Wow, this review seemed so unfair that it actually made me register here, even though I've been visiting the site for years, and set things straight.
If I were to sum up this game in one word, it would be "compelling". The game is definitely rough around the edges. The story isn't very well explained but whatever story is there, it's very well told. It doesn't employ an in-your-face explanation, but tells it through the environment - the cramped metros, pigs being reared in small, dirty markets, old war veterans begging for ammo, people sleeping on mats wherever there's enough space and somehow still trying to see the lighter side of life - "I serve the best drinks in this part of metro because I'm the only one serving drinks here.". Not a great line, I'll admit, but it works in this setting. It paints quite a depressing picture, and the developers should be lauded for putting such an effort which is rarely seen in games today.
Even the over-world is well realized. It's lonely and depressing especially when you get separated from your team. You'll usually be glad that someone is accompanying you through your mission. This is only because of the great characters you meet(with the exception of Ulman, although his "Invisible watchers" joke was pretty funny
). The low-point of the story for me was definitely the Dark Ones. Their motives were never fully explained and I was left wondering what exactly I was saving my "Exhibition" Metro from.
The game also has a moral choice system, if you can believe it, which unlocks an alternate ending. Things like scavenging ammo and medkit from a dead comrade will earn you a negative one, while giving alms will earn a positive one. But it isn't always clear what actions you have to take to unlock it, but it's addition definitely increases the game's depth.
Combat may not be great, but the sense of accomplishment you get when you do it the right way is phenomenal. Fighting mutants for me wasn't very engaging, but fighting the nazis and the reds was fun. My approach was to stealth kill a few first and then gun down the remaining few. Conserving ammo is pretty important, although it's not as frustrating as it would seem to be. You just have to make every shot count. Are you good at taking headshots? Not good enough for this game! You've to aim exactly at the gap where the helmet ends and the armor begins! There was this one scenario wherein two guards were patrolling back and forth there was a patch of darkness in their patrolling route which was the only safe place to take one of them out without alerting the other one. So when you turn on the night vision , equip your revolver-turned-silenced-sniper-rifle, and place a shot right in the guys neck while he's passing through the dark patch for just a couple of seconds, you'll know how rewarding this game can be.
In another scenario, I was passing through a maze of dilapidated cars and my cover got blown, so instead of just emptying rounds after rounds into the enemies, I took careful shots hiding behind cars and cracked their gas masks which led to their suffocation and death.
The game does have a few weak points though. The partly-silent protagonist didn't really work for me. I mean, the guy spoke as a narrator before each level which made his silence in-game more awkward. Also, I really wanted to explore Polis, which seemed like the biggest metro station of all. It even had a small government to boot, but the game never gave a chance to see more of it.
It's turning out to be quite a lengthy post. If you've made it this far, then I hope I've convinced you into at least giving this game a rental. It really feels like a game crafted with a lot of care, especially considering that it's the studio's first game. Please support games like these. We need more of them.
PS: I played it on the PC. AMD 955BE 3.2 quad, 6GB RAM, 1GB ATI5770, Windows 7, DirectX 10. Settings at "High".
