Metro 2033 Redux

If it's hostile, you kill it.

Since I was sad that Stalker 2 got cancelled, I decided to play this retelling of Metro 2033 - a first person stealth shooter that mostly takes place in the claustrophobic underground of the titular Metro, which is where humans now try to coexist along with the horrors in the dark to escape the nuclear wasteland on the surface.

Russians love exploding things.

While it's mainly a railroaded experience (it is the Metro after all) there are opportunities to explore in many levels and this really sets the bar in world building as you travel from station to station. Unless you pick the "action mode", you will also likely be low on ammo for most of it - especially since the military grade bullets are what is used as currency, a system I really enjoyed. Obviously stealth is my jam, so I also loved trying to sneak around everything.

That said, fighting works just fine though your guns will feel weak towards the end if you aren't using the "good" currency ammo. Also I really appreciate that they took the time to make monsters actually behave differently. Big things charge and pounce, little bastards nip and run, spider bugs can be fended off with light, and the gorilla type librarians can actually just be stared down to convince them to leave (aim at their face). All excellent design decisions which make for an excellent game. It is no wonder that it was followed up by Metro: Last Light and Metro Exodus. Highly recommended!

Surviving Armageddon: The Midnight Sky of Metro Exodus

Because there has to be something after...

The Midnight Sky

It's the end of the world.

Left alone on an Arctic science base while the rest of the planet dies, a terminally ill man (played by George Clooney, who also directs this film) makes it his mission to try contact any space mission in range to warn them of the danger of returning to the irradiated surface.

A nice cup of depression.

This sci-fi flick has some gorgeous cinematography, nice effects, decent acting, and a decent plot and for something we randomly picked on Netflix to watch, it was rather good. Not amazing, but certainly better than George Clooney's other space flick, Gravity. I give The Midnight Sky three peas out of five. A decent watch if you have no expectations.

Metro Exodus

Everything is a lie.

This third Metro game sees Artyom finally leave the mutant filled tunnels in search of the truth on the mutant filled surface! Apparently there are lots of crazies out here too and you get to meet many of them on this journey which can be as blood filled or bloodless as you decide - the latter heavily relying on stealth.

All the spider levels are great nightmare fuel!

Though dangerous, the large open air maps certainly encourage exploration which goes well with the new crafting component to the game that lets you modify base weapons into a variety of firearms. Indeed, the only thing I miss from the previous games are the dark ones (who really ran off at the end of Last Light anyway) and the absurd bullets as cash mechanic which was fantastic.

Definitely worth a play and one I highly recommend. I give it four spiders out of five.

Insight: Load games early as the checkpoint mechanic will easily over take you.

Developer Appreciation: Stalker

In mother Russia, your first quest is to kill yourself!

The Stalker series is easily one of my favorite to date. In it, you wander the irradiated zone around Chernobyl while solving mysteries, fighting men and mutants alike, and generally try to survive the oppressive and grim environment which tends to shuffle and respawn random encounters and anomalies every so often just to keep you on your toes.

Metro 2033 which has a similar vein loses out here since it squarely fits into the "shooter" category and gives you structured missions with often claustrophobic maps. Stalker is an open world. There are story missions, but you are free to just go hiking and spelunking to find those random powerful artifacts at your own peril.

Just don't be outdoors when the skies randomly go red.

Having the pack space and weight limit also forces you to decide if you really want to bring that second rifle instead of other supplies like food, anti-rad, bandages, or simply more ammo. Of course, your primary weapon might break at any moment so... perhaps a light pistol is a better alternative? Good luck taking down an army partrol or multiple blood suckers with that though. Sneaking by is always an option, as is getting factions to kill each other.

Challenging, fun and most definitely immersive

Singularity

It's about to explode!?! You need weapons at maximum!

Due to a Russian experiment gone wrong, the small island / research base of Katorga 12 is abandoned. The player is part of a recon team that goes in to do an unauthorized sweep years later only to find the place filled with monstrous mutants. On the plus side, you soon get the ability to control time - and you need it.

The puzzles here are much better than the ones in TimeShift, as are the graphics, story, weapons, game play... pretty much everything. I like that this game gives off a similar STALKER / Metro 2033 horror feel as well, with many jump scares peppered throughout.

It's scary even when you do see the monsters.

Currency scattered around the maps also encourages exploration, as you can use it to upgrade your weapons and abilities at particular points in each map. Really, the only fault I can give this game is that there is no option for subtitles. Still a solid, enjoyable game and one I recommend trying out. I give it 4.5 aged boxes out of 5.

Metro: Last Light Redux

I guess being a full fledged Ranger makes this game less scary than its predecessor.

This is the continuing journey from where Metro 2033 left off where we once again play as Artyom in the dark, mutant infested tunnels of the Metro. I quite like the story here, as we learn a lot more about our protagonist and the "dark ones" (the main antagonists of the first game). I also very much like the Stealth mechanic too, though those throwing knives seem to be overpowered since the last game (guess Artyom did a lot of pushups during the time gap). Also cool is that people that don't like it can choose a different setting right at the start for a more Actiony experience. I can't comment on that because I obviously didn't pick it.

If going via stealth, don't stand in the light like this dunce.

The graphics are again top notch and both the claustrophobic, poorly lit tunnels and the often misty radioactive surface, which you visit a lot more in this game, are detailed very nicely. New critters are also equal parts cool and scary, especially those light-hating spiders but as I alluded to at the start, if you have played the first Metro, nothing here will really scare you.

The only two things I didn't like about the game are the "checkpoint mechanic" which can happen to save your game just as your air filter is almost empty and you are low on health, and the "view for voice" mechanic where you must actively turn to look at whoever is speaking to get the loudest volume. Maybe Artyom has something wrong with his ears from all that gunfire and grenade blasts in enclosed spaces? Whatever the case, I give this four and a half bullets out of five and recommend it to people that liked the first game, the Thief series, and to those that like shooters in general.

Tropico 3: Fist of Iron

[This is part of my Tropico 3 Journal!]

My next office was at the isle of El Acantilado, where I had to govern refugees from some nearby conflict and ship out 5000 units of iron. I immediately got the mining operations, roads and housing started as I had the benefit of a foreign aid corporation helping out with medicine and food. Another set of foreigners, a group of explorers, also arrived and requested permission to go on an expedition into the deep jungle. I simply made them pay a $2000 dollar expedition tax and sent them on their merry way. They would never be found again, believed to have been eaten by El Chupacabra.

Back in the city I increased the wages for the miners to encourage a better performance from them, paying out big time with each export freighter that left our shores. Most of the money I had to spend on importing educated experts to run a lot of the facilities though - I completely forgot to put a High School up. Along with a few, other mistakes... like not connecting the garage to the road, so no one had cars. Despite me enacting the Food for the People and Social Security edicts again some people were leaving the island, and some were becoming rebels!

This came to a head when a gang of them decided to attack the police station. I went with my handful of soldiers but they were so untrained (oops, forgot to tick that option) that they all got killed. I managed to take down some rebels too but was wounded in the encounter and had to withdraw, letting the remaining two destroy that building. Fortunately my heroism must have shone through because in the next election I easily won 63 to 29 against Veronica Martinez, who I assume was a rebel. In no time at all, I had again met my quota and finished my task here so I left my subjects to the tender cares of the real Chupacabra, which I was keeping in a cage all this time. And boy was it hungry.

It can smell fear.

Diary of a Marked One

A journal about my re-run through Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl using the mega Stalker Soup MOD. I've previously won this game (as well as Clear Sky, Call of Pripyat, and Metro 2033) years ago but the new gameplay mechanics are bound to keep things fresh and exciting. Even if they don't I'm such a big fan of the Stalker series that I wouldn't mind playing it again anyway! I had originally thought to just go in using "the Collector" which begins the gameplay -after- the main story is finished but where's the fun in that?

Later on I'm continuing the tale in Borderlands which has a similar setting to the Stalker universe anyway.

And so, after ramping up the difficulty to the hardest mode, the adventure through the radioactive zone begins...

1. Tripping out at the Cordon 
2. Wrong side of the Tracks 
3. Another Mans Treasure 
4. In-depth Research
5. A Bar full of Bullets 
6. Rostok Rumba
7. Southern Circuit
8. Descent Into the Dark Valley 
9. Escape from the Dark Valley
10. Surprises in the Swamp
11. One Heck of a Detour
12. Drive and Draw
13. Return of the Yantar
14. Another Lab of Horror
15. Guns make the World go around
16. Night of the Full Moon
17. Breaking Dawn 
18. Anomaly at the End of the World
19. America! Fuck Yeah!
20. Monolithic Defense
21. Welcome to Lubech (moved to Stalker Online Beta)
22. Journey to the City
23. A Good Place
24. Country Walkabout 
25. Bear-ly Returning Alive
26. Crisscross Scouting
27. Station Lockdown
28. Bus to the Badlands (moved to Borderlands)
29. Let the Cleansing Begin
30. Steroids aren't the Key
31. Hammer Time
32. Auto Duel
33. Ghosts and Monster Trucks
34. Things Great and Small
35. What's up DAHL?
36. How to deal with Scum 
37. A Lance of Crimson
38. Sherrif of the Wastes
39. Melting Moments
40. There can be only One
41. Intentional Miscommunications
42. Impaired Living
43. The Best Cure is Bullets
44. Familiar Ground
45. Defeating the Creator
46. Memories of the Fall (moved to Farcry 3)
47. The Warrior's Path
48. Independent Princess
49. I've got the Stones
50. Deals and Devils
51. That's not a Knife
52. Peekaboo! Guess Who?
53. Trippin Balls
54. The South Island
55. Crazy Monkeys
56. This Little Piggy
57. Killing is Winning
58. A New Target
59. The Long Way Around
60. Gear Check
61. Bunker Down
62. Drug Worship 
63. Hard Earned Riches