Metro 2033

[fragger]

I'll say - sounds very "real world". Any idea of the required specs, Red? (Sounds like a Cray may be required ;D)

[Art Blade]

yes mate: a couple posts up  ;D

[RedRaven]

The last paragraph with all the specs is really impressive  :-X

Indeed, even though I can only just manage the minimum specs to run the game for now I'm really looking forward to getting it tomorrow morning. Then just need to get a better gaming rig to get the best from it.

[PZ]

Is the environment all underground or can you roam the world up top?

[RedRaven]

Both underground and surface areas are shown in the trailer Deadman posted a link to 8 post before this, but got no idea how much of the game is set in either environment.

Only 15.5 hours or so before can buy it and get playing, should be able to post a 'First Impressions' review and some screen shots sometime this weekend  :-X

[RedRaven]

Found 2 more video trailers, 1 game play - Here, and 1 story - Here. :-X

[Ricamundo]

Im still waiting for a full review and more info from gamespot. so far all ive found is a brief preview, although afaik, the game is available in my local shop for $50.

I'd like to know if it's any good, if there's any major bugs, and approximately how many hours of SP gameplay we might be able to expect, as well as its potential replayability. BTW, im just finishing up my 8th playthru of FC2. What a game!! 8)

[RedRaven]

Finally managed to get out to get a copy late last night.

Managed to get a special edition copy that comes with 4 art post cards, a code for a bonus Heavy Automatic Shotgun, and a free copy of Red Faction Guerrilla :-X . All for £30.00 ;D

The sales guy in the shop was complaining as he had paid more than £30 just for Red Faction not too long ago!


It took almost an hour to install (by which point I was asleep), so now I'm all good to go and get killed lots again :) .Will post my review soon.

[Art Blade]

Have fun, matey :) I'm now free to do what I like, AC2 through, played a little FC2 for fun, and now back to Stalker CoP free play where I can test out some modifications  :)

[fragger]

Have fun, matey :) I'm now free to do what I like, AC2 through, played a little FC2 for fun, and now back to Stalker CoP free play where I can test out some modifications  :)

You've stalked, assassed, farcried, and now you're stalking again. You do get around, my friend ;D

@Red, looking forward to your review mate :)

[Art Blade]

@ fragger: Next I want to be Just Cause, too  ;)

[fragger]

hehehe ;D ;D ;D

I want to be Just Cause too, Just Cause I want to be :)

[Art Blade]

hehe,

is it as easy as it is?  ;D

[Ricamundo]

Gamespot finally posted a full review, and gave it an 8/10, not too shabby. ;D However, the reviewer mentioned you could expect to complete a playthru in about 10 hours. yikes! That's pretty short. >:(

So, im not sure if ill buy it or not.

[deadman1]

I read a revue on swedish gamesite FZ.ze which said that it´s a rather linear game and that combined with Ric´s mentio of the playtime gives me some second thoughts too.

[RedRaven]

Well here we go.
Not had much time to play it so far but what I have played is good. There is NO hud or inventory and no health bar.It plays more like Battlefield Bad Company 2 than S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or FallOut 3. More cinematic in its progression.
The main thing I can comment on at the stage I'm at is the graphics. Even on lowest settings it looks very impressive.Below are a few screen shots of what I've seen so far.

The Bleak Topside World

[smg id=2115]

Prime Realestate

[smg id=2119]

Look Ma, a Full Moon!

[smg id=2120]

Rats big as, erm well You!

[smg id=2118]

Friends with Big Guns

[smg id=2117]

They Got Me

[smg id=2116]

Campfire Buddies

[smg id=2114]

Just a few little pics, when I've had more time to play it and get involved in the story will write and post a full review. ;D

[Art Blade]

I like that, "no HUD" -- I loved it in FC2 when it would only show when it was appropriate, and only what was appropriate. You may have noticed that in other games, I try to create screenshots without any HUD whenever possible, so I always check for options to turn it off. I dare play without it sometimes, but those games are not meant to be played without, so I keep switching it on and off. As far as I can remember, I haven't played a game that hadn't got any at all  :-X

[Art Blade]

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MrEdxwx#p/u/33/UYJCKWIqOr0

The link above is a playlist of a complete playthrough. I've watched until part 14 and now I stopped, I've seen enough to know what I had suspected after the first two or three parts... it is completely linear, basically all you do is follow someone through tunnels and fight monsters, Red Army, Nazis and so on. Definitely not my cup of tea.

[RedRaven]

it is completely linear

Sadly so, the pace of the game is a bit slower than I expected too. Its as if the conceptual side of Stalker ran off with Bad Company 2 / CoD MW2 / etc and had a bit of a slow child. Hate to say it but I'm a little disappointed in it, if not for the graphics it would of never got onto my system.
Thats not to say I have not enjoyed it, I think playing and completing Battlefield Bad Company 2 first was the perfect step down from the games I usually play. A few people have posted about the story on various forums but if you have got to the end of Shadow of Chernobyl then you've pretty much seen it before. Whilst not the same as Stalker the similarities between the two games becomes more and more apparent as the game progresses. And would rather play Stalker with its 15-60 hour game time instead of Metro with about 10, will have got to the end before the end of the week.

It has some very good ideas in it such as ammo for currency, no HUD, gas mask and filters, hand operated dynamo type thing for charging the flashlight and night vision goggles. Takes more than a few interesting gimmicks to make a game great though.

Would give it 9 / 10 for graphics, but only 6 / 10 for gameplay. mainly as your 'railroaded' along the story which is over way to quick.

[Fiach]

OK, I'm retrying this game, after giving up due to mystifying deaths. Just to clarify, the deaths occured in an area with a load of gas masks and lead me to believe I needed a new gas mask, so, if you try this game and enter The Catacombs and die, what you have to do is, in the "dream sequences, always run towards your colleague, I dont know why/how this saves you, but it does.

The game is a solid shooter so far, but for some weird reason (russian sense of humour? :)), the decided to clunkify the control scheme (if clunkify isn't a word, it should be :)). The weapons have to be scrolled through manually, if you want to change weapons during combat ...eg. your stealth plan with throwing knives goes to sh1t, then you have to scroll through about 4 different weapons to get to the AK47in mid combat.


There are no indicators of a weapons characteristics, How to tell if a weapon is good .... taken from the Metro 2033 forum :

Buy it and save your game (you cant save on the console version btw). Take it out into the sewers, (cant just waltz into the sewers, you go there after alot of searching and dialogue) and use it on a variety of enemies. If you aren't satisfied, reload savegame (cant reload saves on console) and resume from there.

OK, Normal shooting controls....BUT a shotgun uses both triggers, one for each barrel and instead of the "X" button to reload like the other games, you used the Right Bumper to reload. This is unfortunate as the RB also switches between "Dirty" ammo and Military ammo (really RARE!), so you can inadvertantly wind up shooting, what is  basically money, at enemies!

To access the Journal in the dark, you have to press the SELECT button, then use the left Trigger to light your cigarette lighter, then your Right Trigger to hold your journal under the light, to see the writing, I dunno what they were smoking with that one, but I want some! :).

There is a very good compass, but its in the journal, I think they were going for a minimilast screen HUD and decided this was a good thing, which considering you are underground in dark tunnels, may not be entirely a very good judgement call on their part.

The game uses a checkpoint system, there are no manual saves, This I guess is to create tension, but the save points so far are intelligently placed .... unless you go exploring, (which you must do), to find ammo mask filters and weapons, but its bloody annoying after a janky platforming section, where you do find something of merit, to get killed and have to reload and wonder whether you should bother going back to the arms cache, you discovered and try again, I know its a risk/reward mechanic, but to me its a clunky one. Also you can inadvertently leave a level (and all its loot) by accident and cannot return as your new checkpoint will overwrite the old one.

In alot of areas you need to wear a gas mask, this can go either of two ways with you, when its been on awhile, it starts to mist up significantly, reducing vision, which means that you dont notice traps/enemies/loot too easily, you can either find this "immersive" or really annoying, I'm kinda in between on the mechanic, but it is annoying when you are exploring looking for loot, you feel an imperative to hurry up or move on in case your mask runs out, you can put on a new one, but again its risk vs. reward, but as ammo is not plentiful, you really need to scour environments before moving on. Want to hear the good news about mask filters? You can only buy them at the beginning of the game, you cannot buy them at any other merchant later, you must find them ONLY by exploration!

The game makes you fight carefully, always using your knife where possible, or shepherding monsters into a funnel, where you can take them on only a couple at a time, as ordinary (Dirty) ammo is innaccurate and does low damage. With enemies being complete bullet soaks, you really need to husband your ammo resources.

There doesnt seem to be a way to tell if your gear is better than what you are picking up or buying, like there is no breakdown of weapon stats, like damage, fire rate etc. to compare weapons with, what you get are variations, eg. a pistol can be standard, or have a long barrel for range, a sniper scope or a silencer. There are three machine guns, Basta'rd (beginner gun), AK47 which can be fitted with a scope, a later Kalashnikov 2012 which has a higher RoF, Shotgun (2 barrel), Shotgun (auto 6 round mag), a crossbow etc. You can carry one of each type, so thats a fair bit of scrolling to go through depending on the loadout you want to swap. There is a type of grenade, but it has a fuse (like a stick of dynamite), there is also a "sticky" version.

There are about 5 different types of enemies divided between bandits and mutations, one is a flying enemy called a Demon, its kinda like a cross between a gargoyle and a wyvern, they are all well done graphically and when swarmed by a pack of any enemy, things can get hectic really fast.

There is a DLC called Ranger, from what I can gather it actually makes the game more difficult in a bizarre way, it makes you more powerful and also makes the enemies more powerful, I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve with that.

My overall thoughts on the game, its a decent shooter, best played like a survival horror game as opposed to a regular FPS, some battles can be quite tense affairs, due to the mechanics mentioned above. There seems to be a certain sort of supernatural theme running through the game, with regards to your character, which to be honest doesnt really add much to the equation due to its implementation, The game is based on a book, so maybe if you read the book it would offer a greater degree of insight to the proceedings. I would call the game a flawed gem, it has a lot of atmosphere, you can tell alot of thought and design went into this game, if you are willing to overlook some of its mechanics and play it, not as a shooter , but a survival horror game, I would give it 8/10, not because I think it deserves it, but more because they tried to do something different with the FPS genre, which is something it really needs, to provide a decent alternative to the CoD's of this world.

[Art Blade]

Thanks for your impressions, Fiach :)

While I don't own the game, I watched one player's entire playthrough and several parts of other players to see how they fared and reading your post makes me recall all that I saw and agree as far as I can do that.

I don't understand the hype around this game. Perhaps the graphics made people say it was a great game but all the rest and particularly its utter linearity make me stay away from it  ;D

[Fiach]

I just had to replay a major portion of this game and Im very annoyed.

I bought two suits of armour, cost 200 Military Grade ammo, only to find later that you CANNOT switch the freakin suits, you can only wear the last one you bought, what a total POS mechanic is that????

For those that dont understand, I have basically lost 100 Military ammo, which took hours to collect.

If you want to keep your hair dont buy this game.  :D

[Art Blade]

Err.. we have elderly people hanging around here so there may be some of them who might have to grow some hair in the first place in order to keep it.  :-D

[Art Blade]

I didn't explicitly mention retiredgord, did I? No? Alright then  8-X

[Fiach]

I didn't explicitly mention retiredgord, did I? No? Alright then  8-X

Maybe he already played the game then?  >:D