Metro: Last Light Review

Welcome to the Metro; you can’t save everybody.

The morning sunshine beats down on a dead city. Crumbling façades rise above a scarred landscape like vast headstones; the rain, once a bringer of life, now a stinging poison. Two figures move through the few, defiant shrubs that have managed to take hold; hunting an elusive target, one which holds untold importance for all of humanity. A howl goes up, the mutant watchmen descend. Death’s presence is heard in the staccato rat-tat-tat of a machine gun and the roaring boom of a shotgun, seen in the blood spatters, and felt through fear and desperation. Beasts cry in pain, sight blurs, then silence. Artyom and Anna continue their hunt.

Metro: Last Light is a dangerous world. The nuclear warheads of World War III only marked the beginning of humanity’s trials. Cast in the role of Artyom, the player swiftly learns that skulking like a rat in the shadows is often more conducive to survival than recklessly charging forward. The player will also  learn to be afraid of the other creatures lurking in the shadows and that standing in the light may not be such a bad idea after all.

Last Light is a game that demands the player adapt to the situation. The level design is focused strongly on hoarding supplies and remaining undetected, however the stealth sections are broken up with occasional action sequences that serve to maintain the momentum of the story while keeping the gameplay from becoming stale. The levels are designed to reward stealth but also allow a more action orientated approach. Combat is an option, but is discouraged in most (but not all) levels through subtle penalties; for example, gas pipes that  release toxic fumes when shot, forcing the player to use precious gas mask filters in order to survive. Most levels also have hidden rooms and areas, though merely finding them is often not enough to find their treasures; many are guarded by enemies and other, stranger, obstacles.

The levels and scenery are pleasantly varied with long underground segments broken up by forays onto the surface. The variation does not stop here, however, as even amongst the underground, or above ground, levels there are significant differences. Swamps, canal cities, shanty towns, ruins, catacombs, military bases, and more all feature in Last Light. The variety of locations is impressive and propells the momentum of the game, but also retains a sense of oppressive atmosphere and impending threat. In a twist of irony, the most open and well-lit levels are the ones in which the player feels the least safe, with few places to hide from an impending ambush.

Although the levels don’t contain any real puzzles, they could be summed up, simplistically, as being a hybrid of some of the best Half Life 2 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution levels with a satisfying blend of linear action-oriented levels and stealth-based levels.

Last Light’s environmental design is satisfactory, the atmosphere serving as a backstory to the events of the game. Environmental ‘clutter’ is used to give each area a history which creates a sense of depth as well as having practical use as cover. The claustrophobic tunnels of the Metro promise nothing but death between the flimsy sanctuary offered by the stations and the open world is as beautiful as it is stressful; the relief of the open air is cut short by feeling exposed, with the constant threat of suffocation should gas mask filters run out adding yet more pressure, and the melancholy nature of seeing the remains of now dead Moscow.

The level and environmental design of Last Light is not the only element that shines: the gameplay is superb as well. Whether it be the action sequences or the stealth segments, Last Light’s gameplay shows excellent focus and the level of polish really displays the care and passion that went into the game. The stealth segments are very intelligently designed and the tools at the players’ disposal never feel anaemic or lacking. At no point did I ever wish for a very basic tool that would otherwise allow me to progress past a certain area; with careful rationing of resources, and even more deliberate use, Last Light provides every tool the player could hope for.

A common problem with stealth-action games is that one aspect of the pair often feels neglected or over-emphasised when compared with the other. This is not so in Last Light, as the combat is every bit as well designed as the stealth, even if it is less cerebral in nature. Careful rationing of resources is the key to victory, as Last Light tends to make players work for their weapons and ammo refills are often few and far between. This is not to say that the player should worry about running out of ammo, but thoughtless weapon choice and wastefulness will not go unpunished in Last Light. Ammunition is just scarce enough to add an extra worry to the players’ list, without actually limiting the players’ choice in gameplay. It’s a delicate balance and Last Light gets it right.

My only real criticism of Last Light’s gunplay is that its weapon selection could be broader. There are thirteen weapons in total (3 shotguns, 2 rifles, 2 pneumatic weapons, 2 pistols, a chain-gun, and 3 machine guns), however most of these weapons operate in a manner that’s indistinguishable from others in their class. Without the visual design the player would be hard-pushed to tell them apart. Some different firing modes would not go amiss and would serve to differentiate the weapons from one-another. Additionally, two of those weapons are only available during the final mission, cutting the effective number of weapons down even further.

Enemy variation is another area where Last Light could use some work. A lot of them are just tougher, re-skinned versions of ones met in preceding levels.

In terms of sounds and visuals, Metro: Last Light is incredible. The game's mood is frequently set by its audio and visual design.The most memorable locales are often twisted parodies of real world cities, such as Venice, and retain many of their stereotypical qualities. Last Light uses these easily identifiable qualities to present the image of a human civilisation that remembers only glimpses of its past, a civilisation that is a shadow of what it once was and that is to be pitied.

Story-wise Last Light does not disappoint. The pacing of the story is fantastic and it doesn’t rely on twists in the story so much as it uses layers of deceit and intrigue to string the player along. What starts out as a simple monster hunt blossoms into something much grander. However while Last Light’s story is very good, it has a tendency to use circumstances of convenience to get the player out of life threatening situations. Allied forces arrive ‘just in time’ on more than one occasion and a significant event in the early part of the game is never fully explained,

Later on in the game Last Light’s story oddly divurges between intelligence and insanity. I can't discuss it really without giving away major spoilers, but I will say that the development of the former happens very suddenly and makes the player truly question the act of killing, revealing a self-awareness and depth that caught me off guard. The crazier aspects occur more gradually over the course of the game and can best be described as evoking a feeling of constant unease.

Technically, Last Light is a resource hog that will suffer performance issues on even high end PCs. Frame-rate often drops to below 30 FPS during combat involving more than one or two enemies and watchmen in particular will cause the frame-rate to tank heavily on the highest settings. The highest settings of Last Light certainly are impressive however, and it may be worth sacrificing those few frames per second to see the game in all its glory. I did suffer the odd crash during gameplay, but the checkpoint-only save system is generous enough that I never lost more than a few minutes’ progress. There are definitely some bugs to be ironed out and further optimisation would be lovely, however Last Light is generally a very high quality product that shouldn’t cause many, if any, headaches for most players.

Metro: Last Light had some big boots to fill, and it does not disappoint. An incredible experience that should serve as an example for modern first person shooters and stealth games alike, Last Light will be a game that many will love; whether as a solid shooter experience, a competent stealth game with occasional action sequences, or as a surprisingly intelligent conclusion to a story which takes place in a world that pulls no punches. I have no reservations in recommending Metro: Last Light to fans of action and stealth games, both.