Metro Redux: Your “Shut Up And BUY IT” Game of the Week

Posted on August 26, 2014 by geelw

For starters, calling either of the Metro games a mere “shooter” does both them and developer 4A Games a HUGE injustice. Metro Redux is one of those increasing rare birds, a solo-player focused game that doesn’t rely on crammed in multiplayer modes or a MP-only focus that leaves solo offline players high and dry and spending their money elsewhere for a great story with gameplay to match. No, this isn’t some “dudebro” run ‘n gun adrenaline fest at ALL, but a bleak, cerebral, mostly methodically paced game where you need to keep a good eye on your ammo supply and whatever you can scrounge for in the demolished environments you’re trying to survive in. The setting is gloomy, but the game, looks absolutely spectacular on PC or console.

Granted, the games didn’t look “bad” on either the Xbox 360 (Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light) and PS3 (Metro: Last Light). But the increased power means the dev team greatly improved on the visuals and performance, making both games even more incredible experiences. Anyway, enough babbling from this end. Go out and grab this one and dive into that post-apocalyptic Soviet setting before it actually happens. Ha and ha? Hmmm… damn crazy real world we’re in is making these games less fun sometimes, grrrr…

Metro Redux Announce Trailer: Back In The (MUCH Better Looking, But Still Deadly) USSR…

Posted on May 22, 2014 by geelw

Okay, so the country is no longer called that long-dead name these days, but I had to get in at least one bad joke about this otherwise deadly serious first-person survival game. Calling Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light “shooters” does them little justice, as each is a finely crafted and often jarring gameplay experience that takes patience to play. You can’t run in guns blazing with no or not enough bullets, radiation zones you can’t stay out for too long in and a gas mask that doesn’t have enough of an air supply to walk more than fifty feet. Not to mention some rather strange mutants and not strange but somewhat upset humans that might want you dead for a few reasons. Both games have gotten an amazing makeover for next-gen consoles and PC while retaining the methodical yet compelling gameplay that made them both sleeper hits.

Developer 4A Games and Deep Silver get a huge pat on the back (and a case of the finest Vodka) for bringing these games back so more can play them and this will be the first time 2033 appears on a Sony console, so PS4 owners will see what all the fuss is about. Even better, the games are getting both a physical and digital release. Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux will each be available separately as a digital download for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC for $24.99 in North America, and a boxed compilation of both games, titled METRO REDUX will be available for $49.99. Now, all I need is a working Geiger counter and to sew some extra pockets on that pair of old cargo pants in the closet so I can carry more slightly dented, irradiated cans of beans. Back with more on this one soon…

Metro: Last Light Ranger Survival Guide Trailer: McGuyver’s Got Nothing On Artyom…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

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I actually recently (and FINALLY) completed the absolutely tense and brilliant Metro 2033 on a borrowed Xbox 360 (as the ones I own are dead as doornails, dammit) and it’s still one of the best and most frightening first-person games I’ve ever played. Between the destroyed Moscow landscape, the ruined tunnels survivors make do in and those dreadful mutations they fight against, there’s a great deal of details in that game and this follow-up, Deep Silver’s Metro: Last Light that make it a must-play experience. The fact that the game isn’t a straight up shooter and has elements of adventure and role-playing games while feeling downright frightening and depressing as your avatar, Artyom and his beat up survival gear barely make it through the radioactive hell makes it a keeper I’ll go back to again and again.

As I’ve said before, this game and a few others where so much thought and work has gone into crafting a world and characters you want to live with for a while are all the same to me like great novels are to someone who collects books. I’ve actually never read anything by Russian sci-fi author Dmitry Glukhovsky has written, but based on the near-flawless atmosphere these two games have, I just may be adding a new book or two to my already packed list. Thankfully, 4A Games is absolutely committed to making this a story-driven solo experience, so we won’t be saddled with mindless multiplayer modes of running around shooting each other in the face for no good reason than collecting XP and yelling obscenities over headset microphones. Besides, in this version of the future, you’re better off saving any ammo you can find and settling your differences with a a blunt or sharp object you can repair or replace afterwards…

Metro: Last Light hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 14, 2013, so if you’re looking for a bleak, purely terrifying slice of post-nuclear survival action, this is probably going to be your best bet for a good long while…

Metro: Last Light ‘Enter The Metro’ Trailer: Why Single Player Is Still Important

Posted on May 30, 2012 by geelw

4A Games’ upcoming post-apocalytic FPS isn’t a multiplayer game, and that’s a REALLY good thing. By focusing on storytelling, characters and driving home the feeling of being in a deadly and frightening destroyed Moscow where what’s left of humanity there is fighting for survival while assorted mutated beasts whittle them down bit by bit, this could be one of the bigger “sleepers” out there when it hits the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC sometime in 2013. The prequel, Metro 2033 was (and is) one of the best story-driven shooters that, despite some hitches here and there, was a truly memorable experience. This one looks even more polished and hopefully, will get the audience it deserves.