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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (PC DVD)
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| Description:
Although it hasn't quite reached the legendary levels of delay of Duke Nukem Forever, you could still be forgiven for wondering whether S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will ever come out. Thankfully the months and years of hold-ups look like being worth it, with a unique mix of first person shoot `em-up and role-playing game. The idea is that there's been more trouble at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, causing bizarre mutations and other stranger phenomenon (the unusual storyline is highly influenced by Russian Sci-Fi classic Roadside Picnic). The game's open ended gameplay casts you as a "Stalker", a professional mercenary who makes a living salvaging items from the Chernobyl area and selling them, adding an Elite style trading element that further differentiates the game from the norm. Another atypical feature is plenty of non-player characters you can talk to and interrogate at length, receiving missions and even joining various different guilds. You not only have multiple options in any conversation but can also vary your tone from aggressive to friendly or disrespectful. The game's action credentials don't take a back seat though, with excellent graphics using the developers own proprietary "X-Ray" graphic engine and the renowned Havok physics engine. Naturally there's plenty of weapons, both manmade and otherwise, as well as a wide range of vehicles to commandeer and use over the 30 square kilometres of game world. Hopefully this will prove that the adage about the best things coming to those that wait applies to video games too.
HARRISON DENT
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5/5 |
Patience is a virtue (and a life saver in the case of S.T.A.L.K.E.R)
(August 29, 2008) |
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We've all been there. You've just completed a ridiculously hard mission and you're heading back to base to get the reward, when suddenly you're ambushed. And then you realise, with your heart in your mouth and adrenaline in your veins, that you have not saved it and it would be a tragedy to have to re-do all that hard work. Anyway, to cut a long story short, you narrowly escape with your life and your remaining few shotgun shells, and breathe a huge sigh of relief when the final badguy bites the proverbial dust and you can hit SAVE.
Rewardingly tense moments like this really only tend to happen in difficult games, and to all intents and purposes, S.T.A.L.K.E.R is difficult. Gratifyingly so.
When you begin the game, you really are (as all the NPCs you meet like to remind you) a complete and utter newbie and the first time you venture out of your little camp you usually get a taste of how little you know of how to survive in the world. Packs of wild dogs follow you at a distance, waiting for you to be in a vulnerable position. Every now and then one will venture up for a look. It's at this point that a veteran would let off a few pistol shots towards them and keep his fingers crossed that they'll think better of attacking, however, you're not a veteran. Instead you wonder, feebly, if they really are as menacing as they look, and before you know it you've got every stinking mongrel this side of Chernobyl barking madly while they take turns in mauling you.
And this is where one of the most rewarding aspects of this game comes to light. The game gives a brilliantly realistic and immersive experience that you have to LEARN to adapt to. I think this is why there are so many bad reviews on here. Just so you know, the game is hard when you start out!
Weather effects are fantastic. You will be out roaming on your own, occasionally coming across groups of bedraggled stalkers (not all of whom want to rob you thankfully) when you will notice that night is closing in. The day and night cycle is actually relatively long and so doesn't seem unrealistic. But night time is not a good time to be caught out in the wilder parts of 'The Zone.' Whether it be Russian military patrols , hungry packs of dogs or something worse, you really need to get to somewhere where there are a lot of other people before you get yourself shot/eaten/something terribled.
The maps are brilliantly designed and completely believable. The tunnels look excellent and the sounds and whispers of the wind or otherwise when you are down them really set your hairs on end.
Again, I think the AI of ALL of the bad guys including animals is well thought out. Wild pigs act realistically; people act realistically. If you start fighting a group of 5 guys with mp5s and you manage to kill 4 of them, 50% of the time the last guy will either just stop shooting and hide behind a rock and hope you don't find him, or make a run for it.
Some people have mentioned that you get weighted down by items in your inventory and have to rest a lot to be able to get anywhere quickly.
This is a valid point, but then, much of the game is actually based around finding other people's secret stashes in the many hiding places of the zone. If you can't carry all your stuff but have guns you want to keep, find an out of the way hiding place and stick them in there.
Then again, the running out of stamina issue can get annoying but making sure you aren't carrying too much stuff helps this.
I have to say I have not completed the game yet but have had it for quite a long time. I still enjoy taking my time, acquiring a good bit of kit and doing side missions and spacing out the story missions. I have not found the story missions boring or confusing though. The fact that you don't know anything is the whole point of the game as you have amnesia! In that sense it's a bit similar to HL2 where you have to actively search for clues about who/where you are.
I should finish this review now, even though there are so many absolutely enchanting things about this game that I haven't mentioned. But first some advice: Don't buy this game unless you're prepared to sit down for a good few hours (especially on your first time playing it) and taking it slowly and finding out what's what.
Pros: 1. Excellent AI makes for genuinely difficult/hair raising shoot outs.
2. Believable and highly detailed wastelands to explore and traverse.
3. The most atmospheric game I've played in years.
4. Extremely rewarding when you discover it's you (the gamer) who's gained all the experience and not you're character.
Bad things: 1. Big levels mean big distances, and with no vehicles... "These boots were made for walkin'..."
2. Stamina runs out a little too quickly preventing you from running long distances.
3. Ammo is scarce but adds to tension greatly.
As for performance issues, I run this on Pentium-D 2.8ghz x1950 pro and 1GB RAM and I've got it looking perfectly acceptable with no jerkiness.
In short - buy this game if you want to be pleasantly surprised by a slow burner that's something different. (The Pros massively outweigh the cons!)
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4/5 |
A game with tons of character
(August 28, 2008) |
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A lot of people have slagged this game off for various reasons. Yes it's not as polished as some other titles, but that's half the charm. Once you get over these differences, and appreciate that certain aspects of the game are meant to be unpredictable (i.e. that's what the Zone is - an unpredictable mess left after a big nuclear disaster, that has an air of mistique about it), then you will probably enjoy this game. And it's under £10 now!!!
I agree the graphics aren't as good as Crysis for example, but you don't need a Cray supercomputer to run Stalker. ;o) The graphics in stalker are good enough.
What I do love about this game is the the open-ended whay you can complete it. Make friends with certain factions to make your route through various parts of the game easier, or just blow the mothers away and give yourself a really hard time. It's up to you.
I also love the atmostphere. It's very dark. The whole place is literally falling apart, like you would expect it to be in the more run-down areas of the old USSR. Some of the kit is very basic, some just uses brute force, some is just wierd.
As for the anomolies, yes they can be annoying, but when you get better suits, etc you can walk through more radiation and explore a bit more and avoid some places altogether. You can usually work out where the anomolies are and use your savv so you don't go there - lets face it if you were playing another FPS and you knew there was a gun outpost on one route, but not on another you wouldn't choose the one with the gun outpost would you?
Some enemies keep reappearing, and will do so until you complete a mission. It means you have to either run or clear them out evertime you pass them until you complete that mission, but on the good side it enables you to gather more kit to sell at the other end and seems to improve your rating if there is such a thing - or maybe it was just me who got better at killing them ;o)
Overall I really liked this game. It just seems like a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the mainstream titles out there. I love it's quirkyness and I can't wait for Clear Sky. |
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1/5 |
Terribly depressing dark and negative game!
(August 24, 2008) |
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This game is dire. I got it when it first came out and it was riddled with bugs. The graphics looked dated to me and running it with decent frame rates (on my previous machine) was difficult too. The graphics looked as bad as the old Ghost Recon games (ie very grainy). Also the Inventory system irritated me no end. Suddenly you stop and can't move and have to open the inventory and fart around with bits and pieces all the time. I found this also irritating in Oblivion. It stops the game DEAD and ruins the flow. I removed it and sold it. Several months later after buying the latest quad-core kit with all the bells and whistles, I thought I might have been a little too harsh so bought it again thinking I was missing-out. I wasn't. It was still crap. I removed it and sold it again. |
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2/5 |
I'm dying, I'm hungry, I'm dying, I'm hungry.....YAWN
(August 06, 2008) |
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Where all the high reviews written on crack??? S.t.a.l.k.e.r is one of the most tedious FPS games around.
Combat consists of WTF moments wondering why you died instantly...
The game is heavily cluttered and restrictive in terms of the inventory/quest screens, your only allowed to carry X amount in a certain number of boxes and the more you carry the more you slow down.
Your constantly forced to patch up your weak character and feed him every five minutes, adding radiation poisoning just makes it depressing.
Weapons degrade... yeah pistols and shotguns degrade with every shot fired.... just like in real life.... you idiots.
Theres night in this game but no sleep mode.... and while I don't mind torches inside buildings but wandering around in the pitch black outdoors with one is really boring... quickly mention the night-vision which is a blurry static filled mess.
Sound is awful alternating between random growls and moans and Russian chatter.
Oh and if you think, I'll just stick on God Mode and have a laugh with it there is no God Mode.
All in all tiresome, boring and tedious. |
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3/5 |
tedious adventure
(July 20, 2008) |
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I just find this game tedious.
my vista buisness game rate 4.5, loaded this game well but it just seems to me that the flow of the screen movement slightly staggers or shifts.
small tasks in the game offer jobs but you go to and throw ,many minute walks.
its a hard task killing the abnormal and neutral or enemies,shoot them numerous times to ground them.
movement is restricted.on ground,buildings,radioactive areas!
shoot em,rpg code cracking, will it take time to get into it? |
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