Metro 2033

Preview from Yug - Tuesday, 09 February 2010 @ 10:35pm

If it’s hostile, you kill it

It’s refreshing when a game developer really plays to the strengths of their actual location, infusing a sense of their own culture and experiences to provide you with something truly unique.

Although if Metro 2033 is anything to go by, I won’t be visiting Moscow anytime soon.

Developed by Ukraine developer 4A Games, the guys behind the graphical bar raiser that was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl, it’s a first person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow – mostly set underground in the subway transit system.

Not what it looked like on the travel brochure

The destruction of civilization is seen through the view of the protagonist – Artyom, and after a quite intense playable opening sequence it looks like the creamy centre of the game will be a retrospective story leading up to those initial events.

What makes this game stand out straight away though is the tone. All the characters are Russian of course, and the underground levels feel like a cross between ‘Enemy at the Gates’ and the future sequences in ‘Terminator’. The underground metro system isn’t just inhabited by soliders, its family and children too. There’s some seriously chilly sequences where you’re just walking through the tunnels and can hear women wailing, delegated medial facilities with people who have been driven insane, and children drawing monsters on the walls asking their dad if they’ll ever see mummy again – while the dad just puts his head in his hands and cries.

"Feels like a cross between ‘Enemy at the Gates’ and the future sequences in ‘Terminator’'"


Adding to this sense of dejected desperation is the unique currency in the game – bullets. The same ones that you use as ammunition. I can’t think of any other game that’s done this before, but I guarantee you’ll be sure to be very careful with every single shot you make in the game, imaginary dollar signs appearing above every muzzle flash.

There is also no Heads Up Display, the game opting for the Gears of War damage approach where your screen fills with blood and you have to wait in relative safety as it disappears. Makeshift weapons also display a red dot to give an indication of any enemies that are around, and when you do venture topside your gas mask is needed – but also requires constant maintenance. A wrist indicator will show you the status of the masks filter, giving the game a sense of urgency to add to the desperation already at play.

Shoot the barrels! Shoot the barrels!!

The other thing to note about the game is the seamless transition from player control to scripted action sequences – it was hard to know if something was happening that was within the players control or not. Instead of being detrimental, it actually added a cinematic quality and a feeling that at any given point, nothing was safe. There were plenty of moments where I thought the character had died from multiple attacks, only to realise it was part of an unavoidable sequence. Hard to know how it feels when playing it yourself, but from a spectators view it was exceptionally cool.

I’ve mentioned plenty about the enemies in the game, but it’s hard to describe them. They seem to be some sort of demon type creatures, although it’s unknown at this point if they’re the result of a mutation, or if there’s some sort of religious undertone about the game. Whatever the case, they’re quick, deadly and attack in large numbers. One sequence out in the open actually featured a stampede of these things, another had you in a room where they were crawling through the airducts, and you could hear their screeches all around you.

Apart from a few glimpses into the levels and the introduction of some characters (one guy called Hunter is obviously the American equivalent kick-ass veteran), I’m unsure of where the game was headed, although the fact that it’s based on a popular Russian book of the same name gives the impression of at the very least an interesting story. Look out for the game on shelves here March 18, 2010.