METRO 2033

Before sinking your teeth into the new Metro: Last Light, you can grab this first person shooter / survival horror game’s predecessor, Metro 2033, to pre-empt what’s led to the sequel, and get an idea of what you’re in for. 

It is post-apocalyptic Moscow and you are up against both hostile humans and mutants (people and animals exposed to radiation across 20 years). 
Set (mostly) in the creepy subway system where survivors retreated (and a new generation born underground), the dark, gloomy, treacherous metro tunnels act as both home and battleground as the mutant attacks increase (with a new breed, The Dark Ones making their appearance, the already dire situation escalating). 

Without ammunition, you’re doomed - this is a scarcity, so you not only have to shoot carefully, but also search for every spare bullet you can find (high quality military-grade ammo actually becoming currency with which to buy and upgrade weapons and other essentials). 
When things get too dark, your flashlight or night vision goggles (once you get access to it), is essential, just like the need for your gasmask when exposed (reliant on a filter time limit). 

The action can get intense and creepy, and depending on your choices in the game, will result in two ending options.  Some negative points include confined spaces that can get disorientating and sometimes there are too many different secondary characters’ dialogue muddle over one another.  Sometimes graphics overlap (eg. characters fused with objects).

Based on the novels by Russian writer Dmitry A. Glukhovsky, in a similar way as the Night Watch & Day Watch books (by Sergey Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasilyev) and the movie versions (by Timur Bekmambetov), it delivers a refreshingly different take than the ingrained American way the world has become accustomed to.  (The company developing the game is Ukrainian, further maintaining that Eastern European feel).  

4 / C
- Paul Blom

A - Multiple Playing Prospects
B - Can be taken for another Run
C - Once Should Suffice