When Metro 2033 was released it seemed to come out of nowhere, catching everyone’s attention and demanding a lot from the partnering PC hardware. Alongside the cutting edge graphics it also helped that the game was pretty good fun to play. Metro Last Light has been high on the gamers wish list now for a long time, but can it live up to expectations? Be prepared for serious disappointment…
Metro Last Light is set in Russia’s capital, after a nuclear war has laid waste to the country. Some survivors have managed to work out an existence underground in the public rail Metro tunnels. Thanks to government planning the Metro tunnels were built deep enough under the surface so they could withstand the aftermath of a nuclear strike. The game series is based on Dmitri Glukhovsky’s books and the feeling of hopelessness is successfully carried over onto the gaming sector.
The fallout on the surface makes life impossible, doubly difficult as many of the native animals have mutated into horrific abominations seeking out the taste of raw meat. As is always the case when humans are under pressure, there are plenty of political problems underneath the surface. The surviving humans are splitting up into factions and communism is starting to find its way back into daily life. Crime and murder are rife and survival is all that matters.
It would be fair to say that the setting for Metro Last Light is dark, miserable and oppressive but the developers have offset the depressing environment with some sharp, witty dialogue. It also helps that the main story of the game is based around Artyom, a key member of the Rangers faction – the only group who we could consider to be even vaguely heroic.
Artyom is sent on a mission to find the last of a race called ‘The Dark Ones’, who were almost wiped out in the first game. On the way to his goal he finds himself captured by fascists and then placed into a concentration camp. During his dramatic escape Arytom finds out that another faction is planning an evil attack and needs to make his way back to the Rangers to warn them.
The action in the game is fairly enjoyable and it is driven along by a decent plot which may be full of holes, but does enough to get the player invested into what happens. Sadly there are some questionable scenes, such as when you are involved in breaking up a brutal rape. Even after killing the offenders, the victim is very distressed and inconsolable.
As a female gamer I found this inclusion to be rather unnecessary, just like when the player was given the opportunity to pay for a seedy lap dance in another part of the game. Come on guys, are we really appealing to the Duke Nukem audience?
Graphically the game is a mixed bag, with some excellent scenes ruined by pop up issues and some appalling texture work. I did play it later on the Xbox 360 and noticed a staggering amount of pop up issues. Some non player characters would seemingly disappear and reappear out of nowhere and occasionally a well aimed shot from a rifle would have absolutely no effect – even when levelled perfectly at the head. The coding is unforgivably quite shoddy.
One of the boss fights against a character called ‘Big Momma’ ended up with her stuck in an artificial intelligence loop as her leg got stuck in a wall — with me pumping rounds of ammo into her glitching, trapped body. After what seemed like (a very long) 10 minutes, she died and left me able to move on. I am pretty sure this is not what the developers had planned when they created this scene. It happened throughout the game. I noticed during one of the city walk scenes that two characters had ‘morphed’ into one, with entangled body parts sticking out at weird angles. A masterclass of coding, this is not.
On a hardware level, I found the game to run well at 1080p with a GTX660 and 8GB of ram, paired up with a Core i5 3570. I didn’t get the opportunity to play through with a variety of hardware, but my frame rate was smooth with high settings enabled.
Metro Last Light is actually most enjoyable during the stealth sections of the game play. You are given silenced weapons and the ability to darken areas of the map by unscrewing lightbulbs and blowing out other lamps. The bad guys will often sigh and send one of their pack out to fix a blown fuse. This enhances the atmosphere and the feeling of being caught at any time if you make a wrong move.
Its not quite Tom Clancy, but still very enjoyable.
Metro Last Light is at heart a linear shooter with little to do outside the planned path. There is plenty of dialogue on the way to keep you entertained but I have to admit, sometimes I felt there was too much talking in the game as you spend many hours listening to people talking, rather than taking part in the action.
Metro Last Light isn’t a killer game, it is reasonably enjoyable to play but I feel it is slightly disappointing in a variety of ways. The plot is shaky and the level design seems a little haphazard in regards to quality. There are some technical issues and glitches and some rather questionable, poor taste moments which do nothing to bring female gamers into the fold. There are plenty of see-through bras and bouncing breasts which while amusing for the immature male audience, will assuredly alienate many others.
That said, the dark atmosphere, stealth missions and witty dialogue do make up for some of the shortfalls. After playing Far Cry 3 or BioShock Infinite however, it is clear that this game hasn’t quite made the grade. If you play and don’t expect too much then it may prove interesting, but generally the experience left me feeling completely underwhelmed.
