Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

Well, where to start. A welcome I suppose to my first review, it's nice to able to start off with a game I thoroughly enjoyed, beginning to end.

Playtime: 10 hours. Difficulty: Hardcore. Settings: All Maximum, steady 60 fps. 1920x1080.

Metro Last Light, by 4A, is a game I'm quite proud to be able to say I've supported the devs. My hat goes off to all the good folk at the studio who made this title what it is.

Treacherous politics, extinction, loss, love, guilt and prejudice all make this an extremely enjoyable, immersive experience. The game takes place in the future, after World War III, where man has ultimately caused their own destruction. The small number of surviving humans have taken to hiding underground in an attempt to save the race. Times are naturally tough, a lack of oxygen, living-space, food and just about every necessity you can think of (less a stripper or two) makes surviving in Metro a chore by it's own right. To top it off, the earth's surface, or the 'garden', has become a radioactive waste land. The air is toxic, the storms are brutal and the inhabitants are less than friendly.

The metro is just as hostile however as the land above. Made up of old tunnels, rail ways, caves and what-not. You find yourself in the middle of a disagreement between the three factions of humans, all with their own agenda. And all with their own fight for power, control and dominance.

A few nice innovations during your time in this apocalyptic mess, really add to the atmosphere of the world 4A have created.

I'm particularly a fan of the need to scavenge for breathing supplies when your exploring the surface. Your gas mask will become broken and chipped if you take a bit of a beating and your filters will run out if you don't keep a keen eye when exploring and pick up the extras. There is plenty of these lying around though so don't be too worried.

The guns generally are pretty uninspiring, but still fun and pack a real punch. You're treated to your basic variations of pistols, SMG, assault rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun and each can be kitted out with the usual attachments. Reflex sites, suppressors, extended mags etc. Their is however a small addition, pneumatic weapons. firing different types of ammunition and being quite silent, they're a good way of mixing it up a bit. Just remember to pressurize the tanks or you'll find yourself not doing much damage at all! Hint. Be sure to kill a Demon with the Helsing gun for a nice achievement.

A few other neat features in the game are also worth a mention. The degrading battery life on your torch which has to be charged manually adds a sense of urgency if you encounter some of the creepy crawlies, which I assure you, you will. The option to use night vision instead is a nice touch, however it does run off the same battery so keep that in mind!

If you're after a really engaging experience, try fighting at night, on the surface and with a pneumatic weapon! It's quite a nice challenge, not only are you conserving ammo, your keeping an eye on your NV/torch battery, your pneumatic air supply, your gas mask integrity and the time left on your filter. A real 'Wow, that was cool' moment for me.

Graphics: 8
Played on a PC, all settings to absolute maximum and at 1920x1080. Game world is really tense and incredibly detailed, it looks great. Occasionally let down by a poor texture and sometimes a tad bland.

Sound: 9
Played this with 7.1 surround head phones, in the dark, with no distractions and it was bloody good! Found myself constantly spinning and checking corners, some serious 'WTF was that moments'. The SFX really bring the world to life. Great voice acting all though sometimes it's hard to listen in to peoples conversations since there's way too much going on at once.

Gameplay: 7
Does stand-out from your average shooter, with some pretty cool features. But the ability to finish every encounter with humans by switching off the light and owning with your throwing knife doesn't say much for the AI. The mutant boss encounters are fast paced and engaging, but too few and far between. The monster fights, although entertaining do lack a bit of variety at times.

Overall: 8.0
Really, thoroughly enjoyed the game, more so than anything I can think of lately. An engaging story with great characters and some real 'WOW!' moments. Lacks replay value for me, a bit on the easy side and a tad short, that being said, it doesn't take away from a really great single player experience. Show support to some great Devs and get involved.