A flawed masterpiece
From a book by an russian author the developers have made an dark atmospheric shooter that would also do great as an movie (maybe it will be done - who knows? Movies based on games seems to be popular these days) - at least I think so.
The scenery is a future Moscow, destroyed from nuclear war. For the most part the game will take place under the city. Dark tunnels, remnants of subway systems running under Moscow, and now home to unknown numbers of survivors.
You play as Artyem who up until now always have lived in one tiny part of the Metro. Your home is being threaten by mutants and as it plays out you are the one chosen as the savior.
On your adventurous trek you will encounter fearsome monsters - humanoids with big mouths and claws and even flying creatures that resembles demons. And if that wasn't enough there are also nazis!
Well what would a shooter be without weapons? Mutants don't have them - they just lashes out at you trying to rip your face apart. But most of the time you are fighting other humans. You can choose between regular stuff as shotguns, sniper rifles and your trusty knife. I think my own fav was the Kalash - that was the one I used most anyway. I am not specially interested in weapons and just tends to use the one that gets the job done the best. And when in doubt, just throw a grenade.
I am also one of those that like to stealth a lot and kill silently or just knock enemies out. That kind of playing style i got from such games as Deus Ex and Splinter Cell. But in this game that kind of tactic seems a little of a gamble.
Numerous times a sniper headshot would not be directly lethal (even when shooting guys without helmets). And other times I would get spotted even when good hidden and the whole area would get alarmed. This leads to countless reloads and swearing.
There is also a kind of moral system in the game that works so and so. If you play through the game for the first time you will want to be the good guy, or else you will miss out on many parts of the game story. Being bad means don't help your allies in battle, stealing, don't listen to stories told by citizens or not paying attention when comrades warns you about dangers and stuff. The choices you make will lead up to somewhat different endings.
As noted in the beginning the games atmosphere is great. It is not really classified as a horror game, but it can sure be scary at times - and I mean just not jumpy scares. Some monster encounters can be chaotic shootouts while others just force you to run or use tactics to survive.
I played Amnesia about the same time as this and the feeling of dread was at times similar. Though you have guns, knives and grenades in Metro. But the pressuring atmosphere down in these dark tunnels, made at least me to turn the game of at times, just to get to the surface for some air.
This is the kind of shooter for me - a rich story, filled with interesting characters and great atmosphere. Not just guns blazing and grinding. I will never play anything like CoD or Halo and I am not interested in multi-play to make up for a weak story.
A sequel is in the making, will check that one out hoping that devs will look over everything that was bad with Metro 2033 - and hoping that they not will loose that special feeling.