedly. Considering killing one is an achievement, perhaps that's on purpose. *shrug*

From the reviews I've seen it's supposed to be that way yeah, ammo being scarce and some sequences/enemies being much easier to outrun than to actually fight. Which isn't to say it did cause some minor frustrations sometimes.

Pretty sure running away from them can't be as adrenaline-pumpingly awesome as beiong chased by a tank in L4D though.

heh... so I completed the game after about 9 hours of gameplay. I may replay it, not sure.... being so linear, it doesn't have much replay value. At 9 hours, that's about average for an FPS and I don't feel like I was taken advantage of or anything.

So, mini-review:

Graphics... the graphics are nice. Not insanely awesome, but not bad, as you could probably tell from my videos. Some of the textures are damned grainy, but overall it looks quite good. The way they use the headlamp is very nice. Another nice touch is that, even though the headlamp always works, as you use it, it diminishes in power. You can make it significantly brighter again by pulling out a hand charger and cranking up the battery. Neat. The graphics did cause me some issues with my graphics card... my 8800gt is just getting too old to push it.

Story... the story is interesting. Beyond the primary storyline, it's very interesting to explore the world of the metro in a post-apocalyptic world. You've got people working together to survive the monsters, while elsewhere you've got people struggling under a brutal regime (reds), and ideologies fighting each other (reds vs nazis). I'm sure this is from the novel, but it makes the world seem much more alive. The main story is pretty cool, especially when you realize there's an alternate ending.

Sound... audio is good. The voice acting is really good, in my opinion. Everyone speaks in Russian-accented English, but the grammar is good (or at least, what you would expect from post-apocalytic survivors). There's some good humor mixed in, and people are convincing for the most part. I'd totally 5 star the dialog. Gun sounds and whatnot are good enough. I don't actually recall there being music, so it was either forgettable, nonexistant, or meshed well with the game. *shrug*

Gameplay... the level design is ok. It goes from inspired in parts to kinda lame in others. Everything is very closed in, though this is fine most of the time since you're underground anyway. Even on the surface tends to be very constricted, but I think it's done well enough. The guns are pretty cool... many of the weapons are home-made and look it... if you play, you'll start using home made shotguns and submachine guns that look very much like they were assembled by hand. Later you can get air-powered weapons. Good stuff. I already mentioned the head lamp... that's a very cool mechanic. Previously I mentioned the gas mask filters you had to replace... that's an interesting mechanic, but with how short the filters last, it gets kind of annoying after awhile. If the game were more open-world, and the filters lasted a more reasonable time, I think it would be an awesome mechanic.

There are some rail-shooter levels which aren't bad and are a nice way to break up the game. There's also a level at the end that's akin to Max Payne's baby dream levels... it's really cool.

So, yea, if you're looking for a pretty decent FPS and are cool with 9 hours of gameplay, I'd say grab it. Otherwise, if you like a good FPS, wait until it's on sale. If you don't like first person shooters, avoid, because that's definitely what this is.

On the Satis scale, I'd give it 7/10. On a Gamespot scale, I'd probably give it 80%-85%. Worth checking out, but don't expect it to change your life.

Derf scale would probably be 2/10.

Good review, thanks. It definitely sounds appealing for a bargain buy somewhere down the line.

Stupd question perhaps: is it possible to use a Russian voice acting reel and English subtitles? I find that immersion even doubles when playing in the original language, if at all possible (like in Silent Hunter! ZEROTIEFE!!). Otherwise it can get so bad that it's like watching Japanese movies with dubbed English...ultra lame.

I checked out the options, and yes, you can turn on subtitles and you can change the language of both subtitles and spoken word. Options are Russian, English, German, Spanish, French and Italian, I think, though my memory is less than perfect. I may do what you're talking about, sounds fun.

I started playing Metro a week ago after finally picking it up for 2.5 €, and I must say that I'm impressed with the game so far. Sure, it's incredibly on-rails, but the atmosphere and internal logic of the game world feels 'right'. The whole bullets-as-currency dynamic is great, as is the gas mask + filters when yu venture out in the open. The first time you leave the metro and cross through an open area on the surface is spine-chilling. The silence, the twisted and destroyed world...all aided by the minimalist HUD and the believable first-person action. Really good stuff.

The graphics are great too. The game does really well playing with light. Some pics I took.

cool, glad you're finally playing the game. It's definitely worth the time.

Yeah, it definitely is. The atmosphere is amazing. But the fights can be pretty balls hard, jeez. I swear I must have died 15 times in one area. But then I think I was supposed to sneak past rather than to try and kill an entire nazi camp on my own.

I love going to the surface though. Fighting that nazi patrol up there was pretty epic shit...so much pressure, danger, and then the gas masks and the environment. Hot damn.

There are definitely hard parts. Are you finished yet?

Nope, but nearing the end I think. I'll let you know when I'm done. I saw the book (in English) at a Waterstones store in Brussels a few days ago. Was tempted to buy it, but it was like 15 € and I got a lot of other shit left to read...