Metro: Last Light PC Review

By – Mike Bezek

In 2010, the world was getting comfortable with a theme that slowly bled over into every movie, game and book: the apocalypse. While nearly every other development studio was writing their own script for hollow zombie survivor scenarios, 4A Games was crafting a world based on the novel, Metro 2033, written by Dmitry Glukhovsky.  The book fleshed out an incredibly plausible vision of a world ravaged by nuclear war.  The interactive version of this book was focused on the depression and hopelessness of a world torn apart by chemical machinations – humanity being stretched to its limits, persevering like a parasite. Earning accolades for its atmosphere, believable gunplay and overall storytelling, Metro 2033 became a cult classic that defied traditional popular culture.  4A Games has now returned 3 years later with Metro: Last Light in an attempt to tie loose ends, and give players answers to the burning questions left by the original such as, “What the hell is going on?”.

Slipping into the familiar anti-radiation suit and handy gas mask, players assume the role of Artyom once again.  After his spectacular act of xenocide that capped off Metro 2033, Artyom has been made a Ranger of the Order based on his extermination of the Dark Ones, which is still supposed to confuse both himself and the player.  Right from the get-go, Last Light follows in the steps of its predecessor in ensuring gamers are enraptured in the culture of  Metro.  Sliding along the claustrophobic halls of D6 allows you to become a fly on the wall to incredibly lengthy conversations which provide impressive amounts of insight into the world.  People are constantly talking about current events at length, reinforcing 4A’s commitment in telling a fully fleshed out story that players can not only understand, but can lose themselves.

Travelling through the various stations is akin to peering into the darkest recesses of human psyche – a realistic expose of humanity’s opportunistic, yet deplorable nature during times of crisis.  Metro Last Light doesn’t do happiness or hope, rather, it presents civilization as a whole teetering on the precipice of obscurity with the populace being woefully aware. A great divide has splayed the surviving population into 3 significant groups: The Order, The Red Line and the Nazis.  While there certainly no place like home in The Order with its moral ambiguity and staunch neutrality, it seems as if your worth is directly correlated to how good of a shot you are.  There is no feeling of camaraderie, and as players encounter the less savory remnants of the Socialist and Communist revolutions, isolation creeps in very quickly.

Serving as a supplement to loneliness, Last Light plays on its predecessors strengths by providing several companion sections which helps the player cope with their unforgiving surroundings.  Building these bonds to spite the overarching theme of self-reliance is what spurns the story forward, making the world more accessible through their insight.  The addition of excellent English and Russian voice acting helps bring many of these key characters alive, and lends believability to even the most menial street urchins skulking in the back alleys.  Tossing a beggar some change while passing through an artsy station began a lengthy discussion on the deterioration of art and the suppression of open criticism.  These small, almost insignificant additions breathe life into the demure landscape, making for a very memorable journey.

If there is one thing you need to know about the Metro, it is a dusty, dank and dangerous place. A great calamity tore the sky open and rained unholy judgement on the land below, and navigating the ashful remnants of civilization is quite captivating.  What Last Light does well is create an incredibly beautiful world despite the game being set primarily in an extensive tunnel system.  What gives the visuals their spark is a meticulous attention to detail, whether it be peering through a small window to see someone mourning a lost loved one with photos plastered all over their walls, or dust floating through the air, barely visible by the wispy glow of a nearby glowcap.  Once topside, the visuals take center stage with massive, detailed buildings standing ominously in the distance.  While there is no way to visit a majority of these once proud architectural achievements, it is easy to tell how much care went into crafting realistic representations of the Byzantine remnants.

These details also provide a sense of freedom to an experience that is largely on rails. Watching people go about their business, whether it be holding conversations or eating dinner, create scenarios that remove the tugging feeling as the story pulls you along a straight path.  There are also several optional areas that allow for a bit of exploration, albeit they are quite short.  Being able to quickly break from the path set before you lends believability to the environment, as the game would have suffered greatly otherwise in order to keep the story at the forefront.

4A has included a respectable amount of options to tailor your graphical experience.  It also allows lower end machines to run the game quite smoothly. While the game supports PhysX for both NVidia and ATi, the latter is still at a large disadvantage even after the recent patch to prevent stuttering and crashing.  Last Light is a graphical powerhouse that takes advantage of the very same technologies that will bring most graphics cards to their knees.  With my combination of an i3 and a RADEON 7770 HD, achieving a smooth framerate was only possible with the disabling of both Tesselation and PhysX, while placing the graphical options to Normal.  But even at these seemingly meager settings, the presentation is still stunning to behold. By the end of the game, I had forgotten that I scaled my settings back due to how stunning the environment is by default.

What makes Metro Last Light such a cathartic shooter is the believability of almost all of its mechanics.  The best example of keeping the player grounded in its universe are the physical labor aspects of exploration, forced pacing which serves as a reminder that planning and preparation are the keys to success.  Before entering a firefight, forgetting to pump your pneumatic weapons, or charge your flashlight could spell total failure as you scamper around in the darkness dodging a hail of bullets.  There is no glory in rushing headfirst into any situation as Last Light prides itself in emphasizing how incredibly easy it is to die.

The problem with the emphasis on survival is the odd distinction on how much easier Last Light is over Metro 2033. While not directly billing itself a stealth game, taking advantage of the shadows makes it rather simple for a patient player to scuttle around, subverting entire garrisons.  The stealth mechanics are simply the easiest and most concrete out there: a watch with a blue light lets you know if you are visible or not.  If you accidentally step into the open, a sharp note from a violin plays – a signal that you have a split second to duck into the shadows.  It also leads to unnaturally high blood pressure levels with the sudden reminder of being careless.

During unavoidable firefights, Hardcore mode provided some challenge, but still felt neutered with copious amounts of medkits and ammunition scattered about the environment.  This meant that I never had to consider the option of loading high-grade military bullets into my gun. One of the best parts of 2033 was sitting in a dark corridor, pondering the loss of my scarce amounts of currency – Last Light never offered me that stress.  There is, however, a much harder difficulty available: Ranger Mode. According to the developers, this mode is the “true way” to play Last Light, but it also requires parting with $5.  Since we only judge the core game, Ranger Mode eluded my review, and it is quite disappointing that 4A decided to sequester something so important to DLC.

Much like its predecessor, guns are handled in the same way a 3rd world country would operate today: jury-rigged. As you collect precious military grade bullets to spend on upgrades, everything duct-taped onto your gun is pre-war technology strapped to unreliable equipment.  If a gun says in its description that it will occasionally jam – bet on it.  The selection of weaponry in the Metro is rather limited, but allows players to customize them to the specific playstyle.  For example, I used my funds to carry a rifle and a pistol with silencer attached, allowing me to stay stealthy through the majority of my playthrough. Conversely, options exist to outfit weapons with night vision, gun stocks and other stabilizers for those craving full-on assaults.

With so many different elements at play, having a customizable setup to manage the madness is essential. Thankfully, every input in the game is able to be remapped, although the initial key setup does the job quite well. Present is full XBOX360 controller support, which provides that satisfying pumping motion with the rear triggers when recharging your battery.  However,  memorizing these setups is paramount to success due to the necessity to access certain menus while in the middle of a firefight.  There were a few times my character was attempting to perform three actions at once due to the intermittent menu navigation to cycle through projectile types or switch to night vision.

Additionally, the frantic action is sometimes interrupted by questionable AI and some slight pathing bugs.  There were quite a few instances in which enemies could not reconcile how to climb a staircase, or would simply stand in front of me, gun drawn, and proceed to do nothing. While these issues were scarce at best, the issues themselves seemed to be such a blatant oversight.

Is It Worth Your Money?

Creating an FPS with an engaging story has always seemed like an afterthought in recent years.  In a world of big budget games using forced perspective to show off the latest technologies with little relevance or substance, Last Light stands alone. In lieu of rushing the player through explosions and firefights, 4A gives players a chance to side by the figurative water and watch the painful gears of society turn in spite of near extinction.  As fun as the experience may be, it showcases how important, and how substantial a good tale can be in a genre that suffers from a distinct lack.  With roughly 10 hours of gameplay, plenty of atmosphere to take in, and characters worth revisiting, Metro Last Light is worth every bit of $49.99.