I Hate Metro 2033, and I Blame YOU

[BloatedGuppy]

Alright, so. I bought this...thing...in the last Steam Sale. I bought it because of YOU GUYS. Over and over on these forums, I saw you bigging it up. "Oh, la la la la la, Metro 2033, I loves it I loves it, best game since STALKER, post nuclear fans rejoice, la la la la la." FALSE ADVERTISING, says I!

It's a beautiful looking game, I'll admit to that. And it's very brooding and atmospheric, so well done, well done on that count at least. But here's where I'm coming from...

1. I just finished up Arkham City (yay) and all 4 hours of Mirror's Edge (boo), and I am *sick to death* of checkpoint saving. Seriously. I have had it with this shit. I (stupidly) presumed Metro 2033, like STALKER and like Fallout would allow for a more open world experience, and the "I can save whenever I want" that comes with it. Nope, it's bloody theme park ride, and you save only when it says you can. That's irritating all on its own, but when it's coupled with...

2. ...the ball breaking difficulty early on...the scarcity of ammo, the fussiness of the controls, the superhuman accuracy and precognition of the human enemies who draw a bead on you during the fraction of a second part of your anatomy pokes out from behind a crate, then the checkpoint saving becomes hugely obnoxious to the point of being both immersion breaking and fun destroying. It is Godzilla, and my enjoyment of the product is Tokyo.

And look, I don't want to hear any "LOL NUB L2P" bullshit here. I like a hard game. This is not a tactics or skill issue, this is a broken game issue. I know what I'm meant to do, but the sloppy controls and twitchy hit boxes won't let me do it. Over and over I see my knife thump into a box a micro hair away from a target. No worries, right? I can just reload my game! Nah, I get to spend 2 minutes squatting in the dank again waiting for the patrol to come around.

I know some of ya'll liked this game. I WANT to like this game. I adored STALKER. I lapped up both the contentious Fallout 3 and its buggy followup. I'm nuts for grim post nuclear games, and I like them to be hard. But this weird little rail shooter with totally crap shooting bits and gimpy mechanics feels fundamentally unlovable to me.

What am I doing wrong? Is there a mod that makes it less stupid? Help me out here.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's a boring game. I didn't find it fun at all. I didn't even like the story that much. Overall it was a very disappointing experience.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Especially YOU, Adrian!!

lol

So you're saying it's a generic FPS but with a post-apocalyptic setting? At least it's trying to be original. Ah well, thanks for the warning.

 

[Padwolf]

Well I never! To be honest I have it on Xbox 360 and I didn't like it that much. I found it fun in some places and I loved the atmosphere. But I just prefer the book. I did read the book first. I want to love the game too! All I can advise is read the book! read the book! read the book!

 

[hazabaza1]

People in this thread are wrong.
So very, very wrong.

All I didn't like in the game was the fucking amoeba enemies near the end. People who got to that bit know what I'm on about.

 

[Agente L]

I played on normal on the first play and had no problemdsI just reloaded frontlines a lot because I wanted a perfect stealth run. Otherwise, I could've done it in the first time with an aggressive play using the volt driver.

Heck, I stopped in frontlines and decided to give Ranger Hardcore a try.

The game isn't hard, the ammo isn't scarce in normal, your just not used to the gameplay. Heck, with some clever tricks involving a certain volt driver and automatic shotgun at armory, I got a bunch of military grade rounds, managed to get a armor, over 1000 lead bullets for volt driver and 800 bullets for kalash. And I still had 200 military rounds left over.

Just aim down the ironsights and shoot the enemy in small bursts with the bastard gun. Shotguns on the other way, are abundant. The basic shotgun is suprisingly effective at mid-range, just shoot one barrel at time.

But I do agree on the checkpoint. It makes the game a bit harder. But some people enjoy it, some don't.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I thought it was average. Mechanics were alright, but you change teammates so many times I forgot the main plot and stopped caring. Then there was a level with Nazis, because of reasons or something.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But I do agree on the checkpoint. It makes the game a bit harder. But some people enjoy it, some don't.

That's not really "difficulty" though, is it? That's just repetition. That's a time sink. I'm familiar with the arguments about tension/etc and how the old F5 key drains it, but NOTHING reminds me I'm playing a stupid video game more than having to repeat the same sodding stretch of content ad infinitum because I can't save.

As for any clever tricks, I'm way early in the game. There's 781 Bandits in a tiny room, and I have a rusty piece of shit and a knife. The entire area screams STEALTH TUTORIAL because there's broken glass and tin cans everywhere, and really obvious patrols, and the room is dark, and the NPC's are repeating the same 2-3 lines of brilliantly irritating patter endlessly while doing their rounds. I've played stealth games, right? I've played Deus Ex, I've played Thief, I know how this is meant to work. Only it doesn't work. The knife never quite lines up with where it's meant to be going, and even if I knife the first 15 guys perfectly then miss due to a glitchy hitbox on #16, now there are bandits everywhere, and they're all dead-eye shots, and I'm killed in 3 hits, and now I get to start over!

I feel like I'm fighting the interface and the whims of the developers, not the enemies in the room. I've beaten them. I've beaten them again and again and again. It's like Groundhog Day, only a lot less funny.

 

[Popadoo]

I completely agree with you.
It's hyped to shit as a great atmospheric game so I picked it up at the Summer Sales.
Fucking hate it.
Like you said, lack of save function pisses me right off and how the fuck can enemies take about 10 shots to the head but I die in 2. For that matter, how can they see me in the pitch fucking dark with my light off?
Don't get me started on the 'stealth' levels, if you can call them that.

 

[Smeggs]

It's a boring game. I didn't find it fun at all. I didn't even like the story that much. Overall it was a very disappointing experience.

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

OP: Sorry to hear that. Honestly, I felt the game played better on the 360 once I finally got the damn thing going on my PC. Yes, the controls are kinda clunky, and yes, sometimes the AI is ridiculous (Hit me from fifty yards away in the darkness with a gun that has less accuracy than a drunk college frat boy trying to take a piss? Seems legit, Metro.) But, I seriously just cannot bring myself to dislike the game. I've played through it at least 8 times now. I have discoveredevery single hidden thing in that game by now. This is the only game that I've ever wanted to get every achievement for.

And I'm hoping that Last Light will be just as good, with improved AI and gun mechanics.

People in this thread are wrong.
So very, very wrong.

All I didn't like in the game was the fucking amoeba enemies near the end. People who got to that bit know what I'm on about.

Oh, fuck them. On the hardest difficulty they kept killing my AI partner, which made the game reload the checkpoint. Pissed me off.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

As for any clever tricks, I'm way early in the game. There's 781 Bandits in a tiny room, and I have a rusty piece of shit and a knife. The entire area screams STEALTH TUTORIAL because there's broken glass and tin cans everywhere, and really obvious patrols, and the room is dark, and the NPC's are repeating the same 2-3 lines of brilliantly irritating patter endlessly while doing their rounds. I've played stealth games, right? I've played Deus Ex, I've played Thief, I know how this is meant to work. Only it doesn't work. The knife never quite lines up with where it's meant to be going, and even if I knife the first 15 guys perfectly then miss due to a glitchy hitbox on #16, now there are bandits everywhere, and they're all dead-eye shots, and I'm killed in 3 hits, and now I get to start over!

Actually, you don't have to do any stealth, and the game is a lot easier if you don't. Just take out a couple of guys, hide in a corner and wait for them to come to you, then when they stop coming for you, slowly advance. This way, you don't have three guys mow you down at point blank range, and you can generally have a much better idea of where everybody is. Plus, you'll be able to easily pick up all the ammo of the guys you killed. It's not the most fun way to play, but it will get you through the "stealth" areas and into the areas that make the game amazing.

Most of the difficulty in the game (that doesn't stem from the stupid lack of a quicksave) comes mostly from the most obvious way through a level not being the easiest or most effective. Just try changing your tactics, and you'll probably find that most of the levels are much less difficult than you first thought.

Also, apparently playing in ranger mode is much better, and actually easier, than playing in normal mode, but I haven't tried it myself, so I wouldn't know for sure.

 

[Windcaler]

So you're saying you didnt like the gamea nd others did? Well welcome to the land of subjective opinions

For what its worth, I really liked Metro 2033. It had moments of great atmosphere that you rarely find in games and the aesthetic was right on. Perhaps the most interesting, for me, was that it wasnt a tale of America after the apocolypse. I love my country but sometimes you just want a different coat of paint on a game genre and thats what Metro 2033 was to me but it goes deeper then that. How many times do you really get to see a realistic PA world and get to live in it? Not many, that I can recall. The only other big PA setting I can think of is Fallout and to be honest it gets a little to silly sometimes (to be fair the games do try to be funny as part of their aesthetic). Personally sometimes I like games that are more (not completely) grounded in realism

Captcha: Take it all

Suddenly I feel quite uncomfortable around you captcha

 

[tsb247]

I am surrently playing through Metro 2033, and it is not what I expected at all. That's not to say that I do not enjoy it, but I was expecting a more open world as well.

I also HATE checkpoint save systems. They are the reason why I HATE consoles. They are used because of the limitations placed on consoles and the developers never bother to streamline for PC! PCs have ridiculous amounts of hard drive space! Let me use it dammit!

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Actually, you don't have to do any stealth, and the game is a lot easier if you don't. Just take out a couple of guys, hide in a corner and wait for them to come to you, then when they stop coming for you, slowly advance.

Tried that...either the AI has been patched, or you need the patience of Job, because it never happened. They stayed perma-crouched behind their cover, and the moment I peeked out from wherever I was, regardless of how long I waited or how much I crept around/displaced, I would be immediately hit by several bullets.

Also, apparently playing in ranger mode is much better, and actually easier, than playing in normal mode, but I haven't tried it myself, so I wouldn't know for sure.

I was in Ranger-Easy to begin with, and switched to Normal, and then to Easy. I was able to faceroll it on Easy (Normal would've likely panned out as well, but by then I had lost all patience with it, I just wanted it over), but that wasn't terribly fulfilling, alas.

So you're saying you didnt like the gamea nd others did? Well welcome to the land of subjective opinions

Gosh, thanks. I was unfamiliar with the concept of subjectivity. It's why I made the deadly serious rant in the OP.

 

[The Madman]

Coincidentally I'm playing it for the first time now as well and am also a huge fan of the STALKER series. I'd even go so far as to say not counting rpg-fps, the STALKER series are my favourite fps out there.

As for Metro... it's pretty good. There are some things I dislike about the game but others I genuinely adore. The games visuals and sense of ambience for example are fantastic, I love the feeling you get crawling around these dark tunnels and that sense of shock you get when that loneliness is lifted suddenly visiting a settlement and seeing crowds of people. I also do like the feeling of shooting as well, it's messy and rough and a bit wild and hard to control which is exactly how it should feel in a game where you're largely using improvised weapons and terrible quality ammunition. Battles, especially some of the bigger ones, just feel amazingly messy and violent. I like it!

The soundtrack is also brilliant. Turned the music up full and the games other volume down just so I could hear the tracks better in the background as I play, they're fantastic. Some of my favourite music from a game easily!


So what have I disliked? There's really no sense of pacing. I'm apparently fairly near the end of the game now and whenever a new mechanic is introduced I think 'oh, that's neat' only to never see it again. Things that feel like an introduction are in fact all I'll be getting from this element of the game, which is a shame because some are extremely clever; the shadow ghosts for example are an awesome mechanic that genuinely impressed me. The outdoor sections aren't terribly good either and mechanics that really should be explained better I still feel like I'm not sure about. The whole trading thing is also extremely awkward given the rest of the game.

Stealth is also pretty awkward. Not terrible mind you and not among the worst examples of stealth I've run into in fps, but it just feels awkward. Fortunately I quickly discovered that it's also completely unnecessary and that the AI is realistic enough at times I can do the whole 'predator' style killing from shadows thing... most of the time because I've also found some cases where once the AI has spotted you no matter what you do they know exactly where you are at all times.

Story-wise it's also a bit of a mess. I'm intrigued enough by the setting that I actually want to track down the book this game is based on now to read it but within the game itself I've still almost no bloody clue what the hell is going on. New characters are introduced and then killed off at such a fast rate I never get to actually know any of them meanwhile other things are just unclear; My character can talk... so why the hell doesn't he half the time? This isn't Half-life, when someone asks me a questions I expect him to answer, again I know he can talk so it just makes it all the more awkward when he decides to randomly play the silent protagonist from time to time.

The story just overall is poorly paced and feels rushed. There's enough there I'm intrigued by the setting, but as for my character and those surrounding him I couldn't care less whether they live or die because I know almost nothing about them.

Still all that said if this is the developers first shot at a game I'm excited for the next Metro game. If they manage to deliver the same excellent sense of ambience and style while also delivered a more coherent experience it definitely has the potential to be great.

 

[Laughing Man]

Metro 2033 is a truly awful game, I will always compare it to STALKER because it so badily wants to be like it.

Both tried the Russian Post Apocalyptic atmosphere and both have flaws in some of the core gameplay mechanics but where they differ is STALKER pulls it off, despite the gameplay flaws it does manage to pull you in to the game world. Metro 2033 on the other hand tries even harder to pull you in to the game play world but the flaws in the game bring that game world crashing down around you.

A more specific issue though is that the issues in Metro's game play actually make the game not fun to play. Dodgy AI, linear levels, rubbish weapons that are only rubbish for you and no one else, they can all be forgiven if the game is fun, but Metro just isn't.

The thing is I really wanted to love this game, I've given it more opportunity than any other game that I has grasped me, I even reinstalled it after several months to give it another try and it just hasn't worked. The game just is not fun to play, the flaws ruin it.

 

[Agente L]

But I do agree on the checkpoint. It makes the game a bit harder. But some people enjoy it, some don't.

That's not really "difficulty" though, is it? That's just repetition. That's a time sink. I'm familiar with the arguments about tension/etc and how the old F5 key drains it, but NOTHING reminds me I'm playing a stupid video game more than having to repeat the same sodding stretch of content ad infinitum because I can't save.

As for any clever tricks, I'm way early in the game. There's 781 Bandits in a tiny room, and I have a rusty piece of shit and a knife. The entire area screams STEALTH TUTORIAL because there's broken glass and tin cans everywhere, and really obvious patrols, and the room is dark, and the NPC's are repeating the same 2-3 lines of brilliantly irritating patter endlessly while doing their rounds. I've played stealth games, right? I've played Deus Ex, I've played Thief, I know how this is meant to work. Only it doesn't work. The knife never quite lines up with where it's meant to be going, and even if I knife the first 15 guys perfectly then miss due to a glitchy hitbox on #16, now there are bandits everywhere, and they're all dead-eye shots, and I'm killed in 3 hits, and now I get to start over!

I feel like I'm fighting the interface and the whims of the developers, not the enemies in the room. I've beaten them. I've beaten them again and again and again. It's like Groundhog Day, only a lot less funny.

Not really, you are making a huge deal out of it. And the armory is early to mid game.

I know where you are. You are fighting like, 7 bandits in a room. Just use cover and use the shotgun. Throwing knifes are almost always one hit kill. You should have one or two, you can also recover them. Aim for the chest, never the head or the shoulders, since helmet and shoulder guards simply parry the knife.


But I do agree about the stealth. The stealth mechanics in metro 2033 are really poorly implemented, and stealth without stealth armor is annoyingly hard. Ignore stealth mechanics, unless you are either forced into it or if you have the stealth armor.

Stealth kill 1 or 2 bandits with the throwing knifes (they are 100% silent, unless you miss them of course), and then use the cover and kill the rest with the shotgun. When you kill them, there will be a volt driver by the camping fire, which is a ludicrously powerful weapon that can one hit kill most enemies when fully charged. That will make your life a lot easier.

I never died in that room, I simply took my time and used cover a lot.

 

[Shocksplicer]

I really hate to be "that guy", but judging by your description there's nothing wrong with the game at all. You just suck at it.

I never had any issues with difficulty, and the checkpoints aren't a problem if you don't die.
If it's to hard for you, either get better or play another game. There's nothing wrong with Metro.