Take a deep breath and enter the Metro!

User Rating: 9.5 | Metro 2033 PC
Post-apocalyptic setting is trendy nowadays and that can be only a plus, for me at least.
When I first heard of this game, the ex-STALKER dev team got me a little worried. STALKER is a good game, but it's swimming in the ocean of bugs and darts that missed the target. I'm glad I was wrong. I just couldn't stop playing this.
Metro 2033 places players into the skin of Artyom, a young lad born and raised in Moscow metro. Twenty years back, the world suffered greatly by the hand of men and fire from the nukes, putting the human race at the brink of extinction. The surface is no longer friendly environment: it's populated by many sorts of bloodthirsty creatures and flying demons ready to tear your head off. In addition, deadly gas caused by radiation is sweeping anyone who's venturing outside unprepared.
At the very start, you'll be amazed by how much effort has been put to the visual part of the game. I know that Crysis fanboys will hate me for this, but Metro 2033's the best looking game out there! You'll be amazed by the details; just hug a wall or any other surface and drug your eyes. It's that great. Also, that luxury brings the unacceptable system requirements (on E8400, 3GB RAM and a 512MB 4850 I had around 30-45 FPS!). Framerate can be choppy sometimes (particularly during the big fights), but once you get into the closed areas, you'll enjoy the smoothness.
Gameplay is just fantastic. I have to praise the arsenal in this game. There are a variety of revolvers, automatic rifles, shotguns, knives, bombs and pneumatic weapons, and it's all up to you to choose how you'll use them. Practically ANY level can be done the stealth way, or the old-school Rambo way, giving the game different experiences.
When talking about experience, Metro 2033's atmosphere will pull you inside it and bind you to it's chains - you'll never want to let go. Every sound, every growl far in the tunnels, every child cry will leave you turning around your back, searching the endless dark for any enemy movement. Some levels will leave you breathless. The level "Ghosts" is a perfect example for this. You'll come across a veteran guy named Khan and he'll guide you through the tunnels filled with the 'ghosts'. According to Khan, they are the souls of people died in the tunnels long ago that never made it across. The ghost of a small boy fleeing from a mutant, calling to his mom left me jaw-opened.
Though the game's strongly linear, you can steer from the main path to find ammo, weapons, and spare filters for your gas mask. Ammo in the game is used as a currency (the shiny 5.45 bullets), so you can buy weapons, suits, medkits or exchange your 'shiny' ammo for 'dirty' ammo and vice versa.
The game has two endings, which means you'll have to beat it minimum two times. Just remember to turn off the crosshair feature for maximum immersion. After you beat it, you'll beg for more.