The Headphones

I’ve been very interested in the whole post apocalyptic idea and so far no game has done it as well as Metro 2033 has. Now I’m not saying I did not like any of the other post apocalyptic games I’m simply saying that Metro 2033 is my favorite of the bunch. But before I get into Metro 2033 let me share with you my experiences with Crysis. Yes I finally played through Crysis and it was amazing. Not only was the story interesting the sound effects, atmosphere and music really added to the experience and I’m not just saying this because I'm fascinated with space and aliens. The attention to detail in that game was incredible. I am overlooking the fact that it shipped with awful AI and unloading 5 clips into an enemy left him standing so when I talk Crysis I mean Crysis with the patch and the Lexus Silentium mod which just tweaks variables to make the graphics look better without any harm to performance. Anyways, when I started playing Crysis I used my regular 5.1 Altec Lansing surround sound speakers but for some reason I couldn’t get my center/sub channels to work properly while in game and instead of looking into the problem and fixing it I just threw on my Bose around-ear headphones. Doing this changed the game completely. I couldn’t believe how much more immersed I was into the game, blocking out all outside noise and hearing only what was in the game added a whole new depth to the experience.

Back to Metro 2033 I was having the same center/sub problems even after looking into the situation and fixing it (center/sub worked with games that previously did not work). Also after a while of changing game settings and going through options I had Metro 2033 working perfectly on my PC. Playing it with shitty surround sound didn’t do it for me. The shooting sounded…weird. The enemies also die awkward as if they just stop moving and fall. Luckily that doesn’t happen with all the enemies but I still wasn’t satisfied with the game play. I asked Google to search for anything on the center/sub channel problem dealing with Metro 2033 in particular. There was only 1 result and the page was in Russian. Luckily Google translate was there to save the day, it translated the whole website with 100% accuracy. Of course I’m lying, it was a Russian website after all but it did do a good enough job that I was able to make out what some of the people were saying. They recommended using headphones for the game and remembering my past experience with Crysis and headphones I was all over it. I whipped out my sexy Bose headphones and decided to give Metro 2033 another shot.

To my amazement putting on a pair of headphones seemed to fix the game. The shooting still sounded weird but it made sense as my character (at the start of the game) probably was wearing a helmet, helmets cover ears therefore muffling sound not to mention he also has a gas mask and was standing up on the surface where there are howling winds due to a nuclear winter. Also when wearing the gas mask you hear your steadily inclining breathing noise as your filter gets dirty. I think putting on the headphones gave me that perspective and it just put everything into place, as I’ve mentioned earlier it immerses you in the game so much more by blocking out all background noises leaving you to focus on nothing else but the game and it’s rich atmosphere.

I don’t scare very easily but trying to sneak your way through some dark tunnels trying not to make any kind of noise that would alert these creatures that can tear you to shreds creates some tension and I must admit I’ve jumped twice now and I’m only about 5 hours into the game. For everyone that says the guns sound poor in Metro 2033 take a step back and really think about it. Could it be because your firing them in a dark underground tunnel, or maybe because these guns were built from scrap firing bullets made of even more scrap? Come on people get your head out of your ass. Metro 2033 is a fantastic game and I think everybody should try it but that’s not the point of this post. I’m simply sharing my experiences with using good quality headphones as my main source of sound for video games because if you’re truly looking to escape into a video game and to really get sucked into the atmosphere headphones are the way to go. Also I’ve never really given much credit to or paid much attention to sound whether it be atmospheric, music or just effects in video games and I must say, I give mad props to the sound departments. In conclusion I suggest using headphones all the time if you’re looking for an immersive experience, even if you aren’t looking for that experience some of the games out there just deserve it and are just all around better with it. Metro 2033 is awesome.