Metro: Last Light Кatch-all

Those screenshots look so good. I want to play this. Hope the reviews warrant a release-week purchase.

Overall positive reviews from the voices I care about:

Eurogamer is the most critical:

Metro: Last Light is not a bad game, but nor is it a good one in quite the same sense as its predecessor. Metro 2033 was flawed but trying to do its own thing. If anything, Last Light feels like a regression. Similarities abound, but this is a more conservative FPS, one looking at the competition rather than itself, and one with some terrible missteps.

Edge points to big improvements:

Foremost among its improvements is the way Last Light handles stealth. [... A] blue lozenge on returning protagonist Artyom’s always-visible watch lets you know when you’re in shadow, and a stab of strings serves as a reminder of the danger when you venture from the gloom.

And Tom Chick is nothing but laudatory (DLC notwithstanding):

They understand setting, mood, lighting, emotions. If a game is just going to trundle you along an amusement park ride of shooting men and monsters, sometimes quite literally on rails, with breaks to overhear conversations if you’re so inclined, this is how to do it. And this is also how long to do it. Some will call Last Light a short game; I call it a game without any filler. I also call it one of the best straight-up (neat, no chaser, no RPG elements, no branching storyline) shooters since Half-Life, mute protagonist and all.

Finally have the rest of the evening to play. There's a beta driver that I didn't even realize was available for Nvidia cards. Supposed to specifically be for Metro LL and give a 10% improvement or so. I just hope it fixes the slight hitching I'm experiencing. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Edit: Well, the drivers improved the average frame rate by 5-10 FPS when I tested with the benchmark. I turned tesselation on to normal which looks very cool. You can see it on the poofy jackets. My microstutter issue seems to really increase with it on, so I'm turning it back off.

You can see those square bits on the jacket really pop out with tesselation on. I never noticed it last night, so I'm pretty sure that setting caused that effect.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Y4gwyGbl.jpg)

I can now confirm that there are really cool, beautiful areas of the Metro in this game unlike the last one!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/sy2nuEil.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/u6DBdTul.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/R8MbZcrl.jpg)

(PC version)
I tried some of the game at a friend's. It looks great, as is clearly evident by Tuffalo's screenshots. It controls very smoothly, so it's enjoyable to play, generally speaking. I'd say much more than its predecessor.

However, the AI is some of the worst I've experienced in a long while. For a game of this caliber, in any case. This is on the normal Ranger mode, and I swear, the NPCs are basically clueless, at least during combat. I'm regularly able to cross paths with an enemy, in full sprint, and he will steadfastly continue searching for me, as I am apparently a ghost. It's occasionally coupled with a generic "investigate" line, like "I thought I heard something." That's always a good laugh.

The FOV is definitely somewhat irritating. It's also been confirmed as set in stone, because of first person animations. Same as the Zeno Clash sequel. Another issue I'm having is that in both Ranger modes there's no ammo counter for regular bullets, which, while "realistic", makes it difficult to prepare for combat.

Much of my trouble is apparently due to the Ranger difficulty setting, so I'll advise any purchasers to either wait for a patch, or maybe simply play on Normal or Hardcore.

FYI, 4A Games announced this morning that they'll be adding the ability to adjust FOV through the configuration files a la Metro 2033 in an upcoming patch.

I fired up the PS3 version (Ranger Mode) last night and, while it will not beat the PC version in the graphics department, the game looks great and the art design is incredible.

I am still working through the tutorial sections, but the mechanics feel good so far. Creeping through the Metro and knifing enemies in the dark has been fun and I am looking forward to getting deeper into the experience.

An astonishing story from Jason Rubin on the abhorrent conditions 4A Games had to work under and what they created in spite of that. This is an incredible read. I can't imagine what drives people to continue to want to make something amazing in those conditions and with what were clearly inept people at THQ running the show before Rubin arrived. It's amazing what this team has managed to put out given that.

Let's be honest: 4A was never playing on a level field. The budget of Last Light is less than some of its competitors spend on cut scenes, a mere 10 percent of the budget of its biggest competitors. Yet it is lauded for its story and atmosphere. It is built on a completely original and proprietary second-generation engine that competes with sequels that have stopped numbering themselves, with more engineers on their tech than 4A has on the entire project. Yet its tech chops are never in question.
When 4A needed another dev kit, or high-end PC, or whatever, someone from 4A had to fly to the States and sneak it back to the Ukraine in a backpack lest it be "seized" at the border by thieving customs officials. After visiting the team I wanted to buy them Aeron office chairs, considered a fundamental human right in the west. There were no outlets in the Ukraine, and our only option was to pack a truck in Poland and try to find an "expediter" to help bribe its way down to Kiev. We gave up not because this tripled the cost, but because we realized that the wider Aeron chairs would require spreading out people and computers, which would lead to extra desks, and that ultimately would have required bigger offices. Yes, really.
heavyfeul wrote:

Creeping through the Metro and knifing enemies in the dark has been fun and I am looking forward to getting deeper into the experience.

It never gets old.

Don't read the following until you get 3-4 hours in or so, but it's related to that.

Spoiler:

There's a spot where you are in a secluded section of the Metro tunnels. You can hear a woman begging for her life off in a side area. So, as you go in, you hear the guys talking about her. They sound disgusting and are presumably going to rape her. I basically walked really quickly through a couple train cars, no crouch, they both have their backs to you and are separated a bit as one is standing watch. Knifed the first guy and moved straight on to the second who was looming over the woman. Knifed him. The woman remains hysterical and doesn't really respond at that point. It was a pretty interesting bit. Someone came to check on the guys after a bit, and I shot him in the face.

On that note, there really isn't a good female presence in this game so far. They don't seem to have worked on developing any good female characters. You really see women in the game portrayed as victims for the most part. Even in the "city" sections, you don't really interact with any female characters.

I stayed up playing far too late last night and made it to Venice. The game is very easy on normal. I haven't died yet. I did actually come pretty close to dying in a little section right before Venice due to almost running out of ammo during a monster assault.

The game looks absolutely fantastic and I love the feel of gritty realism. If I get it it'll be on 360. Looking at graphics comparisons the PC is obviously stellar but 360 is good enough for me.

Man, I really need to convince the missus that it is time to spend $Texas for a new video card.

I think the console version looks really good. The beauty of the art design and attention to detail are wonderful to behold. I often find myself just looking around taking it all in, which then sinks me deeper into the game's world. I do not think you are sacrificing much playing on the console. The experience, qualitatively, should be very similar.

Giantbomb's refreshingly sensible quick look really sold me on the game.

In the beginning about Ann

Spoiler:

Of course they go for the easy "don't look at my ass" line. They pretty much didn't sex her up but they go for that line.

JohnKillo wrote:

In the beginning about Ann

Spoiler:

Of course they go for the easy "don't look at my ass" line. They pretty much didn't sex her up but they go for that line.

Yup. I winced.

Picked it up today at EB Games since we were at a mall. I hadn't pre-ordered, but the clerk gave me the code for Ranger mode anyway. She said the store had lots and she didn't agree with it being a $5 extra. So: thank you, Liz at the EB Games.

Now to convince my wife that tonight's American Idol has been mysteriously canceled...

Regarding the PC version. People were complaining about auto aim. I don't think there actually is auto aim on. At any rate, I haven't noticed anything strange about the shooting. It all feels pretty good. I think people just looked at the user.cfg file and since that is one of the first lines assumed that auto aim was on. If you look carefully at it, most of the settings listed are different from what the settings are that you choose in game. So, editing that file does not do anything. I even tested it trying to turn the weapon HUD off which did nothing.

heavyfeul wrote:

I think the console version looks really good. The beauty of the art design and attention to detail are wonderful to behold. I often find myself just looking around taking it all in, which then sinks me deeper into the game's world. I do not think you are sacrificing much playing on the console. The experience, qualitatively, should be very similar.

Agreed. I even made Mrs. Gravey look at the flies in the lights of Artyom's quarters. There are flies! That's phenomenal attention to detail that really lends believability to the world. All the other details in the art, and the lighting, are just stunning. This is every bit as beautiful as 2033.

I'm in the middle of escaping from Nazis right now (plus ça change), and the only thing I've found really irksome so far was how Artyom and Khan and Anne etc kept banging on about how I destroyed the Dark Ones. No I didn't! I spared them! I spaaaaaared them...

I've never played Metro 2033, but I had heard good things, so Last Light was on my radar. The positive buzz encouraged me to pick this up today for the PS3. I only played about an hour, but it's atmospheric as hell. I'm also using the Russian audio, which helps out with the dark and depressing atmosphere. So far, I'm very intrigued.

Amazon has Metro 2033 on sale right now for $5 for their PC downloadable version, if anyone hasn't played it.

Aristophan wrote:

I've never played Metro 2033, but I had heard good things, so Last Light was on my radar. The positive buzz encouraged me to pick this up today for the PS3. I only played about an hour, but it's atmospheric as hell. I'm also using the Russian audio, which helps out with the dark and depressing atmosphere. So far, I'm very intrigued.

I started with Russian audio, but restarted with English. I'd love to play it all in Russian with subs but I don't want to miss overhearing those background conversations.

I finally found a thread discussing the stuttering issue on Nvidia cards. I'm definitely not the only one. I'm already 4-5 hours in or so, but I think I'll put the game down for awhile until a driver update happens.

I'm sticking with English for the first playthrough. The side conversations are nice and I don't want subtitles mucking up screenshots. If I go through the game a second time, I may switch to Russian for a bit.

Edit: Guru3D did a detailed analysis that charts the stuttering issue. It seems to be game engine related, so I hope that 4A can manage to fix it.

Gravey wrote:
heavyfeul wrote:

I think the console version looks really good. The beauty of the art design and attention to detail are wonderful to behold. I often find myself just looking around taking it all in, which then sinks me deeper into the game's world. I do not think you are sacrificing much playing on the console. The experience, qualitatively, should be very similar.

Agreed. I even made Mrs. Gravey look at the flies in the lights of Artyom's quarters. There are flies! That's phenomenal attention to detail that really lends believability to the world. All the other details in the art, and the lighting, are just stunning. This is every bit as beautiful as 2033.

I'm in the middle of escaping from Nazis right now (plus ça change), and the only thing I've found really irksome so far was how Artyom and Khan and Anne etc kept banging on about how I destroyed the Dark Ones. No I didn't! I spared them! I spaaaaaared them...

Weekend Confirmed reviewed Last Light and Garnett Lee talks about how good the console version looks compared to the PC. He felt the differences are immaterial. Also...

Everyone on the show really liked the game and Garnett raves about the sneaking, as it reminds him of Thief.

Obviously, I'm the one relatively obsessed with the graphics aspect. I totally agree that it's not the most important part of the game. The gameplay is great. I hope they fix the stutter issue so that I can get completely immersed without distraction. If that doesn't happen, I can still mange to get lost in the world with minimal effort.

Played two hours last night, and it's the most enjoyable game I've played in a good long while.

And FWIW I have an old nvidia card but no stutter that I've noticed. Does that only happen on newer cards?

heavyfeul wrote:

Everyone on the show really liked the game and Garnett raves about the sneaking, as it reminds him of Thief.

It's not QUITE that good but the sneaking is GREAT in this game. and I always appreciate a game that tries to give you some non-lethal approaches to things. There are large chunks of this game you can probably go through without killing anyone, Even Nazis.

Having a LOT of fun with this so far.

and it's PERFECTLY SAFE if you're an Arachnophobe! Promise! Absolutely zero horrible mutant spiders, guaranteed.

Spoiler:

I LIED! This has ALL of the spiders!

Gravey wrote:
Aristophan wrote:

I've never played Metro 2033, but I had heard good things, so Last Light was on my radar. The positive buzz encouraged me to pick this up today for the PS3. I only played about an hour, but it's atmospheric as hell. I'm also using the Russian audio, which helps out with the dark and depressing atmosphere. So far, I'm very intrigued.

I started with Russian audio, but restarted with English. I'd love to play it all in Russian with subs but I don't want to miss overhearing those background conversations.

Yeah, I started with Russian as well. Sounds very cool, but I'm missing those conversations around me sometimes. I'm probably going to change it back.

I wonder if not killing people has an effect on the ending?

I got this out of the Redbox yesterday and have played about an hour.

I really struggle with the pacing in these games. I guess some people enjoy listening to the conversations that strangers are having all around, but it's too passive for me. That's not what I look for in games. It reminds me of the boring part of Assassin's Creed, where you walk next to someone in the city for five minutes while they yap at you.

Also, I'm just not keen on post-apocalyptic settings anymore. They feel really tired. Between Metro, Fallout, The Walking Dead, Rage, Gears of War, Darksiders, Bioshock, Singularity, I am Alive, and Enslaved (sixteen games I've played among those properties) I've become numb to the whole idea over this generation. Does Borderlands count? Feels like it might. Even posting this has me a little hesitant on The Last of Us, now. It's definitely keeping me from looking into playing the Resistance series.

It's perhaps bad form to call back to my personal favorites, but Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger handled the apocalypse in far more interesting ways than any of these games. In both, you see the world as it was, you see how and why things happened, and you see the aftermath. I suppose I shouldn't tell these newer games to be what they aren't, but so many of them show just the aftermath and wave away questions about the other two parts that it feels like cop-out collusion. I'm sure this has to do with the difficulty/cost in rendering so many different environments now, but eh.

babakotia wrote:

And FWIW I have an old nvidia card but no stutter that I've noticed. Does that only happen on newer cards?

I'm not sure. It does seem to be an issue for a fair number of people, though. At any rate, enjoy the smooth framerate!