Composers: Frank Klepacki, Paul S. Mudra, Dwight K. Okahara
Game: Dune: The Battle for Arrakis
Song: Harkonnen Rules

New Horizons was a game I invested a good several hundreds of hours into, and that speaks enough of its quality. It’s a simulation and RPG into one – you don’t NEED to follow your character’s story, you can just roam the seas and sink enemy ships or explore the entire world at your leisure. I know how much fun I had making a badass pirate out of the Italian adventurer Pietro Conti who has the lowest Courage stat among the 6 you can choose from. And speaking of Pietro, it’s his theme that I chose to share with you this week. Enjoy!

Composer: Yoko Kanno
Game: Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
Song: Theme of Pietro

P. S. Yes, the composer is THE Yoko Kanno, who would later become quite famous for her work on anime series like Macross, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, etc.

Game: Metro 2033
Developer: 4A Games
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Original release: 2010
Territories: All

Metro 2033 is based on the novel by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, which, interestingly, was first published on the internet in 2002, chapter by chapter by the author. Only in 2005, after becoming really popular online, was it published as an actual paper book.  The game is a first-person shooter, a genre I’m not a particularly huge fan of. But the atmosphere makes it truly one of a kind – the dark, endless tunnels of the Metro are humanity’s last hope, while the surface is a desolate land, where endless nuclear winter and mutants reign, and the air is not breathable. But the hellish post-war creatures do not just stay on the surface, they try to take over the tunnels and destroy the humans. And even in the face of such adversity, humans are not united, there are warring factions and struggle for power among the mere 40,000 survivors living in the Metro. Our hero and his brothers in arms are the only ones who preserve the glimmering hope of our species.

Screenshots in the review have been taken by me during my playthrough. And one important note before I continue – play the game with the Russian voices – I cannot recommend this enough. You can still use English subtitles if you don’t understand the language. The English voices with the thick Russian accent are charming, but… just not the same.

A CAPTIVATING STORY OF SURVIVAL

The year is 2033. As the world burned in a nuclear war 20 years ago, only about 40,000 citizens of Moscow managed to find salvation into the underground tunnels of the Metro. The protagonist, Artyom, was just a newborn baby back then, and he does not remember what Moscow looked like before the war. All he has are old pictures from before the war, which the citizens of the Metro hold dear. A mysterious ranger called Hunter warns Artyom that his home station, ВДНХ (VDNKh – or “Exhibition” in the English language version), is threatened by the mysterious Dark Ones, and, if he does not come back, Artyom must go to the Polis station to ask for help. Naturally, he does not come back, and Artyom sets off on his journey…

Traversing the dark tunnels of the Metro is incredibly tough, with mutants and hostile humans regularly lurking around the corner, not to mention the necessity to pass through stations controlled by the warring factions – the Reds and the Fourth Reich, as soldiers of both will gladly shoot at you. You’ll have to also come up to the surface occasionally, and there, in desolate Moscow, you always need to wear a gas mask, as you can’t survive more than 15-20 seconds without it. The ultimate goal is saving your station and, maybe, humanity itself, from the threat of the Dark Ones, who attack and kill humans mentally, via hallucinations.

The game’s internal subtitle is the grim “Fear the Future”. It’s interesting that the currency in the Metro are military-grade Kalashnikov/AK bullets, which are much rarer, of much higher quality and thus more valuable than the bullets the Metro citizens create themselves. Interestingly, especially for an FPS, Metro 2033 has two endings, one of them only possible if you have executed certain actions through the course of the game.

HEROES FIGHTING AGAINST ALL ODDS

Artyom is the main protagonist, and, while otherwise an average young man, he has the unique ability to survive the mental attacks of the Dark Ones. And these hallucinations occur to him several times through the game. We barely ever see Artyom’s face, the most prominent moment being in the ending. However, he is the one doing the narrative during the intro and between game chapters. We also get a glimpse at his personality in his room, where there are plenty of postcards from various places in the world. But Artyom is not alone on his journey, various people help him out, making the seemingly impossible situations much more bearable. Among Artyom’s comrades-in-arms are Bourbon, a small-time bandit, Khan, a mysterious soldier with a philosophical outlook on life, who’s also familiar with tunnels where no other people dare go to. There are also Maxim, commander of a squad defending their station against increasingly overwhelming mutant attacks, and, of course, the Sparta rangers Ulman and Pavel, their commander Miller, and the engineer and weapon specialist Vladimir.

Khan is probably the most interesting character in the game. While humanity is fighting for survival, he holds the belief that every creature, even mutants and Dark Ones, has a right to live, and it’s not a person’s place to judge what’s good and what’s evil. He is the figure best fitting the “wise old mentor” stereotype through Artyom’s journey, but even then, there’s only one chapter in which the two are travelling together. Ulman is another character who’s quite memorable, he is constantly making jokes (some of them quite funny), and does not care that his commander Miller is usually annoyed with them. The older, but still sharp-minded Vladimir is another one I really like, his engineering skills are truly invaluable during his team’s mission.

The Metro 2033 characters are very real, very human, they respond as one would expect people to respond to the dangerous situations they are faced with. You can feel their courage in the face of desperation, their fear of the mutants and the Dark Ones, their sorrow for fallen comrades and care for the injured, their despair when they see death is all but certain… Furthermore, the main characters aren’t everything. The citizens of the Metro, as well as the average soldiers from the different stations, also bring a lot of personality to the game. Even the dead bodies you inevitably encounter on your journey tell the story of people’s struggle in this dark age.

QUALITY FPS GAMEPLAY WITH EXTRA QUIRKS

Jinxtah urged me not to play the game on Normal (as I usually do with games), but rather, on the Ranger Easy difficulty (second highest in the game). I refused at first, but he managed to convince me, telling me it did the story much more justice. And it certainly does. Combat is much more realistic (less shots to kill AND be killed), ammo is quite scarce and must not be wasted, there are no crosshairs like in standard shooters, you must look through your weapon’s sights to aim. The difficulty is also quite fair – there are plenty of portions I had to replay many times to pass, but there is always a way to make it, especially with a little thinking as opposed to just going in guns blazing. Stealth is possible during most parts of the game, and the Ranger Easy difficulty urges you quite hard to use stealth, as some sections are nearly impossible otherwise. So I do recommend playing the game on Ranger Easy, I can only imagine it’d be far too easy on Normal.

Metro 2033 is an FPS, but shooting is not always the main part of it, especially in Ranger Easy. Still, the shooting is quite adequate, with the exception of occasional funky hitboxes (there was one occasion I had to replay many times where shooting a soldier in the head didn’t immediately kill him, while shooting his BACKPACK did). The weapons feel quite nice, with the heavier ones being visibly harder to move and aim. You usually aim with the right mouse button, shooting with the left, but there are exceptions, such as the double-barreled shotgun, where each mouse button fires the respective barrel, and thus you can fire two shots at once. Finding cover is quite important in Metro, but the enemies will also make good use of it. The AI is surprisingly good – a lot of the time enemy soldiers won’t just use their superior force to come at you while you’re in a spot giving you tactical advantage – they’ll wait for you to come out and take you out then. It’s interesting that only humans do this – the mutants are quite dumb.

There are plenty of weapons available in the game – knives (both holding and throwing), regular automatic guns, AK-74s (and even an upgraded Kalash 2012 later in the game), shotguns, pneumatic weapons, and dynamite sticks, used as grenades. Each type of gun has its own bullets, and the “currency” exchange rate for each is different. Plenty of guns also have varieties with silencers or laser sights. There are also other useful items in Metro 2033, such as the flashlight, night vision goggles, first aid kits, the gas mask, and Artyom’s unique watch which shows how much time is left before the gas mask stops working. In certain situations through the game, you can also use mounted weapons.

There is no health bar in Metro 2033 – rather, you determine how close you are to your death based on Artyom’s vision. During shootings, the more bloody and pulsating it becomes, the closer to dying you are. When you’re outside without a gas mask, the situation is worse the blurrier and less colourful your vision becomes. I already said that military-grade bullets are used as currency, but they’re also mighty useful in combat. It’s an interesting trade-off the game forces you to make – do you want more money to buy more stuff, or will you use your money to more easily kill your enemies? On the Ranger Easy difficulty, this is a choice you’ll often have to make, as military-grade ammo, like everything else, is more scarce.

One relatively big problem for Metro 2033, especially on a higher difficulty setting, is the gas mask, more particularly the necessity to use disposable filters for it to work. Filters are sold in the first couple of stations Artyom visits, and one naturally expects to find filters in every next station. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and, in the last two-thirds of the game, dead bodies encountered outside are the only source of filters. Furthermore, their filters are partially used, and thus last less than new ones you could buy. So, the player, who will not stock up on a vast amount of filters early in the game when he doesn’t have much money, anyway, will often be found gasping for breath, praying to find an extra filter somewhere. I know this happened to me many times, before Jinxtah let me know of a trick making them last much longer. Other than that, it’s quite neat that the gas mask can be cracked, with every next crack making filters burn faster, before finally it stops working altogether. But you can occasionally find spare gas masks lying around and swap.

There’s one additional peculiarity, and that is the console-style checkpoint system the game uses as opposed to allowing the player to save anywhere like most modern PC games. While checkpoints are encountered often enough and you cannot lose too much progress, sometimes you may cross a checkpoint while in a really bad state, forcing you to restart the whole sub-chapter afterwards. As a whole, the game is split into chapters, and each of them has several sub-chapters, which are selectable from the main menu (once you’ve reached them). Each sub-chapter has several checkpoints.

Overall, Metro 2033 has a highly satisfying gameplay, and you feel in control of everything a lot of the time, despite the fact that you’re often accompanied by fellow soldiers. You’ll often find yourself relying on them in shootings (especially when you’re low on ammo), but they also rely on you to help them. The amount of set pieces in the game isn’t too high, retaining the feeling of control. The “epic” factor of the fights you participate in is appropriate for the setting, and also not too big to the point of exaggeration. Furthermore, you occasionally get the chance to make some personal choices, which will ultimately affect your ability to see an alternative ending.

SIMPLY AMAZING ATMOSPHERE

The one thing that truly sets Metro 2033 apart from the rest is its atmosphere. The dark, body-littered tunnels of the Metro, the nightmarish mutants, the alien-like Dark Ones, the desolate Moscow surface existing in an endless nuclear winter… They create a truly immersive game.  There are several incredibly impressive parts, such as Khan’s eerie chapter full of ghosts, anomalies and paranormal events in the dark tunnel, the first Moscow surface chapter which really amazes with how devastated everything is, and the final two chapters which take place in really memorable locations. Words hardly do this game’s atmosphere justice. Still, it’s a shame we don’t get to see famous Moscow sights in the game, no Kremlin, no Red Square… It’s just a desolate city.

The soundtrack of Metro 2033 by Anthesteria is quite cool. While there are no super memorable songs you’d be likely to add to your game music collection, pretty much all the themes further add to the atmosphere – both the scary themes of the tunnels, and the free stations’ more chill tunes. The song I’ve chosen to share with you is one you’ll hear often, as it plays on the title screen. I’d say it captures the mood of humanity in the dark post-nuclear war days quite well.

UNLIKE ANY OTHER GAME

You shoot the enemies, you can use different weapons, you have a general objective at any moment… But that’s where the similarities between Metro 2033 and the regular FPS end. The very essence of Metro 2033 is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. The Russian feel and spirituality alone set it apart from the vast majority of games out there, but the combination with the nuclear winter and the various mutated creatures threatening what little is left of humankind is just amazing. Facing this danger, people are often reduced to the most basic instinct of survival, and yet they still divide and war among themselves on grounds of ideology. In the middle of it all, you are Artyom, and you alone carry your station’s hope…

With Metro: Last Light coming out mere days from now, interest in the franchise will inevitably rise even further. Though the trailer did not impress me much, what with the focus on the Communists and Nazis, I am sure the game will be very well made, like the first one. But much more than the game sequel, I am interested in the Metro 2033 book, and I will read it in the very near future. Because Metro 2033 offers a fascinating point of view, a plausible view on what would become of us if use our nuclear weapons on ourselves. It is a very humanistic experience, one you will not forget a few days after playing, as the case with most modern shooters is.

FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10

But, of course, we eventually did. And the awesome twist with the multiple endings, the Japanese version-only “bonuses,” and the depth of the story solidified number 3 as my favourite in the series. For this week, I’ve chosen its boss theme to share with you.

Composer: Motohiro Kawashima
Game: Streets of Rage 3
Song: Boss

Composer: Yuzo Koshiro
Game: Streets of Rage 2
Song: Alien Power

I have my bottle of vanilla coke, some biscuits and the certainty of adult onset diabetes, so keep reading as I enter the world of Pokemon Quartz! Stay right there!

Just with every classic Pokemon game, we are greeted by the one we will soon call the Professor, sadly we are not greeted with the usual professor who is named after a particular type of tree, (Oak, Birch, etc.) instead our lonely old coot is named after the game creator himself, Prof. Baro. I’m sensing some vanity here. Soon after, he gives us a taste of the first of many newly created Pokemon, aptly named Plugpig. What does this gem of a Pokemon look like you may ask? Well, since I wasn’t taking screenshots at the time, I missed the opportunity to show you, but you’d be right in guessing it is pretty much just a pig with two suggestive crevasses running down its face, and with a tail that has a plug at the end. It may not be pretty, but at least it can stimulate itself in the event that I abandon it for another Poke that is younger, stronger and does things in the battlefield that it won’t.

Moving on, I had to do the usual BS of choosing a gender and picking a name, my result:

No, that ain’t my name. I told you the wrong one for shits and giggles.

Yeah, I chose a female. Mainly because the male character option looked like the biggest douche on Earth. If I’m going to save the world from evil corporations using mystical animals, I’d rather not look like a high school dropout trying to cling on to the days of his youth when shades were still cool.

Eventually, we get past the dubious introduction process and finally arrive in Breeze Town. But not before witnessing grammar that would drive most avid gamers nuts, accompanied by some random dialogue:

When arrive home? Really?

Good old Prof. Baro wants you to meet him in his lab, then quickly changes his mind and reveals that maybe, just maybe, he won’t even be there. That he’s “hearing from here” which certainly merits an 11 on the creepy scale. Then we get shrunk to size and find ourselves in the truck, the good old truck from Ruby/Sapphire. This time we’re not alone, instead Prof. Baro stands behind you, staring at your cute youthful buttocks, within the confines of a truck; if this isn’t the precursor of a low-budget porno, then I don’t know what is. Upon speaking to him however, he tells me to go home and remarks that he’s going to take some stuff to his lab, given that this is a truck that’s moving my family’s precious possessions to our new home in Breeze Town, I can only imagine what the hell he’s taking back to his lab, though I looked frantically for the box labelled “panties and other sniffable lingerie” to no avail.

Upon leaving the gangbangmobile, the classic Pokemon music starts to play and nostalgia promptly hits you like a brick wall. Nothing is out of the ordinary though, the graphics are what you would expect from what Quartz is based on (Ruby) and I’m generally pleased by the outcome. You are then greeted by your mother and she assures you that this is the place you can call home, followed by some lovable grammar errors, fourth wall breaking and a creepy martial artist watching god-knows-what on your TV, though your mother assures you that they are Pokemon called Kinboxos. Something tells me that darling mother has been skipping her medication. Though speaking to the “Pokemon” provides for some humorous dialogue.

No mother, that’s not the breeze… I’m pretty sure that’s just Prof. Baro whispering that…

Upon entering our room on the second floor, we can interact with several objects including the TV, GameCube, the book on our desk and the monitor. Most of them provide the original script from Pokemon Ruby, bar the TV and the GameCube which instead provide some pointless dialogue even for an item that doesn’t have much relevance to the story in the first place, also some grammar mistakes but by this point I’m becoming less annoyed by it. Especially since the creator is Spanish and I can’t really hold it against him that much, for the most part the grammar is fine. Everything works pretty smoothly, too, no glitches involving the intractable objects that send me to a black void or crash my computer and force me to stop playing and actually pursue a worthwhile life. Nope, everything is good so far.

Then, we come to the framed picture on the wall, and as all Pokemon gamers would know, it shows the map of the region. So let’s take a look:

Somewhat reminds me of a map from Monster Hunter

If memory serves me correctly, it’s pretty much just the old map from Ruby and Sapphire, but with a much lower quality. Even though its fan-made, I can’t help but wonder why they couldn’t have just used the actual map from the original game, seeing as it’s of better quality and this version shares the same design. Anyway, the region I’ll be journeying through seems to be called Corna, great. Let’s continue.

We came to this room for a reason! To change the clock, and by god I changed that clock. However, before I could, my character had a moment of schizophrenia and started talking to herself “What time is it, Powypoo?”, well, voice in my head, I’m not entirely sure. Probably time to put on my helmet and strap myself into bed, I’m not entirely sure an adventure into the wilderness is the best idea anymore. I pretty much just set the clock to a random time because, a) it has no impact on my enjoyment of them game, and b) and don’t even know what time it is in the real world, let alone in the world of Pokemon.

Once we’ve done that pointless task, we get rushed downstairs to see who’s on TV, and, wouldn’t you know it, it’s Professor Baro and mother seems to be following my opinion of him:

That’s an understatement…

Apparently, it wasn’t in regard to his questionable lifestyle that led him to being on the sex offenders register, it’s because he’s being attacked by a mob of vicious wild Pokemon, but sweet old mama gives the best response I’ve heard in a while:

“Oh, he’s in mortal danger? Well, quite frankly my child, I couldn’t give a flying fuck. Turn it over to scrubs!”

Of course, she naturally has a change of heart and wants you to go save the guy, but not before asking your neighbors for help, because, you know, why not? They clearly would have the answer to this particular dilemma. Not the local law enforcement or anything.

Oh and the neighbors are called the “Kabunchys”… Quartz certainly has a fine-tuned process of selecting the perfect names.

Upon leaving the house, I noticed that the background music tended to short out and remain that way. I entered and exited the house multiple times to test if it was some sort of glitch or programming error, however the music restarted upon entering the house and music continued to play when I left, only cutting out at random times, anyway. We then go to Ms. Kabuchi’s house; they apparently changed their name in the short time it took me to walk there, and tell her of the terrible news about Prof. Baro, but wait, she comes up with a fantastic plan:

“My kid has skates, so can run to PINK TOWN”

Yep, she wants me to steal her child’s skates so I can run, not skate, but run to Pink town. At this moment in time, I’m wondering if the skates even come into this master plan.

Alas, I complied, and went downstairs to swipe this poor guy’s roller-skates, bearing in mind that this guy lives “downstairs” when the first floor is already at ground level, I’m wondering what kind of troubled child this is, to be forced to live in a secluded underground room.

Neglecting the GameCube is punishable by death!

I thought it only fitting that I sneak behind and perform a stealth kill, snapping his neck and watching as his lifeless sprite falls to the floor, allowing me to loot the skates from his body. However, the command eluded me and I settled for talking to him instead.

Then, I realize that this is the same dude I avoided playing as, the super douche. His womanizing ways didn’t take too long to become apparent, either.

I find it hard to disagree, Powypoo is indeed a bitchin’ name.

The conversation just escalates even more into the silly zone with some humorous grammar errors and even his choice of name got a chuckle out of me. As he names himself “Joseph Akira”, this family’s ever fluctuating last name is becoming a source of humor. Whether its Kabunchy, Kabuchi or Akira, he’s still a bit of a cock.

After a short exchange which puts a slightly more mature twist on that of the original script, he leaves. I’m not entirely sure if I ever got the skates or if they are even going to be referenced to anymore. The story seems to be a bit erratic.

Despite myself being an avid Pokemon gamer, I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to get out of the first town, so I pretty much just took the time to speak to some NPCs and its worth noting that pretty much all of the interactions are different to that of the original script, so it gave it a fresh feeling despite the familiar scenery and soundtrack. After some interactions, I attempted to leave the town and boom, I find myself hearing the cries of Prof. Baro.

I’m not even sure what that was supposed to be…

Either his iJoder broke, or he is calling out to someone with parents who clearly hated them. Once I approach Baro, I find him trying to fend off a Pokemon, which interestingly is depicted with a completely original sprite. Which impressed me greatly, already I feel like I’m going to enjoy this game just like I enjoyed Ruby, and then we come to the iconic scene where we have to choose our Pokemon to battle off this fearsome creature. However, I didn’t do that immediately, I attempted to leave him to his fate until he shouted at me in Spanish, which was amusing. Now this is where it gets interesting, we get to choose three completely new starters, however, they were all designated as “Dino egg Pokemon” and almost looked like palette swaps of each other. Maybe they’ll evolve into completely different looking Pokemon, each with their own quirks and whatnot, but at this moment in time, I was disappointed. Even their names left little to the imagination, “SEEGG”, “FIREGG”, “AQUEGG”. Yes, we get it. They’re eggs.

I chose the FIREGG and went into battle; so far it wasn’t too shabby. It had pretty much the same feel as Ruby and the sprite for my opponent SEVER was almost expertly implemented into the game; it didn’t feel out of place in the slightest. Even my trainer sprite was appealing to the eye, this almost made up for the recent disappointment.

Introducing Sever! An upside down mouse covered in belly button fluff…

However, I cannot say that I loved the design for SEVER, it… Well… I just didn’t quite understand what the hell it was. Was it upside down or what? It looked like an artistic disaster, which is a shame since it looked so well-integrated into the battle system. Anyway, I battled this Pokemon and won, only to find Baro deeply pleased by his survival, spouting random Spanish as he did.

I then find myself back at Prof. Baro’s lab, and he offers me the Pokemon I just used to save his life. I obviously accepted the egg of flame and nicknamed it BewmPow, in the hopes that there might be an attack called Firepower. Later in the conversation, right off the bat he refers to “Samuel Oak”, and I’m not even entirely sure that was Prof. Oak’s name in the anime or games, but heck, by this point, I think Pokemon Quartz has a tendency to make up its own rules. Then, I’m forcefully pushed into becoming a trainer (I literally had no choice in the matter, talk about pushy) and my first mission is to go find egocentric Joseph, but that’s enough for now. My departure of Breeze Town marks the end of chapter 1 of this playthrough. If you enjoyed this, stay tuned for more!

Composer: Yuzo Koshiro
Game: Streets of Rage
Song: Boss Theme

Composer: Jeff van Dyck
Game: Skitchin’
Song: Cheese Grater

The music was quite rad, too. This week, I’ll share with you one of the best themes from the third game, which played during the race taking place in Brazil. Enjoy!

Composers: Michael Bartlow, Ron Hubbard
Game: Road Rash 3
Song: Brazil Stage

Game: Terraria
Developer: Re-Logic
Platforms: PC; PlayStation Network (playable on both PS3 and PS Vita), Xbox Live Arcade
Original release: 2011
Territories: All
Price: $9.99

I gave the demo a couple of tries, which yielded me the same result – miserable failure. Only the freaking tutorial is available in the demo, and that’s a pretty bad tutorial, as I couldn’t make it through it once. You have access to a sword, a pickaxe used to dig into the ground, and an woodman’s axe. So you walk around, defeat a monster, chop some wood, combine some materials you’d found to create a torch… You can dig with the pickaxe, and you pick up whatever materials you removed from where you dug into. So far, so good (I couldn’t find use for that torch, but eh).

But then, you need to mine some ore. So I start digging the ground because that’s where ore is normally found… I fall to a second ground level, then I dig some more, and bam, a huge fall, ending at the bottom of a vast ocean. I try to swim back up, but no luck, my little randomly generated sprite can’t swim. So, in a minute and a half or so, I finally run out of oxygen and die. Really? That’s what you came up with? Why is it even possible to fall into an abyss in the freaking tutorial? Why is it possible in the game at all? Couldn’t there just have been some bottom GROUND layer I could stop at, and then climb back up safely? Apparently not. And that was it. I calmly turned off the demo and went back to the game I was playing.

In theory, a demo should advertise the best features of a game, trying to draw new players in, engage them and sell them the game. The Terraria demo is anything but that. I’m positive the actual game is way better than what the demo would have you believe, but there’s just no way I’d spend money on it, considering the sandbox genre hardly corresponds to my interest. But this demo, even if I was doubtful about whether this game was worth my money, sure does a good job convincing me it’s not. Probably the fault of 505 Games, the company doing the console port, I don’t know. At any rate, I cannot recommend this.

RECOMMENDATION: PASS