Metro: Last Light immerses the player in the haunting, desolate ruins of postapocalyptic Moscow, one of the most richly detailed, and beautifully realized gaming worlds.Brian Dumlao: Metro 2033 brought horror and tension back to the first-person shooter. It was well thought-out with a gripping story and more to think about beyond pointing and shooting. The sequel looks to up the ante in just about every way, and that's never a bad thing. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly now that Koch Media purchased the rights from THQ.
Chris "Atom" DeAngelus: The original Metro: 2033 stood out for its atmosphere as much as its gameplay. Few games have managed to present a postapocalyptic scenario in such an oppressive and terrible way. Small touches, like making your ammunition double as currency, drove home that you were in a terrible era for humanity. Last Light is set 10 years after 2033's "bad" ending, and the world looks to be growing even grimmer and darker. The gameplay looks faster and more intense, but the all-consuming dread that filled the first game looks to be back in spades.
Adam Pavlacka: Adapting a postapocalyptic Russian novel into a video game wasn't the most obvious choice for success, but THQ made it happen in 2010's surprisingly successful Metro 2033. A survival horror experience resting on the mechanics of an FPS, Metro 2033's hook was its story. That same hook is back in Metro: Last Light. With subject matter that is more serious than most games (including a flashback to a nuclear detonation), the expected "M" rating will be well earned. What makes the horror so visceral is the realistic depiction of the depths to which man will go when faced with desperation. THQ may be no more, but Metro: Last Light's dark take on the future of humanity is intriguing.
Thomas Wilde: It's refreshing to have a postapocalyptic game that isn't set in America and isn't simply an excuse for cool things to happen to evocative ruins. Metro 2033 genuinely had a feel, in its best moments, like you were a flea clinging to a dead animal's corpse, just marking time until the whole thing fell apart. The existence of a sequel does seem to mitigate that entire feeling to some extent, but the general idea's still there.
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