Metro: Last Light: Review Round Up

Metro: Last Light arrived today for PS3, PC, and Xbox 360, and after the THQ fallout that saw the game wind up in the hands of Deep Silver, it's of course fair to hold off on buying the game to make sure that the developer did their part to ensure everything turned out okay. Particularly after all that Dead Island: Riptide hullabaloo. So what are the critics saying? Read on...

* GamesRadar, 90/100 - "Subtlety is what makes Last Light such an exceptionally immersive game. It nails the core tenets of a shooter, then forces you to react to enemies in ways outside of simply taking cover. It plops you in a post-apocalyptic world, then fills it with tons of minor but substantial details, like the shadows of once-living people now permanently nuked into stone walls. It strips you of hope, only to dangle a tiny sliver of it ahead of you like a carrot on a stick."

* Joystiq, 90/100 - "Metro: Last Light does belong in the company of Half-Life, though. It's an unusual, meticulously detailed shooter inextricable from its environment - making its refuge in the railways of Moscow all the more apt. The survival and shooting aspects engage with what is considered valuable in the world, and both leave ample room for moments of solace, exploration and concise violence.

* GameSpot, 90/100 - "Metro: Last Light is not an endless barrage of bullets and beasts. It takes the time to let you breathe in the choking atmosphere and allow the chilling fog to seep into your bones. And when it finally comes time to aim your shotgun at mutated fiends, the payoff is grander for the eerie silence that came before. Last Light is notably superior to its predecessor, merging storytelling, shooting, and sneaking into a remarkable and cohesive whole."

* Game Informer, 88/100 - "This sequel plays more like a shooter than its predecessor, but doesn't sacrifice its intricate narrative or creative vision in the process. Masochistic fans will appreciate the harder difficulties that recreate the grueling experience of the original, but no matter how you approach it, exploring Last Light's absorbing world is wholly entertaining."

* Polygon, 85/100 - "4A Games has built a strange, complex world with Metro: Last Light. It's a grim vision of the future that still inspires hope. It's a hand-wringing, apologetic shooter that offers great gunplay alongside more peaceful options.Last Light has every opportunity to be bloated and inconsistent, but it never succumbs to the pressure of its own expectations - and that's worth tolerating a few frustrating technical hiccups.

* Giant Bomb, 80/100 - "By its very nature of being a sequel, Last Light doesn't feel as fresh as Metro 2033 did, but there's still nothing else like it. Few games generate immersion through gameplay and transport you to their world the way Metro does."

* IGN, 72/100 - "If you want a fun first-person shooter that doesn't remotely rise to the greatness of single player-centric adventures like BioShock but is still fun in its own right, then Last Light may just be for you. Just be prepared to deal with some glaring AI issues and disappointing technical problems."

* Eurogamer, 70/100 - "Metro: Last Light is not a bad game, but nor is it a good one in quite the same sense as its predecessor. Metro 2033 was flawed but trying to do its own thing. If anything, Last Light feels like a regression. Similarities abound, but this is a more conservative FPS, one looking at the competition rather than itself, and one with some terrible missteps. So go in with low expectations, and you might be pleasantly surprised."

* Destructoid, 70/100 - "Metro: Last Light is a disappointment in several respects. That simply has to be said. Its design painstakingly addresses criticisms of Metro 2033 to such an overzealous degree that it actually undoes many of the things 2033 was praised for. The fact you have to pre-order or pay to access a game closer to the original's heart is also damn near inexcusable, and again I emphasize that I will not review a mode that has been tacked on in such a fashion. However -- and it's a big however -- Last Light is also a fine game on its own, and if we're to judge it without the shadow of 2033 looming overhead, we can say it's a game packed with structurally sound combat, a rewardingly fluid narrative, and an atmosphere that runs the gamut from intriguing to chilling. As a default experience, Metro: Last Light is a good game that forgets why Metro 2033 was a great one."