Metro: Last Light

Metro: Last Light
Promotional artwork for Metro: Last Light
Developer(s)	4A Games
Publisher(s)	Deep Silver
Engine	4A Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA May 14, 2013 EU May 17, 2013
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download

Metro: Last Light (formerly Metro 2034) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay with a combination of survival horror elements.
Previously announced as Metro 2034,the game is a sequel to Metro 2033, and although author Dmitry Glukhovsky has apparently been working with the developers, it bears no relation to the book Metro 2034. Initially, the game was to be published under THQ and expected to be released in the middle of 2012; it was announced on February 2, 2012, that the game would be delayed until the first quarter of 2013, in March 1, 2013 the game was delayed again until May. Following THQ's closure in January 2013, the intellectual property was acquired by video game publisher Deep Silver. A PlayStation 4 version of the game has been announced. Although no release date was given, the developer has stated it will most likely not be a launch title for the platform.

 

Synopsis

The game is set in the same post-apocalyptic future as its predecessor, Metro 2033. In it, mankind is struggling to survive beneath the ruins of Moscow, in the tunnels of the Metro, away from the deadly threats outside. People and animals who have been exposed to the poisonous substances filling the skies have become mutants who stalk the catacombs and hunt its inhabitants. The survivors are fighting against each other for the remaining resources instead of standing together to fight these dangerous creatures. They all covet an ultimate weapon: a powerful doomsday device from the military vaults of D6. Civil war among the survivors seems imminent and might lead to the end of humanity.
The player is cast as 'Artyom' in Metro: Last Light and has to find a way to make sense of the chaos and be the last light in humanity's darkest hour. The game is story-driven and lets the players experience combat situations where they have to fight with an arsenal of exotic hand-made weapons and fight against both human and mutant foes to progress in the game. The world of Metro: Last Light is designed to be an immersible, atmospheric one. Like Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light also has a hidden karma system that affects your ending.

Plot

Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. Khan believes the Dark One is the key to humanity's future, and wants to make peace with it, while Ranger leader Colonel Miller wants to kill the creature due to its potential threat. Miller sends Artyom to the surface with a mission to kill the Dark One; he is accompanied by Anna, Miller's sarcastic daughter and the Rangers' best sniper.

Artyom succeeds in finding the Dark One, who turns out to be a mere child, but the two of them are captured by soldiers of the Nazi Reich. A good-natured Communist Red Line soldier, Pavel Morozov, helps Artyom escape the Reich, and the two befriend each other after spending considerable time fighting across the Metro tunnels and the wasted surface together. However, when the two reach a Red Line settlement, Pavel is revealed to be a high-ranking officer of the Red Line and allows them to capture Artyom. While escaping captivity, Artyom learns of a plan by the Red Line's head of military intelligence, General Korbut, to capture D6 and take control of the entire Metro. Korbut is assisted by Pavel as well as Lesnitsky, a traitorous Ranger who escaped to the Red Line with samples of a bioweapon stolen from D6.

Artyom manages to rescue the Dark One child, with Khan's assistance. After a series of flashbacks where Artyom learns the Dark Ones saved his own life when he was a child, Artyom decides to protect the Dark One. While escorting the Dark One back to Polis, Artyom is confronted by first Lesnitsky and later Pavel. The Dark One uses his powers to read their minds, allowing Artyom to learn of General Korbut's plan to capture D6 and use a bioweapon from the facility to exterminate all human life in the Metro not aligned with the Red Line. After each confrontation, Artyom is given the choice of forgiving his enemy, or taking revenge on them.

The two arrive at Polis, the Metro's central station, where a peace settlement between Hansa, Red Line, and Reich is taking place. The Dark One uses his telepathic abilities to make the Red Line leader Chairman Moskvin publically confess his crimes, including the fact that the peace conference is simply a diversion for General Korbut to attack D6. Artyom, Miller, Khan, and the Rangers make a final stand against Korbut's army, and after they are nearly defeated, send in orders to activate the destruction of D6. As the orders are sent in, General Korbut commandeers the train armed with the self-destruct device and rams it into their station, incapacitating all of the defenders. A heavily injured Artyom awakes to the group surrounded by Korbut and his men, who are preparing to execute them.

There are two endings to the game following this. In the bad ending, Artyom will activate D6's self-destruct device to prevent Korbut from using the facility to wipe out the remnants of humanity, resulting in the deaths of both the Ranger and Red Line armies. Artyom is survived by Anna, who is shown an unspecified time later telling her and Artyom's child of his father's adventures.

 
In the good ending, Artyom prepares to activate the device, but is stopped by the Dark One child, who arrives along with several other surviving Dark Ones who had been hibernating inside a secret chamber in D6; the Dark Ones defeat Korbut's army, making it unnecessary for Artyom to sacrifice himself and D6. Artyom credits the Dark One child with being humanity's "last light" of hope for his efforts. In both endings, after the events of the game, the Dark One child leaves with the surviving Dark Ones, promising either Anna or Artyom that they would come back to help the world rebuild.

Gameplay 

Development

 

Minimum Recommended Microsoft Windows Operating system Windows XP (32-bit), Vista, 7 or 8 Windows Vista (64-bit), 7 or 8 CPU 2.2 GHz Dual Core e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz Quad Core e.g. Intel Core i5, i7 Memory 2GB 4GB (8GB for optimum settings) Graphics hardware DirectX 9, Shader Model 3 compliant e.g. nVidia GTS 250 (or AMD equivalent e.g. HD Radeon 4000 series) or higher DirectX 11, Shader Model 5 compliant e.g. nVidia GTX 580/660 Ti (or AMD equivalent e.g. 7870) or higher (nVidia GTX 690 / nVidia Titan for optimum settings)

The game was originally shown at the 2011 E3 show, and was included in the Wii U show-reel, though THQ has since stated that the game may not be released for the platform.
Speaking to NowGamer regarding the possibility of the game coming to the Wii U, 4A Games chief technical officer Oles Shishkovtsov told the publication that the Wii U has a "horrible, slow CPU". His colleague Huw Beynon reiterated the sentiment, telling the publication there would not be a Wii U version of Metro: Last Light, because the studio "couldn't justify the effort required. We had an early look at it, we thought we could probably do it, but in terms of the impact we would make on the overall quality of the game -- potentially to its detriment -- we just figured it wasn't worth pursuing at this time," Beynon said in the interview. "It's something we might return to. I really couldn't make any promises, though. Given the size of the team, and compared to where we were last time, just developing for the PlayStation 3 is a significant addition."
The live action trailer for Metro: Last Light has attracted significant attention, with about 4 million views in total. Since the release of the first live action film they have released 3 more following the lives of 3 characters inside the Metro. These live-action short films were released in late November/early December 2012.

4A Games also made clear that the game will not ship with online mode, since the team is focused on producing the single player mode. However, the possibilities on having a multiplayer mode are not discarded and it could be released after the game's arrival.

The game's original publisher, THQ, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012. The publishing rights to the Metro franchise (and Last Light) were sold in an auction on January 22, 2013 to Deep Silver, publisher of the Dead Island franchise, who pushed the release date of Metro: Last Light back to May 14.


Metro: Last Light features technology which boasts of lighting effects and improved physics claimed to set a new graphical benchmark on the PC and consoles.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
Game Informer	8.75/10
GameSpot	9.0/10
GameTrailers	9.1/10
IGN	7.2/10 (X360, PS3) 7.7/10 (PC)
Joystiq

Metro: Last Light received positive reviews, with most complimenting the game's graphics and story, but also criticizing the game's induction of linear sequences. Game Informer's Jeff Marchiafava gave the game a rating of 8.75/10, stating that human AI has been greatly improved. He also explained that the game "features tighter controls and improved sound design for its arsenal, which now puts the gunplay on par with most triple-A shooters". However, Marchiafava felt that the monster battles were not as interesting. He also criticized the voice acting and character animation. Despite this, the upgraded stealth mechanics and colorful atmosphere were the strongest parts of the game. He explained that "Metro: Last Light fixes most of its predecessor's flaws while also improving upon its strengths".
IGN's Colin Moriarty stated as verdict that "Metro: Last Light is a bold post-apocalyptic [first-person shooter] adventure uniquely told from the Russian point of view. Last Light's setting and presentation are its strong points, though the last third of its campaign is weaker than everything that came before it. If you want a fun first-person shooter that doesn't 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. He scored it 7.2/10 for consoles while he later gave the PC version a 7.7/10 for its superior graphics. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd awarded it with more positive score with a 9.0/10 calling it "an astonishing and moving postapocalyptic journey".
Polish gaming website Gry-Online gave the game a high rating of 9/10. "Metro: Last Light certainly isn't just another AAA shooter aimed at a typical gamer. The game's strength lies in what its viscera are filled to the brim with – mature, brutal and ruthless content". The story, gameplay mechanics, stealth elements, atmosphere, presentation, environments and audiovisual binding were praised by reviewer Krystian Smoszna as Last Light's best qualities, whilst minor technical issues (including uneven enemy AI) were highlighted as the game's main flaw.

 ^Video

  

 

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider
Developer(s)	Crystal Dynamics Eidos Montreal (multiplayer) Nixxes Software BV (PC)
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Noah Hughes (creative) Cory Barlog
Designer(s)	Darrell Gallagher
Artist(s)	Visual Works (CGI)
Writer(s)	Rhianna Pratchett
Composer(s)	Jason Graves
Series	Tomb Raider
Engine	Modified Crystal Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	WW 5 March 2013 25 April 2013
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasises the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows
After the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld in 2008, Crystal Dynamics began development of Tomb Raider soon after. Rather than a sequel, the team decided to completely reboot the series, establishing the origins of Lara Croft for the second time, following Tomb Raider: Legend. Tomb Raider is set on Yamatai, an island from which Lara Croft must save her friends and escape, while being hunted down by a malevolent cult. Gameplay elements focus more on survival, although exploration is used within the game when exploring the island and various optional tombs. It is also the first game in the series to have multiplayer and the first game to be published by Square Enix, after the latter's acquisition of Eidos Interactive in 2009. Camilla Luddington was announced to voice and perform as Lara Croft in 2010, replacing Keeley Hawes.
After a delayed release from late 2012 to March 2013, the game received much anticipation and hype. Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay, Camilla Luddington's performance as Lara and Lara's characterization and development with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far.

Multiplayer

The fourth episode of The Final Hours of Tomb Raider, which went live on YouTube on 8 January 2013, announced that the game would have multiplayer features. The multiplayer mode was created by Canadian video game development studio Eidos Montreal, known for making Deus Ex: Human Revolution. According to the game's developers, there will be three types of games for multiplayer, played in five different maps. Many things available for the single-player campaign, are also added into multiplayer. In each game, there are two enemy teams: Four survivors and four scavengers, and they either try to eliminate the opposite team or attempt to bring medical supplies to certain points in the map. The player can also set traps or activate special features, according to the map the game is set in.

Plot Characters   The player takes on the role of Lara Croft, a young and ambitious archaeology graduate whose theories on the location of the lost kingdom of Yamatai have convinced the Nishimura family—descendants from the people of Yamatai themselves—to fund an expedition in search of the kingdom. The expedition is led by Dr. James Whitman, a celebrity archaeologist who has fallen on hard times and is desperate to avoid bankruptcy and divorce, and is accompanied by Conrad Roth, a Royal Marine turned adventurer and close friend of the Croft family who serves as mentor to Lara; Samantha "Sam" Nishimura, Lara's best friend and a representative of the Nishimura family who films the expedition for a documentary; Joslyn Reyes, a skeptical and temperamental mechanic and single mother; Jonah Maiava, an imposing and placid fisherman who is willing to believe in the existence of the paranormal and esoteric; Angus "Grim" Grimaldi, the gruff Glasweigan helmsman of the Endurance; and Alex, a goofy and bespectacled electronics specialist. Story The game begins with Lara setting out on her first expedition about the ship Endurance, with the intention of finding the lost kingdom of Yamatai. By her suggestion and against Whitman's advice, the expedition ventures into the Dragon's Triangle, east of Japan. The ship is struck by a violent storm and split in two, leaving the survivors stranded on an isolated island. Lara is separated from the others when she is captured by a strange, savage man and trapped in his cave home. She manages to escape while her captor is killed as the cave collapses around them. As Lara tries to locate the other survivors, she finds more evidence that the island is inhabited, complete with strange carvings, dead bodies, and ritual sacrifices of animals. She eventually finds her friend Sam and a man called Mathias, who claims to be one of the passengers. As Sam tells Mathias the legends of Himiko, Lara passes out; when she wakes, Mathias and Sam are nowhere in sight. When Lara finally reunites with the other survivors, she and Whitman decide to break off from the main party and search for Roth, who is still missing, while the rest of the group (Reyes, Jonah, Alex and Grim) set out to find Sam and Mathias. As Lara and Whitman explore, they discover that the island's inhabitants are worshiping Himiko, confirming that the island is, in fact, Yamatai. Upon discovering a shrine erected in Himiko's name, they are captured by the islanders and taken to a settlement along with several other survivors of the Endurance wreck. When the survivors attempt an escape, the captors turn on them, hunting them down and killing them. Lara is separated from Whitman and tries to hide, but is found by Vladimir, one of the leaders of the inhabitants. Vladimir attacks Lara, but she fights back and is forced to kill him to save her own life. She fights off the remainder of the inhabitants as she desperately works her way up the mountainside to meet up with Roth. Eventually, she locates an injured Roth in a nearby abandoned village. Using Roth's equipment, Lara sets off for a communications relay at the very top of the mountain, in hopes of contacting the outside world and calling for aid. After successfully hailing a plane that was searching for the Endurance and setting a signal fire for them to follow, Lara witnesses a fierce storm materialise out of a clear sky and strike the plane down, accompanied by a mysterious voice saying "No one leaves" in Japanese. Feeling responsible for the fate of the pilots, Lara is powerless to stop the island's inhabitants from killing them. Lara is contacted by Alex and Reyes, who reveal that Sam has been kidnapped by the island's inhabitants, a violent cult known as the Solarii Brotherhood. Lara, who is closest to Sam's position, tries to rescue her, but is foiled by Mathias, who orders her killed. Lara is saved by the intervention of strange samurai-like creatures—referred to by the islanders as 'Oni', demons in Japanese folklore—and taken to an ancient monastery in the mountains. Escaping again, Lara stumbles onto a ritual chamber, where she learns that a "fire ritual" was used to choose the Sun Queen's successor as part of a ceremony called the "Ascension". A terrified Sam manages to contact Lara and informs her that the Solarii intend to put her through the fire ritual, which will burn her to death if it is unsuccessful. Lara makes for the Solarii fortress, meeting up with Grim, but the Solarii capture the latter and threaten to murder him unless she surrenders. Grim attempts to overpower them, but is killed in the process. Lara is almost killed herself, until Roth intervenes; with his support Lara is able to infiltrate the palace, where she witnesses Mathias putting Sam through the fire ritual. Lara interrupts the ritual by trying to save Sam, but she is overpowered by Mathias and his men. The ritual continues, but Sam is not harmed by the flames, which are extinguished by a great gust of wind, marking her as the rightful successor to the Sun Queen's throne. Lara narrowly escapes captivity once again and doubles back to help her friends, whose attempts to reach Sam have resulted in their capture. Aided by Whitman—who has managed to negotiate some degree of freedom with the Solarii—Lara returns to the palace to rescue Sam as Roth commandeers a helicopter to get them out. Having witnessed the storm that forced the search plane to crash, Lara sends Sam to escape by land and tries to force the pilot to land as a second storm brews up, striking the helicopter and forcing them to crash. Lara is nearly killed in the accident and is revived by Roth. However, Mathias and the Solarii arrive, and Roth is killed by a tomahawk meant for Lara. While mourning over Roth, Lara accepts that the storms are not natural, but are somehow connected to the Sun Queen and designed to prevent anyone from leaving the island. She meets up with the other survivors, who have evaded the Solarii long enough to secure a boat for escaping the island, provided that it can be repaired. They are joined by Whitman, who claims to have escaped, though Lara begins to suspect him of working with the cultists. Lara heads for the wreck of the Endurance to meet up with Alex, who had previously gone there to salvage the tools needed for Reyes to repair the boat. She finds him trapped under wreckage and, as she attempts to free him, they come under attack by the Solarii. Alex decides to trigger an explosion and sacrifice himself so that Lara can escape with the tools. Finding an account of a World War II era Japanese military expedition to the island that sought a way to harness the power of the storms as a weapon, Lara decides to explore an ancient tomb on the coast, where she finds the remains of a high-ranking samurai who had committed seppuku. It is revealed, in a message he left, that he was the general of the queen's Stormguard, the Oni that defend the monastery, and that the Queen's successor took her own life rather than receive the Sun Queen's power, leaving the Sun Queen trapped in her body after death, and her rage has manifested in the form of the storms. Lara realises that the Ascension is not a ceremony to crown a new queen, but rather a ritual that transfers the original Sun Queen's soul into a new body, and that the process will destroy the host's soul. Himiko's spirit wants to escape its current body, and Mathias plans to offer Sam as a new host. Lara returns to the survivors on the beach to find that Whitman has betrayed them, abducting Sam and handing her over to Mathias. Lara, Jonah and Reyes give chase, heading up a river to the monastery, with Lara arriving just in time to see Whitman killed by the Oni. After fighting her way through the queen's guards, Lara arrives at the top of the monastery in time to see Mathias start the Ascension ritual. She works her way to Mathias, confronting Solarii and guards alike. Lara kills Mathias when she shoots him from the roof of the monastery using two pistols, sending him plunging into the abyss below, before destroying Himiko's remains to save Sam. With the storms dispersed, Lara, Sam, Reyes and Jonah leave the island and are picked up by a cargo ship. As she and her friends sail home, Lara decides that there are many more myths to be found and resolves to uncover them, stating that she isn't returning home just yet.

Gameplay

 

Tomb Raider uses an interconnected hub-and-spoke model that combines action-adventure, exploration, and survival mechanics.The game is presented in third-person perspective, and the player takes control of the lead character, Lara Croft.

Karl Stewart said that the game's campaign will last between 12 and 15 hours. Along with the main story, players will have the chance to do multiple side quests, explore the island, revisit places, and search for challenge tombs.

Development

System requirements

Minimum Recommended Microsoft Windows Operating system Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, 7, 8 (32 or 64 bit) Windows Vista, 7 or 8 CPU Intel Core2 Duo 1.86 GHz (E6300) or AMD Athlon64 X2 2.1 GHz (4050+) Intel Core i5-750 or AMD Phenom II X2 565 Memory 1 GB Memory (2 GB on Vista) 4 GB RAM Graphics hardware DirectX 9 graphics card with 512 MB Video RAM, AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT or nVidia 8600 DirectX 11 graphics card with 1 GB Video RAM, AMD Radeon HD 4870 or nVidia GTX 480

Following Tomb Raider: Underworld, Crystal Dynamics was split into two teams; the first beginning work on the next sequential pillar of the Tomb Raider franchise, while the second focusing on the newly created spin-off Lara Croft series (debuting with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2010). Following pre-announcement media hype while the game's title was under embargo, in November 2010, Square Enix filed for trademark of the slogan for the new Tomb Raider game; "A Survivor is Born". On 6 December 2010, Square Enix announced Tomb Raider had been in production for nearly 2 years; "Square Enix Ltd. is excited today to announce Tomb Raider, the new game from Redwood City based studio Crystal Dynamics". Studio head Darrell Gallagher said, "Forget everything you knew about Tomb Raider, this is an origins story that creates Lara Croft and takes her on a character defining journey like no other". Game Informer website and magazine ran a world exclusive cover reveal in its January 2011 issue, as well as exclusive coverage of emerging details directly from Crystal Dynamics from 12 December 2010. Tomb Raider was the first game in the series to receive a M rating in the United States.
In January 2012, when asked if the game would be available on Nintendo's Wii U console, Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart responded there are no plans to have the game available on that platform. According to Stewart, the reason for this is that "it would not be right" for the game to simply be ported, as the developers built the game to be platform-specific before the Wii U was announced, and goes on to mention that if they started building the game for the platform "[they] would build it very differently and [they] would build it with unique functionality." In May 2012, it was announced by Darrell Gallagher, the studio head of Crystal Dynamics, that the game has been delayed and is now due to be released in the first quarter of 2013. He said: "We're doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game, and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice, and I guarantee it will be worth the wait."

Video

 

 

 

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator		Score
GameRankings		(X360) 87.41% (PS3) 86.71% (PC) 86.69%
Metacritic		(PS3) 87/100 (X360) 86/100 (PC) 86/100
Review scores
Publication		Score
Eurogamer		8/10
Famitsu		38/40
Game Informer		9.25/10
GameSpot		8.5/10
GamesRadar
GameTrailers		8.5/10
IGN		9.1/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK)		8/10
The Guardian
Digital Spy