Looking at: Dying Light

They're Coming for You

Dying Light looks great during short moments of calm.

I have stated several times how much I love zombie based games. I don't really care if the genre is completely overrun, the thrill of smashing the undead has never lost it's luster for me. The Dead Island series in particular was an interesting attempt to add something new to the genre by focusing on first person melee combat, and it's these failed experiments that lead to today's topic. Dying Light is an attempted apology from the former Dead Island developers and, strangely enough, the second game directly based of the mediocre series, albeit this is the one with less Pigeon John and Jack Black.

Dying Light's attempt to revitalize the formula is the introduction of free running and parkour, the french "art" of running around like a jackass and jumping off buildings. Besides that it's still most of Dead Island, so the question is, is it enough to make for a good game?

Wandering Dead

Not all infected are created equal including the hard hitting Goon, the speedy Viral...

The setup for Dying Light is that right before a major sports competition, a viral outbreak occurs in the ancient Mediterranean city of Harran. You play as Kyle Crane, an agent hired by the Global Relief Effort to infiltrate the city and recover a stolen file containing information that could lead to a virus cure. Oh, and the virus turned everyone infected into zombies, so there's a fuck-tonne of zombies walking around.

While the plot wanders more then the infected, and the payoff at the end isn't worth all the effort, it is at least coherent, which is more then I can say for the Dead Island series or any other number of zombie games that have plots. The characters are interesting enough, even if most of them are 2d archetypes, and there are a few interesting twists, but it's really nothing to write home about.

...Or the annoying and disgusting Bomber. 

What I did like about plot was the backstory that was woven into the game. Several times major events are brought up and explained in a way that makes sense, rather then just telling the player with a wall of text. The Harran outbreak was big news and a lot of people know about it, including Crane, so it's refreshing to hear him act like he knows what's going on. It's refreshing and really helps to sell the immersion.

Even better then the main plot are the numerous side quests, which often start simple and lead to adventures in their own right. There's a couple dozen of them, ranging from simple fetch quests to long involved missions, and they're pretty great for the most part. More importantly, doing these quests often lead to great weapons and upgrades, so doing them is very encouraged.

Like a Ripe Cantaloupe

Old Town is where Dying Light really shines, letting you make the most of your abilities.

But the story's not what we're here for. The reason to play Dying Light is to smash zombies by the dozens, and man is this the game to play for that. Combat has been greatly refined since Dead Island, and weapons have a real weight and impact to them. Smashing a zombie with a lead pipe or a crowbar really feels like it did some damage, and enemies react accordingly. There's a satisfying crunch, thud, or splat to go along with each hit and it makes combat exciting.

If you want to avoid combat, which you likely will in the early hours of the game,there's also the ability to run. The parkour...works, which is about the highest compliment I can pay to a first person parkour game that isn't Mirror's Edge. It works...most of the time. There's a lot of issues jumping from one ledge to another and I can't count how many times I over jumped something I was certain I'd land. There's also an annoying amount of invisible walls that don't look like they should be, and I've spent way to much time trying to scale a wall that wasn't ever meant to be scaled, despite obvious grab points everywhere. Regardless, for the simple purpose of traversing the city the parkour is functional, if a little strange at times, like the idea that garbage bags and cars can break your fall.

Other then parkour, Dying Light's other twist is it's day-night cycle. During the day it's a run-of-the-mill zombie game: smash Zeds, fight special infected, and finish quests. But as the sun falls it goes straight up survival horror thanks to the introduction of UV light-hating infected Cthulu looking monsters that will chase you clear across the city to tear you apart. Avoiding these is a must, especially in the early half of the game, and being caught after dark can instantly spell disaster if you're not careful.

Rotting Stench

Zombies explode with gore on a particularly good hit.

Dying Light is an almost unfortunate game, one that's so good at what it wants to be that it's flaws get exaggerated tenfold. And there are flaws aplenty in Dying Light. Things like the inability to check your watch, requiring pausing the game to check the time. Or the fact that you have to build every item one at a time, even if you want to queue up twenty Molotovs in a row. There's also the odd time the game didn't register my commands during a hairy sequence and I died unnecessarily. There's odd balancing issues, making the early game brutally difficult and the late game hilariously easy. Certain incredibly important upgrades are locked away to far down the upgrade tree, and there are numerous upgrades that are completely useless.

(Not a complaint, but my particular game was glitched, so every time I loaded it Crane would scream out "HOLY SHIT" at nothing in particular.)

The Drop-Kick instantly became my favorite ability, for obvious reasons.

Dying Light is a good game, certainly a much better game then those that inspired it. When everything works it works really well, and there's a great wealth of content on offer. The plot is fun in an "it's trying so hard that I kind of appreciate what it's attempting" sort of way, and the combat and free running are enjoyable, especially when you start chaining abilities together. If all your looking for is a great way to spend ~20 hours beating up zombies then you could do a lot worse then Dying Light.

Image Sources

http://gearnuke.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Dying-Light-logo.jpg

Looking at: The Metro Series

From Russia with fire

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I've always had a certain affinity for games from the former Soviet Bloc. Games from Russia, Ukraine, and other Soviet countries have a certain feel and look to them that's impossible for the West to replicate. Theses are games that come from dark places, where decades of strife and darkness have shaped the social and political landscapes of generations. There's a certain bleakness to theses games, and few series encapsulate this as well as the Metro series.

Based on the novels by Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovksy, the Metro series takes place twenty years after a nuclear war has rendered Earth a nuclear wasteland. The games are centered around the Moscow Metro system in the Russian capital which served as fallout shelters for the residents of the dead city. There's little hope left in the metro, as factions battle for control of the stations, mutants rip lone wanderers to shreds, and an army of the undead from the north threaten complete annihilation.

Metro 2033

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In the first entry of the series you play as Artyom. Your home station of Exhibition is threatened by undead Dark Ones so you set off, on the orders of a ranger named Hunter to find a way to save your station and possibly the entire Metro. Along the way you'll meet a host of characters and shoot/sneak/stab your way through a horde of adversaries as you learn more about the nature of The Dark Ones and Artyom's strange connection to them and the Metro.

Metro 2033 is a uniquely Soviet game, coming to us from former STALKER developers 4A games in the Ukraine. It's a shooter with hardly any shooting, with a larger focus on storytelling and world building. The latter is particularly well done, as the world of 2033 is probably one of the most fully realized I've ever seen. Everything looks unique, and it's rare that you see an asset reused in the same way more then once. It's a world that bleeds atmosphere, brought to life by it's lighting and level design.

The level design does a wonderful job of telling stories of it's own. Each station looks and feels different, whether it's the ramshackle military base of Exhibition, the merchant machine shop of the Armory, or the shining utopia of Polis. There's a wealth of backstory to be gleamed from just taking in the sights and sounds of the station. Hang out and you'll see the denizens of the Metro as they go about their lives and discuss the goings-on of the Metro.

 Even the combat zones tell a story. Sneaking through a Nazi base and you'll hear the soldiers talk about their lives back home. Sneaking through a Communist outpost will reveal a secret tunnel that one soldier was hiding. There are a million stories told by the debris and corpses left in various unoccupied parts of the Metro, and part of the fun is piecing together exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, where the atmosphere and level design are standouts for the FPS genre, the gameplay isn't. 2033's gunplay is, at best, wonky. Many of the guns are woefully inaccurate, and lack a punch to them. Even the boisterous shotgun feels like a popgun as you plink away at targets. Even worse is the stealth, which manages to be either completely useless or completely overpowered. There's no middles ground, if the enemies see you, you'll have to wipe them out completely.

This brings me to 2033's worst feature: it's AI. there are only a few enemies in 2033, and all of them are mentally challenged. The humans are probably the best, and they either disregard cover, or stick to it like glue. They're way to accurate and can see you from a mile away if your not careful, but can be instantly killed with a well placed shot or knife. If you take out one enemy, the guy beside him won't even register it, because according to the game you're stealthy. Mutant AI isn't much better, but it's at least passable because all they do is charge at you and try to claw your face off.

Overall, Metro 2033 is a game you play for the experience, rather then then enjoyment. It's an interesting mix of survival horror and stealth shooter, and it's atmosphere and psychedelic story should be enough to at least keep you engaged.

Metro: Last Light

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What's the best way to fix a game? Release a really, REALLY good sequel. It worked for Assasin's Creed, Gears of War, Mass Effect, and now Metro 2033. Despite THQ going bust halfway through development, Last Light was released in early 2013, and finally we got to experience what 2033 should have been. 

Everything in Last Light is better, there is no argument. The shooting is more precise and weapons have noticeable punch to them. Stealth is vastly improved, requiring actual skill, and evasion during combat is now possible too. The AI of both man and animal are better, with humans now using cover and communicating, while different mutant types have different attack patterns. Even the graphics are better, especially impressive since 2033 was considered one of the best looking games available. There is no doubt in my mind that Last Light is one of the best looking games of last generation, and still remains a visually fantastic game.

Last Light takes place a year after 2033, with Artyom now a full fledged Metro Ranger, charged with keeping the metro safe from anything that would do her harm. The rangers have learned that a single Dark One still lives, despite laying the nuclear smack down on them, and tasks Artyom with killing it. Things quickly go wrong, and Artyom ends up getting caught in a mounting civil war that threatens to tear the Metro apart. The story is a little clearer this time around, taking time to develop characters, and you constantly have a good idea of what's going on. You'll constantly know who you're fighting and why, which is especially good since the politics of the Metro can be as grey as it's walls.

There's a tonal shift in Last Light from the psychological horror of 2033. Along with the re-tooled shooting and stealth, there's now a larger focus of stealth action. Human encounters are now fun and exciting, rather then painful annoyances, and finding your way through them is a pleasure. There's a larger variety of weapons this time around, and more attachments allowing you to kit yourself out the way you want. Rest assured, there is horrors to behold, but they're more spaced out in exchange for tangible horrors.

Last Light is an awesome sequel and a great game on it's own. It's unfortunate that the lauded Ranger Mode is locked behind a paywall, but there's more then enough fun to be found in the vanilla experience.

Redux

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In 2014 the Metro series got the Next Gen treatment, re-released with the new moniker of Redux. Both games have updated graphics, and both games now come with all the DLC, and they come bundled together for one great package.

Of the two, 2033 Redux is definitely the better deal. The game looks great, having been completely remade in Last Light's graphics engine. Particularly the top side sections in Moscow look fantastic, with realistic snow to replace the weird white clay of the original. Lighting has been overhauled, as has the shooting and stealth mechanics, and all of the AI are improved as well. Levels are now grouped together, reducing the amount of load screens, and certain less desirable sections have been either removed or rebalanced.

Last Light, on the other hand, is less of a deal, especially for PC. You can't make an HD version of an already HD game, and there's little in the way of visual enhancement. Since many of the Redux gameplay enhancements were taken from Last Light, there's no change here either. At best, Last Light Redux is a sort of golden version of the game, packaging all the DLC together. It's a good game for the next gen consoles, but for owners of the original game on PC, don't bother, even the Devs imply as much..

Side note, the vanilla version of Last Light isn't even available for purchase any more on Steam, however the vanilla version of 2033 is. Strange.

The Metro series represent a lot of why I love games from outside the US. They're attention to detail and storytelling through world building really put Western shooters to shame, and their unique mix of survival horror and first person action are a welcome change in the desert that is FPS games. They may not be for everyone, but if your looking for something outside the norm when it comes to shooters, there's plenty to see down in the Metro.