Metro 2033 Ranger DLC out now

By Robert Purchese Published 3 August, 2010

Free on PC, but paid-for on 360.

4A-Games has released Metro 2033 add-on Ranger Pack on PC and Xbox Live.

But whereas PC owners can download this for free, Xbox 360 owners are asked for a 240 Microsoft Point contribution they, er, must make.

"Microsoft rules mean we have to charge for DLC on Xbox LIVE... they let us set the lowest possible price," tweeted the official Metro 2033 account.

The Ranger Pack contains the hardened Ranger game mode. Here ammo is reduced, weapons are more powerful, enemies are deadlier and there's no HUD. Also included are two new weapons: the Heavy Automatic Shotgun and the Volt Driver.

Metro 2033, released in March, admirably stood its ground amid frequent comparisons to the likes of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout 3. The game's premise is that Moscow was reduced to rubble and the population forced underground to inhabit the metro network. Mix in some post-apocalyptic monsters and a reason for you, the hero, to venture out of your commune, and you've got yourself a story.

Eurogamer's Metro 2033 review has the full analysis.

All aboard the 8.33 to spooky town.

Incidentally, a sequel - Metro 2034 - is in development. Publisher THQ told IndustryGamers in July that the game is "a couple" of years away.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SClaw #1 2 years ago

    Bend over and enjoy it Live players!

  • Darren #2 2 years ago

    Metro 2033 is definitely overrated IMO for what it is... basically two-thirds of a mostly decent FPS (except for the iffy combat and dreadful A.I.) that ends suddenly just when I least expected it to with one of the most anti-climatic endings to any game in recent memory. To say I was shocked is an understatement as it was just starting to get interesting prior to that point. If I had to rate I'd give it a 6 myself. Could and should have been much better.

    I had no desire to revisit the game in all honesty but if the DLC is free I guess it can't hurt to check it out.

  • Eraysor #3 2 years ago

    Brilliant game, especially for a graphics whore like me.

    EDIT: Although Call of Pripyat is still the king.
    Edited by Eraysor at 03/08/10 @ 13:00

  • CaptainQuint #4 2 years ago

    Thanks, but no thanks.

    Completely average, wholly forgettable game. But as stated above; probably worth having if you're a shallow gamer graphics slut.

  • tiny_Eggy #5 2 years ago

    I'm not a big fan of the game, good benchmark but mediocre game. Their Live argument seems like a poor excuse. Why don't they release it in the shape of a patch?

  • CaptainQuint #6 2 years ago

    Let's face it: paid or not - this is some of the most useless DLC ever.

  • Eraser #7 2 years ago

    It's not a poor excuse. Microsoft makes the rule so they have to abide them. I think MS requires payment for DLC because they take a percentage themselves.

  • CaptainQuint #8 2 years ago

    Funny how MS allow Bungie to release much better DLC than this for free...

  • Raznilof #9 2 years ago

    Brilliant game which I bought at a discount. Unfortunately, discounted games do not help the game developer much and although the game had its fair share of problems, I have not seen such an atmospheric or creatively made world since half-life 2. The whole game is just tunnels and yet every single one of them shows something new.

    So I am buying this as a sign of support, hoping they can indeed make a sequel.

    As the best of Russian cinema (huge Tarkovski fan) I found the "The Thing" like ending absolutely fantastic..

    Only downside; I played the entire last section of the game with a broken gas mask...so couldn't see much of the setting : (

  • Raznilof #10 2 years ago

    Correct me if I am wrong, but the reason Xbox Live requires payment has to do with the included achievements.

    In order to add achievements, one must make the download a "price" as to avoid achievements loosing perceived value.

  • Darren #11 2 years ago

    @Eraysor - I thought the graphics were OK but not jaw-dropping like Crysis was considering the hardware needed to run them and the fact that 75% of the game takes place in claustrophobic, dark tunnels. Although the character models were generally good, the eyes were awful, destroying any realism in one fell swoop. Finally, the much-tooted DX11 effects such as tessellation and depth of field were underwhelming to say the least as they were barely noticeable and in the case of the latter it utterly kills the framerate. The game is poorly optimised IMO, at least on the PC, but that's typical of games from Eastern Europe in my experience (Cryostasis is another recent disappointment).

  • SClaw #12 2 years ago

    Metro is a good game but the is issue is that it should have been a lot better - and that's obvious when you play it. You could see hints of greatness in there, certain parts were amazing, but also a lot of hamfisted laziness. I'd say that a low(ish) budget and a tight deadline hurt this one. The sequal is likely be a fantasic game if they take their time to iron out these minor issues (AI, some badly paced areas).

    As for the ending, that was as close as they could get to the book's ending. Not perfect... but close to getting the same message across. If some of the earlier parts of the game were a little more clear it would have made sense.

    Anyway, this is a good free patch on PC. I'll enjoy giving it a try on ranger mode.

  • Katsumoto #13 2 years ago

    I thought this was utterly, utterly brilliant. The atmosphere was just SUPERB. SUPERB I tell you. Have to play it with Russian voice acting, natch. May use this as an excuse to revisit it.

  • BobsUncle #14 2 years ago

    "Microsoft rules mean we have to charge for DLC on Xbox LIVE"

    Er... really? Burnout Paradise didn't. I got free DLC on Defence Grid too, and some on Forza 3, and Bioshock, and Batman AA...

  • BobsUncle #15 2 years ago

    @Raznilof

    Live has absolutely nothing to do with achievements.

  • dpb135 #16 2 years ago

    Doesnt this have achievements to?

    I thought that if DLC has achievements it has to be paid for, hence why free stuff has no achievements ......... could be wrong tho.

  • Dogs-not-Gods #17 2 years ago

    Thought this was a rough diamond of a game. Wouldn't pay for more though.

  • J0rdan_KZ #18 2 years ago

    I actually finished this on PC last night. I took 2 things away from it.

    Whilst the story was a little convoluted and a little difficult to follow at times (I even forgot who people were on a couple of occasions) the atmosphere was brilliant. People looked and sounded very, very desperate in the Metro and if nothing else they nailed that. I loved the sections when you were on your own and all you can hear is your heavy breathing due to your gas mask filter running out. Especially when you were in the dark. Man, awesome stuff.

    Also the DX11 stuff is super, super pretty. Shame my Radeon HD 5850 could only hit around 25-30fps. Had to play it in DX10 mode for a decent frame rate :(
    Edited by J0rdan_KZ at 03/08/10 @ 14:31

  • Moribundman #19 2 years ago

    I believe the above posters are right about MS/achievements/paid. Still, there doesn't seem to be a hard or fast rule for how MUCH needs to be paid per achievement or per achievement points allotment - an XBLA game carries 200 achievement points (and usually 12 achievements in total) regardless of whether it costs 400 MSP, 800MSP or 1200 MSP.

    Same goes for DLC - I think even Dragon Age Awakenings, the GTA episodes and Oblivion: Shivering Isles only had 200 MSP of new achievements, and both were released as additional disc based content!

    Valve and co should take a principled stand and release free PC DLC for 50-100MSP tops on the 360.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #20 2 years ago

    Metro 2033 was wierd in parts, but overall it was definately a unique gaming experience with some great atmosphere. Just picked up the english translation of the book it was based on, and I'm looking forward to reading that.

    This ranger realism no-hud mode seems like a worthwhile addition. 240 points is like the price of a chocolate bar, you guys complaining are all jackasses. At least for me I may pick it up to do another fresh playthrough sometime further on.

  • Packs21 #21 2 years ago

    Dear Eurogamer,

    When You put some news like this, please say the content is already on the disc and the actual size of this ''DLC'' is only 108kb.

    Thanks.
    Edited by Packs21 at 03/08/10 @ 16:25

  • MattyD #22 2 years ago

    I've got a Core i7-920 with 6Gb of fast Corsair RAM and a HD 5870 graphics card, and I still can't get more than 30 FPS out of this game on max settings :( Mind you I am playing it at 1080p.

    The worst part is they don't let you alter individual graphics settings to build yourself a nice trade-off between eye candy and performance. I understand they wanted to maintain the atmosphere settings but please, is there any reason why I have to use 6 megapixel shadows instead of 3.34. and real-time SSAO instead of pre-calculated? Would that REALLY kill the atmosphere?

  • Bi50N Verified Head of Global Communications, THQ #23 2 years ago

    For those who've noticed the size of the DLC file (@Packs21) - the actual content of the DLC is included in the title update, the 108KB file on marketplace is the ’key’ to unlock it. The content was not on the disc. I can assure you if it was on the disc and ready to go, we would have a) admitted this and b) released it a LONG time ago!

    Re: the cost - it's not to do with the achievements. MS will allow you to release free DLC if you also have other paid-for DLC in the pipeline. This will be the first, and last piece of DLC for Metro 2033, and MS allowed us to set the lowest possible price point for this type of content.

  • ignatiusjreilly #24 2 years ago

    Thanks for clearing it up Bi50N :)

    While you're here, I have to ask - will we get a sequel? I hope so...

  • 1471 #25 2 years ago

    "While you're here, I have to ask - will we get a sequel? I hope so..."

    Great question.
    No, really.

    I guess you missed the sentence under the video of this very story where it mentions Metro Late 2033: 10 Shopping Days 'til Christmas?

  • kinky_mong #26 2 years ago

    Starting playing this yesterday after getting it cheap from Play. Very glad I didn't pay full price because the game so far has swayed between dull and frustrating, with awful stealth thrown in for good measure.

  • Bi50N Verified Head of Global Communications, THQ #27 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    For referencing the glorious A Confederacy of Dunces alone, you deserve an answer.

  • Raznilof #28 2 years ago

    It's already been cleared by Bi5on, but I'll leave my original reply below:

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    @bobsuncle ... as far as I know, having achievements in a game on xbox 360 (I should have written xbox instead of live probably) is limited to 1000 for a full price title, and 250 or 300(?) for an arcade game.

    A game can offer additional achievement points (500 max I think ) but only as part of paid for DLC (with again a maximum per dlc). So since it's linked to DLC and this pack has achievement points, is why I used the term Live.

    But do correct me again if I am wrong again. I don't pretend to know what's going on, just guessing.
    Edited by Raznilof at 03/08/10 @ 23:33

  • Raznilof #29 2 years ago

    @Bi50n Thanks for taking the time to post here. The game is such a breath of fresh air in terms of creativity and looks.

    How many times can you make a tunnel interesting? But the team did it with great lighting, fantastic sound and making everything look alive. Far more so than competing titles. You should perhaps have explained better that all your choices lead to different endings (or for that matter, that you're actually making choices by talking, picking up stuff) because the lighting and sound effect was really very subtle.

    Anyways, I know how hard it is to make games and for all the problems people seem to have with metro 2033, I played a diamond in the rough. I wouldn't have imagines it from the 2006 demo I saw at your stand in Leipzig (metro was right next to our stand) and I cannot wait to see what journey the Metro games will take me on next!

  • KDR_11k #30 2 years ago

    More powerful weapons sound good, I didn't like how many bullets it seemed to take to down some of the enemies (even mil mun). It's hard tzo ration ammo when you have to hold down the trigger for a while to kill a stray rat.

  • PlugMonkey #31 2 years ago

    Dear Eurogamer,

    When You put some news like this, please say the content is already on the disc and the actual size of this ''DLC'' is only 108kb.

    Thanks.

    Why? When it's:

    a) Not true.
    and
    b) Completely, utterly and absolutely irrelevent in this and all other cases?

  • sjmlondon #32 2 years ago

    I thought the game was absolutely awful along with the equally dreadful Naughty Bear. Both up for golden Raspberry for worse game of the year.