Metro: Last Light released today

[Lexx]

Ah yeah, I never finished Amnesia. It was just too much for me... and I don't exactly know why.

 

[Tagaziel]

Cryostasis was fantastic too though, almost on the level of Amnesia. But presence of weapons inherently lowers the scare level for me.

I think what really made the game stand out was the fact that the enemies were just pawns of a greater force you couldn't readily identify. The environment, the icebreaker itself was fighting against you and you were pretty much helpless against it.

Helplessness is a big factor in generating fear. Even if you are armed to the teeth, if you are a pawn that cannot help his fate, you will be terrified. I think that's part of the Cradle's appeal. While you can fight puppets if you want, you can't fight the building. And once it remember s you...

Then the real fun begins.

 

[malleus]

I must be a wimp, the only game that did it for me was Clive Barker's Undying. I remember being terrified every corner, every...well, *all* the time, especially indoors.

 

[grayx]

I watched and tried it little yesterday and it has amazing level of details. It's tunnel FPS alright, but it's nicely disguised.

I saved the Dark-ones back then in the first game (I think?), so I didn't like that I was playing genocidal character now. I was truly angry at 'myself' how and why I destroyed so many lives. I don't think I have ever been so judgmental about dev's decision to put me in the shoes of someone that choose differently than I in the first game... Getting old I guess? I didn't like myself in the game but kind of things got better later on...

It's so-so short, as most of contemporary FPSs, it's lacking a more detail info about guns, damage, etc, but as there are no much items to pick up beside scarce ammo and guns, it's not that prominent. Characters are underdeveloped (especially Anna, she seems artificially inserted just to have some quicky 'romance' between massacres). Two or three times I didn't know what to do, last battle at D6 had me searching for answers (shoot the red bars at the tank with heavy sniper), but after a long time, overall I enjoined playing FPS. There are a lot of little things that let me feel this gameworld is wasted by using it just for a FPS game. But, well...

Imo it's much better then first one in every sense, but scenery and vistas are setting new standards for me. They are simply put - beautiful*. Truly recommend to try it if you like FPS.

*If that's the word at all that describes post-apoc. terrian.

 

[Tagaziel]

I saved the Dark-ones back then in the first game (I think?), so I didn't like that I was playing genocidal character now. I was truly angry at 'myself' how and why I destroyed so many lives. I don't think I have ever been so judgmental about dev's decision to put me in the shoes of someone that choose differently than I in the first game... Getting old I guess? I didn't like myself in the game but kind of things got better later on...

Actually, that was Dmitry Glukhovsky's decision, as it's the canon ending in the novels. I'm waiting for Metro 2035 now, which is Metro: Last Light, except following on from the novel, not the game.

Did you read Gospel by Artyom, by the way? The first chapter is a re-envisioning of that.

 

[grayx]

No I didn't, but I will put it in my bucket list.

I must say I know little of this gameworld and its rules, it's FPS and generally there is nothing worthy to spend time reading about it. It's just kill, kill, kill, zombies, nazis, dragons, points, points, checkpoints...

edit: read it (comic book)

 

[tekhedd]

only time I ever have been actually scared playing a game was when I was playing Doom 3 for the first time when it was brand new and I hadn't slept for over 35hours due to a bout of insomnia so I decided to play D3 after trying for 4hours to fall asleep.

Jump scares like what doom 3 is so fond of work really well when your brain is all befuddled from lack of sleep.

Hah, I should have tried sleep deprivation! D3 was so "not scary" for me. After about an hour, you walk past walls in D3 going "OK, I'll bet once I reach my goal in that room, these walls will burst open and also something will appear over there" and you're right and it's just annoying. I did manage to have a decent amount of fun with Doom3, but scary it was not. D2 by comparison was *more* believable, maybe because demons spawning out of nowhere was an unusual thing, not the norm.

The whole "Oh crap I'm out of the right ammo for this" was something Dead Space did very well, and that combined with great sound design really scared the living crap out of me (should see a doctor about that), but it became predictable in a very similar way and I just lost interest. I also got tired of juggling weapons. I understand the right tool for the right job and all that, but in Dead Space if you had the wrong weapon it would do absolutely nothing, and that combined with the limit on carried weapons and limits on ammo were pretty cruel. I like to feel like I'm not totally powerless, as the real fun is when you're scared but also feel like if you can just hold it together you have all the tools to survive. And sometimes even kick some butt.

I find timed sections (D3 and Dead Space's "outside", Metro's "filters") mostly annoying. In real life, if I'm on a truly "drop dead" time limit, I'm not going to bother messing with *anything* but my primary goal. It pretty much makes anything in the "time limit" sections strictly business and not particularly fun. Is it not supposed to be fun? If so, it succeeds, but then I just don't understand why I'm paying to play. But obviously in Metro it's a pretty important part of the world itself so I guess maybe I just don't like challenge. I'll go back to my bejeweled clones and leave you all alone now.