I know this is necromancy, and I hope it hasn´t been brought up yet, but the complaint about the enemies taking unusual amounts of punishment? Yeah, adjust the difficulty higher...
What is this, you ask? Higher? Are you mad?
No, I am not. The difficulty rises by having you find less stuff, less MGRs, less Filters (and you will LONG for filters if you really explore the surface), less ammo overall, but counters this with enemies taking less amounts of punishment, including you and allies.
So the game is harder, but in some aspect, it´s also easier...it´s...fairer, I guess.
I recently started anew in Hardcore mode, and, whilst constantly being low on ammo (Awesome!), having to stealth where possible (even stealthed by my first surface run, barely had to fight any mutants, and it is a very delicate feeling when a mutant brushes past you mere INCHES, but ignores you because you haven´t been murdering it´s family and friends...) to conserve as much ammo as possible, I have yet to encounter a serrious problem in firefights...enemies go down explicably easier, carefully aiming at vital areas (like, the head), and giving off short bursts is actually rather efficient, and I have yet to find a room full of enemies that I cannot clear with 1 or 2 Mags of my AK...
Also, the bastardgun is inaccurate as hell, if you tried it out on the range in fullauto, most of the shots don´t even hit the target 5 feet away from you, unless you use bursts (YES, unlike Call of Duty, which just tells you to use bursts because it sounds all military, this game actually MEANS IT!), and so is every other gun to a point, but it is also laughably weak.
If you escorted Bourbon through the Tunnels, turn around, you will find his AK. It is one of THE strongest assaultrifles, damage per round wise, the strongest one being the silenced VSS type rifle, and is also much more accurate then the Bastard.
And no, it doesn´t feel like you can run and gun, at all. You shouldn´t...in this game, taking cover, or using stealth are vital in a firefight with humans, although exept for librarians and that one level which I mentioned earlier where I somehow managed to sneak by multiple mutants, unnoticed, even when one ran into me and wanted to eat me, and I had to introduce it´s neck to my knife, mutants can mostly be defeated by offence. But you can also be smart about your offence, too.
The stealth is awesome...I don´t know what feels broken about it, it´s great. It´s suspenseful, usefull (saving ammo), and athmospheric, as well as self explainatory, and if you fuck up even once, your cover is blown and they are out for your ass.
The guns....the developers really showed great care about the guns. They not only look the part, they also have nice visuals about their mechanics, like the Auto-shotgun Uboyneg, which you have to load a special kind of way to make use of all 6 cylinders it offers, or the Revolver having a little hole for you to see when it´s empty, or most magazines being halfcut, so you can actually see the rounds remaining...this game doesn´t need a HUD for the most part...
You don´t have enough time to invest in the stations? Why not? What is the hurry?
Just because someone tells you to "gear up and get going." doesn´t mean you have to.
Noone is gonna bite your ear off if you take your time, listen to storys, look at the people, knock on doors, give beggars some bullets etc etc... I took alot of time just exploring the stations and levels for every nook and cranny, and get to hear some of the greatest, most athmospheric storys told by people about events I wasn´t there to witness, but through the accounts of these people, felt like I had been. And it felt like a bigger world outside. Like there is something else.
The Nazis? Sure, don´t laugh, there are more Nazis in current russia then there where in germany back in 1940, but there are also communists.
Why are they there? Well, because it is based on a BOOK and there are also various factions in the Metro, so why exclude them, just because they sound silly on paper?
Yeah, let´s add Tunnel Nazis....nooo that would be too strange.
Well, I do admit the game has flaws, but they are most likely not found in the story telling, athmosphere or gameplay department.
One thing I liked the most about the game was the little extra animations they added. You did feel like a human, and not some weird camera on wheels that could hold a gun.
For example, in the Library, Artyom searches through various cabinets, looks at the content and throws them away, puts them back, whatever, and keeps searching. After a while, he kind of snaps and just yanks out these things like crazy, until he notices one marked "D6", the base you are searching info for. So he finds it, and hauls ass to the exit, whereupon a librarian almost kills him, but you are saved in the last second by your comrades. All a cutscene, all first person, and all unplayable, but still feels very much ingame.
Same goes for the HUD...you can look at your watch freely, which has a build in light meter and a timer for when your filters will run out and need to be swapped, which also happens visually. Depending on what gun you are holding, he will look differenty at his watch, using a method most convenient for the kind of weapon he is currently holding.
Putting on the mask, as well as the NVGs, which are really cool btw, is also done in first person.
It´s not like how in other games, you press a button and now the feature is activated, but you really see, hear or feel like you breathe heavily through a used up filter of a gas mask...
Well yeah, I like the game despite it´s flaws, one of the best singleplayer experiences I´ve ever had.
) and Artyom freaks out saying like "Oh no! Not Dark Ones! I hate Dark Ones!"
