Good game, but wasted opportunity to be epic.
- Graphics and visual effects look good
- Story and characters
- Immersion, for the most part
- Theme
- Scripted events (only first play through)
Negatives:
- Linear
- Not an open-world game, lack of exploration in most parts
- English voice-acting
- Any replay value?
- Can be a system killer, if your system isn't quite "ready" for it
- DLC
Metro: Last light leaves me with mixed emotions. The game looks good, graphically there isn't much to improve really. All the various graphical effects, such as your gas mask getting muddy, bloody etc. are done really well.
Even something simple as your lighter, shows a real commitment to even the tiniest details. The lighter fire is one of the best I've seen in any game so far. This attention to detail continues throughout the whole game, and you can see why it requires so much from your system. I personally had no problems running this, but I've read that it can be a real system killer.
MLL has a good story with some very interesting and strong characters, however I question myself, what is the replay value of this game? Maybe to go and admire some of the scenery or something, but game-play-wise, you can't do much differently, if you do another play through. Even the scripted events, which in general are done really well, you don't want to see a second time.
One thing that affects the characters, is the English voice-acting. I can see what they were trying to do, if I'm correct, English speaking people trying some weird Russian accent, but it just sounds comical, most parts anyway. Some have suggested to play the game with Russian speech, but I think that is hardly a solution.
This game has a high immersion rate; you really feel that you are THERE. The environments, weather, gadgets, rooms, machinery etc. really make the game feel "authentic". What breaks this immersion though, and this is a big minus to the whole game in general, are invisible walls, or rocks that you can't jump over or un-climbable walls etc.
It really doesn't do the immersion any good, when just two seconds ago you scaled a 2-3 metres tall gate, and straight afterwards you can't "climb" over a rock that is hardly lifted of the ground.
What this game would had needed, was it to be, at least to an extent, an open-world game. I think this is a huge, wasted opportunity. I wish you could go and explore all the different stations, do quests for people, and maybe just in general focus on the Metro itself exploring etc., obviously not forgetting the outside areas, but the focus could definitely be on the Metro.
As the game it is now, you have too little choices, not enough interesting places to explore and even the stations that you go to, don't offer much. Most of them you just walk through, and even the ones that have some things in them, don't really have much at all either.
If they had done this game in the same sort of style than let's say Fallout, it could/would have been epic. Now, it isn't. I'm not even talking about that sort freedom of choice that FO offers, but at least something, and now it just isn't there.
And that is a huge shame, because the potential was and is there, maybe the upcoming DLC will help with this, as I've read that a potential DLC might be a modding tool kit or something (I might be wrong or should I say it's just speculation really). Whether this is true or not, and whether you can actually make your own "worlds" with it, even if it is true, is another matter.
One final word about DLC, which I just have to mention. Ranger Mode.
I'm sure everyone has already read and heard about it, if not played, but I feel it has to be mentioned.
This sort of DLC is absolute disgrace. I don't like DLCs the best of times, but this is taking it too far. When you start charging people for difficulty modes, you have definitely crossed the line. It's no good trying to BS me with, "oh, but we HAD to, because we had to add DLC, because of this and that…". No, no you didn't HAVE to, nobody forced you to take out a difficulty mode, which you yourself advertised as "the way it is meant to be played". It is complete and utter BS and you know it. The greed of some people.
And the final, final word. Metro: Last Light is a good game, nothing epic or anything though, and I just feel, as it is now, it was and is a wasted opportunity to create an epic world with great graphics and a lot of immersion.
If they ever make the next Metro (which, I would be very surprised, if they didn't) and make these changes, then it has every chance of becoming an epic overall experience.