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Before diving in to my review of the Metro: Last Light DLC Faction Pack, I should point out a fairly significant problem that I ran in to on the Xbox 360. Consider it a warning or consider it context to my review, but either way I won’t hold it against the score of the DLC, since I haven’t heard of it happening to anyone else. Guess I’m just lucky <sigh>.
I really enjoyed the vanilla offering of Metro: Last Light, so much so that after beating it for the review I went back and was in the midst of attempting a no-kill playthrough of the Ranger Hardcore mode (the pre-order bonus difficulty DLC). Ranger Hardcore mode removes your HUD, takes away your ammo counter, doesn’t show you any inventory, and enemies are tougher. It’s not the natural way to play the game, but it is a fun challenge if you are looking for more from Last Light. It is not, however, the best way to play a combat-oriented DLC.
After installing and firing up the DLC, I discovered that it was stuck in hardcore mode. This was a problem during the first mission, which puts you in the shoes of a Nazi soldier fighting off waves of Red Army enemies. You are given a trio of new weapons, each of which is good for something specific: the new Gatling gun is made for multiple enemies, the sniper rifle-like rail gun is good for enemy snipers, and the grenade launcher is for the tank. On normal, this is a fun and fast diversion you can complete in around 10 minutes. On hardcore, you may break a controller.
To change the difficulties I was eventually forced to start a new campaign game on normal in the hopes of resetting the difficulty. That had the added bonus/heartbreak of deleting my campaign data (I was about 80-percent complete). Worse still, all games modes now seem to be permanently locked on hardcore. I reached out to 4A Games, but haven’t heard back yet.
I beat all three missions on the extra difficulty though, then jumped over to Steam, where I played them on normal. I had no technical issues there, and haven’t heard of anyone else with these problems.
DLC is supposed to draw you back in to the world, and the Faction Pack doesn’t really do that. It is over quickly and then forgotten…
Along with the first mission you play as a Nazi, the two other missions cast you as members of two other – wait for it – factions. In one you play a member of the Polis guard, while in the other you are a Red Army sniper. All three of the missions have a different slant, and each offers a different style.
The Red Army sniper mission is perhaps the easiest regardless of difficulty. You are given a silenced sniper rifle, and your job is to take out the enemy Nazis one by one without triggering an alarm. This becomes almost like puzzle solving, as you have to take out enemies in an order that doesn’t let anyone else see the kills. There is also a stealth section, but it fairly easy. All told, the mission can be completed in 30 minutes or so, tops.
The Polis mission is the biggest and best of the three, by far. You are a newly minted Polis Ranger tasked with retrieving artifacts from the surface and returning them for bullets you then use to buy things. The mission takes place near the Moscow Central Library, which returns from the original game. The mission also introduces the “Librarian,” a new enemy that you will need a special suit to face. To get that far though, you’ll need to first earn the heavy radiation suit, which in turn allows you to stay out in the open longer. It basically boils down to a series of hunt and fetch quests, but it also gives you a chance to really get into the mission and see more of Moscow. Of the three, this is really the only mission that feels like an actual expansion, and not just a quick demo. The multiple trips you’ll take will make the length of this mission variable, but it also makes it well worth the price of the DLC.
The biggest issue with the DLC is simply that it feels like a taste of the game rather than an addition. Thankfully the price (400 MS Points or $4.99, or as part of the season pass) is properly adjusted to match.
Putting aside the glitches – including a few in-game like some visual bugs – the DLC is decent, but small. It also ignores what made the game so memorable to begin with: the compelling story. You only see glimpses of life in the other factions, which is a bit disappointing.
DLC is supposed to draw you back in to the world, and the Faction Pack doesn’t really do that. The Polis mission is a highlight, but even it feels unnecessary. All three missions are over quickly and then forgotten, like a side demo rather than a side quest. If you enjoyed Metro: Last Light, then go ahead and don’t worry about dropping the $5. A dollar more though, and it would feel too expensive.
(This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360 as well as PC via Steam, thanks to codes provided by the publisher)
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.