Super looking forward to it. Last Light and S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 will make for lots of atmospheric scary fun

Oh, god, Jelly Level was the worst. Talk about unprepared: I had about fifteen shots across three guns. And the dude... just barreling through it like nothing bad was going on.

Another thing I'd like to see in Last Light is the Shadow People or whatever they were called; the ones that represent something that happened in the past. The Nosalis and Kid one was wicked eerie.

I'm really excited for this, but my only issue is with the story, and that it's following Artyom again. Which doesn't really make sense with the ending of the novel.

I liked Metro 2033, had very creepy atmosphere and haunting locations that made me stop and wonder for a moment. The engine is beyond gorgeous, the ammo barter system was pretty clever, and the weapons were interesting (though very limited.) However, that said, there are several issues I hope will not return for the sequel, though I won't hold my breath... It was such a shame that an otherwise excellent game would be marred by such bitter disappointments - design decisions that are so old they almost seem like Cold War relics themselves:

- Invisible walls. Even minor detours are not possible, and some of the most bizarre areas have them: a foot-high rock pile outside? Impassable. A small fence up to your knees? Impassable. Once I managed to hop over a railing to land safely on a lower section (allowing me to snipe my enemies from behind) but when I tried to move back towards the main platform - an empty path in front of me - I couldn't do it, and I couldn't go back up either. Had to reload the whole level because I was completely stuck. It gets even worse outside when certain "invisible walls" kill you instantly: instead of jumping into a shallow gulley, which leads directly to your objective, the game punishes you for not following the designated path exactly. Which leads me to...

- Bad checkpoints. You could get shot by the very last guy on a level and be forced to do the whole tiresome sequence again. Or worse, sometimes you'll be walking down a tunnel, expecting to be able to turn back to finish what you were doing (collecting ammo, exploring side passages, or just admiring the sights) when without warning you'll wander into the next level with no chance to return.

- Cutscenes. Everytime you remove control from the player and just make him watch, it stops being a game. Heinous waste of the game's potential, and really jarring.

- Invulnerable enemies. Another way to stop your game from being a game: change the rules for "dramatic" purposes. Doesn't matter how many flying demons you've killed with your bare hands, if the game doesn't want you to kill a certain creature, don't even waste your ammo on it. Which, of course, completely svcks the tension out of a scene - you just sit and watch and wait for it to be over.

- Slow plot delivery. Towards the end of the game, when you're following the other guys into the control center, I was running circles around the NPCs cursing how [censored] slow they were! Like a bunch of first-year drama students hamming it up on the stage, painfully wooden dialogue, and drip-drip-drip slow. At this point I just wanted the game to be over already, but it seems like they saved all the plot for the end, where it sits like a lead weight on the action.

- Quick-time events. Have these ever been done well? Maybe a couple of times, but certainly not in this game. Example: you're falling off a ladder. Tap F to save yourself! Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap... Congratulations, you are safe! But at no time did I actually feel in danger, that's the problem. QTE's are a pathetic minigame addition, a vestigial feature of token gameplay with no place in a FPS. They simply do not add any depth to a scene, nor any sense of control to the player - quite the opposite, in fact.

I really wanted to like Metro 2033 all the way to the end, but about two-thirds of the way through I was already bored and all of the above was really starting to grate on me. It was such a shame: a beautiful game that tries so hard to limit that beauty with unrewarding exploration and little chance to admire it. I slogged through just to see the ending, which wasn't really worth it in retrospect - there was nothing explained, nothing learned, nothing achieved. But, then again, there was also nothing lost but time, and at least the sunset (sunrise?) was gorgeous.

Same reaction.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I never had an interest in the game until I watched this video. So hilarious. I'm gonna go buy it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkuDGN-aQgA if anyone hasn't seen it!

thats a nice trailer. I

Although not the best source, Wikipedia states Last Light will follow the book Metro 2034. 2033 was an awesome game, looking forward to this one big time.

This isn't true.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/31/metro-last-light-preview/

This.

They need to balance the weapons, IIRC, I got a very good weapon too early in the game, making getting other weapons useless and pointless.

FYI, I read the first book, it's an enjoyable read, try it.

Yay it's for ps3, i was so sad when i heard it was an xbox exlusive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCVREJyyZWA&hd=1

Now that's what scripted on rails FPS games should be like.

Hear, hear. But then they wouldn't be "scripted on rail" FPS games, they would be "stealth at will" FPS games. The kind of freedom I like.

Enemies can surrender now. And that campfire thingy, it was not interactive like that before. Animated stealth kills. Nice additions.

i'm pretty sure that was a scripted one-off.

i'd like less nosalises in Last Light. by less i mean none. they were the biggest thing that ruined the first game for me and kept me from ever being able to really like it. i'd also like more fights with people, since the checkpoint battles in the first were great fun.

overall i'd like 4A to loosen their reigns on the player and allow for a bit of exploration and freedom. Last Light isn't directly based on a book so there's nothing keeping them from opening the game world up a bit. i'm fine with linearity but 6-hour escort missions in a corridor shooter isn't really my idea of a good time, regardless of how pretty or atmospheric it is. i don't want a SANDBOX GAME, but i feel they'd have a much better game on their hands if they looked more at Bioshock and less at Call of Duty.

There was one thing I really missed in that gameplay footage, though: The feeling of vulnerability and 'being in over your head' that the first game had in spades
Artyom really shouldn't feel like a gun-slinging hero, imho.

I doubt the whole game will be like that. It would be a kick in the balls to what the first one is/was. (I say is because I'm playing through it right now haha)

If this one doesn't have quicksaving I'm not even going to bother playing it.

I like Russian games

They always have a sense of hardcoe that to me is somewhat like having your head repeatedly smashed side long into a cast iron radiator.. with a brick.


..after a fifth of vodka.

Would you reccomend the first one? I don't really like horror games, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Yes. Its not a horror game at all imo. its got a great atmosphere though.

I dont like the look of the second one. Miniguns and quick knife kills :/

Thanks. Any idea if THQ will host an all games 66% off all games that were 66% off on the final day of the sale, so I can get it then? Anyone feeling generous ?

I know what you mean. STALKER and Metro have an unique feel that just isn't present in any other games i've played. And yes, i know GSC is Ukranian

And that quote earlier, "We don't want to westernize it" is a good thing. Now if they would get rid of limited weapons, health regeneration and checkpoint saves only too...

Though apart from the last those aren't so bad in Metro since you still have plenty of weapon categories and health packs despite the regeneration.

Sometimes I feel like Devs ignore health systems like Metro's, that are a compromise between pure regen and pure health packs, just to be dikes