Jason
02-09-2010, 01:21 AM
Official Site (http://www.metro2033game.com/)
Based on the hugely popular Russian book by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033 is claimed to blend elements of survival horror, first person shooters and a touch of RPG-style character progression.
Coming sometime this summer on Xbox 360 and PC, the game places you as one of a number of survivors of a nuclear event. You and your companions took shelter in the subway systems, and therefore avoided the worst of the effects. Others were less lucky, and there's a fairly good chance you'll end up fighting them at some point as mutants, rebels or just good old-fashioned nutters.
Your character was born pre-apocalypse, but was lucky enough to make it into the subway system. Both of your parents are gone, so you were raised by other survivors in your particular Metro station, "Exhibition". On your travels, you'll come across many other towns based in many other stations - not all of them as democratic and understanding as yours.
By now I know more than a few of you will be screaming "Fallout 3" at their screen, and you'd be right. This is a game with a very similar setting to Fallout 3, but with one major difference. Whilst Fallout 3 was a true RPG with FPS elements, Metro 2033 is the other side of the coin. There are RPG elements to it, but at heart it's a true FPS.
So often with games, the devil is in the detail - you can tell whether a game is going to be any good or not by the way it pays attention to the little things. And it's the little things you notice here. As the ozone collapsed after the disaster, you'll only be able to go out at night, and even then only with a gas mask on. However, that gas mask not only restricts your view, but it muffles the sounds around you. Your map isn't some high-tech radar thingamajig, it's a piece of paper you hold out and illuminate with a lighter. Also, the AI is unique to each type of enemy you face. While a giant mutated rat will stop at nothing to rip your face off, a rebel fighter might be a little more sneaky and try to ambush you, or might flee if you slaughter his buddies around him.
It's going to be a tough ask for the game bearing in mind it's inevitably going to draw a lot of comparisons to Fallout 3, and to be quite honest, I don't envy anyone trying to stand next to that game and not look slightly inferior. However, it appears that Metro 2033 has the potential to at least give Bethseda's version of the apocalypse a run for its money.
First Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB_ICAvOmrg
Interviews with the author/developers: (don't snigger at his name!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZIP67ylfhk
Based on the hugely popular Russian book by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033 is claimed to blend elements of survival horror, first person shooters and a touch of RPG-style character progression.
Coming sometime this summer on Xbox 360 and PC, the game places you as one of a number of survivors of a nuclear event. You and your companions took shelter in the subway systems, and therefore avoided the worst of the effects. Others were less lucky, and there's a fairly good chance you'll end up fighting them at some point as mutants, rebels or just good old-fashioned nutters.
Your character was born pre-apocalypse, but was lucky enough to make it into the subway system. Both of your parents are gone, so you were raised by other survivors in your particular Metro station, "Exhibition". On your travels, you'll come across many other towns based in many other stations - not all of them as democratic and understanding as yours.
By now I know more than a few of you will be screaming "Fallout 3" at their screen, and you'd be right. This is a game with a very similar setting to Fallout 3, but with one major difference. Whilst Fallout 3 was a true RPG with FPS elements, Metro 2033 is the other side of the coin. There are RPG elements to it, but at heart it's a true FPS.
So often with games, the devil is in the detail - you can tell whether a game is going to be any good or not by the way it pays attention to the little things. And it's the little things you notice here. As the ozone collapsed after the disaster, you'll only be able to go out at night, and even then only with a gas mask on. However, that gas mask not only restricts your view, but it muffles the sounds around you. Your map isn't some high-tech radar thingamajig, it's a piece of paper you hold out and illuminate with a lighter. Also, the AI is unique to each type of enemy you face. While a giant mutated rat will stop at nothing to rip your face off, a rebel fighter might be a little more sneaky and try to ambush you, or might flee if you slaughter his buddies around him.
It's going to be a tough ask for the game bearing in mind it's inevitably going to draw a lot of comparisons to Fallout 3, and to be quite honest, I don't envy anyone trying to stand next to that game and not look slightly inferior. However, it appears that Metro 2033 has the potential to at least give Bethseda's version of the apocalypse a run for its money.
First Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB_ICAvOmrg
Interviews with the author/developers: (don't snigger at his name!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZIP67ylfhk