Metro: Last Light

METRO: LAST LIGHT (2013) is a exceptional FPS, survival horror game, and the second in the Metro trilogy. Inspired / based on the writings of the Russian novelist Dmitry Glukhovsky (The Metro trilogy).

The game follows Artyom as he further struggles through a dark apocalyptic Russian metro system, not only seeking help from his people, but redemption from his past. I've rated this game highly because of my love and enjoyment for it, as well as for how replayable it was.

The gameplay itself is highly playable, mechanically. While the controls may take a little getting used to, it's fairly intuitive. Smooth controls, straight forward goals, and ever expanding storyline. This game also has a wide variety of enemies; everything from mutants to Nazi's. The story, music, characters and gameplay are all great, in my opinion.

"Following the events of Metro 2033, Artyom, now an experienced ranger, confronted with guilt must go on a journey to face threats from outside the metro and within, as he finds out that he is humanity's last salvation for peace."

The world of Metro: Last Light is both breathtaking and devastating in its visuals. And though you may think to wander, every goal and objective is very clearly stated in the clip board journal along with a compass pointing to the next quest.

METRO: Last Light really sets the stage for this epic survival apocalyptic trilogy and a great sequel to the first game. This series are among my favorite games ever. I personally have found them to be highly enjoyable. My cup of tea.

For a start as the only 3D game reviewer here - this game is absolutely perfect in 3D as a matter of fact it is nVision ready. If you are a seasoned FPS gamer when choosing a difficulty don't bother with medium just go straight to hardened, the Russians don't know what hard gameplay is! That or their AI are just totally stupid Vrnet glubbisky nyet! Very good story and brilliant graphics. You might enjoy the sneaking aspect of this game - Stealth gets you a lot more enjoyment for some although run shoot kill is also a Blast (so to speak) - Being a Russian made game and done very well without a doubt there are subtle mechanics in gameplay and in the instructional way that a game is meant to be played that the Russians just haven't been able to grasp. For instance there is an 'I' that appears occasionally that still has no valid purpose. But overall this game is well produced and even though it borrows from many earlier FPS shooters it is a real time waster! Waste as much time as you can just exploring the world because that is what the devs want you to do, explore - find ammo, notes, clues and even the (sometimes) obvious nod to all our old faves -Just look out for a Huge 'M' here and there - Rusky even promotes his game while you are being eaten by mutant spiders! With a little more game testing this game could have been perfect but along with magnificent views and scenery came the inevitable glitches and bugs. Don't worry too much about these as there were only a handful which seemed to appear about half-way through the game. Sometimes a serious bug can make a game unplayable but not in case of MLL. There were times when you could easily skip through some cut-scenes of which there are many,especially later in the game toward the end - it almost becomes an interactive movie but nevertheless a great experience. Goodbye little one!

Last Light's difficulty is a bit more lenient than 2033's original survival gameplay. The story felt shorter and has less side stories, most of the missions are all connected to the main event. Thanks to the smaller cast of characters the game feels more enjoyable, memorable and not as chaotic as 2033. That of course doesn't make up for the lack of gameplay innovation, the story is shorter and there isn't much new to make the game be a sequel. I personally think it should have been a DLC because there really isn't anything revolutionary.

The weapon configuration and FPS system are unchanged from the previous game. You can jump straight into this game without any tutorial introduction if you have already played 2033. Also beware of moral points, it can change the ending drastically.

After replaying Metro 2033 Redux and now Last Light for the second time, now with more knowledge of the Metro universe as I've read the main trilogy and will soon read some of the spinoffs I've to say I played through the games like you are supposed to, stealthy and in a non lethal way. It was fun and fresh to do it without going guns blazing. I finally got the Redemption ending, the true ending and it was one amazing ride.

The game is a worthy sequel to the first game, bringing an original story that feels longer and better, but keeping the same tone and feeling that made the first one superb. Having characters like Khan and Miller returning from the previous game was great as they were two of my favorites and right from the beginning we get into the world once again and the missions and locations are in my opinion even better than the first game, except for the legendary library level, that's iconic. With new characters like Pavel, Baby Dark One, Anna and much more. Incredible additions. The overall atmosphere and every single detail of the whole game made this game superb. Remarkable experience only achievable in these games, one of a kind.

Graphics are great, but no better than the first game. Even with the tunnel setting, it is more linear and scripted than I would have liked. Some of the voice acting is mediocre, and there were a lot of recycled voices.

This is not a bad port, but there is still significant consolitis: the usual annoying checkpoint save system, too low FOV, mouse acceleration, unskippable intro video, etc... (some of these can be fixed in a config text file). There is an increased emphasis on action and repetitive stealth, possibly at the expense of survival and exploration elements. The AI is dumbed down with unrealistically poor sight in the dark, laughably poor hearing, and weak search behaviour. This was probably done to make a stealth approach easy enough for the average console gamer. You observe the AI's repeating patrol patterns, sneak past when an opening appears, then, when the path seems blocked, a scripted event or interactive item lets you sneak past again. repeat. repeat. repeat, and so on... While FarCry3 stealth was also unrealistic and repetitive, it was at least much more fluid and dynamic. The DLC is of a lower quality, with more bugs and poorly balanced difficulty.

Despite its flaws and the undeserved hype, this is still a decent game I can recommend quite easily.