Welp, I guess I'm going to annoy the Metro 2033 fan club. Stop reading if you liked it.
I heard mixed reviews about 2033, even from STALKER-nuts like me. I picked it up cheap on Steam, and I really did try to like it. But it's not a game, its the novel 'Metro 2033'. Oh its certainly true that you have a fair amount of freedom in some areas, like that excruciating escort mission (which I passed by killing all the goo-generating things from Very Far Away), and the multiple paths you can take through the neo-Soviet vs. neo-Nazi battlefield. For much of the game, it does seem to play like a game, if a bit rail-shootery with an economy in name only. I was still going along with it; I had my disbelief suspenders set to maximum.
Then I took stock of the game's problems.
> The story's ending is telegraphed very early. Not foreshadowed; telegraphed. That's poor presentation of the story, which did deserve better. Maybe it was not obvious to every one else?
> Infinitely respawning mutant whatevers in some set-pieces. Even mutants would roam in packs. Packs usually comprise a number less than infinity. I don't get why Yahtzee didn't pick up on this, because infinite mutants is effectively another way of 'raising the stakes' or 'peril level' or whatever to 11. Shouldn't be necessary.
> I couldn't tell if Y.C. was disparaging Metro's stealth, but I certainly am. Stealth set-pieces looked good, but I was undetectable when I should have been obvious, and couldn't stealth through other areas no matter how dark I made it or careful I was. The broken glass was a neat mechanic. Stealth still broken.
> Set pieces where you cannot (usually) be killed. I'm not kidding, once I realized what I had found, I went back and found more in my saved games. That's not a game, that's Dear Esther with a violent backdrop.
> Quick Time Events. Deity Condemned Quick Time Events.
> The entire last part of the game was nothing but busywork until the 'game' got around to the big reveal that I already knew about. Complete with QTE's.
> The game kept wanking off to itself and 'Roadside Picnic'. 'Roadside Picnic' is a great story, but the self-adulation belongs in Duke Nukem Forever. Put your 'weapon' away and tell the story.
I have to conclude that Yahtzee decided that he liked 2033 because he did not play past the escort mission, and enough time had passed that he remembered it fondly. Strangely enough, I'm keen to play it again sometime just to make sure that it deserves all the aforementioned comments. I think that it is the story along with certain gameplay elements that create enough tension for it to be memorable. I like the gas mask mechanic in the above-ground sequences, but if you're having trouble reading your majik compass, chances are that you're also really thin on gas masks. Oh, and why can't you just take the gas mask off the last bloke that you killed? I'd complain about it being cutscene-heavy but they did a better job of telling the story than the gameplay did.
There are certainly worse games, I just think that the Metro 2033 story deserved better execution.
And I'm a little disappointed in Yahtzee for giving it a solid 'meh'.
I do hope that Last Light is a better game.