Monday Impressions: Metro 2033
Last weekend I revisited a game that has been on my Steam list for months. A game I played when I first got it but lost all interested in continue not because of how bad the game was, but because how I I lost my save file thanks to by hard disk dying on me. Playing it again reminded me on how much I was missing out, and that the upcoming sequel, Metro: Last Light, is slowly becoming one of my most anticipated games of 2013.
Metro 2033 Publisher: THQ Developer: 4A Games Platforms: Xbox 360, PC Release Date: March 16, 2010
I wasn't able to finish the game in one weekend, but I did manage to reach where I left off. You play as Artyom, one of the survivors living in Moscow's underground metro since the surface is now deemed unlivable thanks to the nuclear war. Your station is being overrun by mutant attacks and is getting worse every minute, so your tasked to travel to Polis (another station/town) to see if you can find some aid.
This is what I'd like to call a survival horror FPS. It has a good mix of stealth and horror in the gameplay that you mostly see yourself in narrow corridors and very dark areas with only your flashlight as a light source. The shooting is nothing to brag about, but the environment and the atmosphere is something else. As you travel through the Metro,you experience nothing but death and signs of what life was before the bombs started dropping. It's a very interesting and eerie setting, which requires you to tread very carefully because all of the dangers in the game is out to kill you.
In my time with Metro 2033(roughly 5 hours so far), I had to worry about mutants, traps, ghosts, nazi soldiers, and radiation found above and sometimes below the metro. It's a very dangerous place and It's not an easy game at all even on normal difficulty. Don't shy away because of its difficulty, the game just requires a bit of patience instead of the usual "shoot first, think later" mentality we find in most FPS games. You can still do that, but the cost is greater. The graphics are a bit inconsistent in quality since you see impressive stages but bad character models, and voice acting that could make you cringe. And I'm almost positive that every child you find in the metro was voiced by one person. Metro 2033 also has one of the most hilarious rag doll effects I've ever seen. How mutants go ragdoll when they die during a sprint always give me a good chuckle, which helps break the tension.
The need to conserve is one of the reason's I appreciate the game's gameplay. If I can kill someone silently with a throwing knife, I'll take it. If I see myself against a pack of mutant dogs I'll make use of the shotgun and wait for them to come close instead of spraying bullets everywhere (they can be quick). This is the FPS I highly prefer than the normal brainless FPS gameplay we find in game's like Call of Duty. Metro 2033 is still on rails, moving from area after area, but the stages are huge that it requires a bit of exploration in hopes to find more supplies like ammo or gas mask filters. The story is still a big question mark because so far it's just me trying to survive my journey, while meeting other survivors along the way.
If you love FPS games and want to play a game that strays away from the norm, I highly suggest you give this game a shot. Thanks to the creepy atmosphere and amazing post-apocalyptic setting, I definitely eager to see this game through and most likely buy the sequel Metro: Last Light when it comes out this year.
Metro 2033 launch trailer
Murdered: Soul Suspect teased by Square Enix, teaser site up
Square teased today a new game called Murdered: Soul Suspect. Not much information has been given yet but it's confirmed to be in development for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.
VG247 reports they got confirmation from Square Enix about the game's title with Square saying: “Murdered: Soul Suspect is an exciting new game from Square Enix which challenges players to solve possibly the hardest case of all”.
A teaser site with a strange symbol and a simple web game that requires you to put a password has gone live. In the web game, if you input the password 'Ronan', you get to download the image shown above titled "Evidence". IF you dig deeper, the image's properties also reveals more information about the image:
"O’Connor, male, mid- 30s, 170lbs, 5’ 11”"
"Detectives aren’t supposed to get bloody knuckles, but I’ve done a lot of things I wasn’t supposed to do. I lived through it all, the beat-downs, the back-stabbing, disrespect most people wouldn’t see in ten lifetimes and I never lost a fight… until now"
People all over the net are speculating that this could be a new title from Crystal Dynamics, the developer who just wrapped up development for the Tomb Raider reboot coming out this March.
Everything's up in the air to what kind of game this could be, but I'm crossing my fingers for this being a suspense thriller that requires us to do some detective work. hopefully similar to L.A Noire.
Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini No. 02 - Squall Leonhart
As seen in the latest Recent Buys post, I got me a mini figure of Squall Leonhart in all his emo glory. From the Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini series of figures, this is the second figure in the line.
Squall comes in his standard Final Fantasy VIII leather jacket with the white fluff and leather pants that have too many belts. Both arms on this body are supposed to swing forward and back but are a little paint stuck on mine and I'm afraid to force it since the whole figure is made of soft PVC. The right hand is removable and can be swapped out with a hand holding Squall's default Gunblade. The other body is of Squall wearing his SeeDs uniform which has always been a favorite alternate of mine, especially in Dissidia Final Fantasy. There are no moving parts on the SeeDs body but the right hand can be removed and be replaced with the hand holding the Lionheart Blade.
Both bodies can use either the Gunblade holding hand of the Lionheart Blade hand but the Gunblade hand has the black glove on it while the Lionheart Blade has the exposed hand meaning that each sword hand is meant to work with their own costumes.
The figure comes with four faces, each having Squall's signature scar in between his eyes and an earring on the left ear. The default face attached to the figure shows a pair of fierce look since the pupils are small and he's sorta got the "angry eyes" eyebrows. The second face is more calm with big anime pupils. The third face has swirls replacing the eyes, showing a sort of dizzy of confused expression. The forth face is blank, possibly leaving the design up to the user.
These are the three signs that come with the figure. I can't read Japanese so I don't know what they say but I hear it's two of Squall's signature phrases. The third sign shows the combat menu of FF8's ATB sytem with "G.F." (Guardian Force) replacing the more common "Summon" command. You can position these signs however way you want with the included clips that plug into the base.
This figure set also includes two of the smaller Guardian Force creatures that you can summon in the game. The elusive Cactuar and the elixir loving Pupu. They each have a hole on their back which you can use to plug on the base via the ball tipped plastic arms. Both of Squall's bodies have said hole too.
The figure looks great and all the little paint details add so much to the overall look. My only gripe with this figure is that the SeeDs body has a hard time plugging into the base which can make it a total bitch to position just right. I only wish there was a Rinoa figure that can go with Squall so that I can recreate the ballroom dance scene in chibi form.
For the most part, I'll be displaying Squall wearing his SeeDs uniform as it was the main reason that drove me to getting this figure.
Oh and by the way, Rinoa is coming in the next wave of the Trading Arts Kai Mini line. Hohoho!
Weekend! What are you playing?
It's the weekend again! Early in the week Dead Space 3 came out and I'm sure a bunch of you guys are playing it. Sadly, that's not my game of choice, but the game I plan to tackle this weekend does share the same atmosphere in some way. Instead of space, the terror is deep below the metro system of Moscow. What are you playing this weekend?
Carlos: This weekend I'm hell-bent on finally finishing Metro 2033. I played this game and loved every minute of it, but thanks to my PC's hard drive dying on me, my Metro 2033 save file went with it. I'm a sucker for survival horror and this one fits the bill perfectly. I'm going to start my new playthrough and hopefully I get to finish it this time by the end of the week. Oh and of course, I'm planning to do a bit more Guild Wars 2 because dailies are evil.
Migoy: Gotta do some more training in Persona 4 Arena and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I can hold my own in P4A online ranked but I just want to get better and learn some new stuff. As for Tekken Tag 2, I really need to up my game. The online world of Tekken Tag 2 is relentless and cruel. With people bringing in their Tekken 6 tech and discovering new things with the tag mechanics, this is a game that I can't scrub my way through.
As for the single player stuff, I actually have a lot of backlog. I just don't feel like playing any of them at the moment though I should probably finish the games that I borrowed from friends. Mainly Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's not that I don't like the game. I just don't find the combat as interesting as everyone says it is. I guess I've just been spoiled by Bayonetta and the DMC series when it comes to action games.
Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini
Datablitz has been selling videogame figures for a while now. Namely the World of Warcraft figures. Now, they've recently been selling action figures, mainly from the Play Arts and Play Arts Kai line. While all those are well and good, I did see a few figures that I wasn't familiar with. The Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini series of figures.
Chibi Final Fantasy character is the most straight forward way of describing these figures. Unlike other Final Fantasy Trading Arts figures, these chibis have a bit of articulation to them. All have the same sized faces, neck ball joints and for the most part, the same hair connection. Each figure comes with 3 extra faces, a body wearing the default outfit, a second body (usually an alternate costume from their game or the character riding something like Cloud's bike from Advent Children), a hand/hands holding their signature weapon/weapons and sometimes something extra like a summon creature. Each figure also comes with one spiky speech bubble, a regular speech bubble, and a sign usually displaying the ATB command list from their respective games.
They're priced at 795php each, 750php if you pay in cash. I've recently procured 2 figures from the Trading Art Kai Mini line and though not the easiet figure to work with, they are a good value for their price. If you guys like the Final Fantasies, check these figures out. They're hella cute.
