Hey everyone! Welcome to my very first game (gayme?) review for Geeks OUT. My name is Nick, and I represent the Chicago chapter of Geeks OUT as their resident gaymer. Ideally, you'll be hearing a lot more rambling from me in the future on what I like to play, and my takes on the big video games that are coming out (get it?) for console systems. I own Sony systems, so you'll mostly be hearing about PS3 games with the occasional throwbacks to PS2 and PS1 titles as well. Luckily, nowadays, the big companies are pretty good about releasing titles across both platforms, so I won't be alienating the Xbox fans too much. Anyway, enough of my background, let's get on to the good stuff:
Metro: Last Light
I had this game on reserve and picked up my copy the day it came out. I'd been hearing about it from all sides: Gamespot.com, GameStop...hell, even Facebook was shoving its Metro: Last Light ads down my throat as a "suggested post." As if I needed a reason to buy more video games anyway. "Metro: Last Light" is a first-person shooter by the developers who brought you "Dead Island." I will be straight up with all of you now--I'm not a big FPS fan. Put a gun in my hand and tell me I need to shoot things while running, I'll be dead and/or out of ammo in a matter of minutes, so I was a bit wary, but hey...I'm trying new things these days, and FPS's are one of those new things. I need to break away from my obsession with turn-based strategy games and RPGs featuring spikey-haired protagonists eventually. So I took a deep breath, and I took a big step out of my comfort zone
And I'm very glad I did.
The very first thing you see when you start up the game is a gorgeous prologue that immediately immerses you in the environment you're about to explore. You're in what used to be Russia, after some sort of catastrophic event that seems to hint at a larger power of some sort, sending disasters and creatures to purge the world of the sinful humans. Only a few were able to survive and hide out in the old metro stations for cover. You were one of them, sent down underground at an early age.
The storyline is a bit cliche at first--you're a war hero of some sort who recently became promoted to a high-ranking soldier due to your heroic efforts. In addition, there seems to be something about you that is immune to the mind control abilities of the Dark Ones (a species of powerful and frightening creatures the humans feared and thus mostly wiped out from the world), allowing you to create some sort of communicative bond. So you're the same "war hero with something special" as in most games these days. However, the immersion of the world around you and the intricate details--the fact that you can stand aruond and listen to some conversations play out fully or just hear bits and pieces in passing or that you need to specifically wipe off your gas mask if you get water or blood on it or risk vision impairment--separates Metro: LL from the pack. You feel much more involved in the character and what happens to him.
On top of that, after your first prologue mission, you meet Pavel, who becomes one of your allies for the next chunk of the game. The way you interact with Pavel (and other allies you'll meet and part with) creates such a comradery (if you'll pardon the pun) that I honestly became unhealthily attached to him. This is similar with many of the characters you meet and interact with. They have such detailed individual stories and strong personalities, it's hard not to develop strong connections and hatreds for specific characters. Although the protagonist never speaks outright (he does narrate in between chapters), you develop certain feelings for each character you interact with, deciding whom you feel like trusting and whom you downright despise.
Finally and probably my favorite part of the game is the battle vs. stealth mentality. As I am awful at shooting things, I tend to try to sneak past everything in sight, hiding in the shadows, turning off every light I see, and only resorting to throwing knives if a guy just simply won't look away. In that same regard, the game allows you the option of killing a person you sneak up on or knocking him out. Honestly, I have yet to see a significant difference, but I tend to knock out every character I see due to my "goody two-shoes" nature...unless I'm spotted. Then, I murder any bastard in sight with bombs and machine guns. No holding back.
Full disclosure, however: there was a very strange glitch that occurred once while playing. As I stood there, listening to the homeless theatre critic at the Red Line Theatre, he began repeating himself over and over again in a maddening trance. I tried pausing my game and unpausing it, but that only caused dead silence. I had to turn my entire system off and on in order to play normally again. Luckily, the game saves your progress at checkpoints regularly, so this was not a huge concern.
All in all, "Metro: Last Light" is a fantastically beautiful game worth a go at the very least. I plan on trying a replay on Ranger Mode (a DLC that came free with my pre-order)--a more difficult version of the game with less ammo and help, forcing you to rely much more on stealth to survive. Sounds like it's right up my alley!
Until next time, comrades, this is Nick. Keep an eye out for Dark Ones, and beware the Fuhrer.