Bullets look as spare as ever in THQ's Metro spin-off
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 9:29 PM
THQ has launched a new preview video of Metro: Last Light, the latest installment in its intense horror-shooter hybrid franchise. While not a strict sequel to the cult hit Metro 2033 – that’s Metro 2034, the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky, whose first book spawned the original – this new game has all the claustrophobic trappings of the first game.
Due out early next year on Xbox360, PlayStation 3, PC and reportedly the Wii U, the new title looks set to throw you back into the rotting bowels of a post-apocalyptic Moscow, crawling with mutants and hostile human forces.
While the first game had its share of problems, what no one could fault was its ambitions. Western developers may remain content to push out annual iterations of the same military shooters, but eastern Europe’s 4A Games looked to do something different with Metro 2033.
Incorporating survival horror aspects into Glukhovsky’s excellent sci-fi storyline helped ratchet up the tension, but what really added to the suffocating atmosphere was its innovative in-game money system. Like all good horror titles, ammo is spare. But they added a cruel by making the few bullets that protagonist Artyom was able to scavenge and scrounge together his main form of currency.
This was a great idea for two reasons. On the one hand, players were forced to painstakingly weigh up the pros and cons of every purchase, for fear of being caught short in a crucial firefight. The flipside of this was that every missed shot was a crucial bartering chip down the drain. Talk about an incentive for making every bullet count – or at least that would have been the case had it not been for the slightly wonky shooting mechanics.
This is something that 4A and THQ will be looking to remedy with the sequel, which also promises to defy the conventions of pacing in the FPS genre. Back in Artyom’s shoes, players will once more be tasked with making their way through the ruins of Moscow. The preview video shows improved graphics and lighting. And what’s this… daylight? Needless to say, our curiosity is most certainly piqued and we’ve already started saving up our ammo.