Like gunshots, explosions result in the emission of extra physics-led particles when hardware PhysX is enabled. The difference here being the propelling of pieces through the force of the explosion, and the interaction of the explosion with other objects and physics-led effects. Furthermore, 4A was able to hand-tune the force of each explosion, ensuring an explosive barrel emits a greater degree of force than a small handheld grenade, directly affecting the maximum distance that debris can be propelled, adding a further element of realism to the effect.

Most impressively, the force of each explosion dissipates with distance, resulting in a cardboard box at the edge of the explosive radius being obliterated, and a denser concrete object barely being scratched. With regards to windows, the strength of the explosion and the distance from its epicenters determines the force at which shattered glass is propelled. Up close the glass will be launched across the room; at range it merely cracks and falls to the floor.

By default, Metro: Last Light utilizes 4A’s proprietary Analytical Anti-Aliasing (AAA) to lessen the impact of jagged, aliased edges on geometry, objects, characters, transparent textures, and all other screen elements. A combination of FXAA and 4A tech, AAA improves upon other post-processing anti-aliasing techniques by doubling the internal resolution of the picture using pattern and shape detection, and downsampling the post-processed result back to the user’s screen resolution, resulting in an anti-aliased image that is far smoother and clearer than traditional post-process techniques can create.

In Metro 2033, players could utilize Multisample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) instead of Analytical Anti-Aliasing to generate an even sharper, less aliased image. Unfortunately, due to 2033’s deferred lighting, the performance impact of MSAA was tremendous, making its use unfeasible on anything other than a three or four multi-GPU system when every other setting was enabled and maxed out. For Last Light, 4A has replaced Multisample Anti-Aliasing with Supersampling Anti-Aliasing (SSAA), which creates a significantly smoother, more detailed image by internally rendering every element of the screen at a higher resolution. In other words, on a player's 1920x1080 monitor, 2X SSAA renders Last Light at 2688x1512 on the GPU before resizing the image to 1920x1080, increasing the amount of detail per pixel. At 3X SSAA the downsample resolution increases to 3264x1836, and at 4X SSAA it is 3840x2160, the resolution of next-gen “4K” monitors and screens.

To ensure maximum anti-aliasing quality, 4A continue to use AAA even when SSAA is enabled, simultaneously drawing on the strengths of both techniques. And because SSAA supersamples everything, AAA is also supersampled, doubling in quality when 4X SSAA is enabled.

Motion Blur
Motion Blur is a contentious setting online, receiving as much love as it does derision. In Last Light, 4A has used the option sensibly, ensuring the entire screen doesn’t blur into an unrecognizable smudge whenever the player’s perspective shifts by even the slightest amount. Instead, 4A applies velocity-specific blur that can be fine-tuned and focused, preserving detail whilst simultaneously adding a high-action, high-speed feel to fast-paced scenes.

. . . the PC version of Last Light has been awarded one perfect score - something that it's predecessor didn't manage on any format - by none other than Quarter To Three's Tom Chick, a reviewer noted for his uncompromising standards. For Chick, Last Light is a masterpiece of subtlety, atmosphere and ambient storytelling that eschews convention at every turn.

"This is not the apocalypse we know and love," Chick says in his five-star review. "The Fallout games could never shake Bethesda's penchant for fantasy quests and character builds and elaborate inventory sub-games and dialogue trees and hearty, faithful sidekicks. But Last Light has the sombre sense that an apocalypse is not fun. It can be sad, small, dim, and lonely.

"Even though this is a shooter with a mechanical resemblance to a Call of Duty - corridors, guns, more corridors, guns, more corridors - it has a unique tonal quality... Metro is something that could only come from another country, from its designers, from its artists, from its imagination, from its cultural heritage... Last Light once again visits the soul of Russia expressed as an intersection of Nazis and Stalinists. It squeezes big political themes into cramped tunnels. It also explores parenthood. There's even a love scene that's not nearly as hilarious as it could have been. Last Light might not always be successful, but it's almost always admirable.

"The folks at 4A understand how to maximize the narrative value of a linear shooter... They understand setting, mood, lighting, emotions. If a game is just going to trundle you along an amusement park ride of shooting men and monsters, sometimes quite literally on rails, with breaks to overhear conversations if you're so inclined, this is how to do it. And this is also how long to do it. Some will call Last Light a short game; I call it a game without any filler. I also call it one of the best straight-up (neat, no chaser, no RPG elements, no branching storyline) shooters since Half-Life, mute protagonist and all."

it looks amassing. Thats reason enough for me to get it