I actually thought that Metro 2033 was one of the best story-driven FPSs in recent years. Certainly better than the multitude of Super Solider driven modern war shooters.
The story was interesting and well-told. The environment was deeply enthralling, both the frozen, nuclear-blasted over-world and the claustrophobic and grimy underworld.
The fact that Military-Grade ammo is both money AND bullets is sort of the point. It's not a downside to the game, it's a feature. You're given the choice of either saving it for more powerful guns, or using it to survive a fire-fight. It's not so much no-win, as an active choice on the part of the gamer. It's a win-now versus win-later scenario; instant gratification or gratification later-on.
Although I did find that the automatic shotgun was woefully underpowered. Hitting anything with that felt hollow, like I was either missing or it didn't even work. The double-barreled Duplet shotgun was much more effective, especially when giving both barrels at point-blank.
I also thought the stealth elements of the game were really well done. You're not a super-soldier, so sticking to the shadows with the spear-gun or super-bb-gun worked really well for me.
I'll admit the game's not perfect though. The shooting tends to feel a little on the hollow side. The enemies seem to just absorb the rounds rather then react to them. Especially with the aforementioned shotgun. Occasionally the enemy will stumble after getting hit, but most of the time they seem impervious until they actually die.
And on the x360, the controls kind of suck. The inventory could have used a lot of work. For only having like 6 or 8 items, it can be hard to select them.
OH. And play the game in English. I know the voice acting isn't very good, but when you play it in Russian, the game doesn't subtitle EVERYTHING that's being said. You can miss some really important stuff. In one level I got stuck and frustrated because one of the conversations you can listen-in on actually gives you the trick to beating the level. But it's all in unsubtitled Russian, so I missed it. VERY FRUSTRATING.
The story was interesting and well-told. The environment was deeply enthralling, both the frozen, nuclear-blasted over-world and the claustrophobic and grimy underworld.
The fact that Military-Grade ammo is both money AND bullets is sort of the point. It's not a downside to the game, it's a feature. You're given the choice of either saving it for more powerful guns, or using it to survive a fire-fight. It's not so much no-win, as an active choice on the part of the gamer. It's a win-now versus win-later scenario; instant gratification or gratification later-on.
Although I did find that the automatic shotgun was woefully underpowered. Hitting anything with that felt hollow, like I was either missing or it didn't even work. The double-barreled Duplet shotgun was much more effective, especially when giving both barrels at point-blank.
I also thought the stealth elements of the game were really well done. You're not a super-soldier, so sticking to the shadows with the spear-gun or super-bb-gun worked really well for me.
I'll admit the game's not perfect though. The shooting tends to feel a little on the hollow side. The enemies seem to just absorb the rounds rather then react to them. Especially with the aforementioned shotgun. Occasionally the enemy will stumble after getting hit, but most of the time they seem impervious until they actually die.
And on the x360, the controls kind of suck. The inventory could have used a lot of work. For only having like 6 or 8 items, it can be hard to select them.
OH. And play the game in English. I know the voice acting isn't very good, but when you play it in Russian, the game doesn't subtitle EVERYTHING that's being said. You can miss some really important stuff. In one level I got stuck and frustrated because one of the conversations you can listen-in on actually gives you the trick to beating the level. But it's all in unsubtitled Russian, so I missed it. VERY FRUSTRATING.
