"So, you're sitting there on watch. You're warming yourself by the fire. And suddenly you hear it: from the tunnel, from somewhere in the depths, a regular, dull knocking rings out – first, in the distance, quietly, and then, ever closer, and ever louder. . . And suddenly your ears are struck by a horrible, graveyard howl, and it's coming closer. . . And then complete mayhem!"
Dmitry Glukhovsky wrote Metro 2033 to describe a dark, ominous, and treacherous post-apocalyptic Moscow in which the citizens who managed to survive the nuclear fallout have fled to Moscow's metro tunnels. With suffocating ceilings and dank, mutant filled tunnels, the metro stations of Moscow are no longer the preferred method of travel for citizens. Instead, the stations are considered home and the tunnels are only passable with ample ammunition and a little bit of luck; not to mention some friends along the way.
And it is exactly these elements that make this novel a perfect choice to adapt to a full-scale blockbuster video game.
Though the novel begins with some background information about the protagonist's upbringing in the Metro system as an orphan who lost his parents in an attack by mutated, killer rats, the Metro 2033 game establishes the player's role as Artyom by using a flash-forward to the end of a story that will unfold over the next ten hours. This flash-forward proves to be the player's opportunity to become familiar with the controls of the game more than to establish the storyline of the game because it seems to end all too quickly. And though my initial perception of Artyom in the novel was one of a weak-willed tunnel dweller who gets pushed into making a promise to protect the metro, the game finds a way to establish the protagonist as a strong-willed, gun yielding tunnel mercenary that is afraid of nearly everything and nothing at the same time.
Eventually, when Artyom leaves the safety of his home station, he must trust a series of strangers to help him navigate the ruthless tunnel system. Though he truly has no other choice, the reader finally finds Artyom making decisions that affect his future rather than reluctantly following the path of the leaders. He begins to question his surroundings and begins to question the decisions his new "friends" are making. In this sense, Artyom is familiarizing himself with the metro system that he has never seen. The new tunnels, people, and stations each have their own identity and Artyom must determine how he fits into each of them. In the game, on the other hand, Artyom has no other choice than to continue through the path that is laid forth by the game designers. Unfortunately, choice is not necessarily a part of the game's story. In fact, the player has very little choice over his path through the game other than choosing whether or not to loot dead bodies for ammunition. In this respect, the game fails to capture the personality of Artyom's character and the personality of the novel.
With characterization aside, 4A made an ingenious choice in regards to plot progression when they decided to present excerpts from the novel on the game's load screens. As the game progresses, the player sees these specific parts of the novel while waiting for their current checkpoint to load. These small passages add to the player's game experience as they add a bit of back story and voice to Artyom's otherwise voiceless character. The excerpts also provide an easy opportunity for the game developers to advance the plot without adding new elements to the game play. Additionally, they also serve as a welcomed diversion to waiting impatiently to blast more mutated, tunnel dwelling rodents.
The Metro 2033 game also succeeds in maintaining the dark settings and themes that the novel so passionately establishes. In both the novel and the game, I couldn't help but get chills when Artyom stepped carefully into a dark corridor or came face-to-face with throwback communist soldiers. And though the game is favorable in terms of action as Artyom's main priority is to shoot at pretty much anything that growls or scurries in the darkness, the novel, through the various character interactions, establishes a certain level of suspense that had me turning page after page.
In the end, 4A games should be proud of its choice to bring Metro 2033 to life on the Xbox 360. As an English teacher, I would certainly agree to my students reading the novel and analyzing the text in relation to the game. With so many choices of analysis in regards to character development, plot, theme, and setting, students could find themselves deeply immersed in the post-apocalyptic world of Metro 2033. In fact, they might not be able to find their way out!
Check out the game website at www.metro2033game.com.
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