Metro 2033
Metro 2033 is a horror first-person shooter that takes place underneath the city of Moscow, in the city’s metros. The game is set years after a nuclear war destroyed the surface and, In its destruction, Bred monsters. A story game, that has a rich world that feels alive even though most people are dead, and still able to achieve this not being an open world game. The dialogue of the people in the different parts of the metro feels real. Though there is a bit of fantasy outside of the monsters and bombs and that is the hallucinations that your character Artyom has. What you do in these hallucinations could determine the ending you have. The game has a karma system in place that will also go into what ending you have. The story had a few deus ex machina moments that felt a bit too lucky like how everytime you are captured someone new saves you. Overall, I enjoyed the plot and playing the game’s story, it was satisfying, at least with the ending it got.
The game would go in and out of the standard game world, cutscenes, and sometimes quick-time events, though in some games I do not like the addition of quick time, I feel metro had an excellent approach to it. Instead of the quick-time being scripted it was random and could happen when a monster is attacking or other intense situations. It was a bit of a strategy game, especially playing on hardcore, the amount of ammo that you have is not going to be enough to run and gun every situation and you will need to be stealthy to conserve your ammo. The stealth mechanic in the game was fun. At your disposal was silenced weapons and my favorite the throwing knife. You also had to watch out for traps, dangling cans, and other objects that might make noise. Light could also be used in your advantage when versing humans. If you have night vision equipped and you break the lights in the room the enemy will know you are there but will have trouble finding you making them easy to pick.
Even though the game is enjoyable it is not without its flaws and bugs. in multiple places in the map, I was able to leave the zone of the map and go off into the city of Moscow, with no textures and details. I also found where the game developers put their assets when making the map. This took me out of the game world and broke the emersion that the game was going well on. Also in many places, there were areas without textures like the developers forgot to texture one of the sides to the object. At one point in the game, you find a lost kid and you pick him up, the only indication for this is that he is screaming in your ears loud, and the shadow that was cast on the wall had no kid it was just me. a few times when playing mobs would glitch through walls and other objects. besides those flaws, the game seems well crafted and that my life and choices have agency.
