Metro Redux

The Defence
EU 29-08-2014
The Prosecution
AMD equivalent
AMD equivalent
The Case
The Metro games, now arguably numbering enough to be called a series, are generally accepted as some of the best, most atmospheric games in the first person shooter genre. Hell, in any genre. The first was not without its problems, there’s no denying that. But it still earned a place in people’s hearts as a flawed slice of nigh perfection, held back by nothing more than its own attempt to outdo itself. The second, Last Light, fixed everything, absolutely everything, and took the formula to the very brink of said perfection. Fast forward another year, and we have Redux. Both games remastered in the latest, most powerful iteration of the 4A engine. How do they stand up now you ask? Let’s find out.
The Trial
As both games have been available for some time now, and have already been, ahem, judged in their own right, we shall keep the discussion of setting to a minimum. In short, the year is 2033, and the entire population of Russia now resides in the metro system after some form of apocalypse. Almost certainly nuclear in origin, but having come about so quickly nobody knows for sure. The young man, Artyom, who is just old enough to remember his life above ground, is tasked with finding the Rangers and discovering the truth about the mysterious Dark Ones.
Along the way he learns lessons about himself, about survival, about the realities (both literal and symbolic) of life in the metro system, about the Dark Ones, about, shudder, the librarians. Ultimately leading to an all-out assault, by way of missile strike, on the new ‘threat’ and, a year later in Last Light, precisely how bad of a fuck-up that really was. There is a lot more to it than that, but for the sake of brevity, and to avoid spoilers, that will more than suffice.
What is really key to the Metro games is atmosphere. Visual atmosphere. A large part, of course, of this being sheer graphical fidelity. The first suffered in this area, though it had certain effects, at the time, which were truly staggering. The level of aliasing alone was mind melting. Whilst Last Light stands as one of the most gorgeously detailed games made to date. Perhaps not quite up to the level of Crysis, but only just short. The former, obviously, benefits the most from the overhaul. Which not only makes everything at the very pinnacle of visual fidelity, but also fixes much of the clunky gameplay elements and, more importantly, AI which was genuinely batshit crazy first time around. It could still be argued that Crysis is the technically better game, simply because it generates such immense environments, whilst Metro is, well, in the metro. But such arguments are ultimately futile as, simply put, it looks fucking amazing! You may well be, quite understandably, thinking that Last Light, barely more than a year old, gains little out of the deal. One would not expect there is very little that can be done in such a short time. Some optimisation, tweaking of certain lens flare effects and particulate matter perhaps, but nothing groundbreaking. One would be justified in this line of thought. One would also be dead wrong. The differences are screamingly apparent. Which is not, in any way, to say that there are problems with the initial release. It still stands firm as a beautiful piece of interactive art, one most certainly not to be scoffed at. But Redux is just...better. The inclusion of 4k textures and, well, what seems like a complete overhaul of everything under the hood as practically eradicated teh jaggehs! all together and left us with cocaine for the eyes. Along with some other, smaller, tweaks, such as Artyom having an analogue watch now (for some reason) rather than a digital display. That shows the time as set on your computer as well as remaining oxygen on your filter. Gameplay has been tuned up in both games. With, again, Metro 2033 seeing the larger differences. But Last Light also feels just that little bit smoother. With stealth now being a fully viable approach, without any of the usual eyes-in-back-of-head see-fru-walls instakill aimbotting AI. Which is a very, very good thing when playing on Ranger difficulty let me tell you. Mistakes made now are your mistakes, not the game just derping out. Well, okay, mostly. There’s still going to be that one in a million, but it’s not every single time now. There is also an all new Spartan difficulty, which takes the slower, more sedate style the games were originally built on and speeds everything up to be more accessible to those who prefer fast, frenetic, intense gunfights...that look gorgeous to boot. Overall, the entire Redux has been, well, an entire Redux. Both games are in an engine that is right at the cutting edge of visual fidelity, though optimised so well that it runs far better, smoother and cleaner, offering better framerates than last year’s release. Though it must also be noted that many, including myself, have experienced a variety of bugs that have yet to be fixed. Some, such as my own experience, were relatively innocuous things like the Steam overlay not working and keystrokes not registering until; ALT+Tabbing out of the game and then back in. But others have had checkpoints not triggering, cinematics that would not play and the game just flat out refusing to load. We remain confident that 4A and Deep Silver will address these issues in due time. But at the moment, bear in mind that it’s very much a potluck as to how well, if at all, either game will run. With the caveat that both games register as Metro 2033 when loading up, as they both use exactly the same engine, with some unique assets. So any issue you have with one will be duplicated in the other. And a final note that these irritations are worth enduring as, once fixed, these are two of the best games ever (re)made. The long and the short of it folks, is that these are two of the best games available that have been made even better. Not only that, the Redux versions, which cost half what the originals did when they were first released, contain all extra content such as Ranger mode, new weapons, all the DLC for Last Light and some small new areas to find in your travels. Plus 4k textures and brain melting visual fidelity...just go buy them. They are amazing.
The Verdict
Case Review
- Atmosphere: Metro always had it in spades, now they added a few dumptrucks more to the mix.
- Extras: More difficulty settings, all the DLC and a few new alcoves to skulk around in.
- Optimisations: Runs much smoother than the former version despite being significantly better looking.
- Visuals: This cannot be understated enough, both games are absolutely gorgeous.
- Been there, done that: Despite all the extra work, they are still essentially the same game over again.
- Bugs: Many and pervasive, running the gamut from a minor irritation to engine breaking.
Appeal
On PC, Metro has never been a bad looking game. Originally released in 2010, Metro 2033 was one of the first games to use DX11 with its tessellation and depth of field effects. It managed to look good even on the lowest settings, although some scenes with more breath-taking effects killed the framerate on most rigs. 2033 Redux works on the same engine as Last Light with its optimisations and new effects. Yet, even at a quick glance the game looks different due to the updated art assets.
On a bright side, the Redux version keeps a much more stable framerate that the original and the new dynamic effects improve the mood of some scenes. Not everything is good though. While the preset settings have been improved, Redux still only shows preset graphics levels with minimal fine-tuning. The SSAA support is nice for the future, but the complete lack of any post-processing AA is not nice to lower powered machines, especially considering that the original supported it. Finally, some effects have been reduced in quality at lower settings, which is especially noticeable with the lower resolution depth of field. While Redux is definitely a better optimised version, do not expect the complete quality improvement unless you have a very powerful machine.
When it comes to purchase decisions, it all depends on what you have. If you have never played Metro 2033, the obvious choice is the Redux version. It performs very well, looks nice and you will not try to compare it to what it used to look like at every step. Due to an attractive pricing, getting Last Light Redux might also be preferable if you have never got to play the original to avoid any worries about the DLC. For the existing owners however, the question whether the price is worth the replay remains a personal one.
Appeal
Hailed as a crossover between the stealth action and survival horror genres upon release, Metro 2033 and its sequel, Metro: Last Light have been repackaged with a number of DLC and engine improvements in a package called Metro Redux. As someone who never played the original games in the series, the scope of the additions have been lost on me, but I can appreciate the multitude of modes and the way that both games feel like modern games, whether in their level or sound design. 2033 in particular sets you within a well-designed claustrophobic maze of creeping horror and death. You're never quite sure in how to approach sections of levels; if, say, you went around that corner and explored that series of rooms, how many “nosalis” will claw their way out of the ventilation, or what valuable treasure you can find.
Of course, as with any stealth action game, there are some gripes to be had. My major point of contention would be the AI, particularly in relation to how it processes dead “allies” (enemies, from the player's point of view). Sometimes, they would all immediately smell their fallen comrade's blood, and start chewing up the entire level with bullets, and other times, they remained blissfully unaware. The AI also seems to have selective hearing and vision too, with throwing knives and silenced rounds sometimes alerting patrols, and other times not. I also didn't like that ambient and shopkeeper dialogue wasn't subtitled into English from the Russian voiceovers, and there were a number of bugs encountered in my time spent playing.
In any regard, I can definitely see why the games have been compared to the king of atmospheric horror: Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. Particularly with the hallucinations and visions that poor Artyom experiences along the way, in conjunction with the minimalist, brooding soundtrack serving to unsettle both the player and the character, the diary entries picked up along the way leave both to wonder why they ever left home in the first place. While it may not quite offer the scope and depth that Stalker did, it easily stands on its own merit and is definitely worth playing.
Posted 04-10-2014, 19:59
@Bobfish: I was super excited a few weeks ago that Metro Last Light was on sale, as I am dying to play it but still on a tight budget at the moment. I had not yet heard about Redux and only seen images and snippets here and there about it and always presumed it was some kind of free update or DLC content.
So I am about to check-out and buy Last Light and then I wondered what the reason was for the game being on sale at so cheap already. Then I remembered the name "Redux" - so I decided to Google what Redux was. I could hardly believe it was the same identical games but with a new engine and some bug fixes + other improvements. I could understand them doing this for 2033 but for Last Light? That was crazy. Obviously I decided not to buy Last Light, why buy the inferior version with bugs that are fixed in Redux? That would be crazy, even on sale. Instead now I await a big sale on Redux and finally, I will be able to play Last Light.
... That is if I haven't lost all interest in it completely by then :P
Posted 07-09-2014, 20:23
@Neon: That is most certainly one of the complaints I will make no effort to rationalise away. That was a dick move
Posted 07-09-2014, 00:49
@Jenssen, it sounds like either outdated drivers or settings being forced by your graphics control panel. If you have DX11 off and all physx features (does it have physx? I know 2033 did) off it should run fine.
Are you on some of the settings relating to DX11 are not marked as high and low, but are simple checkboxes (at least in 2033 they were, I am presuming they continued it the same for Last light and for redux).
Posted 07-09-2014, 00:47
The one thing that bothers me though is that Redux of Last Light includes updates and improvements that Metro Last Light itself will never get. Meaning if you bought Last Light you have to buy Redux to get these improvements. Which is a bit silly as there is little point to re-purchase a full SP title that you have already finished just for some minor graphical and other improvements.
Posted 05-09-2014, 22:58
I've tried all the obvious things. ALL of them.
Posted 04-09-2014, 15:25
Have you tried starting in safe mode? That made a huge difference for me in last year's version
Posted 04-09-2014, 13:44
No matter what. The framerate is impeccable at first. But as I play, it goes down the drain within a few minutes. If I quit the game and reboot it, then reload to the checkpoint where I had terrible framerate earlier, it's now smooth. But of course only for a few minutes. Doesn't matter how low I set the graphics.
Posted 03-09-2014, 23:04
I had unplayable framerates with full Anti-Aliasing and Tesselation. reduced the former and switched off the latter, now it's a solid 60 on my end. Is yours unplayable no matter what?
Posted 03-09-2014, 22:53
Game is still unplayable for me, framerate tanks within a few minutes of playing. Feels like a memory leak.
Posted 03-09-2014, 02:40
And the Steam Overlay now works. For me at least