Here we go again to enter the Metro for the second time with Metro: Last Light Redux. The fully upgraded version of Metro: Last Light that only hit shelves a little over a year ago. I personally enjoyed the hell out of the game the first go around so it made me wonder if an 'HD Upgrade' was truly needed. I guess I'll get to answer if the latest PS4, XB1, and PC release of the game is worth the price of admission of just another cash grab for fans of the franchise or new players who have yet to experience the fun.
As an FYI, Metro: Last Light Redux does come in a bundle form with Metro 2033 Redux and if you want to be fully up to date have a look at our review of that title as well.
Story
Things have gotten "real" since we last saw Artyom trying to save his home in the Metro. He's killed a whole bunch of people, mutants, and the "Dark Ones" provided you took the bad ending path in Metro 2033 Redux or just by default if you didn't play that title. Artyom has been handed his awesome Ranger badge and needs to set out to rid the Earth of all of the Dark One's since he can resist their crazy mind powers. In doing so he also has to deal with all of the other factions that have risen to power including the 4th Reich of the Nazi party. Damn Nazis trying to screw the world when it is already screwed up…
Hated
Right out the gate, and this boggles my mind as you will read in the 'loved' section, but not everything seems to have been given the full graphical upgrade in Metro: Last Light Redux. In fact, the very first in-game cut scene looks to have just been recorded from the original version of the game and spliced right in instead of replaying the whole scene with the new 1080p, 60 FPS, upgrades the rest of Metro: Last Light Redux received. Was it really that difficult to just replay the scenes using the upgraded models and textures? So much time was taken everywhere else but it seems that 4A Games overlooked this part of the game. This makes it feel like it is not a full HD upgrade as promised.
Also, it would seem that there was no care to watch out for players who have already played through Metro: Last Light before and know where to go as this can cause glitches to spawn. If you watch the below video I captured on the PS4 you can see that as I knew where to go I kind of 'broke' some of the character animation scripting. First noticeable when hunting down the first Dark One of the game. This could have been something I missed in my first play of Metro: Last Light as I didn't know where to go, but it is fully apparent now that I do. This isn't game breaking, at least it wasn't for me, but this glitch could lead to some players not being able to continue if it spawns just right.
Loved
As I saw in Metro 2033 Redux 4A has hit it out of the park with the visuals of Metro: Last Light Redux. It wasn't fully apparent with any of the online videos that spread up until now and I blame the video services online for that. Even the below video of PS4 gameplay doesn't show off how amazingly detailed that Metro: Last Light Redux is now. You wouldn't think that only a year and one console cycle could lead to that form of an upgrade but it completely did. It was wise that Deep Silver and 4A Games was focusing on that as Metro: Last Light Redux looks so sharp and crisp it makes me want to forget about trying to leap into the Gaming PC age and just stick to my consoles as they are pumping out almost similar visuals now.
Now it could just be the upgrades of the controllers for the new consoles or it could be that there were some amazing tweaks to the control scheme from before but everything in Metro: Last Light Redux was much more responsive than I remember. In fact the only real issue I ran into on my end was trying to over compensate on aiming due to memories and experiences in the past. This was something that I felt was great in Metro: Last Light the first time around and it has only been improved. Just as promised. 4A also made some great utilization of the Dual Shock 4's extra abilities on the PS4 version of the game which led to more playing the game than stumbling around the UI to find what I needed to equip or use.
Lastly, the extra option to play and FPS or a survival horror title out of the gate is insanely appreciated here in Metro: Last Light Redux. I felt forced to play a survival horror version of Metro: Last Light the first time so I chose to give it a go on Spartan mode to get the high action feel. This completely changed the feel of the game and adds a level of replay to it all. This time I could run around Guns-A-Blazing and murdering everything as a general FPS title. Now that I have done that I can jump back in and play the creepy survival horror version of the same game. More games out there need to have options like this or at least be designed to be played as the gamers want to play them. Metro: Last Light Redux nailed that perfectly.
Overall
If you have played Metro: Last Light before then the two items I've hated on still are present in Metro: Last Light Redux. But this is in my opinion the definitive version of the game and it is completely worth playing through to see what you missed out on your first time through the Metro. Even if you have already dropped all the cash on the DLC and everything the first time around Metro: Last Light Redux does make it feel like you are playing a whole new game and not just an HD port of the original form last year.
For those of you who held out or missed out on Metro: Last Light last year, then you should be throwing your money at Metro: Last Light Redux right now. Yea it sucks that not everything received the full HD upgrade and a few of the previous glitches carried over but they are nothing but annoyances when all is said and done. Not only that but it has all of that replay factor built right in now and not required DLC to do so. It's been a long time since I have found a FPS that doesn't cram Multiplayer down your throat to feel like there is a replay factor to the overall game and Metro: Last Light Redux is just that title.
Metro: Last Light Redux was re-mastered by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Metro: Last Light Redux released on August 26th, 2014. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Gameplay video recorded by Duke Searles and edited by Julia Schoebel.
