Impressions: Metro 2033 (and some Gamefly)

Ashley got me a two month subscription to Gamefly for my birthday and last week I decided to finally set it up and chug through some games. The service, overall, is quite good, though it does take a while to get a game back after you send one in. I believe that it takes two to four games to send it in and then to get the next game it can take up to another four days to get a game back. Because of this, I do not see this as being a service I would use to get games through exclusively because it takes so long to get the next game. Luckily, I have a pile of games I have not played yet or are playing through (Mass Effect and Oblivion) so it is not a problem for me.

Metro 2033, by 4A Games, is the first piece of software I got through the service. I was not expecting much because the gaming media was talking a lot of crap about this game, however, my impressions differ greatly from that of the masses.

Moscow is gone.

Starting with events that must take place near the end of the game, you immediately get the sense that you, as the main character Artyom, are in for a lot of disappointments and will be a loner for a lot of the game whether by choice, or not. After this opening set piece, Artyom is awoken from sleep in Exhibition, which is the 'town,' if you can call it that as it is really just a barricaded part of the subway under Moscow, and are told that Hunter, an elite Ranger (defender of the subway tunnels), will be arriving and you must meet them. Hunter lets Artyom know that he needs to go to the stronghold of Polis to find help in defeating a new threat to the metro, the Dark Ones. Hunter is on a quest to eliminate as many as he can, but he just does not have the resources to do as such.

From here, you gear up the character with the little currency you have, which is military grade ammo, which is quite rare. Regular ammo is made in the tunnels and is not as accurate or powerful as the military ammo which is left over from twenty years ago, before the nuclear holocaust which has wasted away the above world. Various weapons practically held together by tape and glue are offered for you to use. From here, you can finally start the main quest.

Venturing into the tunnels is quite dangerous, as they are filled with various types of monsters, and even some raiders looking to steal all of your crap. I am not quite sure as of now if the monsters were caused by some kind of mutation of normal animals or if it has something to do with the paranormal. There are paranormal aspects to this game, which if done poorly, could have been real tacky and cliche. However, the paranormal stuff is not overdone and adds a lot of atmosphere to the game, something missing from plenty of current gen games.

Some of the hard-to-find good guys.

To the point I am in the game, which is approximately two-thirds of the way through the game, the paranormal  stuff does not have a major effect on the game. There are some very odd parts where you are not always sure about what is going on. I hope this is all wrapped up at the end of the game, but it is still cool to see a some subtle paranormal stuff integrated into this game.

Some people may not have heard, but this game also has its share of stealth missions, and boy are they hard. They don't have to be completed with stealth, though. In the end, using stealth for as long as you can is usually the best idea because when you encounter large groups of enemies, you will die if you are not stocked with plenty of bullets and medkits. The difficulty adds to the realism of these parts as it would be nigh on impossible for an ordinary person to take on a group of 5+ equally armed men in a tunnel with little cover. Adding to the realism is the need to charge your headlight every once in a while with a modified crank and wearing gas masks when on the surface and changing the filter for the mask every once in a while.

The Circus is in Town

Overall, I am quite excited to finish Metro 2033 because it is one of the better shooters I have played in a while. It is not all about pure action, but instead integrates a decent amount of emotion into the story with a somewhat cynical undertone. Although this may not be what most people look for in shooters, it is games like this that provide us with stories that we do not already know the ending to as so often happens with the recycled material usually passed as games nowadays.