Metro: Last Light....it's out

[Daehawk]

Lets hear impressions. I cant justify a $50 game but I can live vicariously through you guys

[Blackhawk]

No impressions, but from what I've read it has only rough presets on the graphics (low/medium/high) instead of configurable options, has a low locked FOV, and has auto-aim with no option to disable.

[Turtle]

Reviews have been positive, despite the issues with settings.

So far a lot of them basically say it's Metro 2033 with better visuals and solid shooter mechanics, while keeping the same great atmosphere and style.

I'm almost done downloading, and should be able to play right after it does. So I'll drop some impressions of my first few hours after.

The FoV issue is going to be huge for me, I had to change the FoV for 2033 because it was giving me headaches.

Edit: FoV seems okay so far, it's definitely wider than the original's default FoV, but still not quite there.

However, this game is a mess right now: stuttering/hitches, graphical glitches like random spotty shadows everywhere is happening all over. It may just be due to poor optimization, or a politics with NVidia, but I'm running the an AMD 7950, so it's a pretty current card with the latest release drivers. Going to try the 13.5 AMD beta drivers to see if it fixes anything. What sucks is that while not hitching up like mad, or throwing weird shadows everywhere. It's also running on an SSD and 8GB of RAM, so I know it's not hitching up from anything loading. I suspect in their rush to fulfill their Nvidia contract they forgot to test it on AMD cards.

It's bad enough that I've decided not to play this, I barely got a few rooms into the starting location before I gave up. It is playable, but the constantly glitching starts as an annoyance and builds up to a mood killer in a game that's supposed to be about atmosphere.

[Grifman]

The game is getting pretty good, if not great reviews. That said, I hear the game is only 8 to 10 hours which is pretty low for a $50 game. As much as I'd like to play the game now, it's going to have to wait - the gaming time to cost ratio is far, far too low for me. After 8 hours in a game, I'd feel like I was barely getting started.

[ibdoomed]

The game is getting pretty good, if not great reviews. That said, I hear the game is only 8 to 10 hours which is pretty low for a $50 game. As much as I'd like to play the game now, it's going to have to wait - the gaming time to cost ratio is far, far too low for me. After 8 hours in a game, I'd feel like I was barely getting started.

Agreed. BI and dishonored were way too short even despite the other issues. Fez has the right value at 5 hours for $8 and publishers should gauge games without replay value more like that.

[Lordnine]

The game is getting pretty good, if not great reviews. That said, I hear the game is only 8 to 10 hours which is pretty low for a $50 game. As much as I'd like to play the game now, it's going to have to wait - the gaming time to cost ratio is far, far too low for me. After 8 hours in a game, I'd feel like I was barely getting started.

Agreed. BI and dishonored were way too short even despite the other issues. Fez has the right value at 5 hours for $8 and publishers should gauge games without replay value more like that.

I much prefer shorter games that don’t pad things out with pointless busy work. For me that’s just tedious and increases the likelihood that I won’t finish the game.

I remember the original being brutally hard in places. Is that still the case here?

[Grifman]

I much prefer shorter games that don’t pad things out with pointless busy work. For me that’s just tedious and increases the likelihood that I won’t finish the game.

Who said that they liked that? No mentioned games that were "padded" with "pointless busy work".

[ibdoomed]

I much prefer shorter games that don’t pad things out with pointless busy work. For me that’s just tedious and increases the likelihood that I won’t finish the game.

Who said that they liked that? No mentioned games that were "padded" with "pointless busy work".

That was my fault, I mentioned Fez which is extremely padded with busy work.

[Turtle]

The game is pretty reasonable, daresay easy, on normal so far.

M2033 the original was difficult because it was a poorly made shooter. Last Light feels like a good shooter that also has tons of atmosphere story to it. It also does so many interesting things with its encounters that you've only seen in Half-Life 1-2 and the original Metro.

The only reason not to get it right now is due to all the bugs upon release, especially for those of us with AMD video cards.

Also, if you got it pre-ordered, don't bother with the Ranger difficulty mode, it's a poorly implemented mess.

[Normann]

My absolutely first impression is: I can't skip the intro even after a restart. It is a long intro.

Edit after a few hours of playing:

100% Metro 2033. It looks and feels the same. The story moves on but that is the only difference. Even most the guns are the same. I still like it so I don't mind I pre-ordered it for full price. But surely they could have included more into a stand alone game. It really feels nothing more than General Knoxx was for Borderland.

[Turtle]

A patch came out recently that fixed all my technical issues with the game.

In my opinion Metro Last Light is very close to Half-Life 2 in my ratings of FPS games. Sure, it doesn't have anywhere near the polish, and they definitely don't have the acting, but you can tell the same level of love went into making this game as went into classic FPS games like HL2 and others.

For starters now that they have the shooter mechanics nailed down, they went ahead and iterated on the encounter and non-human enemy design far more so many other FPS games these days. It doesn't rely solely on the basic click to shoot mechanic. The mutated creatures you fight this time around are intense and interesting. They do things with the spider-like monsters that is amazing.

Human AI is pretty dumb, but so was HL2's.

Weapons are more creative in HL2, with it's fantastical science nature. Metro uses more traditional guns, along with a bunch of interesting kitbashed guns that look and feel cobbled together. Nice touches like the ball bearing gun where you have to manually pump to keep its air pressure up. The guns of metro feel better than HL2 and most other FPS games right now.

Stealth sections are a bit too easy, but also helps remove frustrations of other tacked on stealth elements in games. I applaud their choice of fun over realistic stealth. Starting a firefight instead of stealth is rewarded with more to fight if the alarm is raised.

The atmosphere for Metro is just as good as it was, even better now with solid graphics.

[Jolor]

Too early to tell if it's MotS or, instead, offers more of the story that you're glad to help unfold (kind of easy to tell the I'm primarily an RPG player )

[Daehawk]

Cool site for performance setting info and showing just what those settings do in game. I like the interactive pictures where you can move a slider window back and forth and see the differences in the settings real time.

[AWS260]

Congrats to Metro Last Light for being the first game in years to give me a BSOD. Every time, during the intro sequence, right after the words, "Follow me, Artyom."

[TheMix]

Congrats to Metro Last Light for being the first game in years to give me a BSOD. Every time, during the intro sequence, right after the words, "Follow me, Artyom."

Ouch. Damn that would be frustrating.

[elite]

Game have got good graphic and I really like Metro books so i guess that i will buy this game soon... now i don't have money but I've found a great deal- go2arena seale this game for 26.99 € so this is a verry cheap price:P

[Daehawk]

im seeing that the story to this one assumes you destroyed the Dark Ones in the first game. Ummmmm hate to break it to the devs but I saved the Dark Ones. Wonder how that goes over. It would be weird I think.

[TheMix]

That assumption is more likely a result of the ending of the book. And the beginning of the subsequent book.

[map]

Just finished this. Had a blast

[Daehawk]

Free on GOG right now.

[Rumpy]

I was enjoying the game up until I got to the ambush in the town square.Even on easy difficulty, and low on ammo, there was no hope I could pass it. F this game!

[NickAragua]

Free on GOG right now.

Thanks for the heads up.