Metro: Last Light officially stumbled out of the crumbling Russian tunnel into the dazzling post-apocalyptic sunlight yesterday, with previews, screenshots and a particularly interesting teaser trailer whetting the appetites of fans. Not only was the minute-long trailer a lesson in how to perfectly edit video to music, but the pounding beat of Portishead's 'Machine Gun' meant snippets of gameplay were hidden beneath plenty of evocative artwork. This analysis rips open the pulsating mutant flesh of the teaser trailer, slicing through artwork to get to the juicy, vital gameplay shots. Eat up.



Click the images to see them in their fullscreen glory.


0m 10s Our first look into Last Light, and it's bloody. A shotgun pistol, seemingly with only a single shot left before the need to reload, takes down a mutant with brutal efficiency.


0m 12s Three enemies - I'm placing my bullets on them being Fourth Reich Nazis, from the Hansa line - take cover on a station platform as all hell breaks loose. One seems to have an exremely long sniper rifle of some sort, and the direction of the ribbons on the right indicates strong wind. Look out for the headshot towards the end of this segment...


0m 15s Fifteen seconds in, and all we can make out is an enemy firing his machine gun right in front of you. However, around the seventeen-second mark, Artyom lunges down, to stab something with tentacles. The resulting splatter of goo shows that gas marks will make a triumphant return.


0m 20s Turns out, dark tunnels play a big role in Metro: Last Light. A pistol seems to be enough to take out a whole cave full of mutants, so here's hoping that the guns are a lot more powerful this time around. The mutant, however, does have a swipe at you, making the camera sway and the screen go green.


0m 21s He looks like he's seen a ghost. Probably because he has. Eerie shadows can frighten even the most manly of players and characters alike. The player seems to be helping this poor soul up onto a railway carriage, but it could be that he is trying to stop Artyom from falling.


0m 26s Up to the 26-second mark, we've seen very unclear images of the player shooing something, but here we get the full view. A monster playing carelessly in a puddle, happy as can be. Until you plug it full of lead. There seems to be a crossbow with a sniper sight attached at the 23-second mark, and the wide, open, slightly rural setting means we'll be seeing a lot more of the Russian countryside this time, compared to Metro 2033.


0m 27s "I am 12 and what is this" seems like an apt phrase when we hit 0:27 - a mutant that appears to spurt from the ground gets the front-row view of the barrel of your AK. Some beautiful lighting illuminates the horror when fire spits from the gun like poison.


0m 29s Mutant jumps at you. Mutant screams at you. You stab mutant. You win Nobel Peace Prize.


0m 31s Assorted shooting gameplay, with some lovely reload animations. We're hoping the 'military grade' bullets as money mechanic is still in place, making every miss the stuff of nightmares.


0m 33s Stabbing someone in the back never produced so much blood. Or looked this good. Stealth seems to be a key part of Last Light, and so long as 4a Games fix the issues where AI magically knows you're fifty yards away because they can hear your heartbeat, I'm very happy to see it return.


0m 35s These agile little freaks of nature will pester you no end, a bit like a needy child. Still, they drop dead after a few bullets from your assault rifle. A bit like a needy child.


0m 38s No one likes spiders. Spiders are devious and untrustworthy little buggers. So, when they spill out of a sack of flesh in the heart of the Russian metro? Yeah, best run away.


0m 40s Much as I adore the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series (another gritty survival-horror from a Ukrainian studio), there's nothing quite as haunting as this. Note the lack of ammunition in your gun. Metro: Last Light certainly isn't for the faint of heart.


0m 43s Kill it. Kill it with fire.


0m 45s It's a bit hard to tell - this is either an explosion, or a train hurtling towards you at full speed, swatting soldiers out the way like radiated flies. Cue end of trailer. 'Coming 2012' is the only hint at a release date.

See? It might all be pretty lights and loud noises to some, but teaser trailers hold some grubby delights. Stick around for more awesomeness from Gamer's Guide to Life.com - in fact, follow our Twitter to never miss a beat ever, ever again.

Labels: 2011, 4a Games, Analysis, Chris Hawke, Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, THQ, Trailer, Video

"Best Game Ever" is totally subjective and will vary depending on personal opinion.

Russia is so cool. Admit it. Put your patriotic views on the Cold War to one side for the moment; if you wanted awesome, the Soviet Union was the place to be.

Nothing quite raises the hairs on the back of your neck like an epic piece of Russian Propaganda. No one can rock a coat like Vladimir Lenin. Never can the effortless creepiness of the Cult Of Stalin posters be matched. The ideology and politics are great (who doesn't like equality and comradery?!), but it was that atmosphere, that art style, that incredibe uniqueness that makes it truly stunning. And that's exactly what makes Metro 2033 the best game ever.

Metro 2033 is made in Ukraine. It was a part of the USSR way back, if you didn't know. The 'satellite states', to this day adorned with proud red and cold steel statues, still haven't shrugged off the damning effect Communism had on their countries; and poverty, unhappiness and vodka is rife. If America were in that situation, there would be revolts. If the UK were in that situation, there would be uproar. What do Eastern Europeans do? Stick their chest out, stoically survey their landscape and create some of the best literature, films and games the world has ever seen. And wear super awesome coats.

Metro 2033 is the very embodiment of the Soviet Spirit. Vast kudos has to go Dmitry Glukhovsky for his excellent book (immediately get your respectively translated version online right now), but words are just words, whereas games suck you in and put you directly in the experience. Set in the nuclear-proof Moscow Metro, the tunnels are the very embodiment of Stalin's reign of terror; claustrophobic, terrifying, dangerous and unavoidable. The endless darkness, unknown power and evil secrets represent the Russia of that period. You can go into as much detail of what represents what as you want, but at the end of the day, it's about the atmosphere. And Metro 2033 has the best atmosphere ever.

Yep. Even better than S.T.A.L.K.E.R, but only due to the massive graphical improvement. Crysis can go stick it: Metro has the best lighting in any game. Torches pierce the thick silence, kerosene lamps illuminate with a sickly orange flare, while the Moscow sunlight is as white and crisp as it is deadly. Dust hangs in the air, survivors' faces are wrinkled and harrowed, weapons are held together by string and tape; never has such in-depth and precise attention to detail been shown. Everything looks scared, in retreat, battered and broken - even the mutants look unhappy. The subtle points threaten to get lost in the total immersion it provides; gas masks freezing up due to lack of air and breathing slowly becoming heavier seems as natural and as the distant echoes of gunfire and shrieks. When you're not even noticing deft elements like those, it goes to show how totally involving the atmosphere created is. Nowhere in gaming will you feel as you do when there's 2 minutes of air left, screen covered in cracks and splits, cowering in a darkened Moscow apartment as footsteps of unknown beasts tread softly around you. It's brilliant.

From a gameplay perspective, Metro 2033 once again nails it. Weapons feel powerful, and loud enough to split Vin Diesel's ears. Monsters were hauntingly acrobatic, and looked pure evil without resorting to cliché. 4A Games did an incredible job of parrying boredom: one minute you'd be shooting creatures in the sewers, then trying to decipher an abrupt hallucination, only to sneak round a Nazi camp silently picking off guards, before finally crawling into the sunlight and surviving in the frozen wastes of Russia. The game changed objective, tempo, and setting often enough to keep you hooked for hours on end.

Of course, it isn't perfect. Two criticisms I had when I first played was that it was too short, and that enemies soaked up too much damage (anyone remember the Amoeba Spores in D6? I still have nightmares). Both of those were rectified on my second playthrough. Please, reader, if you have the game, put in back in your system and start a new game on 'Realistic' difficulty. Metro 2033 is one of those dying breeds that, on the highest level of difficulty, not only means you take less damage, but enemies do too. It's incredible. Nazis and beasts only take a handful of shots to kill, making the fighting so much more deadly and so much less frustrating. And, of course, you've got to be more careful than ever. I'm very happy to admit that Metro 2033 on realistic was one of the best few days of gaming I've ever had. You'll agree, I'm sure.

This is why the announcement of Metro 2034 (in 3D, no less) is even sweeter. Not only do we get to revisit this wonderful and chilling universe again, but we'll get to iron out the minor flaws (stealth was slightly botched, as enemies would somehow instinctively know where you were at random points). Also, the Librarian section, while amazing in theory (having to stand down a hulking beast and not running away/shooting it? Awesome), sometimes they'd just come at you and strike you down for no reason. Just a quick fix and Metro 2034 has the ability to become the GOTY.

For now, play Metro 2033 while swilling pure ethanol and wearing a kick-ass coat. Because it's just so damn good.

Labels: Best Game Ever, Chris Hawke, Feature, Metro 2033

A brand new Metro 2033 trailer has been released by 4a Games. As you'd expect from the Russian FPS survival-horror, it's full of jumpy cuts and dank, dark places. Apart from the pretty comic voice acting, it looks, as we always expected, very good. Superb lighting, a great story and some smooth graphics get us all giddy for the '2010' release date. Fear the future? If this trailer is anything to go by, we can't wait for it.

The trailer can be seen here. Beware, it's all in Dutch.

Chris

Labels: Chris, Chris Hawke, Metro 2033, News