Metro 2033

[Peter]

It's on sale on Steam for 10 Euros right now. Should I purchase it? Is this game Codex approved?

 

[Luzur]

wasnt it considered a shitty corridor shooter here on the Codex?

cant remember.

 

[Metro]

The list price is already down to $20 -- if you have other games to play I'd just wait a couple of months for the Summer Sale where I'm sure it'll be at a 75% off discount.

 

[Trash]

It's an atmospheric as hell corridor shooter with lots of little nooks and crannies all around those corridors. Fight against creepy nazis, sneak through a commie checkpoint, move around on the surface playing cat and mouse with a flying thing, rejoice on finding a handfull of pre-war rounds in some damp cellar. If that sounds like fun to you it might be your thing. I certainly liked it a lot.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

It's only "codex-approved" because of the large number of russian and polish trannies here. Fuck them.

Here: http://lparchive.org/Metro-2033/ Go there, watch a video and see for yourself. If you want my opinion then I'm sad to say I found it to be pretty shitty. There are better shooters.

 

[ecliptic]

The atmosphere is awesome.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

It's fantastic, playthrough on one of the ranger difficulties.

It has got shit voice acting though.

 

[Haba]

One of the few "good" games in the last five years. Not saying it is anything exceptional, but at least it managed to stimulate me enough for a full play-through.

 

[Secretninja]

I just played through it this weekend and it was fucking awesome. I have been known to enjoy videogames though, so your mileage may vary.

 

[Multidirectional]

Very pretty and atmospheric linear shooter. Genuinely creepy sometimes. Gameplay itself is mediocre, but it's certainly good for one playthrough at least. Also, use russian voiceovers only, with english subs if you need them. English voice acting sucks.

 

[Gragt]

English voices are decent but that's just about it. I much prefer to have the Russian voices but many side conversations — not vital to the plot but they are the little touches that add more to the whole thing — aren't translated. I played the first time with English voices and the next with Russian but the decision is of course yours.

Very good game.

 

[LordDenton]

It's a shit game.

If you enjoy corridor shooters where you can't even save (it has a checkpoint save system similar to the one in Modern Warfare) then this game is for you. On the other hand, if you have more than a couple braincells, you'll hate it.

Forget what Russians and Poles (aka western Russians ) say, since they'll praise it simply because it was made in their homeland. This is a shit console shooter.

 

[Secretninja]

Yes, because a game where you mindlessly kill thousands of enemies with infinite ammo is exactly the same as a game where you frantically try to find bullets off one of the guys you killed while his friends close in, simply because both don't have Deus Ex esque levels.

 

[baronjohn]

Cutscene 2033 is pretty fun if you stealth all the human levels, otherwise it sucks.

 

[barker_s]

Forget what Russians and Poles (aka western Russians . ) say, since they'll praise it simply because it was made in their homeland. This is a shit console shooter.

And then Americans wonder why they're called ignorant cunts. Ever heard of Ukraine?

The game wasn't half bad and it had some great exploration moments. Definitely worth your while if you like post-apo settings and looking in every nook and cranny while scavenging for ammunition and weapons.

 

[Suchy]

Boring, linear corridor shooter. The atmosphere is good, but killed by shitty gameplay. Don't expect anything on pair with STALKER.

 

[Peter]

Bought it. Up to Chapter 3 now. Great atmosphere. Very creepy at times, especially above ground. Interesting how this game inverses the common idea of underground being dangerous and above ground being safe. Gorgeous graphics too.

Gunplay is shit, though. Half of the time I can't tell if I'm even hitting anything. The mutant enemies don't react to bullets at all, it seems. Stealth is pretty badly implemented too, or maybe I just suck at it. There's no margin for error here at all. Maybe if the levels weren't so tiny, stealthing around would be a more realistic proposition. Or, again, maybe I just suck.

At 10 Euros, it's a pretty nice purchase. Nowhere near as good as STALKER, though.

 

[Gragt]

Gunplay is shit, though. Half of the time I can't tell if I'm even hitting anything.

Accuracy doesn't depend only on you but also your weapon. You may have not noticed but the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and most weapons are made from parts scavenged on other weapons. Some of the guns are very accurate, typically with a lower rate of fire, and some simply aren't. It takes some time to get used to but given the setting it is much better than having weapons perform perfectly well in all conditions. Takes some time getting used to but it's one of the details that give personality to the game.

The mutant enemies don't react to bullets at all, it seems.

They die at some point :D More seriously I've seen some of the mutants, like the small scavenger, retreat when I managed to hurt them and came back later. No limping or something like that as far as I can remember, but then again I had a tendency to drop them down fast.

Stealth is pretty badly implemented too, or maybe I just suck at it. There's no margin for error here at all. Maybe if the levels weren't so tiny, stealthing around would be a more realistic proposition. Or, again, maybe I just suck.

Stealth isn't as bad as you describe it. It's not Thief but it takes a bit of inspiration from it and is much better than the forced stealth sections of many FPS, and makes for a nice alternative to shooting stuff. First, stealth works best on humans because mutants will almost invariably detect you — makes sense — though an exception to that are the sleeping mutants in some levels. Second, there is some margin for error but you need to be aware of how easy to detect you are. You can check that easily by looking at your watch: one of the three lights will be lit and tell you if you are well-hidden (green), partially hidden and thus detectable (yellow), or easy to see (red) — the stealth suit, that you may purchase in Armory, will help you hide better and even allows you to reach the invisible (no light) state. Of course an enemy will instantly detect you if he stumbles upon you, independant on your detection level. Third, enemies will also react to noise and stealth levels often have noise traps, like hanging cans or broken glass. Dropping an enemy close to another one, even in a stealthy way, will still alert another. Be aware that weapons that need to be pumped, like the tihar or the volt driver, will cause a noise when overcharged which may also get you detected by someone close. The stealth suit here again allow you to move at normal speed, not sprinting, without alerting anyone. And last but not least: once detected, everyone on the level will know of your presence and will be able to see you. It's a bit of a weak point because they can pretty much see where you are everytime from that point, while it would have been better to give them a permanent start of alarm but still allow you to get some element of surprise, but so be it. If anything it's an incentive to be even more careful when using stealth.

You're right when you say that it's hard to stealth in a narrow corridor but even then there are possibilities to do it, like learn the path a patrol takes or some items that may conceal you. Also if you prefer bigger, wait until you get to the Frontline level.

At 10 Euros, it's a pretty nice purchase. Nowhere near as good as STALKER, though.

What I do not really get is why people insist to compare this game to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Yes, there are some points where they can be compared — they are both FPS set in an Eastern European post-apocalyptic setting, with mutants and anomalies, and it seems that 4A Games people previously worked on SoC — but they have also important design differences — S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is mainly free-roaming and lets you pick several missions to complete around the world, some to advance the plot and other to befriend a faction and/or receive a material reward, but Metro 2033 takes a more linear approach to level design with no side-missions though levels typically have nooks and crannies which you can chose to explore; ballistics in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are realistic and uses a modern and sometimes slightly futuristic arsenal while Metro 2033 deals with makeshift weapons that aren't on par with modern weaponry and isn't even supposed to be; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s story is rather loose and lets you deal with it on your own terms but Metro 2033 is very story-driven, which also explains its linear structure — Artyom's mission is urgent and emotionaly important to him.

I don't mind comparisons to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but in all fairness both games attempt to achieve something different and so it depends exactly on what you attempt to compare. If we take the genre and overall design direction, Metro 2033 is much closer to Half-Life 2 and Bioshock, and much better than both of them.

 

[Secretninja]

The throwing knives and pump rifles fuck up mutants, bullets seem to be a complete waste on them other than the shotgun. Plus, you can pick up your knives/arrows and reuse them.

The VSV (think thats what it is called) seemed to be the best rifle by far, but I didn't really use the futuristic ak because I didn't get one til super late.

 

[anus_pounder]

Is the novel anygood?

 

[Trash]

And last but not least: once detected, everyone on the level will know of your presence and will be able to see you. It's a bit of a weak point because they can pretty much see where you are everytime from that point, while it would have been better to give them a permanent start of alarm but still allow you to get some element of surprise, but so be it. If anything it's an incentive to be even more careful when using stealth.

You absolutely sure about this? To me it seemed like all the enemies got knowledge of your position where you where when spotted and would remain alarmed. I however often did manage to sneak around and attack them from the sides or from behind while they would be looking for me. Maybe it just seemed that way though?

Is the novel anygood?

English translation was iffy. Still, it managed to convey the atmosphere nicely and when you're a sucker for postapoc stuff like me you could very well do a lot worse. I liked that it was basically a 'traditional' story about a 'young man leaves home to embark on a quest' in a very bleak and changed yet also very human world with some pokes at religion and ideology. I really liked it.

 

[Secretninja]

Yeah, they don't instantly know where you are from the moment you are detected. Several times I made a noise, got shot at and ran off. I was able to sneak around them and they were all taking cover while watching the direction they thought I would be coming from.

 

[Gragt]

You absolutely sure about this?

That's what happened to me on some levels where I got detected somewhere but tried to sneak around. Sure enough enemies that shouldn't have been aware of my presence knew where to look for me. Maybe I managed to do something to be detected anyway without really noticing. In any case once spotted it was hard to get the drop on any other enemy for the rest of the level.

 

[villain of the story]

Stealth gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWGkfpB1xpc

AI looks fucking brain dead.

 

[Secretninja]

Looks like he is playing on easy.

 

[Gragt]

Yeah, they don't instantly know where you are from the moment you are detected. Several times I made a noise, got shot at and ran off. I was able to sneak around them and they were all taking cover while watching the direction they thought I would be coming from.

Well, guess you convinced me to replay once more. I still have to complete it on Ranger Hardcore :D