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[Ghosts Of Gaming Past] A Review Of ‘Metro 2033’
Welcome to Ghosts of Gaming Past — here we’ll be reviewing older horror games, classics and non-classics we missed when they were originally released. Have a game you’d like reviewed? Send us an email.
Written by Kevin Kennedy, @thekevmiester
Based of the 2005 novel of the same name (though not getting a western release until 2010) Metro 2033 is a dank, moody, post-apocalyptic FPS made by 4A Games, which consists of many members of GSC Game World (S.T.A.L.K.E.R), who broke off to create their own studio. With the game’s sequel, Metro: Last Light, just being released, now seems like a good time to head back to Moscow and see if this is a series worth getting invested in.
Set 20 years after a devastating nuclear war leaves Moscow in ruins, Metro 2033 takes place in the city’s Metro system, where the survivors have fled in an attempt to carve out a new life for themselves a grasp for survival. Those that remained on the surface, both human and animals, either died or have mutated into creatures known as the Dark Ones. Once Artyom, our protagonist, learns that a a group of mysterious creatures are planning on attacking his home station, he sets of in search of help.
The tone and setting are the most impressive things about his game; it is truly a dank depressing place and the atmosphere is thick with desperation. I played The Last of Us (TLOU) recently and as fantastic as that game is, I never felt that the world was quite as hopeless and suffocating as it wanted to be, which may have something to do with the gameplay (more on that later) but in Metro 2033, things are grim.
Not that it is painted with a heavy brush though; the game still has it’s humor and lighter moments, which simply shows how much confidence 4A Games has in the world they have created, as simply being in it and walking around is enough to make you feel hopeless.
The story feels equally as hopless, where it’s hard not to feel that Artyom has as little knowledge of the world than the player does. He sometimes has someone there to help him along, but more often than not he is alone and vulnerable. A large chunk of the story in the middle does feel a little muddled (Nazis show up at one point!) and it can be hard to know exactly what is going on, but it’s also hard not to feel like that is by design.
At times it’s as if you are simply being lead by the nose into situations and skirmishes that not only do you not understand but also have trouble dealing with. That being said, the middle third of the game does feel somewhat “wheel spinny”, as if we’re simply killing time until the length has been padded out enough for us to enter the final act.
While the majority of the characters do sort of blend together after a while with maybe one or two exceptions, they all still have enough life, energy and nuance to make them both interesting and fun to be around, though the limited colour palate and character designs doesn’t help them stand out much.
There is always an interesting debate to be had when it comes to gameplay (or more to the point, combat) in survival horror games. Limiting your players prowess and abilities can help rank up the tension and even immerse you into the world. Though where is the line between a finely tuned combat system and a simply bad one? Can a game that by all intents and purposes is meant to be challenging really be accused of making a game too hard? This is an interesting question that kept creeping into my head during my playthrough.
Quite frankly, it doesn’t play that well. At all. Shooting at monsters is awkward, hit detection is almost non-existent and at times it’s hard not to feel like you’re simply firing wildly and hitting nothing. The stealth is even worse, while you do have a meter that tells you how hidden you are, you never really feel as if you are in a more advantageous or powerful position than the enemy, which is perhaps something we’ve grown too accustomed to in stealth games, though it is still annoying that it only takes one mistake for every single enemy to suddenly be aware of you.
Though to go back to my previous point, if the gameplay worked perfectly and was even fun, it would take away from the immersion and tension greatly. When playing TLOU it’s hard not to feel that Joel can take on entire armies as long as he has enough supplies, but in Metro 2033, I honestly breathed huge sighs of relief whenever a cutscene took over, the loading screen came up or when we were in non combat zones, a feeling I never got with TLOU.
The gameplay isn’t all bad to be fair. There are lots of excellent ideas sprinkled about. The Flashlight for instance has to be charged manually. A simple mechanic but oddly satisfying and adding depth and tension to otherwise ordinary skirmishes. A gas mask must be worn when walking about the surface of Moscow (or other infested areas), though if your mask breaks, you better find another quickly before the poison fills your lungs. There are also two types of bullets, brown dirty ones and clean silver ones which do more damage but can also be used in stores between missions.
Finally, there is a section near the end of the game however that is perhaps one of the most tense things I have ever experienced. You have to enter a library in which there are “The Librarians”, huge hulking monsters that take far more damage to kill than they’re worth, though if you keep completely still in their presence they SHOULD leave you alone. Play the game with decent headphones and the lights off and get ready to tighten those butt checks.
Overall though, it is hard to look at the gameplay and feel that it is all intentional. It may work with the game despite itself but it can also be deathly frustrating for the wrong reasons.
I don’t think I can recall a single colour throughout the entire game. There are a couple used in a dream sequence or two, but the world itself seems to only consist of blacks and greys. It’s this design that helps hammer home the idea of how dank and depressing the Metro is, though that excuse doesn’t cover every aspect of the game. The aforementioned characters have no distinguishing designs to set them apart and it’s more than likely that you wont know who anyone is until a name is mentioned.
The sound is mostly excellent, voice acting is great, there are nice touches whilst walking around the more calmer areas of the Metro including people bickering with each other or playing guitar and the monsters sound gruesome though are at their worst when you don’t see them (again, get a set of headphones and get ready for your skin to crawl).
The sound of Artyom breathing heavily as his air filter runs out or is sprinting is very claustrophobic and the condensation on the inside of the masks are a nice touch. Though also be prepared for screams being repeated and other annoying bugs; I was unable to take off my gas mask until I loaded a save from two levels ago, keep in mind that the game has been out for over 3 years now and has yet to be fixed with a patch.
Perhaps it is just me, but there seems to be a lot more big budget games just now that are designed to depress the player on some level, from Spec Ops: The Line, to Halo: Reach and even The Last of Us, which personally I am all in favour of. On many levels, Metro 2033 may have them all trumped. That being said, this is a hard game to recommend to people who are looking for a classic example of “fun”; a well made game that anyone can appreciate.
From a gameplay perspective Metro: 2033 is frustrating, buggy and clumsy, but also tense as hell. The main reason to pick up this game is to let yourself get soaked into one of the most thick, dreary and atmospheric games that you are likely to play for a very long time. If that sounds interesting to you, then pick this up the moment you notice it on sale, maybe even sooner.
The Final Word: A thick, dreary, atmospheric experience that will defiantly making an impact, though does suffer from some gameplay issues and glitches.
Metro 2033 is available on Xbox 360 and PC (reviewed).
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
‘Sting’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Entertains With an Impressive Practical Monster
“We Built Every Creature” – ‘Alien: Romulus’ Goes Heavy on the Old School Practical Effects!
‘Terrifier 3’: Filming Has Wrapped on Damien Leone’s Christmas Slasher Sequel!
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