14 DAY TRIAL // Metro 2033 was initially announced in 2006, but things seemed to stay quiet otherwise. It had a release date of 2008, but, when it missed it, the game completely disappeared and went into hiding. Rescued from the blizzard of nuclear ash, it has been picked up for publishing by THQ and is now promised to return to the civilized world. The postapocalyptic shooter was, at first, developed by the Ukrainians at 4A Games only for the PC and PlayStation 3, but it seems that, under THQ's management, it will also get an Xbox 360 release.
Metro 2033 is based on the novel with the same name, written by Dmitry Glukhovsky in 2002. It depicts our planet in a very near future, where the world as we know it is reduced to ashes and ruin, and humanity is a dying breed. Forced to seek shelter from the inhospitable surface, some survivors find themselves taking refuge in Moscow's underground subway system. The title picks up the story 20 years after the 2013 cataclysm.
Assuming the role of Artyom, players will have to aid the character's hopes and dreams and, by the strength of his gun-holding arm, carve a better future for himself and the rest of the refugees that he's come to call family. THQ didn't offer a lot of details regarding the gameplay, but it did assure us that the long-life tunnel rat, Artyom, would engage his enemies in the typical claustrophobic environment, but also in the open areas of ruined Moscow.
The promised encounters with mutants, along with the role-playing elements this first-person shooter will incorporate, will probably make many gamers think of Fallout 3, or maybe even S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which was also designed by Ukrainian developers. Even so, we should try to restrain ourselves from throwing names like “clone” or “rip off,” since that would be quite unfair. So far, all we know is that the game is expected in the early months of 2010 and that it has an end-of-the-world theme.