Metro: Last Light is a direct sequel to Metro 2033, a game that developer 4A Games likes to refer to as a "flawed masterpiece." The original game tended to be polarizing: people either raved about it, or couldn't get past its glaring faults. The sequel looks to keep everything that fans loved about Metro 2033 and also improve on some of the well known complaints.
4A Games told us what they're doing to make the experience better, and showed us an action-focused sequence from the upcoming post-apocalyptic survival shooter.
Metro: Last Light (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC) Developer:4A Games Publisher: THQ To be released: 2012
4A Games had a few broad goals driving the development of Last Light. First and foremost, they won't be "Westernizing" or "dumbing down" the game. They intend to preserve the soul and spirit of Metro 2033's Eastern European perspective and appeal to cerebral players who enjoy its slow-paced experiences and investigative gameplay mechanics.
The developers are well aware of the first game's issues, and have rebuilt the gameplay from the ground up to address them. Improvements include AI consistency, as well as weapon and combat systems. The tech behind 4A's proprietary game engine has been overhauled, too -- we can expect things like better dynamic lighting and dynamic destruction.
The Metro series is set in a post-apocalyptic future ravaged by nuclear war. Toxic air has forced Russian civilization underground into the Metro subway system in order to; mutants and other dangers lurk about as well.
Each station in the Metro world is considered an independent city-state, where trade and tensions occur between everyone -- they all seek power. In the case of the demo THQ presented, the main character and his AI partner were infiltrating the Reich-controlled section of the Metro. Their objective was to rescue someone being held prisoner, the key to preventing an impending war within the Metro.
Lighting plays a big part in Metro, so the first couple of sections required the player to shoot out lights in the environment in order to hide in the shadows. Once enemy soldiers made their way past, the player would sneak up on enemies and silently take them out.
After a few more stealthy takedowns, the main character made his way to a guard outpost and took out a couple of waves of guards with his machine and chain guns. Once the area was cleared, the main character regrouped with his AI partner and was informed that the Reich are aware of your presence.
The two then headed towards the rail, where they hopped on a cart and pursued a train carrying the prisoner. The player took out enemies on the train before eventually jumping on-board to find and rescue the prisoner.
That was about it for the demo. 4A focused on an action-oriented sequence as they didn't have enough time to show off anything more involved than the basic action. The sequence reminded me a lot of Call of Duty: Black Ops and the dynamic between main character Alex Mason and Viktor Reznov. The action looked good, but I definitely wish we were shown the other elements that make the Metro series unique and so loved by its fans.
Metro: Last Light will be playable at E3, so we'll have more on the game at the show. Until then, we can at least tell you that Last Light will include a multiplayer mode; more details on that will be coming soon.
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It's going to have multiplayer? So it's getting the Bioshock 2 and Dead Space 2 treatment? Well, it's a good thing adding multiplayer to great single player games always works out well...
"It's going to have multiplayer? So it's getting the Bioshock 2 and Dead Space 2 treatment? Well, it's a good thing adding multiplayer to great single player games always works out well... "
I feel like the guy that's gotta go around and constantly wipe up peoples messes. I mean look at this.. this guy just made the most bizarro correlation...
Bioshock 2 wasn't made by what's now known as Irrational. If there's any failings to be had with that game (and I would agree, it sucked) it's because of that and because the game was a rush job.. and has nothing to do with a multiplayer feature. That's completely coincidental.
Dead Space 2 was a great game and I have no idea what makes you think it somehow was a failure. Maybe you didn't like it but that's definitely not the consensus. I didn't even try the multiplayer but that's besides the point. Having multiplayer sure didn't take away from the single player experience any, because the game was still a blast.
If the survival mechanics they intended to implement in the first Metro come through, I'll definitely check it out. That being said, don't include shotguns if they are going to do less damage than a weasel's fart. I mean, what's the point?
Please for the love all cock lovin' Christ be good. I wanted to love 2033 so much but couldn't finish it as it was just that fawkin' unbearable. Great premise though, loved it to pieces, but couldn't push myself to finish it based on the gameplay.
I know what Master Snake means though. Some games knock it out of the park with unexpected multiplayer (see Uncharted 2). But it takes a very skilled developer to add multiplayer that's unique and doesn't feel tacked on and generic. Hopefully they can pull it off, lest it end up like Condemned 2 or Stranglehold's multiplayer.
I didn't finish the first one, I don't think that I even made it past the few few hours of the game. I don't know, I'll probably try it again eventually but it just didn't grab me like I hoped it would. A lot of the fault like the lackluster gunplay and terrible English voice acting kept holding me back from loving it like I wanted to. I did switch it to Russian but it still didn't help me.
@runtheplacered: I'm not saying Dead Space 2 as a whole sucked. I'm just saying, this is another case of developing putting more and more multiplayer in a game which really doesn't need it as the single player is (arguably) good. I just think they should use the resources they would spend on a multiplayer instead on making the single player even better, especially since Metro 2033 had faults that turned people (Xzyliac for ex.) off from the game.
Now if they make a multiplayer like Pandora Tomorrow or Portal 2 like mrandy said, then feel free to disregard my original statement. We'll see once the game releases.
Weird they focused on the action since every other FPS seems to focus on action.
What made Metro 2033 a memorable experience was the tension created from
Knowing you might not survive your next encounter. Coupled withamazing atmosphere the desperation and despair while scavenging bodies for supplies.
On top of that now resources will be split to se degree with MP development. Sorry but unless they're doing serving interesting it doesn't need multiplayer. It's hard to take players away from CoD or BF. Multiplayer is always at the mercy of it's player pool. If you're not doing something that rivals CoD, Halo or BF then the population dwindled so I often don't understand why bother shoehorning MP into games that work fine without it. However there are exceptions. Assassins Creed: B was interesting but on the flipside of that coin is Dead Space 2 and Bioshock 2 MP. So with Metro: Last Night, I hope I'm wrong and it's a compeling experience worth investing the time.
Day One for me. i loved Metro 2033 picked up a copy on 360 few days after it launched and again for PC when i got new machine. one of my favourite games of all time(i finished it 5 times). hopefully sound design(best sound design in video games, ever?), atmosphere, level design,difficulty and pacing will remain intact. as for shooting and AI those only needed some rebalancing and nothing else.
multiplayer? i don't want it to become another CoD wannabe shooter like it happened with so many games. give me lengthy campaign like in original, maybe some coop mode(Horde would be nice) and different endings.
@Cryotek,
Stalker 2 was already announced - will be released in 2012 and supposedly will be multiplatform title(atleast new engine is multiplatform and there were talks about new game being multiplatform release). i hope it's true - atleast we would get finished product out of the box unlike all past Stalker games.
@Xyliac, IMO the game rules and mechanics were fine if you accepted that they weren't realistic and were sometimes arbitrary, the challenge being to beat it within those rules. Still, here's hoping for some good changes in the sequel.
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 05.31.2011 | 
Wait a minute...
"Sooo...is this still going to be 360 exclusive or should I relegate this one to the 'when I finally get a gaming PC' pile?"
360/PS3/PC. Of course, it's an FPS so it's pretty obvious which of the three you should play it on if you have the option.
"It's going to have multiplayer? So it's getting the Bioshock 2 and Dead Space 2 treatment? Well, it's a good thing adding multiplayer to great single player games always works out well... "
I feel like the guy that's gotta go around and constantly wipe up peoples messes. I mean look at this.. this guy just made the most bizarro correlation...
Bioshock 2 wasn't made by what's now known as Irrational. If there's any failings to be had with that game (and I would agree, it sucked) it's because of that and because the game was a rush job.. and has nothing to do with a multiplayer feature. That's completely coincidental.
Dead Space 2 was a great game and I have no idea what makes you think it somehow was a failure. Maybe you didn't like it but that's definitely not the consensus. I didn't even try the multiplayer but that's besides the point. Having multiplayer sure didn't take away from the single player experience any, because the game was still a blast.
"It's going to have multiplayer? So it's getting the Bioshock 2 and Dead Space 2 treatment?"
Or maybe it's getting the Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow and Portal 2 treatment.
Pussy.
;)
http://www.amarujourneyperu.com
Now if they make a multiplayer like Pandora Tomorrow or Portal 2 like mrandy said, then feel free to disregard my original statement. We'll see once the game releases.
What made Metro 2033 a memorable experience was the tension created from
Knowing you might not survive your next encounter. Coupled withamazing atmosphere the desperation and despair while scavenging bodies for supplies.
On top of that now resources will be split to se degree with MP development. Sorry but unless they're doing serving interesting it doesn't need multiplayer. It's hard to take players away from CoD or BF. Multiplayer is always at the mercy of it's player pool. If you're not doing something that rivals CoD, Halo or BF then the population dwindled so I often don't understand why bother shoehorning MP into games that work fine without it. However there are exceptions. Assassins Creed: B was interesting but on the flipside of that coin is Dead Space 2 and Bioshock 2 MP. So with Metro: Last Night, I hope I'm wrong and it's a compeling experience worth investing the time.
Tl;dr: does it really need MP?
multiplayer? i don't want it to become another CoD wannabe shooter like it happened with so many games. give me lengthy campaign like in original, maybe some coop mode(Horde would be nice) and different endings.
Stalker 2 was already announced - will be released in 2012 and supposedly will be multiplatform title(atleast new engine is multiplatform and there were talks about new game being multiplatform release). i hope it's true - atleast we would get finished product out of the box unlike all past Stalker games.
Also: AWESOME! More Metro is very high on my excitement meter!
Very well put together, great music, and good teasing. I'd say that this is one of the game trailers of the year.