Metro 2033 is based off a novel written by Russian author Dimitry Glukhovsky. I never read the novel as to which this videogame is based off. I can tell you this however, it must be one depressing, scary book. Metro 2033 released March of last year. This atmospheric videogame was developed by 4A Games and published by THQ. Metro 2033 is a atmospheric horror first person shooter driven by a good story. It also has some strong weaknesses as well.

Artyom is Metro 2033’s protagonist and just a regular guy who is thrusted into the story by a Ranger named Hunter. Hunter needs Artyom to relay an important message to Polis Station. Hunter tells Artyom a message about the Dark Ones. Dark Ones are the names of the monsters you fight against in Metro 2033. Anyways, Artyom must travel through dangerous underground subway stations as well face the harsh brutal outside terrain of post apocalyptic Moscow. All of the latter while trying not to be killed by waring factions, monsters, demons and bandits you encounter along the way.

Metro 2033’s story is good. This is a story driven fps. You must interact with characters for story driven information. Cutscenes and narration also conveys Metro’s story. Artyom doesn’t talk in Metro 2033. But that doesn’t stop the story from moving at a decent progression. Artyom also has powerful thought provoking nightmares that are interactive. The dreams gives you the player insight into the mind of Artyom.

Metro 2033 is over a year old now. The textures and effects are particularly good. The gun models are highly detailed as well. Sometimes people at times all look alike and their eyes are kinda odd looking. The characters models needs work as well as the animations. The lighting is really good considering much of the gameplay is centered around light and darkness. Overall the game is average visually.

Sound design was good in Metro 2033. The music added a depressing atmosphere. The voice acting was really good and every character had real strong Russian accents. The creepy sounds like kid’s giggling, ghosts and nearby monsters created anxiety while I ventured into Metros dark underground subways. I really liked the overall sound design in this game. It really helped in creating a depressing atmosphere.

Metro 2033 is a standard first person shooter. The problem is, the shooting and controls felt really outdated and clunky. The hit detection was bad. The AI was really horrid with enemies as well your comrades. You could kill a monster with one throwing knife but it takes at least four shots from a shotgun point blank range to kill it. The overall shooting is very unbalanced and felt outdated.

Metro 2033’s main form of currency is centered around a special military ammo. With the special ammo you can buy items, guns, health packs and grenades. I happened to run out of ammo a few times during my playthrough. I did play the game on easy mode. Metro 2033 isn’t noob friendly. You have to press a lot of buttons to play this game. When your flashlight runs out, you have to use a cranking tool to recharge it. To view your mission objectives you have to press select and another button to view the compass. Whenever you get near radiation or go outside, you must put your radiation protective mask. The mask can break if you get hit too many times causing you to replace it.

The guns all felt inaccurate. From handguns to shotguns nothing felt right. You had a few different enemies to kill like bandits, demons, flying monsters, gorilla monsters etc. The missions were actually pretty good. Some were stealth and infiltrate style missions. The gameplay missions were varied with a lot of exploration and looting involved. Looting helped keep ammo in my gun. Some on rails sequences are present in Metro 2033 but they were all pretty much ruined by the bad gun accuracy issues.

Metro 2033 doesn’t have any online/ offline multiplayer. It’s OK since the single player campaign lasted me over 10 hours. There are unlockables if you want to do a second playthrough as well.

Metro 2033 reminds me of S.T.A.L.K.E.R a little. But the horrid shooting mechanics and bad AI ruined this game for me. The story, characters and missions were all satisfactory with that said. If you like story based scary atmospheric fps videogames give Metro 2033 a shot.

7.5/10