Metro 2033 Impressions

(Xbox 360 version)
Alright, so first off let me apologize for not having posted a blog in almost a week or so. Every night lately I've been playing Grand Theft Auto IV online and if all goes well, then soon I should have Grand Theft Auto Chronicles Episode 2 out for you guys, but anyways onto the topic at hand. Metro 2033 is a first person shooter designed in the post-apocalyptic Moscow? (I believe, or at least Russia or Germany... I can't recall)... Either way, it's not overly important, the only reason I say Moscow is cause I think I heard them mention it. Anyway, I rented the game from Rogers over the weekend and I've managed to clock in about 4 hours of gameplay so far and here's what I found...

As the game starts off it does a really good job at two things. Atmosphere and Story. It starts you off at a perfect point that draws you in and makes you believe you're actually in this realistic world. However, personally I find that that's where the glory ends. This game tends to suffer from quite a few things that can at times almost make the game repulsive. The biggest issue I've had up to this point, is the controls. Shooting, reloading, currency and even at times just healing yourself is a chore. I hate how the action button is where reload should be (X) and that the controls stray so far from Fallout, Call of Duty or even Killzone. I know this game is it's own, but by now I figured there would be some sort of universal controller map for FPS's cause it gets REALLY frustrating always trying to learn new controls for games that feel so similar.

Now my second problem, which you could call kind of bias, but why the hell isn't this on PS3? Like I'm not really rooting for one console or the other, but I have like twelve friends who would kill for a game like this and they're not getting it, because it's not on PS3. Personally do I think it would make a difference which system it's on? Yes, because first off I'm more used to a Playstation Controller (which could have, or could have not, simplified the controls for me), and with the PS3's mad processing power this game probably wouldn't suffer so much from ridiculous amounts of load times and graphical errors on shadows and textures on the surface. Now with having all that said, I'm not saying it's the 360's fault for the game's flaws. I'm just saying with this added to the PS3's line up THQ could have gotten more sales, and perhaps a greater experience.

Alright, so the story is pretty well written and the atmosphere is brilliantly done. All the characters feel realistic and the interactivity is phenomenal for the minor impact it has. The graphics are decent, more so in the metro than on the surface, but overall they're well done, but the gameplay really suffers from bad controls and a REALLY irritating currency system. Did they have a good idea for currency? Yes. Was it executed well? No, not by a long shot. Weapon upgrades come nicely provided you have the cash to pay for it (won't be damn likely) and I have to say the whole Gas mask thing is actually really cool. However, I don't get the point of the charger...

So yeah, overall this game kind of feels like Fallout meets Far Cry 2. Which can be bad or good depending on how you look at it. If I had to rate it right now? I'd give it a 7.5/10. It's pretty cool but I'm gonna wait till it's in an 18.99$ bin... or till it comes out on PS3.

- Locke Downe