S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl | excellent fps/rpg combo

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl | Ambiance/Mood Piece

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Sh...

	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Windows \| THQ, 2007 average customer review:based on 121 reviews view larger image
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Stalker: Shadow Of Chernobyl takes you into a near future where nuclear disaster has taken place. When a strange second explosion at the old Chernobyl site rocks the landscape, it leaves a vast "Exclusion Zone" plagued with deadly energy disturbances in its wake. The quarantined Exclusion Zone expanded over time, and by 2012, specially equipped poachers, known as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, venture into the Zone to claim radioactive artifacts for the black market. You are a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. battling for survival among rivals, soldiers and mutant creatures while trying to discover the true nature of Chernobyl's dark past and horrific future.

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excellent fps/rpg combo

excellent fps/rpg combo

The game play pleases the average FPS, but gives a different twist that is very addicting.

Ambiance/Mood Piece

Let me begin by saying, STALKER is one of the buggiest games I have ever played. Many things were fixed with patches, but the game is stilled littered with bugs and some goofy programming. Since the patches usually these are just amusing (when you load a game in a bar, everyone will whip out their guns rack them, and then holster them... in unison; frequently groups will talk in unison).

That said, this still gets 4 stars for doing such a fantastic job creating a believable and ambiance filled world. This does a fantastic job of making you feel like a man alone in hell with factions of inhabitants, the wildlife, the environment, and... something else... all out to get you. And it does it without feel like cliche'd survival horror.

Yes, it is frequently tough. Yes there are bugs that range from amusing to confusing to frustrating. That is all forgotten when you find yourself surrounded in a battlezone, trying to punch a hole through enemy lines, and escape all while avoiding the natural dangers.

The non-linear aspect of the game is also refreshing.

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Great game ruined by significant bugs

Stalker has the potential to be a great game. Unfortunately it is ruined by several significant bugs that make it difficult to finish the game. Even with the latest patch (1.06) the game seems unfinished. The graphics are beautiful, some of the best of any game. I normally turn off the music in games, but I kept it on in Stalker because it was not obtrusive and lent to the atmosphere. They did a great job of making the world feel realistic, including changing weather and day/night cycles (among other things people sleep and more monsters come out at night). The mood of the game is genuinely desolate and creepy. Getting into big gunfights was a lot of fun, especially because the AI opponents are probably the best I've seen in a shooter. If you attack a group, they all scatter and hide behind cover. Then some will move around while shooting at you to flush you out from behind your cover while others move to flank you. Many times I was picking off bad guys at a distance when I got shot in the back of the head by one of their group who silently got behind me! The big problem that killed the fun is that bad quest management system. Stalker has many RPG qualities, including non-linear quests. But to finish the game you need to complete certain quests. There are multiple endings to the game, and which ending you get depends on which quests you complete and how. But the game gives you no information to help you decided which choices to make in order to get the most satisfying ending. I did ever quest I could, but could not complete some quests because of bugs in the game. And because I could not complete those quests I was not allowed to try to attempt others that were dependent. So when I got to the end of the game, there were many objectives that I had not completed, so my character just died. This was very frustrating and I'm not willing to replay the entire game just to get around the bugs.

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