I review Metro 2033

Video edition can be found on YouTube in two parts.

Disclaimer: I don't know jack shit about the book.

I'm a huge fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, but it's hard for me to not recognize the gaping flaws in each game, from Shadow of Chernobyl's lack of intricate scripted events to Clear Sky's ridiculously accurate and grenade spamming artificial stupidity. I often wondered what it would be like if a magical mod was created for each game to solve all of its flaws and make it presentable in each department. Sadly, nothing has come close to that yet.

I was, however, delighted to hear that people who broke off of GSC's lead designer team during the development of Shadow of Chernobyl because of how god damn long it was taking to finish one game that started in 2001 were creating a little project called Metro 2033. I was excited at first, but also worried. Even with the new engine being touted by the developers at 4A games, there would always be the chance that bits of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. spirit would show up at times and manifest in some very game breaking faults. But this is not the case. Instead, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. spirit manifests itself in the game through general design philosophy. If you've played any bit of the series and loved the game for its negative charm, the feeling that you needed to tread carefully on its ground, but wished for something more polished, Metro 2033 is most likely for you.

Or if you've never played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or just want to understand what the hell I'm babbling about, read on.

The world ended, as is common in all the well-known Ukrainian games out there, and this time the story is centered around Moscow in its underground subway tunnels. As is traditional, mutants run rampant and often attack settlements. A new and particularly dangerous threat has arisen, dubbed the "Dark Ones" by the people of the Metro. These ghoul-like beings have begun attacks on the people of the Underground with the use of fancy telepathic powers, driving them insane to the point where they claw their own faces off and stuff, but a plan has been developed to stop them, and since someone has to do it, it might as well be you, Artyom, the everyman.

The greatest strength of the game outright is its wide variety of adventures upon which you will embark. As you can't just fill a book up with samey gunfights and fending off of animals, this translates to the game very well. The entirety of the storyline has to do with some sort of combat, but you'll never be shooting at the same thing or using the same tactics for too long, basically. Unfortunately, this can be a very big turnoff for many. Going from one set piece to another that's completely unrelated and involves a different style of combat that you are perhaps not as good at can be frustrating.

That is where the spirit of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. shows itself. The design philosophy is to be unforgiving. Traversing the Zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. without making plans for the best and treading lightly can often lead to a depletion of resources or even instant death. A certain loadout can lead to a hopeless attempt at combating military, while it's perfect for defending yourself against a pack of wild blind dogs. Unfortunately, while kicking various asses of blind dogs, you may trip over an electric anomaly that takes away two thirds of your health and makes you much weaker.

Metro 2033 is unforgiving. It's full of traps and dangerous areas that, if mishandled, can lead to a total fuck-up. Constant vigilance is required to play it to its fullest potential, and some people just don't have such patience to make sure everything is going right. However, to those who keep thinking on their feet throughout, it's easier for this game design philosophy to coalesce peacefully with the oppressive atmosphere, as was intended by the developers. In fact, I can't think of anything better for a game with such a dark story. Making it as simple as Call of Duty 6 would definitely not work out.

Despite it being unforgiving, however, I refuse to say that it's like this because the developers were unfair. Every style of gameplay that is showcased is masterfully crafted, be it stealth or tower defense, or anything in between. Throughout and above the tunnels deep down under Moscow all sorts of dark things lurk, both man and monster, and each presents a great threat.

Doglike monsters infest every place ever, and fighting them is a thrill. They are both tough and behave like real animals would. When they attack it becomes similar to a horde shooter, but far more badass and dangerous. Amazing clusterfucks can appear that, despite being, well, clusterfucky, are enthralling as you run for your life and at the same time try to fend off this group of creepy circus freaks.

When not confronting them in Serious-Sam-like fashion, but with more depth of course, another vessel by which combat against nasty monsters is introduced is the always fun trolley ride. There are plenty of occasions when traveling from point A to point B on a handcart that you will pass through crazy cokehead monster territory. These scenes are uncontrollably fast-paced and designed to give you a testosterone rush of amazing measurements. Generally, you have a good buddy doing the hand-cranking for you and maybe a sidekick for good luck, which adds to the fun. These parts are basically a sort of castle defense, just with a crappy hand-cart instead of a castle.

On the human side of things, combat is awesome as well. Enemies are very dextrous and use cover very properly. Though it is hard to do so in a small environment, they use flanking tactics whenever they can and respond to the player's distance by throwing grenades. They respond to when their numbers begin to dwindle and have dialog that suggests they are real people, not just obstacles. The circumstances in which you fight human opponents are less varied than those for monsters, but the game more than makes up for that with various approaches to each situation. With light but definitive roleplaying elements, which I will touch upon later, any situation can be handled in a player's own personal manner.

Stealth is a very viable option in Metro. There are plenty of silenced weapons to be found in places where they are needed, and being devious never felt so good. Enemies are very keen and aware of what is going on around them, but they never actually become unfairly omniscient. However, the stealth is much more difficult than in most games that are based entirely around stealth. Every area with human enemies, despite being normally confined to closed spaces underground, is sprawling and has many routes that can be taken. There are many places to hide and lots of secrets to be found. This can also mean, though, that you don't really know what lies ahead of you. Enemies are also realistically well-prepared for a covert invasion, and have various traps set up. Broken glass that crackles when you step on it lines the floor, and tripwires attached to bells can be found as obstacles in many possible routes.

It takes even more cunning than normal to do such feats of stealth. Fortunately, however, if you mess up, the game doesn't punish you with instant failure or clunky combat. It offers a nice and stark contrast. One moment you're crawling along train tracks that people have left unchecked, hoping to not catch their attention. The next, you accidentally bumped into alarm cans hanging from the ceiling. People have recognized the noise, and a gruesome, sudden, satisfyingly violent and bloody gunfight has broken out. The best part about the stealth, though, is the fact that, even if you aren't the best at it and fail multiple times, it's reward enough to have passed as far through enemy defenses as possible. Even sneaking past the bad guys for a short time in order to get a tactical advantage is worth it.

The guns with which one shoots at the gushy meatbags in his or her way range from pretty damn cool to rather dull. Ranged weapon slots include one for a revolver, one for a traditional automatic weapon, and another for a situational weapon, such as a shotgun or a silent pneumatic rifle. The game starts out with intentions to keep the atmosphere tense with a simple revolver and really poorly constructed rifles and shotguns, and despite the fact that, you know, they're shit, it's because they're supposed to be shit, and they're still fun to shoot and good at making things fall over when shot. As you progress, societies more profitable than your own will have fancier weapons, such as a pneumatic sniper rifle or a VSK-94. All of these weapons are unique to one another with their own strengths, and varieties of these sold at shops with certain attachments make for really great customization.

(Also a little note: There's this one really frustrating part that lasts about five minutes and I'm not sure whose asshole it came out of but he or she should be hit in the shin with a bat. You'll know exactly which part I mean. Continue playing after that and the game returns to normal. I just needed to mention it and get it off my chest.)

The story segwaying people through all of the set pieces offered is rather good. The Dark Ones actually feel like a real threat and the environments are often believable, or as believable as a post-apocalyptic world full of monsters can be. However, the storyline has a ridiculously massive case of Deus Ex Machina. Most of the areas you reach have a tendency of making your life turn from bad to worse, and many encounters with enemies lead to large uncontrollable scripted events where everything goes out of control. People normally die and you normally almost do. However, since Artyom is the protagonist, the developers can't kill him off. That would be very cheap. Therefore, the crazy cutscenes always end up with you getting saved, whether by pure luck or someone you are with. Take the beginning moment of the game for instance. You are climbing up a rusty old ladder with your good pal Miller who is asking in your general direction about what you were thinking when you first left your home station. All of a sudden, just as you reach the top, the ladder falls apart, and you're left dangling from a ledge. Just as you're about to fall, you are caught by what might as well be the hand of some deity. At times there are quick-time events to further how silly this is, but they're actually rather few and very easy. I never failed one once. Don't worry about them.

I wouldn't be calling a story good if all that mattered was its preposterous way of continuing the narrative, though. The great part about Metro's story is all of its side-stories. With so many set-pieces it seems to be almost able to be divided into episodes. The varying environments you trudge gloomily through often tell their own stories about the unfortunate who died there, or about those who are still trying to survive there. Each quest you receive often provides imagery of a place's history, and it's nearly all told in a very indirect manner. Little blatant exposition happens but much of it is very easy to understand and even think about, while still having a deeper tale to tell than what most gamers think about.

The story is made even better by what I presume comes from its literate roots. While a game can be sold on the gameplay and basic storyline alone, a book needs good characters to sell. I've of course never actually read it because I'm illiterate, but I presume it's not written with the same stupid Hollywood-O-Vision of a novel such as City of Thieves or of a game such as Call of Duty 6. All characters in Metro 2033 are simply fabulously written and three-dimensional. None of them are limited to an arbitrary small number of quirks that they constantly need to adhere to, and they often take realistic action and make realistic decisions and act like humans. They become people someone can actually care about and want to help.

Metro 2033 comes with a small amount of roleplaying. It's about the same amount as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has, except it's used in a more linear fashion. The blunt of it is used in order to shape Artyom into your own little Marionette, through options such as weapon loadout and suit style. There is enough customization to allow for completely different tactics. Choosing silenced weapons and a light suit leads toward the building of a stealth character and makes a big difference. Choosing a heavier, more armored suit and some nice balls-to-the-wall weapons is much more suitable for an action gamer. There are things you can mix and match for your own playstyle, but it's overall not that intricate.

There are also many choices to be made. These often manifest as black-and-white choices to help or not help the people of the Metro, whether it's delivering a distress call to a radio transmitter or giving a little boy a shiny new military-grade bullet that he can use to go buy some hallucinogenic candy or something. The magic about the "choice" system of the game is that it is not always that blatant.

Choices are also made throughout the game in something that I believe to be unique to Metro 2033 and no game I can think of in recent memory. Deep down, more matters than just giving a hobo some cash, and that's how you play the game itself. The game keeps track of your psychology, how you choose to handle various missions and how you treat various environments. I'm not going to say how this will apply to certain situations, but suffice it to say that the way it is implemented is very deep.

The point of all of these choices is to lead up to which ending will occur. There are only two endings, but despite one being designated "good" and another being designated "bad" by the game itself, each is deeper than simple black-or-white nature, has its own characteristics, and decides the complex fate of the people living beneath Artyom's feet. This kind of complex ending sequence would not be very well-done if choices were like those in BioShock, simply being a series of the same boring choice over and over again. The intricacy of the system used in the game adds greatly to the experience of the world and makes very good use of the roleplaying element.

Metro 2033 is not only a nice game in its own right, but it is also very masterfully aesthetically designed. The 4A engine, despite using a hell of a lot of third party technology which many developers have proven they don't know how to utilize, is incredibly well-constructed and put to great use. On the graphics side, the engine is optimized beyond comparison. Though the lowest settings are still rather demanding toward lower-end computers, what is there is amazingly pretty and it's a miracle that all of the things featured in the engine are present without your computer or console exploding. For the people with enough power (a.k.a. not me), the engine supports some fancy DirectX 11 techniques, advanced PhysX, and has graphical settings not seen on the XBox 360 edition.

The land in which the story takes place is incredibly beautiful. I'd be more than willing to say that Crysis has met its match and lost to it in terms of environments. Textures are consistently high-resolution, models consistently high-poly, lighting consistently beautiful, and special effects consistently pretty, but that's not the only thing that matters. There is an incredible amount of detail put into every bit of the environment. Much of it is incredibly unique, and full of little nuances that are just unmatched by any other game. The few trips above the Moscow Metro into the dead city itself are absolutely fabulous and have an air of authenticity to them. At least, they're as authentic as a post-apocalyptic city could probably be without knowing what one looks like first-hand.

Character models are very well-done and real-seeming. Full-body animations are top-notch. However, at times, a little bit of cloning seems to be going on, but that's nothing new, and it rarely occurs, comparable to most other games of or near this amount of graphical detail. Face animations could have used some more work, as they seem to have as many variables as those in Crysis or Half-Life 2, but just aren't animated well. They seem to go from one static expression to another. These are only minor complaints on the grand scheme of things, however.

The engine also has amazing sound technology, and though it's nowhere near as complex as the graphics technology, it still matters a lot. One of the most satisfying things in a shooter is to have realistically loud guns, and the game really delivers on that with what I believe the developers described as "high dynamic range sound" or something like that, meaning that gunshots, grenade explosions, et cetera are all very good at making you go deaf. That's about all the sound engine has going for it that isn't already widely used, but it still deserves a lot of commendation on how good the actual sounds are.

The sound design in Metro 2033 is absolutely amazing and kicks ass and is awesome and is incredible and I love it. Whoever did the coding got the reverberation and muffling effects just right. As if having amazing ambient and non-ambient noises was not enough, the entire environment rings vibrantly with each step anyone takes and very few have matched that quality of just plain being in the moment. From gunshots to their own bullet impacts in a crackly light source, everything is masterfully composed.

Voice acting in the game is overall very nice. The main characters have top-notch actors who sound like real people, which helps to accentuate how real they actually are. Unimportant characters sometimes have pretty bad actors but I presume it would be very hard to find a cast of incredibly competent Russian people who can all speak English fluently without sometimes seeming robotic when they get to a big word. This is presumably why the game also includes the original Russian voice overs as well. Overall the Russian localization has far better acting, and it's fully subtitled so you don't get confused if you don't know Russian, but I do stick to the English version for one reason: Artyom's voice. He is mainly a silent protagonist apart from a few expletives he gives off when his life is in danger, but he also reads off little blurbs of information between levels, and his voice is just this abnormal calm that works so well. In the Russian version, it's just this guy who probably ate Brillo Pads for dinner the night before the recording session and has roughly the same voice as the ever-so-dull Marcus Fenix in Gears of War. The calm English version of Artyom works so well for me because it feels as though he's telling a story to us and reminiscing about it in the process.

All of these aesthetic pieces of awesome pie lead up to an absolutely tangible atmosphere, almost so thick you can slice it with your bayonet. The Metro stations are all as gloomy as can be thanks to how detailed everything is in order to look dirty. Cigarette smoke fills the air as crepuscular rays break through clotheslines and doorways and such objects. A million little finishing touches have been used to make this amazingly realistic, and you definitely begin to feel the plight of the survivors of a twenty-year-old nuclear war better than in any other game with similar subject matter.

Metro 2033 is, in conclusion, not just a game, but rather an experience. It varies from person to person like few other games, what with the difficulty curve being rather tough, but not all of the Triple-A titles in the world are for everyone. But if you're looking for something that depicts such a dark subject matter within a fluid story and aren't afraid to get your toes wet, or rather irradiated, then this game is an experience for you.