Great Atmosphere Does Not Equal Great Game
Metro 2033 is based on a Russian novel dealing with life in post-apocalyptic Moscow, brought to you by members of the team that gave us S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And while the game has the same bleak atmosphere of their original major release, it avoids the major technical bugs it had.
In Metro 2033, after the apocalypse, Russians live in the underground metro stations as the surface is totally irradiated and impossible to deal with without gas masks. You are set to seek help for your beleaguered station and are tasked with delivering a message seeking help. In your journey, you must face the mutants and assorted supernatural entities that now populate Moscow.
The game is a rather linear affair. You are only really able to go one direction and you have few options for exploration. There are usually two ways to handle an area: stealth or run-and-gun. It seems to rely heavily upon linear design with the occasional big set piece...but the big set pieces are not exactly riveting.
A huge set piece where you fight the same enemy repeatedly for the rest of the level loses most of its impact. The guns seem underpowered against mutants...horribly so. The mutants tend to be bullet sponges, which makes mutant swarms situations where you must be tight with your allies because, unlike you, their guns tend to take them down.
Your weaponry is really effective against humans. You get the usual weaponry, except with the addition of pneumatic weapons which, while slow due to the need to pump up the air tank, can hit with tons of impact. Grenades are nearly impossible to use effectively as the AI, for its assorted flaws, is really good at getting out of their way.
The economy is based on trading military grade ammo, which is more powerful than the much more prolific dirty ammo you normally use. Its a conceit that never seems to have a major bearing on the game as the gun most useful for an area can usually be looted early in the area. One huge problem, though, is that you are not really advised how the system works. My first visit to a market was baffling to me.
The gameplay is less than stellar...but the atmosphere is really good. You feel like you are in a nearly hopeless situation, fighting forces you barely comprehend. The outdoors are irradiated, devastated, and laden with mutants who can effectively kill you with ease. Anytime you go outside, you are required to wear a gas mask. Only problem is that you get attacked by mutants and the gas mask isn't invincible. Plan on swapping them with ones from corpses regularly. The NPCs act as you would expect most people to behave, but anytime you are given an ally for a mission, they seem to almost be Messiahs, which hurts the reality quotient a bit. Basically, it seems they wanted to make you Gordon Freeman...but, instead, made you normal and made everybody else Gordon.
Metro 2033 is a solid title, but not one of the elite FPS out there. It's not bad, but I cannot state that there aren't many games with better mechanics out there.
