 |
| | Gameplay
Sound
 | | Graphics
Value
|
| |
| | Genre: Shooters | | | Min OS X: 10.8.5 |
| |
|
Metro: Last Light
November 18, 2013 | Ted Bade | |
Requirements: Mac OS X: 10.8.4 | CPU: 2.7 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo | RAM: 8 GB | HD Space: 10 GB | Graphics: 512 MB VRAM - ATI Radeon HD 5870, NVIDIA Geforce 640M Review: Metro Last Light from Deep Silver and 4A Games is an excellent first person shooter based on a series of novels written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. While this means the game has an well developed story line, it doesn’t rest solely on this. There is plenty of action and adventure in this game, enough to keep anyone satisfied for many hours. It is a fun game and can be quite challenging as well. The world of Metro Last Light is post-apocalyptic. Prior to the time of the game, the world entered into a nuclear war, destroying much of known civilization. The people in this part of the world moved into the underground tunnels and spaces of the existing metro train system. The world outside is full of dangerous areas of radiation and the atmosphere is very toxic. During your time in the outside world (and there is a lot of it) you will need to wear a gas mask, with filters that keep out the dangerous fumes of the toxic landscape. This means you will spend some time searching for new air filters. Should you run low, breathing the toxic atmosphere quickly leads to death. Playing Last Light really makes you feel like you're living the life of the main character Artyom. Decisions you make while playing actually have an effect on how the game goes. I have heard that there are two endings based on the “karma” you create during your gameplay. I experienced the “bad karma” ending, in which…, well, you are going to have to play to find the endings! Karma is generated by your actions toward other humans. You can chose to either kill or disable most human enemies. Doing either essentially has the same effect, that unit is taken out of action permanently. (No, knocked out opponents don’t wake up and return to attack you!) You choose what method you wish to pursue. However, sneaking around and disabling opponents is a lot more difficult then simply shooting them. Most skilled players will want to play the game twice, once to become familiar with the game and once to see if they can get through with minimal or no killing. There are achievements based on certain actions and events that occur during play. Obviously, the most difficult being that of getting through the entire game without killing anyone! What, you ask, an FPS that doesn’t involve killing people?! Wow, what a concept. Yet, I hear that it is possible. Still, there are plenty of non-human things in this game to shoot at. Not to mention plenty of spaces to explore. Battle in Last Light is pretty standard fair. You can carry up to three different guns, Which ones you select pretty much depends upon how you like to play. Guns can be modified and improved when you locate weapon vendors. Modifications include things like silencers, scopes, laser sights, and stabilization. Since I wasn’t trying to minimize damage to humans, I found that a pistol with a silencer, an automatic rifle with a night vision scope and laser sight, and a multi barreled shot gun, did the trick for me. There are a lot of weapon choices, mostly varieties of pistol, rifle and shotgun. There are no RPG or missile type weapons, although there are hand thrown explosive devices. The currency in Last Light is “military grade ammo.” As you search bodies and stock piles, in addition to the locally made ammo, you will find smaller amounts of the military grade variety. While this ammo can be used in battle, it is a good idea to save it and use it later to buy improvements, better weapons, and other things. Of course, the enemies you defeat will usually drop weapons as well, and sometimes you will find some pretty powerful ones to replace those you carry. There is a lot of opportunity to stealth around in this game. Even if you plan on not just disabling opponents, it’s a good idea to take out the enemy in a careful manner. This way large numbers of them won’t become alerted to your presence, putting you into a major fire fight. In most cases, as you sneak around an area, there are lights, lamps, and so forth to turn off. If this is done carefully enough, the enemy won’t be alerted to your presence. When you are close enough to an enemy to disable or kill him, you are given a choice. Then the animation proceeds as you select. If you drop a guard or soldier, but he falls into an area well lit or easily seen by another, this will most likely alert them to your presence. It is a good idea to wait for units to enter a dark and quiet corner before taking them out. Given good observation and a little patience, it is possible to move through the enemy lines, disabling some and avoiding others. This makes for a good challenge and adds an interesting dimension to this shooter. Important equipment can be looted from defeated enemies, as well as dead bodies, and boxes of equipment found during your travels. Depending upon the level of difficulty you select, there are more or less of these items to find. Another reason for carrying different types of weapons is that you are also limited to how many spare rounds of each type you can carry. If you run low of one type, you can shift to a weapon that uses another. Also, be on the lookout for special equipment. You need to search for it, but the game offers weapons and equipment to help with different areas you enter. The most important one being the night vision goggles that you can find when beginning the first night time based level. Once you have them, they can come in handy in many of the other levels when areas get dark.
|
|
