Metro: Last Light Redux (PC)

Developer:

4A Games

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Release Date:

2014 (Original 2013)

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Systems:

Win, PS4, Xbone, Stadia, Switch (Original: Win, PS3, X360)

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This week on Super Adventures, I've got the same problem I had last week when I wrote about Metro 2033 Redux, except worse. Metro: Last Light Redux has also gotten a free next-gen graphics update and this time it's already out so I'm showing off an outdated release. If I'd known it was coming I would've either played the game later or published this sooner.

I actually played this right after finishing Metro 2033, so that the gameplay would be fresh in my mind and I could compare them. Though I wasn't entirely hyped about the idea as I'd been hiking through claustrophobic rail tunnels in the dark for 15 hours so far. The game's got that BioShock 2 problem, where players have already thoroughly explored the setting and seen everything. An art deco metropolis on the ocean floor is only a novelty once, and decaying train stations aren't even all that impressive the first time around. Even if the lighting is pretty sometimes.

They can't even blame it on the novel, as this time the game wasn't based on a book. Though Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky did write the story outline and the dialogue, so it's about as legit as you can get.

Okay, I'm going to show off a decent amount of the game, though I'm going to be vague about things to avoid spoiling the story too much (and to keep it to just one part). This will have big SPOILERS for Metro 2033 however.

Metro 2033 Redux (PC)

Developer:

4A Games

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Release Date:

2014 (Original: 2010)

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Systems:

Win, Xbone, PS4, Stadia, Switch, macOS, Linux (Original: Win, X360)

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Metro 2033 is getting a free next-gen update tomorrow with higher-quality lighting, more environmental detail, 4K textures... all kinds of stuff. Though I didn't learn about this until after I'd played and written about the game. Whoops.

So this week on Super Adventures, I'll be checking out the 2014 Redux version of post-apocalyptic first-person shooter Metro 2033, by Ukrainian developer 4A Games. This was their very first game, though a bunch of them had worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, so they had a bit of experience. It was based on journalist Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name, but it was his very first book, so you don't have to read the other 2,032 Metro novels to understand what's going on.

Metro 2033 originally came out for Windows and Xbox 360 and that's it. That wasn't much fun for the PlayStation and Nintendo owners who wanted to go get mauled in a spooky cold subway tunnel too, but their turn eventually came around when the game got a reworked Redux re-release. Funny thing is, Redux was released in 2014, one year after the calamity in the backstory that left the world in ruins, so it had become an alternate history story in the meantime. Though, as the title indicates, the action takes place in 2033. Wow, if I'd just waited seven more years I could've published this on the actual date. I really did play the game too early.

I was kind of eager to finally try this and also dreading it, as I'd heard that it's harsh and challenging, and I'd played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. so I could believe it. Even typing in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." is arduous, that's how uncompromising that game is. But I'd been replaying some Half-Life 2 and it got me in the mood for an hour or two of post-apocalyptic shooting, so I decided to finally pull the trigger.

Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a little more about Perfect Dark Zero.

If you want to read part one, click HERE.

I mentioned last time that Perfect Dark Zero had a bit of a troubled development, but that seems to be true for all the Perfect Dark games to an extent. Even the first game had its problems, as half the team left Rare to start Free Radical Design and make TimeSplitters.

Somehow Perfect Dark  and TimeSplitters both released in 2000, and both continued the spirit of Rare's legendary GoldenEye 007. But Perfect Dark came out late in the Nintendo 64's life and was made by N64 veterans who'd had years to learn the system inside and out, while TimeSplitters was basically a janky stripped-down PlayStation 2 launch title.

Five years later, both games got sequels but this time the situations were reversed. Free Radical's TimeSplitters: Future Perfect showed off what the venerable PS2-era consoles were capable of in the hands of experts, while Perfect Dark Zero was reworked in a hurry to become a launch title for the shiny new and unfamiliar Xbox 360.

And none of these first-person shooters ever got a release on PC, what the hell guys?

Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360) - Part 1

Developer:

Rare

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Release Date:

2005

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Systems:

Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the last of Rare's Perfect Dark games, Perfect Dark Zero! All that great Perfect Dark taste, zero sugar.

The title's actually indicating that this is a prequel, like Resident Evil Zero and Street Fighter Zero (but not Mega Man Zero). Funny thing is, the series already had a prequel, on the Game Boy Colour, so the plot's been moving in reverse. There was a fourth game in development by The Initiative, announced in 2020, but five years later they made another announcement saying that it had been cancelled. And that The Initiative had been cancelled too. (To be fair it seems like the developer barely existed to begin with, as it was shedding staff like crazy.)

Perfect Dark Zero was also in development for five years, which was pretty long for a game back in the early 2000s. It was originally going to be on GameCube, but then Microsoft bought Rare so they had to switch to Xbox. Then it needed a quick next gen upgrade to become an Xbox 360 launch title!

There were 18 games available for the Xbox 360 at launch, including Call of Duty 2, Quake 4, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted, so not a bad list. Though the most successful game by a Microsoft-owned studio... was this! I always assumed the game bombed, but nope it did fine. It sold over a million copies and made four times its money back.

Okay I'm going to be playing the game with Xbox One backwards compatibility, which promises higher resolutions, faster frame rates and improved texture clarity, so hopefully this will be a more pleasant experience for me than people had back in 2005.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. I've only played two levels so far and I haven't even tried the multiplayer yet so I need to give it a little more time.

If you want to read part one you can CLICK HERE.

The 'future perfect' part of the title is probably a Perfect Dark reference, as the same people worked on both games... but it also refers to a verb tense that's used for actions that will be carried out before something else in the future. At least, that's the definition I just read. So "Free Radical will have released TimeSplitters 4 before Hell freezes over," would be an example.

Free Radical Design doesn't actually exist at the moment, the latest incarnation fell victim to Embracer Group in 2023, so the chances don't seem good. The new Perfect Dark sequel got the same treatment, as developer The Initiative were closed in 2025. At least James Bond is doing well lately, with First Light being the best received entry since GoldenEye 007. Turns out it helps when developers are allowed to finish what they're working on!

Alright, here's a bit more TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. 

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

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Release Date:

2005

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Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the third and (to this date) final entry in the TimeSplitters franchise, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. They could've called it TimeSplitters 3 and kept things simple, but they didn't.

Future Perfect was released in 2005, but it was firmly PlayStation 2 generation like its predecessors. In fact the TimeSplitters series spanned the entire era, with TimeSplitters 1 arriving the same time the PS2 made it over to the west, and Future Perfect coming out just before Perfect Dark Zero helped launch the Xbox 360. Wait... Future Perfect, Perfect Dark... that can't be a coincidence.

This was a multiplatform release, so PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox owners all got to play it (though not against each other). But there was one system that didn't get a port: Windows PC! Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 all launched on PC first, all in 2005, so it wouldn't have been an absurd idea, even at a time when consoles were king and ridiculous anti-piracy schemes were driving PC gamers to piracy. We could've had a bit of mouse aiming, maybe even some quicksaves, but no.

Alright, I'm going to load up the Xbox version on an Xbox One and I'll keep playing through the single player until either I have enough screenshots or my enthusiasm runs out. And I suppose there'd be no harm in me playing a few rounds of the multiplayer afterwards.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of TimeSplitters 2! Just a little bit more, not much.

TimeSplitters 2 came out in October 2002, around the same time as games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Metroid Prime and 007: Nightfire. Also No One Lives Forever 2, Red Faction II, Unreal II and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast. It was a great time for fans of single-player first-person shooter sequels, and the multiplayer was pretty decent as well.

In fact many would argue that the best first-person console multiplayer was right here in TimeSplitters 2, especially if you didn't have an Xbox for Halo. But right now I'm more interested in the game's single-player and I've only made it up to level two so far so I need to pick up the pace.

If you want to read what I said about level 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise, I'm just going to jump straight into the next level.

TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox) - Part 1

Developer:

Free Radical

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Release Date:

2002

|

Systems:

PS2, Xbox, GameCube

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the second TimeSplitters game! Which, by pure coincidence, is also the second TimeSplitters game to never get a PC port. 

The PlayStation 2 release was joined by Xbox and GameCube versions this time, but it still never made it to mice and keyboards. There should be some kind of law against releasing a first-person shooter on everything but PC, because that just doesn't make any sense. Plus it's cruel, to me personally.

I'm going to be playing the Xbox version on an Xbox One through the miracle of backwards compatibility, as they started selling it again a few years back. Perhaps they saw all the people buying Homefront: The Revolution after we learned that the game is hidden inside as a bonus feature, and realised they were leaving money on the table.

The original TimeSplitters game was a bit of a unknown to me when I wrote about it a couple of years back, but this one I'm already familiar with. I played a lot of TimeSplitters 2 back in the day, mostly the deathmatch actually. See, I do play multiplayer sometimes! But this time around my plan is to try the first few single-player levels, about an hour of gameplay. Then I'll show a picture of the multiplayer menu, say I'm very impressed by all the modes it has, and then skip to the part where I wrap things up.

TimeSplitters (PS2)

Developer:

Free Radical

|

Release Date:

2000

|

Systems:

PS2

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out a game I haven't really played before: the original TimeSplitters for the PlayStation 2! Not Time Stalkers for the Dreamcast, that's something very different. (Just to make it more confusing, in the EU the two games came out less than two weeks apart.)

TimeSplitters was created by Free Radical Design, a company that has had a bit of a rough time of things over the years, as it's been killed off at least twice. The first time was in 2014, after they'd spent some time in disguise as Crytek UK, the second was last year after the Embracer group decided it would be better for their shareholders if we didn't get a fourth TimeSplitters game made by the original founders.

Free Radical was originally formed in early 1999 by staff that left Rare during the production of N64 FPS Perfect Dark. So it's pretty impressive that they got this out in late 2000, just a few months after Perfect Dark came out, especially as it was for a brand-new system. Rare had been focused on N64 and Game Boy games during the latter half of the 90s, but this was a launch title for the PlayStation 2. So I guess I'm going to see what Dr Doak and the GoldenEye team could do in 16 months on unfamiliar hardware.

I won't be seeing it on any other machines though, as to this day the game remains a PlayStation 2 exclusive. It's a product of that horrifying period of history where first-person shooters sometimes never got a version with mouse controls, and unlike its sequels it never made it to a system supported by backwards compatibility like the Xbox.

Alright, I'm going to check out the single-player for a bit and see if it's still fun in 2024. Assuming it was ever fun. And assuming it even has a single-player mode. It's going to really screw up my plans if it doesn't!

Crysis 2 (PC)

Developer:

Crytek

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Release Date:

2011

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Systems:

Windows, PS3, Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Crysis 2, the second game in the Crysis trilogy. (Warhead's a stand-alone expansion so it doesn't count.)

I also played the original Crysis this week so you might be wondering 'Why the rush?' Well, the game starts on the 23rd of August 2023, so it actually takes place today. So I should really get on with writing about the game and stop wasting time with this intro.

Actually, there are a couple of things I should mention here. First, the game's story was written by Richard K. Morgan, author of the novel Altered Carbon. He also wrote the Syndicate shooter that came out the following year. Second, I want to mention how the game's theme is kind of one note. Well, two notes I suppose. It's like an alarm. It's one of a handful of songs on the soundtrack by Hollywood composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, and honestly I prefer Lorne Balfe's theme to that new Dungeons & Dragons movie, Honor Among Thieves.

Alright, I'm not going to be able to get away with just playing an hour or two of this like I usually do, so expect SPOILERS for the entire first half of the game.

Crysis (PC)

Developer:

Crytek

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Release Date:

2007

|

Systems:

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm finally getting around to the notorious Crysis!

I thought about buying the game a while back, but I was put off by its pain-in-the-ass DRM and I just didn't think about it again until now. These days though it's a non-issue, with the DRM-free GOG release and the Steam version getting patched. Also, there's that Remastered edition... that I won't be playing. I want to play the legit original experience! Though just getting it to run at all would be nice.

Crysis is infamous for two reasons and the main one is its system requirements. Back in 2007 it was supposed to be the prettiest game ever made, and I can believe that. The catch was that people had to wait until PC hardware had caught up to it before they could put the graphics settings up.

There will be SPOILERS here for a significant amount of the game's story and they start right now. That's because the second thing that the game's infamous for is the twist that the gameplay takes in the second half. I'm usually happy to show off the first hour or so of a game and then quit, but it doesn't seem right for me to write about Crysis and not bitch about the alien levels.

Dusk (PC)

Developer:

David Szymanski

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Release Date:

2018

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Systems:

Win, macOS, Linux, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at indie first-person boomer shooter Dusk! I've been meaning to get around to this for a while now. Partly because it's a critically acclaimed, highly recommended game in a genre I love, partly because it was a present and I should probably play the games I've been gifted!

I've been avoiding learning anything about the game so I'm going in fairly blind. I didn't even know it had a multiplayer mode called 'Duskworld'. Though it doesn't feature co-op or bots and I think I'm going to stick with the single-player mode. The regular one I mean, not 'Endless' mode, which seems like it'd take a while.

Not that I'm planning to finish the whole game. I'm just going to stick with it for an hour or so to see if I'm satisfied with its shooting.

Perfect Dark (Xbox 360)

Developer:

Rare

|

Release Date:

2000

|

Systems:

N64, Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the spiritual successor to Rare's legendary N64 FPS GoldenEye 007: the slightly less legendary Perfect Darkﾞ!

It came out three years later for the same console, runs on the same engine, and was developed by a lot of the same people, so it's basically GoldenEye 2 (or GoldenEye 008?) There were proper sequels to GoldenEye, but Rare had been outbid by EA and decided they'd rather do their own thing anyway, so Black Ops gave us third person shooter Tomorrow Never Dies on the PlayStation and Eurocom got to make the next first person N64 Bond shooter, The World is Not Enough. Both considerably less legendary.

Perfect Dark was was released late in the N64's life and was so ambitious that it required the Expansion Pak installed in order to access 65% of its content. Though even with double the RAM under the hood, the game still suffers from framerate issues. Fortunately I'm mostly going to be playing the remastered Xbox 360 version on the Xbox One, which has about 2000 times the RAM. I would've played the PC version and used a mouse but to this day the game still hasn't got a PC port.

If you're wondering why there's an N behind the title despite the letter not appearing in either word, that's so that the Nintendo logo can spin around and morph into the logo! It's a little different in the Xbox Live Arcade version, as 4J Studio's logo takes Nintendo's place. Not a lot of Nintendo logos on Microsoft games I've noticed. If you're wondering why there's a dakuten (ﾞ) after the K... I've got no idea. They thought it'd look cool I guess. Like how Street Fighter II′ has a dash.

Alright I'll put this on and give it an hour or two then. I used to love the game but I can't remember if there's anything notable I should be playing up to (mostly because it's the multiplayer I was obsessed with), so I'm just going to play the first few levels and document my findings.

Operation GII (Demo) (Amiga) - Guest Post

The week on Super Adventures, guest reviewer mecha-neko has dug up something properly obscure for you. It's the demo for a cancelled Amiga first person shooter called Operation Gii! Uh, Operation G2 sorry.

All these Alien Breed games Ray has been playing has inspired me some! I'm going to play a sci-fi shooty survival game of my own.

Developer:

Psygnosis

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Release Date:

August 1994 (Demo)

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Systems:

Amiga

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"Are you ready to battle with rogue robots on a radio-active spaceship in our fab Coverdisk demo?"

You bet I am, Amiga Format!

Black (Xbox)

Developer:

Criterion

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Release Date:

2006

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Systems:

Xbox, PS2

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a first person shooter from the dark times of PC gaming, where first person shooters had migrated to consoles and didn't always get ported back (I'm still waiting on The Darkness and the TimeSplitters games to suddenly appear on Steam). 

Black is exclusive to the Xbox and PlayStation 2, which means it never got a release that featured mouse controls and quicksaves. The game did make it onto Microsoft's backward compatibility list though, meaning that I can play it on the Xbox One with an increased resolution and presumably a more stable framerate! So that's what I'm going to do.

The game was developed by Criterion, who are more famous for racing games like Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012). They decided to use their own engine for it, RenderWare, which was practically the Unreal Engine of the PS2-era, allowing developers to make cross-platform games without knowing all the dark arcane secrets of the hardware. In fact it was used in almost 300 games before EA decided they wanted out of the engine licensing business. It turned up in some pretty big name titles as well, like Grand Theft Auto 3, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, Suikoden 3, Broken Sword 3 and Max Payne 2.

I'm sure I've played Black before, many years ago, but I only got about halfway through and my memories are really fuzzy. I remember that it had a forest level, a church level and a factory level, but that's about it. I feel like I was impressed by it somehow though. Hopefully there'll be something special about it that'll make it worth showing off, otherwise this is going to be a bit of a disappointment.

System Shock: Enhanced Edition (PC)

Developer:

LookingGlass

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Release Date:

1994

|

Systems:

DOS, Mac, PC-98 (EE version: Windows)

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the original System Shock, a game I've somehow never played. Well okay maybe I put it on for five minutes once and got scared off by the controls, and I did play the demo of the remake, but this is something I'm mostly clueless about. It's a big gap in my important video game knowledge. I mean up to this point I assumed I'd be playing as the guy with the chunky metal headwear from the box cover, but that's apparently a Cyborg Elite Guard. Seems like the player character is the guy in the sneaking suit on the right.

My gimmick for Super Adventures this year is that I'm playing games that have appeared on someone's top ten list and I found System Shock at #9 on PC Gamer's Top 100 from 1996... even though it actually came out in 1994. I guess it's the kind of game that takes a while to win people over.

System Shock was LookingGlass's next immersive sim or '0451' game after the Ultima Underworld games and introduced something absolutely crucial to the genre: a door locked with the code 451. There are many things locked with the code 0451 in many games, but this is its origin. The game probably introduced other things too, I'll let you know if I spot anything.

I'll be playing Nightdive's Enhanced Edition, which is an entirely different thing to Nightdive's upcoming remake. It's basically the same as the original game, just with modern resolutions, redefinable controls, video options, that kind of thing. They likely even patched a few bugs while they were at it. Plus it comes packed with lots of bonus features, like artwork, guides, the soundtrack (in MP3, FLAC and MIDI!) and even an interview with Warren Spector, which I need to remember to watch. It also includes the original version of game and a copy of DOSBox to run it in, just in case the Enhanced Edition isn't authentic enough for you. Very handy if you happen to be taking screenshots to compare versions.

Okay, I usually play games for an hour or so, but I suspect this is going to need a bit longer than that. I'll keep going until I've finished the first floor, or at least succeeded at something. I'm sure someone will eventually want me to flick an important switch and I will make sure that switch gets flicked.

TECNO: The Base (PC) - Guest Post

Today on Super Adventures, occasional guest poster mecha-neko's back to show off... uh, I have no idea what this is. I've never heard of this game before. What even is this?

Hello everyone!

I'm playing TECNO: The Base, "An FPS-Adventure game with its own unique style".

Developer:

Paolo Cosentino GURUY Entertainment (Uruguay)

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Release Date:

7th September 2007 (freeware May 2012)

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Systems:

Windows

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Set in a huge research facility run amok, TECNO: The Base promises a plethora of lethal robots, an arsenal of experimental weaponry and many ingenious objectives to complete. Sounds awesome to me!

Ion Fury (PC)

Developer:

Voidpoint

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Release Date:

2019

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Systems:

PC, Mac

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This month on Super Adventures, I've only got the one game for you, and it's been reviewed and streamed by everyone else already! In fact it was in Early Access for months, so a whole chapter of it's been around for everyone to play for ages. What I should've done is hang on for a couple of decades until the game's properly retro and write about it then, but I'm impatient.

Ion Fury is the second Duke Nukem spin-off starring Shelly Harrison after 2016's Bombshell, except not really as the character never actually turned up in any of the Duke Nukem games she was intended to appear in. This worked out for 3D Realms though as it means they got to keep her when they sold the rest of the Duke IP to Gearbox a few years back. They can't make Duke Nukem games anymore but they can make all the Bombshell sequels they want. Or a prequel in this case.

Bombshell was a top down shooter, but this is a bit more like Duke Nukem 3D. In fact it's a lot more like it, as it was made using the Build engine that powered the last of the great 2.5D games like Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood. Why did they go back to such an archaic game engine? Same reason that Baldur's Gate got an expansion made recently in the Infinity engine I guess: because the developer had already updated the engine for new systems and knew people were nostalgic for it (Voidpoint is run by the guy who made the EDuke32 source port). Plus they wanted to.

I'm immune to nostalgia though, as I never really left the 90s (or the 2000s). In fact I played a few levels of Doom II, Quake and Duke 3D while I was waiting for the final version to go live and the download to start, so all it has to do is be better than them and I'll be impressed.

Spirits of Xanadu (PC) - Guest Post

This week on Super Adventures, guest poster mecha-neko has gone to the trouble of redefining the word 'Friday' in order to write about a spooky first person shooter on a Wednesday without changing his old banner image. This is the level of commitment we both have to providing you with words about video games.

Feels like it's been a while since I've done an FPS Friday. Ray told me about a 'short' game that he'd recently finished, and if a game is so short and so good that Ray can finish it, it's gotta be worth having a look at.

So I'm going to play one of itch.io's Featured 'Action' games, Spirits of Xanadu.

Developer:

Good Morning, Commander

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Release Date:

2015

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Systems:

Windows, Mac, Linux

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See, told ya!

SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC)

Developer:

Ritual

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Release Date:

2006

|

Systems:

PC

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This week on Super Adventures, I am finally getting around to playing SiN Episodes: Emergence! To be honest the only reason it took me this long is because I decided to hold off buying it until it was really cheap on Steam, and then that never happened. Until it finally did. I even got a free copy of SiN with it, which I fully approve of. More sequels should include the first game as a bonus... even if it is a little bit censored and doesn't include the expansion (unlike the version sold on GOG).

The first thing I noticed when I put the game on, aside from how cheap that menu text looks, is how good the opening theme is. It's like they swiped it from a Bond movie; it has vocals and everything! It's a bit disappointing that they didn't awkwardly work the word 'Emergence' into the chorus, but they found a place to include 'sin' at least. Here, have a YouTube link so you can listen to it yourself: What's the World Come To?

SiN Episodes also managed to disappoint console owners by never being ported, and PC owners by only ever getting the one episode. The mid-2000s episodic gaming experiment really didn't work out so great for first person shooter sequels built on the Source engine. That said, I'm sure Valve's Half-Life episodes sold a hell of a lot better than this did.

The original SiN had the misfortune of being released just two weeks before before the groundbreaking Half-Life and being entirely overshadowed by it, then the exact same thing happened with Emergence when it came out three weeks before the massively hyped Half-Life 2: Episode One! The game launched on Steam back when the store was practically empty and still didn't sell enough for even one more of its nine planned episodes to enter development. But the SiN series truly died when developer Ritual was acquired by MumboJumbo shortly afterwards and sent to casual game development hell for eternity instead.

Content warning: this article contains a screenshot of a model in lingerie. A 2006-era real-time 3D model.