Metro 2033 (video game)

Metro 2033
Developer(s)	4A Games
Publisher(s)	THQ Deep Silver (Redux)
Director(s)	Andrew Prohorov
Designer(s)	Vyacheslav Aristov
Artist(s)	Andrey Tkachenko
Writer(s)	Dmitry Glukhovsky Andrew Prohorov Vyacheslav Aristov
Composer(s)	Alexey Omelchuk
Series	Metro
Engine	4A Engine with PhysX and PathEngine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X Linux Xbox 360 PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	'PC, Xbox 360 NA: March 16, 2010 AU: March 18, 2010 EU: March 19, 2010 JP: May 13, 2010 (X360) JP: June 25, 2010 (PC) PS4, Xbox One'Linux
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

See also: Metro 2033 (disambiguation)

Metro 2033 is a survival horror first-person shooter video game, based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Metro 2033 was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine, and was released on Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in March 2010.

In Metro 2033, the player controls Artyom as he moves through the ruins of post-nuclear-apocalyptic Russia. The player uses guns of both real and fictitious designs to kill mutants and hostile survivors. Most of the game takes place within the Metro system, although Artyom does venture above ground on rare occasions.

Metro 2033 received positive reviews: it was praised for its horror elements, detailed environments and appealing plot, but it was criticized for its buggy artificial intelligence and its many graphical issues.

A sequel, Metro: Last Light was released in May 2013. On August 26, 2014, a compilation of both titles was released for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One. On PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, this remake was entitled Metro Redux. On Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux and Steam OS, a release entitled as Metro Redux Bundle includes both this game and Metro: Last Light Redux.

Gameplay

The game is played from the perspective of Artyom, the player-character. The story takes place in post-apocalyptic Moscow, mostly inside the metro system, but occasionally missions bring the player above ground.

As a first-person shooter, Metro 2033 features a variety of firearms (some fictional and some based on real weapons) which the player will use in combat. Combat alternates between the player fighting mutants (mutated animals) and the player fighting hostile humans. Mutants do not possess weapons and tend to physically attack the player in swarms, while humans fight with the same firearms available to the player. The game features recharging health rather than a traditional health points system—if the player avoids taking damage for a period of time, health will slowly recharge. The player can speed up this process by using a stim from a medkit, which will almost instantly heal the player to full health. When the player is severely injured, it may take over twenty seconds to return to full health. In any difficulty above " Hardcore" health does not regenerate.

In the post-apocalyptic environment, ammunition is a rare and essential commodity. Pre-apocalypse military-grade 5.45x39mm ammunition is used as currency; to avoid "shooting money", the player can also use lower quality bullets made within the Metros, which do less damage. Due to the scarcity of ammunition, a crucial aspect of gameplay is scavenging. The player can loot corpses and the environment for spare ammunition, as well as weapons and items. The military-grade ammo can be used to purchase other ammunition, weapons, and items within most of the Metro stations, albeit at high prices.

The game's locations reflect the dark atmosphere of real metro tunnels, with added survival horror elements. Strange phenomena and noises are frequent, and most of the time the player has to rely only on the flashlight (and sometimes, the night-vision goggles) to navigate in otherwise total darkness. Even more lethal is the surface, as it is severely irradiated and a gas mask must be worn at all times due to the toxic air. Often, locations have an intricate layout, and the game lacks any form of map, leaving the player to try to find their objectives with only a compass.

As Metro 2033 aims to be immersive, the gameplay and interface are somewhat atypical. The game lacks a health meter, relying on audible heart rate and blood spatters on the screen to show the player's current state of health. The player must collect air filters for the gas mask, which last several minutes each and are automatically replaced, as long as the player has more in reserve. There is no heads-up display indicator to tell how long the player has until the gas mask's filters begin to fail—rather, a timer on the character's wristwatch shows how long until the current filter expires. The gas mask can become visibly damaged and will stop functioning if punctured, requiring it to be replaced. With every weapon, the bullets are (partly) visible, informing the player that their weapon is about to run out of ammo and they have to reload. The game does feature sparse traditional HUD elements, such as an ammunition indicator. However, on the hardest difficulty setting, no HUD elements are present, and players have to keep track of ammunition by the partly visible magazines.

There are also certain moral choices in the game that give Karma, which leads to different endings. Choices can either get the player good Karma, for example, saving prisoners from execution, or bad Karma, for example being rude to people or stealing.

Plot

In 2013, a nuclear war occurred. Russia was targeted with atomic bombs, causing severe radiation across Moscow. This forced the survivors to live underground in the metro stations away from the deadly effects of radiation. Many animals were heavily mutated into aggressive beasts, which make travel dangerous.

Twenty years later in 2033, Artyom (Russian: Артём), a 20-year-old male survivor born before the bombs fell, learns from Hunter, an elite soldier of the rangers, that a group of mysterious creatures referred to as the Dark Ones are threatening Artyom's home station, VDNKh, in the Metro. Hunter gives Artyom his dog tags and tells him if he does not come back, he must go to Polis and present these to see if they will help his station.

Artyom must travel through territory occupied by Soviets and a Fourth Reich, and infested with mutants as well as the much changed surface of Moscow. Once in Polis, he meets with a Ranger named Miller, who agrees to help him. Miller knows of a missile silo known as D6 that has the firepower necessary to destroy the Dark Ones. Artyom, Miller, and several other Rangers reactivate the command center for the missiles, and Artyom installs a laser guidance system on a nearby radio tower. After the laser system is installed, Artyom experiences a vivid hallucination induced by a Dark One.

After the hallucination, two endings are possible, depending on choices the player makes throughout the game. In the canonical ending, Artyom allows the missiles to fire, destroying the Dark Ones; only to realize later that they sought peace and the deaths by them were accidental. The alternate ending gives Artyom the choice to destroy the laser guidance device, citing a last-minute realization that the Dark Ones were actually attempting to make peaceful contact through the hallucinations. This ending is only available by performing various positive acts throughout the game.

Development

Promotion at IgroMir 2009

4A Games was founded by Oles' Shiskovtsov and Aleksandr Maksimchuk, former programmers for GSC Game World who left about a year before the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Shiskovtsov and Maksimchuk had worked on the development of X-Ray engine used in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. In March 2006, 4A Games announced a partnership with Glukhovsky to collaborate on the game. The game was announced at the 2009 Games Convention in Leipzig; along with an official trailer.

The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine, running on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. There is some contention regarding whether the engine is based on the pre-release X-Ray engine (as claimed by Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World, as well as users who have seen the 4A Engine SDK screenshots, citing visual similarities, shared resources, and technical evaluation of the pre-release 4A Engine demo conducted at the request of GSC Game World), or whether the engine is an original development (as claimed by 4A Games and Oles' Shiskovtsov in particular, who claims it would have been impractical to retrofit the X-ray engine with console support). 4A Engine features Nvidia PhysX support, enhanced AI, and a console SDK for Xbox 360. The PC version includes exclusive features such as DirectX 11 support and has been described as "a love letter to PC gamers" because of the developers' choice "to make the PC version [especially] phenomenal".

A PlayStation 3 version was planned, but ultimately cancelled. On February 19, THQ and 4A Games announced the game features Steamworks software and DRM. This gives Metro 2033 achievements, Steam support for in-game downloadable content and auto-updating.

Release

Promotion at IgroMir 2010

A Collector's Edition of the game was released in Russia – it contained the game itself in special packaging, a game guide, a map of the post-apocalyptic subway of Moscow and a unique watch with the game's logo on it. An even larger collector's edition was released in Poland; it contained: the game itself in special packaging, a Polish translation of the novel Metro 2033, instructions for the game, an army container and a gas mask (with filters and a military bag included). A special edition was also released in Germany – more similar in size to the Russian collector's edition and smaller than the Polish one, it contained: the game itself in a special edition box, a hardback novel (A5 sized) titled "Davor und Danach" (Before and After), a fully working replica of the watch that Artyom uses in the game, a bear-shaped key ring with one of Hunter's dog tags on it and a download code for the Heavy Automatic Shotgun.

In February 2014, the Xbox 360 version of 2033 was included in Microsoft's "Games with Gold" program exclusively for German subscribers. This served as a replacement for Dead Island, the game offered in other territories, as it is unavailable for purchase in Germany.

On May 22, 2014, a Redux version of the game was announced. It uses the latest version of the 4A Engine bringing the graphical and gameplay changes from Last Light to 2033. It was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 29, 2014 in Europe for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A compilation package, titled Metro Redux, was released at the same time which includes both games.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	80.65% (PC) 78.28% (X360)
Metacritic	81/100 (PC) 90/100 (PC Redux) 77/100 (X360)

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	C+
Game Informer	9/10
GamePro	3.5/5
GameSpot	8.0/10
IGN	6.9/10

The game has received generally favorable reviews, scoring 81/100 and 77/100 on Metacritic for the PC and Xbox 360 versions respectively. Game Informer praised it, giving it 9 out of 10. GameZone's Dakota Grabowski gave the game an 8 out of 10, saying, "The single-player affair is worthy of every FPS fanatics' time since the 4A Games and THQ were able to put forth a wonderful tale that deserved telling. The world is engrossing as it invites players for multiple trips with the sheer amount of detail 4A Games spent implementing into the environments. Metro 2033 is as pure as they come in the genre and I gladly welcome any sequel that may reach fruition."

Video game talk show Good Game gave the game an 8.5 out of 10 praising the RPG and survival horror elements which add richness to the gameplay as well saying the HUD-less design was a choice which suits this particular game. Overall they said "I'm a big Fallout 3 fan and I was worried this would try to be something similar and fail dismally. But it's more FPS than RPG, so I think it manages to dodge a direct comparison. They've just worked really hard to bring RPG narrative and decisions into the action, and it works."

X-Play gave the game a 3 out of 5, the reviewer pointed out the game's great atmosphere, attention to detail, and that the game had some truly scary moments. The reviewer also pointed out that, they "didn't do enough with the creepy atmosphere". Saying that the game would come close to truly frightening moments, but "never truly commits to scaring the audience". The reviewer said that the mapping of the buttons on the controller for the Xbox 360 can be "less than optimal", but the problem does not apply to PC users. In the conclusion, the reviewer said that the game was, "over all a respectable effort, provided you don't expect the same level of depth found in, let's say Fallout 3."

GameSpot gave the game 7.5 out of 10 for the Xbox 360 version and 8 out of 10 for the PC version, praising the atmosphere but noting problems with the artificial intelligence and animations.

IGN gave the game a lower rating of 6.9 out of 10 (identical for Xbox 360 and PC versions), citing the frame rate, bugs, and disappointing graphics issues.

Sequel

Metro: Last Light was released on May 14, 2013 in North America and May 17, 2013 in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. Even though it acts as a sequel to the original game it does not follow any direct storylines from the book Metro 2034. An improved version called Redux, with all downloadable content was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 29, 2014 in Europe for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A compilation package, titled Metro Redux, was released at the same time which includes both Last Light and Metro 2033.

External links

• Official website