Stalker is full of bugs, and the gameplay is far from perfect. Now alot of gamers would find that reason enough to discredit the game entirely, but once you start playing, it sucks you in. The game world known as the 'Zone' is an unforgiving and quite ugly place, ugly yet beautiful. The lighting and shadows are the best I've seen in a game to this date. When I first played Stalker, I was a little disapointed by the steep difficulty and annoying glitches, but I have a soft spot for games like this, and so I gave it a chance and I found it to be one of my favorite games of that year. The Zone is a dangerous place, but it is also fun to explore (granted you're equiped properly for it) and it offer freedom most games these days dont: Nonlinear gameplay, little scripting of events allow the game to play randomly most times. The voice acting is very very poor and comical most of the time, but it doesnt detract from the game very much. The music is desolate and haunting the way you'd expect it to be (and very well done). The gunplay is good in its own way, very differant from most shooters, and at times frustrating, but in the end its a decent shooter. There isnt much else to say other than: if you're looking for a good time and want a game that stands apart from the call of duty/halo trend, check this out, you wont be disapointed. unless you have a weak computer.
