Metro: Last Light Review

Great Mix of Stealth and Action
The path that gamers will tackle will involve two things; going through stealthy approach or go-in like Rambo style. Regardless of what you choose, the experience you will get in two play styles will be rewarding. Stealth in Last Light is similar to the Metro 2033 where as long as you stay out of the enemy’s line of sight, you’re pretty much invisible to them and thus you can do the stealth kills. Enemies raising an alarm will depend on how you kill them. If at some point you try to shoot a bulb to turn off the light, enemies near that area will hear it and will cause them to investigate. Other times hitting the helmet instead of a clean headshot will ultimately raise an alarm. The success in doing stealth will require patience and once you get through without alerting someone, the feeling will be rewarding.

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To those who prefer Rambo play-style, it will require a challenge as well. Enemy A.I. is decent where they can outflank you at different directions. As long as you can stay hidden, and get out from the enemy line of sight, you can do the killing though it’s not guaranteed you will survive as your enemies can appear randomly from anywhere in the game. If the original mode seems easy for you, there’s a Ranger Mode that offers a much greater challenge as ammo will be limited and the A.I. of the enemies will be much harder and tweaked to make them ultra sensitive to noises.

NOT

Glitches and Frame Rate Issues
I played Metro Last Light on both the PC and Xbox 360 version. In comparison, the PC version sure has beautiful visuals but occasional crashes are to be expected. In my nine hour adventure through the Metro, I’ve encountered a couple of crashes that forces me to close the game. Frame rate drops happen occasionally despite doing the ‘recommended’ optimal settings for my gaming rig (Intel i7 2700K, GTX 670, 8GB RAM). Though the problems happen very ocassionally, gamers who plays will neglect these flaws right away.

As for the console version, one of the things that you can expect to see, especially on the Xbox 360 version is the frequent pop ins. Going from one area to the next, you will see the textures loading as you walk. If you decide to install the game on the hard drive, it will ease up the frequent pop ups, but it will still be there happening occasionally. Glitches are here and there where you’ll see enemies getting stuck in the wall as soon as they’re down, although they’re not really game-breaking glitches. As for lock ups, it only happened to me once luckily.

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Your Typical First Person Shooter
Aside from having a good story, Metro Last Light is simply just your typical first person shooter that does not offer anything new on the table that will make the game innovative. The same exact formula from Metro 2033 is found in the game where you go from one place to another. The path that you tackle in Last Light is pretty linear though the path to the end is a memorable one since the story behind the game will be a reason enough to play the game through the end. Those who are expecting something revolutionary in terms of its first person shooter aspect, they’ll be disappointed.

Somewhat Easy
If you play the Original mode, you will not get any sort of challenge in playing. The game is simply easy on that mode as you can blaze through it pretty quickly. Those who are seeking for a far greater challenge should look into playing the Ranger Mode in which the difficulty will be bumped out making the A.I more aware of your presence, less ammo, and no HUD to guide you along. The original mode itself under the normal difficulty took me roughly nine hours, while easy, it’s a good experience nevertheless.

VERDICT

Editor's Choice AwardThe continuation of Metro 2033 is indeed an enthralling experience. Story wise, the game succeeds in every way possible, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table when compared to the original. Regardless, the story is filled with twists and turns, which should motivate you to continue on with your journey. As for the gameplay, it’s a slightly better experience, though still largely the same. Overall, Metro: Last Light deserves a chance in your collection, regardless of whether or not you’ve played the first game. If you can get past the few minor flaws, I can almost guarantee you’ll enjoy what Last Light has to offer.

[Editor’s Note: Metro: Last Light was reviewed on the PC and Xbox 360 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]