It might begin with an on-rails sequence, but what follows in 4A Games’ apocalyptic shooter is actually more closely allied to its storytelling roots – roots which lie, after all, in a novel of the same name. As such, it’s a relief to find the game soon taking a step back and reintroducing itself after its opening dramatics as a more free-form experience – closer by blood and in design to another Ukranian-born title, Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl.
An absence of lengthy cutscenes and the relegating of expositional details and refreshers to short load intervals allows the game-world to breathe. It's a world comprising genre influences, from Stalker to Fallout to Red Faction, but it all plays into a bigger picture that serves to help render a backdrop for the human underground camps in which you enter this gruelling world.
By default of its gloomy apocalyptic setting and by fault of its game engine, it isn’t the most attractive firstperson shooter to grace the genre. However, the rugged textures and chunky staging manage to evoke a distinctive atmosphere of gritty survival and hardened community.
You’re eased into a system of trading and scavenging, having been gifted the weaponry for your first mission – a literally on-rails scenario that surprises with its cinematic approach instead of resorting to a mundane shooting gallery. In this world, bullets are currency; deciding between trading and terminating with them is a decision that looks set to present interesting conundrums.
Freedom of choice goes beyond commerce, even within the linear bounds of the opening hours. But your ability to wander can lead to you missing out on key pieces of dialogue delivered just out of range and forgetting to collect items handed over because they’ve been left on a table out of view, but a checkpoint system helps to alleviate chewed nails.
Metro 2033's subject matter may be serious and relevant, but that doesn’t mean 4A is averse to setting a few comical traps. A welcome sense of mischief preys on those who take for granted the immoral activities of a virtual world driven by multiple-choice. One scenario can see you taking a behind the scenes tour of lady-of-the-night Nikki’s boudoir and, not to be spoiled here, the climax isn’t quite what you would expect.
Suiting the dark tone but perhaps not the trigger-happy are distinctly sluggish controls. We suspected in our first feature in E210 that they might struggle to respond to the fast and furious demands of an intricate gunfight, and we still do. But it's as easy to understand that an aged salvaged weapon won't behave like the most finely tuned battle rifle.
Indeed, Metro 2033 makes the very act of survival a central part of its game. At times during our hour's play from its beginning, the difficulty was through poor design, admittedly, but it's largely by the game's own intent. A particular highlight is the gas mask, a necessity for exploring above ground. A tap of the D-pad slams the mask over the heads-up display and frames the screen, limiting view and instilling claustrophobia. It’s a deft and simple touch that adds realism and a tangible sense of threat without a deranged panther in sight.
Yes, panthers. These fast-moving shadows, members of the game's principal foes, the 'Dark Ones', are part of the game's intention of creating figures for which we can all harbour a simple, instinctual fear. Such rabid and unpredictable opponents unfortunately aren't tailored to the controls, though 4A shows restraint in Metro's opening hours, keeping the Dark Ones in the shadows and on the tips of inhabitants’ tongues.
Success will lie in just how much freedom Metro 2033’s world will offer in its crucial mid-section; early on it's more a cast of walled-in micro interactivity, closer to Starbreeze’s Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay than anything grander. Either way, however, the game's sense of place and rough sensibility makes playing exceedingly inviting.