Metro Last Light First Impressions

Gamers owe a great debt to publishers Deep Silver for taking up 4A Games' Metro Last Light. When THQ disbanded, it wasn't clear what would happen to Metro 2033's sequel, but here it is and it's much better than its predecessor.

Metro 2033 was a competent game, and managed to combine the feel of the STALKER series with a more traditional first person shooter/non-open narrative. However, it had some issues, like a slightly high difficulty level even on normal and uneven pacing. Metro Last Night corrects all that. For my money, this is an excellent game - very compelling and approachable, though it may be too easy for some in default settings, but you can always go it Ranger Mode on hard difficulty, which should present quite a challenge for those thus inclined. Or you could just get this, which I just did after months of deliberating.

When considering the technical side of things, Metro Last Night is a very pretty offering, giving Crysis 3 decent competition. The world may not be as visually detailed, but level design is excellent and the single player campaign flows seamlessly across surprisingly diverse subway-system and above-ground locations. I played over two hours without even noticing it. There is some room for exploration, finding collectibles, and as before, listening in on numerous conversations, which all help flesh out the world.

One issue I found was the opponent AI - let's just say it isn't the best, but then that could be due to me playing on standard difficulty.

Story-wise, we're still Artyom, now a member of the elite Sparta ranger corps, who remains silent in-game but offers spoken exposition during loading screens. He's once more on a mission that involves saving whatever's left of humanity in the Moscow area, as rival factions gear up for possibly one final conflict. So it's yet again into the fray for Artyom, who's typically joined by an ally or two on his adventures. Metro Last Night is simply more of a rewarding and fun experience than 2033, though less hardcore in many ways. I highly recommend investing in this!

As usual, pics speak a thousand words...

The intro movie begins with Artyom as a small child, remembering growing up in the ruins of civilization.

And flashing back to before the nuclear war that was the downfall of the human race, including fading memories of his mother.

We also get to see the missiles going out and the ensuing destruction of Moscow.

And then catch up to Artyom as an adult, 20 years later. Of course, we still don't know what he actually looks like.

Nice opening sequence - quite literally! 

Relatively bare settings page in-game, though more options are available via config files. As shown here, the game ran at 30-40 frames, with occasional drops. When I changed SSAA to 2X, it immediately went 60+ smooth.

It's great to be reunited with characters from the first game, like Khan and Miller. The English language performances are quite good, but if you want the real deal then clearly Russian voice is the track to choose.

Every location is populated with NPCs that serve as exposition, showing you more about the world and its people. It's very well done, and some of the conversation sequences you hear others go into are lengthy and superbly written.

Weapons are greatly improved over Metro 2033. They handle better, look better, sound better...and at least in the first couple hours of the game, ammo is definitely not scarce (Ranger mode makes it much harder to find). Each gun is very distinct, and you'll quickly find that there's no go-to weapon that can basically do everything.

Along the way to his first mission briefing, Artyom sees more of the classified D6 base that was such a pain to liberate in the previous installment, and which now serves as homebase for the rangers.

The story? Not the most original, but still engrossing. As is usually the case, perfectly playable even if you didn't do the first game, but you will be missing out on much.

Last Night doesn't say much about being DX11.1, but the lighting effects are nice. It is somewhat of a visual feast.

It's outside that the true beauty of the artwork becomes apparent. Much more diverse than previously, but your trusty .50 cal lighter and odd compass gizmo are definitely back!

As before, Artyom needs to take on both mutants and hostile humans, mostly from the Reich and Communist factions. One of my biggest concerns with Metro 2033 was its slightly unforgiving difficulty, which has been corrected here.

Stealth is important, with most environments using light and shadow to show you where to tread for safety. The device on Artyom's left hand lights up blue if he's visible, making it easier to judge whether or not you'll be spotted, though in a realistic manner that's not 100% consistent. I don't think you can actually finish the game without firing a shot or anything like that, but you can certainly minimize exposure to opponents.

So that's the start of this one. I think Metro Last Night is a major game, and recommend you get it. You'll be supporting a franchise we almost lost, a small studio, a relatively new publisher, and of course you'll also enjoy a highly competent game.

Do svidaniya!