Two excellent last gen titles have been remastered and are now available for the Nintendo Switch, having previously been only available on the PC/PS4/X1. Metro Redux combines Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light into one brilliant package, complete with remastered visuals and an all around improved experience from their original releases about a decade ago.
As far as FPS horror games go, these two are stellar examples of games done right. Metro 2033 was more of a survival horror game originally, with a focus on ammo conservation, while Last Light opened things up a bit more for a Spartan (special commando types in the Metro universe) approach. Metro 2033 Redux makes some adjustments and allows the player to play it in a more Spartan-aka-guns blazing type of way, making the games more similar than they had been before. Either way you play them, they’re very well done. I originally reviewed these games when they first came out, but the links to my old reviews were lost to the ravages of time and server failures, unfortunately. While reviewing these on the Switch lately, I spent more time looking at the port quality itself than replaying the games, given that I played them both many years ago and just in the last year (on PS4 Pro) as I prepared myself for the best of the series so far in Metro: Exodus.
Perhaps unlike most Switch owners I tend to play my games docked about 95% of the time. I did spend a little bit of time with the Metro games in handheld mode and was pleasantly surprised at the steady framerate and strong graphics presentation. While docked, I can’t say the game looks or runs really any better, but it is a more comfortable way for me to play and is my preferred way. After doing some reading online, the games tend to play at 1080p when docked and 720p in handheld mode, but in either case the framerate is a comfortable 30fps.
Given the nature of the game, I would suggest using a Pro Controller and also be prepared for some lengthy load times. Not all load times are bad, but some larger levels take a relatively long time to get ready. Typically, unless you’re being too reckless or playing on a higher difficulty setting, you probably won’t die much in Metro if you’re deliberate in your actions, though there are a few nuisance encounters. Plus, load times from dying within a level are usually pretty snappy, too. Long load times for the Metro series aren’t something new, as even Exodus on a PS4 Pro has these as well.
At the end of the day, there’s not a lot to say about the Metro Redux release on Switch. These are two excellent games that have stood the test of time and 4A did a great job porting their projects to the Switch. Even though other platforms have had Redux for months, and also have Exodus, the Switch version is just as complete and competent as those. It’s likely Metro Exodus will be out on the Switch later this year, and it’d be a shame if it didn’t get ported as it completes a trilogy that begins with Metro 2033. All that said, there’s no particular reason to play it on the Switch over other platforms if you have the choice, other than the convenience of handheld mode.
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