Metro 2033

[Graham Mitchell]

So I haven't spent too much time with it because I've been so darn busy lately, but I picked up this game on clearance last week. It was very highly-regarded by reviewers (despite being published by THQ) and had a premise that sounded interesting to me, so I picked it up. (Note--I guess several team members that worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.--Shadows of Chernobyl worked on this game. I'd love to try the former, but I don't have a gaming PC!)

It's great! I can't say much about the gameplay other than that it's a totally adequate 1st persion shooter, but the backstory and environment is where it really shines. It's based on a Russian novel that takes place in post-nuclear apocalypse Moscow, where the only people who survived the blast and the fallout moved into the metro tunnels. People can't survive on the surface anymore because of all the radiation so there are multiple colonies living in the tunnels. The game does a fantastic job to showing what life is like in the tunnels, and it reminds me Bioshock in that you're observing how an isolated society functions. The only difference is that in Metro 2033, people are still living there functionally, and it's crowded and crammed.

Anyway, from what I've played so far, this is turning out to be a pretty great game, worthy of discussion. Has anybody else here tried it? What did you think?

[G-Boobie]

I've gotten about three hours into it, and would like to get farther assuming I can get some good couch time fit into my schedule. It's got a Half-Life 2 via Russian post-apocalyptic fiction vibe, which I love.

I'd love to see more Eastern European games hit consoles: they have a design philosophy that revels in tiny details which may not actually affect gameplay, but add to the atmosphere immeasurably. Good stuff!

GM, if you get the chance, check out the eponymous novel you mentioned. It's written by a well-regarded Russian journalist by the name of Dmitry Glukhovsky. The english translation is pretty good, as is the book itself. Also, if you're into the concept of the Stalker games, check out the novel they're based on, "Roadside Picnic" by the brothers Strugastsky. That also is incredibly dope.

[BHvrd]

Yeah this game seems to be the new Crysis or Doom 3 for pc gamers, I would like to pick it up eventually, but i'm in no hurry to test how inferior my gaming pc has become, regardless yeah the game looks great.

[Graham Mitchell]

I've gotten about three hours into it, and would like to get farther assuming I can get some good couch time fit into my schedule. It's got a Half-Life 2 via Russian post-apocalyptic fiction vibe, which I love.

I'd love to see more Eastern European games hit consoles: they have a design philosophy that revels in tiny details which may not actually affect gameplay, but add to the atmosphere immeasurably. Good stuff!

GM, if you get the chance, check out the eponymous novel you mentioned. It's written by a well-regarded Russian journalist by the name of Dmitry Glukhovsky. The english translation is pretty good, as is the book itself. Also, if you're into the concept of the Stalker games, check out the novel they're based on, "Roadside Picnic" by the brothers Strugastsky. That also is incredibly dope.

Thanks for the info GB! I will have to check those out after I finish House of God.

Btw guys-i don't think the 360 version of this game sold well. It may become hard to find in the near future So I recommend grabbing it soon if you're interested.

[exit]

I picked this up a while back at K-Mart for $30, I only played it for a couple of hours, but I was pretty impressed with what I saw. I'm going to go back to it when I clear up some of my PS3 backlog, which means I'll probably have to re-start the game since I'll have forgotten what exactly I was doing.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

Yeah this game seems to be the new Crysis or Doom 3 for pc gamers, I would like to pick it up eventually, but i'm in no hurry to test how inferior my gaming pc has become, regardless yeah the game looks great.

Yeah the game can be pretty crushing to a older set up. As long as you have at least a decent 3-core cpu and a decent DX 10 or 11 graphics card though you can get a good experience out of the game. It ran really smooth on my set up:
Videocard: two HD5770 in crossfire
Processor: Athlon II X4 635 @ 2.9ghz
Mainboard: MSI 790XT-G45
Memory: 3 gigs DDR2 dual channel
Soundcard: plain jane Realtek&ATI HD
PSU: BFG 650 watt

Its also running smooth on my sons system, which is a 3 core Athlon II, paired with one HD 3850 and 2 gigs of ram. He has to set the details to medium, but it still looks pretty good. I should install the game on my direct x 9 gaming system and see how it runs on that for the hell of it. Its a Athlon FX-62 system that uses a 8800GTS OC for the main gpu and a 9600 GSO for physx. Would be limited to DX 9 features only since Im running that system in XP Pro, but still, would be nice to see how it scales on the older hardware.

If you can, I recommend skipping the console port and just running the Pc release on newer DX 11 hardware for the extra eye candy since that will provide the best experience. If not DX 11 then at least a powerful DX 10 card setup. The game has a couple of different endings depending on how you play the game. Only part of the game I did not really care for was the library area. Will prob give S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat a try next.

[gum_drops]

I want to pick this up along with singularity at some point, when I can get either for around 20.00.

[Gapporin]

I just picked this up over the THQ sale that Steam was running a little while ago ($5!), and I have to echo what everybody else has mentioned so far. Great atmosphere, with some really amazing graphics -- but taxing on my current setup. I can still run it on the high settings without much slowdown, but I think I'll need a newer/better graphics card to really take advantage of what the game has to offer (I was planning on buying one anyways).

BTW, I'm playing through the game with Russian voices/English subtitles. For kicks and giggles.

[Porksta]

This game and Homefront are two of the more unknown games that I have on my to buy list.

[RARusk]

I've played this as well and really enjoyed it. I've been considering doing a guide on it but there are other titles I've been considering doing a guide on as well, including "Red Dead Redemption" and "Deadly Premonition".

I also need to get the Ranger Pack and go after the remaining Achievements at some point.