METRO 2033: POTENTIAL TO HIJACK GOTY

While the game industry's 2010 video game lineup is nothing short of epic, some of these 'underdog' games may come out of no where to surprise us all. One of those games I'm referring to is Metro 2033, developed by Ukraine studio, 4A Games. Of course everyone is aware of Halo: Reach. There is no shortage of hype gamers aren't aware of when discussing Heavy Rain and God of War III. And Mass Effect 2 has already blown much of the early 2010 competition out of the water with its incredible graphics and unforgettable story. Metro 2033 was announced not too long ago and while I believe it has potential to be big, not very many people are counting on it. Well, I for one am not counting it out. Unfamiliar name, unfamiliar developer, and unfamiliar story to the American public does not necessarily mean the game won't sell. But the bigger question is, will it be good?

Judging from this new video, it definitely has the visual eye candy that most gamers, and the game industry, require for a top notch quality game in this new decade. However, there are some things in this video that throw me off from fully stating, 'this game will be awesome'! Specifically, the animations and the pace of the weapons firing.

The animations for the humans seem pretty decent. But when it comes to the enemies you'll be facing in this old Russian metro system, there is definite room for more fine tuning. The animations seem a bit clunky at times, and the death sequence of both creature and human, could be exagerated ten-fold. If a grenade explodes underneath me, I'm pretty sure my body would react in a different way, other than what is shown here.

The weapons look fine, and they sound fine to me, but the actually rate at which they are firing is too slow. Maybe that's the rate these weapons really fire at but since it's a video game, the realism doesn't have to stay true to every single aspect in the game. I, and many of the Halo and Modern Warfare fans out there, are used to fast gameplay and even faster firing of weapons. Increase the speed and the 'drool factor' will increase for me.

Video games now days are leaning more towards story telling, much like their Hollywood movie companions do so well.  So for the lack of quality I mentioned in my picky opinion above, if the story in this game is as epic as the Metro 2033 novel it's based off of is, the video game adaptation of this famous book could come from behind and steal the 2010 GOTY, just by being different. Just by telling a story a majority have never heard, and by immersing the gamer inside the world of Metro 2033.  Whether the story is all the game has going for it, or the gameplay is severely lacking, let's hope that this game is indeed, something none of us have experienced on our 360 console before.

Metro 2033 is set to release on the PC and Xbox 360 March 16, 2010.

Tell me what you think in the comments!