Metro: Last Light

Besides some "western" touches, 4A Games delivers a very special and almost flawless game which proves that Eastern European development scene is here to stay.

Metro: Last Light is a bold symphony to the senses. Deep Silver is the new bringer of AAA titles, now they have a lot to live up to. As the saying goes, you are only as good as your last game release. Deep Silver is now the one to watch.

As far as 4A Games is concerned, one can only be awe-stricken. With only 10% of the average western developer’s budget, they have managed to publish a stunning game, simultaneously on four platforms. The underdog has triumphed. [June 2013]

The fact Last Light is absolutely stunning on the PC and packed full of crisp detail makes exploring and fighting through this hellish, dimly-lit realm an affecting and exhilarating experience. A few years and a lot of spit-shine make a huge difference on the visual front.

It’s a relentlessly tense stealth-action shooter that manages to make its dead-horse premise feel as if it’s never been seen before now.

As the game progressed, I felt more and more attached to Artyom and how his journey through the Metro would finish, which is a testament to the narrative, and the world it resides in.

Metro: Last Light isn't just another AAA shooter aimed at a typical gamer. The game's strength lies in its mature, brutal content - and I don't mean just the story (that will get its own book soon). Metro has a ton of amazing little details that make this virtual world seem very real. And what's more - the game is absolutely beautiful. Taking all this into consideration, there can be only one verdict: must buy.

Metro: Last Light does belong in the company of Half-Life, though. It's an unusual, meticulously detailed shooter inextricable from its environment – making its refuge in the railways of Moscow all the more apt. The survival and shooting aspects engage with what is considered valuable in the world, and both leave ample room for moments of solace, exploration and concise violence.

Subtlety is what makes Last Light such an exceptionally immersive game. It nails the core tenets of a shooter, then forces you to react to enemies in ways outside of simply taking cover. It plops you in a post-apocalyptic world, then fills it with tons of minor but substantial details, like the shadows of once-living people now permanently nuked into stone walls. It strips you of hope, only to dangle a tiny sliver of it ahead of you like a carrot on a stick.

Metro Last Light is an excellent first person shooter that we recommend to all FPS maniacs. Those who were fascinated by the original Metro 2033, can proceed to an instant buy without even checking the package with a Geiger counter.

An astonishing and moving postapocalyptic journey.

A great antidote for brogamer oriented western shooters. Game is chock full of nice atmosphere. [June 2013]

There are legitimately scary moments in Last Light, to the point it’s almost one part survival horror to three parts first person shooter.

It isn’t perfect, but it takes everything that was great about its predecessor and makes the whole package more accessible. It’s a shining example of how to use shooter mechanics to tell a story, which is enough to make it a must-play in my book.

In spite of its bugs and issues, Metro: Last Light captivates players with its graphical achievements, dark atmosphere and nice action sections.

This sequel plays more like a shooter than its predecessor, but doesn't sacrifice its intricate narrative or creative vision in the process. Masochistic fans will appreciate the harder difficulties that recreate the grueling experience of the original, but no matter how you approach it, exploring Last Light's absorbing world is wholly entertaining.

The 4A Games title is the natural evolution of the franchise, a game that allows us to continue the adventure exactly where we left with Metro 2033.

Crisp PC graphics make the game a visual marvel and there are some truly gorgeous and memorable moments in the game.

A successful successor, which will satisfy all fans of the predecessor.

It’s not Metro 2033 anymore – Ukrainians look up to the western style of game development now and you have to get used to it. Last Light could have been better, but only a bit better. The atmosphere is amazing, there are moments when the game is poetically beautiful and in terms of sound it’s one of the best titles out there. [CD-Action 07/2013, p.50]

Metro: Last Light can be mentioned in the same breath as big games like BioShock and Half-Life 2. Developer A4 Games proves to be very capable on a technical level, and they didn't make any concessions to the experience. When it comes to the gameplay, the developer might retain some of their (somewhat strange) own rules, but does this solely to improve the action.

Last Light is a good shooter with a focus on atmosphere and narrative. It's a shame the stealth doesn't work very well and the artificial intelligence is a bit underdone.

Far from the appeal of a Fallout 3, Metro Last Light bets on a really dark and nerve racking post-apocalyptic ambiance. This undoubtedly is the strong point of the game, but not the only one. The latest 4A's Games subtly mixes gunfights, stealth approach and storyline that confirm the literary roots of the script. Offering good immersion despite some minor problems with the AI, the game leads the player in a very intricate world. A world where the beauty of the graphics allows to forget about the drawbacks mentioned, especially on PC with potent graphics cards where the game can be put through its paces. If the fans of Metro 2033 will swear at the distribution method of the "Ranger" mode, they can be reassured, Metro Last Light is as good as it's prequel, and maybe even better.

Was the wait for Metro: Last Light worth it? Absolutely. Does the sequel offer more of the same? The answer is yes again, but it never feels like a disturbing factor. In fact, Artyom's new adventure becomes even more thrilling than its predecessor at times. Metro: Last Light may suffer from some bugs and yes, the game should be less linear. Simply put, however, this is one of the most solid shooters we've played in years.

Metro: Last Light is a hugely atmospheric FPS that has corrected all the real flaws of its predecessor and improved on them to such a degree that they’re actually superb – stealth and shooting are now things to enjoy rather than avoid, and can compete with the best in the genre.

Most importantly, Last Light incorporates a lot of lessons learned from the previous iteration. The big step from Metro 2033 in design, gameplay and polish make Last Light one of my favorite games of the year so far.

Even though the genre may be quite saturated these days, this is a great option. It's fun, deep, mature and different. There are some issues with the AI and it's not extremely different from its previous episodes, but if that's not a problem, you'll probably enjoy this new adventure.

A fantastic experience that scratches that survival horror itch better than most games. Playing on Ranger mode is probably the most intense experience I have ever encountered, and the gorgeous visuals really drag players into the dark, damp world.

It's a hand-wringing, apologetic shooter that offers great gunplay alongside more peaceful options. Last Light has every opportunity to be bloated and inconsistent, but it never succumbs to the pressure of its own expectations — and that's worth tolerating a few frustrating technical hiccups.

4A Games created an excellent, apocalyptic setting with Metro: Last Light. You’ll be confronted with scary monsters and many details in the game offer a great atmosphere. Though, interaction with characters and the world itself in the game is limited. The AI doesn’t perform very cleverly, even on hardcore-mode.

A great example of interactive storytelling where the story changes greatly depending on how you ‘read’ it.

A refreshing change from the standard FPS offerings. Gruelling, but worth the effort. [July 2013, p.65]

As strong as the writing is for the background conversations, the main story is confusing, and, at the end, predictable.

I do not recommend this to arachnophobiacs and story-lovers. Nonetheless, the game's atmosphere is so thick you are going to be just blown away. Furthermore, the game has outstanding battles. [Issue#231]

Metro: Last Light is not a bad game, but does not reach the level of excellence.

If you’ve played the original Metro title, you’ll definitely want to pick this one up. But, like me, if you hadn’t set foot in the Metro landscape before, then you might wish you had given the quality of the sequel.

Last Light is the rare shooter that lingers with you once you’re done with it.

Last Light’s pacing – switching as it does between tight tunnels and wide-open abandoned spaces, explosive gunfights and creeping horror, stealth and socialising – could have felt disconnected in the hands of a less-talented developer. Instead it lends its world uncommon depth. The trade-off for a distinctive personality, of course, is that Last Light is occasionally unyielding, but the desire to see what waits in its next tunnel remains a powerful draw throughout.

Last Light has the mechanics of a great shooter that is built alongside a brilliant atmospheric and refreshing world that anyone who is fed up with shooters being the same would do well to give it a shot.

Metro: Last Light is proudly steeped in the best traditions of other storied FPS giants while still evoking the kind of philosophical underpinnings from the Metal Gear Solid and BioShock series.

4A Games wear its influences on its sleeve, creating a first-person shooter of robust standard. Yet it gives little consideration to progression – in both terms of furthering either the genre or its own formula. Many of the mechanics that have survived the original game return stripped back in a misguided attempt to placate complexity criticisms, rather than exploring methods that retain strategy and heighten the overall immersion.

A game with amazing atmosphere, and one of the best post apocalyptic settings around. Unfortunately it's also an easier and more streamlined experience compared to its predecessor, at least at the base difficulty level. 4A Games could have chosen the survival road, making this a truly unique and challenging experience. By going for the "safe" choice they created a good fps, but not an unforgettable one.

Metro: Last Light is, at the end of it all, a solid game.

This could be that rare case in which a game inspires players to give their well worn controllers a break and pick up a paperback for a few nights instead. That alone makes Metro: Last Light worth putting on your wish list.

Metro: Last Light is an impactful game, whose perfectly paced story, believable universe and good stealth mechanics come together to make a great, if not flawless, experience.

This is not the game that would have single-handedly saved THQ, but we're still lucky to be able to experience it now. Metro is quite unique in varying its pace, showing you its world and its inhabitants in between the action. All in all, this is an atmospheric, modern and utterly compelling journey.

It's still a fantastic game that follows in the footsteps of great Russian-style FPS games before it, and the added polish, fantastic visuals, and supernatural story elements help keep things fresh.

By its very nature of being a sequel, Last Light doesn’t feel as fresh as Metro 2033 did, but there’s still nothing else like it. Few games generate immersion through gameplay and transport you to their world the way Metro does.

Metro: Last Light is a good sequel that combines stealth mechanics with classic FPS gunplay versus mutants. Great story, characters and narrative with some issues in Enemy AI reactions and too many scripts. Not ambitious enough as a sequel, but a great and immersive experience.

Despite minor complaints and moments of awkwardly forced titillation that nearly wreck its somber and engrossing atmosphere, Last Light proves exhilarating, haunting, and one of the best-looking games ever.

Despite being a little rough around the edges, Metro: Last Light as a whole package is way better than the sum of its parts and highly recommended for anyone looking for a grown up video game.

Metro: Last Light rarely feels like a revolutionary shooter experience, but it embraces the traditions of its genre and combines them with trail-blazing visuals and a gripping story.

Metro: Last Light is a clear improvement from its predecessor and offers a very atmospheric shooting experience that borders on the survival horror genre.

Wins you over with a fantastic atmosphere and a beautifully realized universe. The sequences where you feel both exposed, hunted and powerless offer a kind of action that is all too rare these days.

A brilliantly realised world wrapped around a story-driven shooter that occasionally forgets you want to play it. [June 2013, p.71]

Last Light’s setting and presentation are its strong points, though the last third of its 10-hour campaign is weaker than everything that came before it.

As it is, it's a damn fine game and definitely worth playing in spite of the stumbles that keep it from reaching its full potential.

Metro: Last Light improves on a lot of what 2033 left behind.

Last Light isn’t as gameplay-dense an action / stealth experience as Dishonored and it’s not as impossibly polished as Call of Duty. If you enjoy directed single-player experiences, you can’t go wrong with Last Light… just don’t expect the most focused or deep experience.

Metro Last Light improves on several of the originals shortcomings but also has a few of its own. Mainly the artificial intelligence needs lots of work otherwise Metro Last Light with its hybrid of quality action and engaging storytelling would maybe have been one of the best games of the year.

A mostly triumphant return to form for this unique series. [July 2013, p.86]

What it inherits from the original are often its greatest strengths. It’s the inconsistencies that do it harm. They’re so close to something truly special here, and I’m confident that 4A Games’ next will be something to behold.

What Metro lacks in pitch-perfect game mechanics, it makes up for with an atmosphere that you can taste.

For excited fans of the year 2033 it is a must, for Slavic games lovers it is a reason to be interested in it. However, not even its superb graphics quality is enough to get over the game's shallow moments along with its thoughtless script that has been cooked with plain water mainly. Although radioactive, plain water still.

Metro: Last Light manages to give shape to the world described in the books bearing the same name beautifully. The claustrophobic and grim atmosphere really come into their own thanks to the great graphics. Unfortunately the immersion is often broken by static npc's, a lack of interactivity and the idiotic artificial intelligence doesn't offer much of a challenge.

Paved with good intentions, this new FPS from 4A Games comes up short in terms of gameplay (mostly because of a poor AI). That's too bad because its atmosphere and story are rich and interesting. It's a good experience if you're able to pace yourself like the game needs you to in order to shine; to help you there, it's also a shame that the "Ranger" difficulty mode has to be purchased as a DLC.

Metro: Last Light is probably the most ambitious and demanding Deep Silver production and, in terms of graphics and visual impact, this sequel has little to envy in other triple A shooters like Crysis 3. The game stands for the beauty of the 4A Engine, for the settings and for some cool horror passages, but in terms of gameplay lacks in too many areas: enemies' AI is poor, the levels are linear and scripted, there's almost no interaction with the game world.

Metro: Last Light is not a bad game, but nor is it a good one in quite the same sense as its predecessor. Metro 2033 was flawed but trying to do its own thing. If anything, Last Light feels like a regression. Similarities abound, but this is a more conservative FPS, one looking at the competition rather than itself, and one with some terrible missteps. So go in with low expectations, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

As a default experience, Metro: Last Light is a good game that forgets why Metro 2033 was a great one.