Metro 2033 First Look
THQ gave the press some hands-on time with Metro 2033 at a basement club in San
Francisco. An underground location for the event was quite appropriate
given the setting for Metro 2033. If you're Russian, then you'll already
know why because Metro 2033 is based on a novel that has been topping the
Russian bestseller lists. It's set in the near future after an apocalyptic
event has driven the last surviving humans underground into the tunnels of the
Moscow subway system. In the years since the catastrophe, communities have
formed at each of the system's stations making each one its own little city
state. Contact between the stations is limited because the tunnels are a
dangerous place, filled with bandits and mutated creatures from the surface.
In spite of the dangers, people do venture into the tunnels to trade with others
and scavenge for items to bring back to the stations to sell. The truly
intrepid or desperate make their way to the surface to scavenge the treasure
trove of pre-apocalyptic technology and weapons to be found there. The
rewards are great, but so are the risks - the Earth has been so poisoned that
you'll need a gas mask if you hope to survive a walk out in the open. But
it's not
just the elements that will be working against you; the surface is home to all
sorts of large mutated creatures just looking to rip a person to shreds.
And lastly there are the Dark Ones. These creatures are obviously
intelligent and may even be mutated humans that were trapped on the surface
during the apocalypse. The only thing certain is that an encounter with
them is almost always fatal because Dark Ones possess powerful psychic abilities
that can destroy the minds of normal humans. This is the world in which
both the novel and game take place, and if you're intrigued by the story
you'll be happy to learn that an English translation of Metro 2033
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| You never know what may be lurking down the next tunnel |
The game is a first-person shooter that puts you into the shoes of the novel's protagonist, Artyom. Born into the subway, you've never seen the surface of the world. However, a promise to a friend and a fascination with the Earth of old born out of a penchant for collecting old postcards motivate you to volunteer for a mission that will take you away from the station. After your first encounter with the Dark Ones you not only learn that you're immune to their attacks, but that they might not be attacks after all...
One of the things that the developers really want to do with the game is to immerse the player into the world of the novel. Dispensing with any kind of HUD was a given, but they've gone well beyond that. They've succeeded in creating an intriguing atmosphere for the game and your immersion into it begins where you do, in your home station. The living conditions are camped and crowded, and as you wander through the station you're immersed in an environment that feels quite real. As you make your way past living quarters, kitchens, animal pens, and markets, you'll fell like there actually is a small city crammed into a subway station and its adjacent tunnels. This feeling is further reinforced by the station's inhabitants who engage in conversation with each other as you pass. In fact, there's so much ambient conversation that the constant din is reminiscent of that in a crowded restaurant, and as in such a restaurant you'll sometimes struggle a bit to hear what the person speaking to you is saying.
The tunnels of the derelict subway station sit in stark contrast to the liveliness of the station. Dark and eerily quiet, the confined spaces, minimal lighting, and vicious beasts inhabiting the tunnels all nudge the game towards survival horror territory. Even the wide-open skies of the surface don't do much to alleviate the game's claustrophobic atmosphere. The collapsed buildings, rubble, and debris on the surface keep the quarters tight and you'll only be able to see your surroundings through the constricted view of your gas mask. And you'd better be careful with that mask - the lens can be scratched and cracked, restricting your view even further.
Not surprisingly, weapons play a big role in Metro 2033. Weapons basically fall into one of two categories: pre-apocalypse weapons, which are accurate and powerful, and weapons cobbled together in the subway, which are decidedly not. Guns, especially good ones, are hard to come by in the game, but you'll spend far less time worrying about your arsenal than your ammo. It's not just that ammo is scarce in the game, and it is scarce, ammo drives the game's "bullet economy" as well. In the future of Metro 2033 there's no cash or coin - all transactions are conducted with ammo. Every time that you're attacked you'll need to make your shots count because every extra shot that you take makes you a little bit poorer. And when you're considering upgrading your weapon at an arms merchant's shop, you need to make sure that you have enough bullets left over after the purchase to load your shiny new weapon.