I don’t think there could be a worse fate than being forced to spend the rest of my life living in a tube station. If it were the London Underground at least it would probably be a relatively peaceful existence akin to living in a poorly ventilated monastery that had taken a vow of silence. Anyone caught so much as making eye contact or idle conversation would be banished to live down in the tunnels with the mole people.
This is the premise of Metro 2033, adapted from the fantastic novel of the same name by Russian author Dimitri Glukowsky. After a nuclear war between Russia and the US in 2013 irradiates the surface of the planet, the citizens of Moscow are forced to carve out a new life for themselves in one of the world’s largest underground rail systems/ nuclear fallout shelters.
Set twenty years after life as we know it came to an abrupt and violent end, society within the Metro has evolved into a complex network of city states who pledge allegiance to either the Independent Rangers, Communist Red Line, or Fascist Fourth Reich. Whilst the Reich and the Red Line battle it out for control of the Metro, the Rangers are fighting (and losing) their own war against the Dark Ones: a sinister group of humanoid mutants that live in the system’s tunnels and have been wiping the population of entire stations off the map.
Metro Redux bundles together Metro 2033 and its sequel, Last Light (plus all of its DLC) together into a remastered package that shows the likes of Square Enix and Sony exactly how it should be done.
Although both games have received a fair amount of gameplay adjustments and tweaks. 2033 has had the most attention lavished upon it, to the point that you’d almost think it was a brand new game at times. 4A have really gone town with this restoration, rather than just upscaling the original 2009 release, they’ve rebuilt the entire game in Last Light’s (much more capable) engine, replacing the games original models with the superior versions from Last Light and with much higher quality ones.
A welcome by-product of 2033 being remade in the Last Light Engine is that it no longer trips over its own feet, so to speak, as the clunky interface and gun mechanics of the original have been replaced with the far tighter controls of the sequel; The gun play is more fluid and switching weapons and equipment is far easier. Several new abilities from Last Light have also been added to the mix, including the ability to perform non-lethal take downs as well as wipe your gas mask.
These numerous enhancements create a much more refined experience than the original, especially on consoles, where the improved frame rate and increase in resolution help to further distance Redux from last generation’s ports. Though serviceable, especially in the case of Last Light, they could never hope to compete with the far superior PC version.
Once again, the PC version leads the pack in terms of pure graphical grunt and technical ability, with support for 4k resolutions and enhanced lighting features that the Ps4/Xbox One versions lack. Be warned though, you’ll need a fairly beefy rig to pull that off.
The most interesting (and quite iterally game changing) new addition to both 2033 and Last Light is the ability to play both games in either Survival or Spartan mode which drastically change the feel of each game.
Survival mode sets the game up in the same way as the original 2033 – limited ammo and supplies, tough enemy encounters and the general feeling that every fight is hard won. Finding yourself out of ammo and surrounded by mutants is a very real possibility for the unwary.
On the other hand, Spartan mode replicates the more action heavy, run and gun feel of Last Light. Ammo is plentiful, creatures fall before your hail of bullets and the game does a wonderful job of making you feel like a bad ass monster-killer.
If you’re feeling up to the challenge, Ranger Mode makes a return. Limited ammo and supplies, tough monsters and high-powered weapons creating some incredibly tense stand offs and all HUD assists turned off, forcing players to keep an eye on their oxygen and health levels by themselves. It’s a gruelling challenge on either title but provides the best representation of the harsh realities of post-apocalyptic Moscow, adding an additional level of realism and immersion that is well worth the extra effort.
Sadly, the one thing that hasn’t been tweaked is the voice acting, which (in English at least) is still best described as ‘The Steve Blum show’, and as much as I loved the dulcet tones of Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, his turn as Bourbon, not to mention half of the remaining population of Moscow, did begin to grate after a while. The worst offender, however, was the bizarre use of adult voice actors to play the roles of small children, making the already slightly too-doll-like munchkins far more creepy than cute. The one point in 2033 when you’re made to escort one of these abominations, carrying the thing on your back made me want to shake the little bugger off and place several slugs in its head rather than reunite it with its mother.
This can all be remedied by changing the audio to Russian and turning on English Subtitles which I’d recommend giving a go, as it makes everything feel a little more authentic and is generally more pleasant on the ear than the strained and unintentionally-comical cast of the English dub.
Despite this minor grumble, it’s well worth picking up Redux for your shiny new PS4 or Xbox One, especially if you’ve not played the Metro games before. At only £30, Redux is not only a bargain but the the perfect opportunity to experience one of last gen’s most original, compelling and criminally-overlooked FPS series.
The complete antithesis of the wackiness of the Fallout series, Metro represents a much more grounded and eeriliy-plausible version of life on a post-apocalyptic Earth. From the perpetual nuclear winter of the surface, the struggles and the social commentary of life in the Metro and the ever-present dangers of the new world’s vicious fauna, Metro 2033 and Last Light are two games that deserve to be in every gamer’s collection.
