S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s development was started in early 2001. Six years later
us, the gamers, finally get to play this highly anticipated Shooter.
Set in Chernobyl, the site of a large nuclear explosion and radioactive
waste land, you are a STALKER. A Stalkers purpose is to collect and
cash in on artifacts from Chernobyl that each have special abilities
and can be worth a great deal of money. You however are more than your
average Stalker. You find yourself with a PDA that gives you one main
objective. This is to kill a certain man named Strelok.
While you may eventually kill this Strelok you can explore the world
and do what you please. It is kind of like Oblivion the way you have
free will to do what you see fit. This is a great aspect of STALKER and
if you do explore you can find many odd and time worthy things, such as
rare artifacts and some cool weapons.
Speaking of weapons there are lots of them. While some are just common
you can amp the level of them with certain ammo types like armor
piercing or if your lucky you can find upgraded guns. The upgrades on
these special weapons range from higher rate of fire to more damage. In
addition to special upgrades you can equip them with silencers and
scopes you find along the way, which is even cooler. The depth with the
gun types is rich and they even have condition meters, so you can't use
the same gun throughout the whole game without it jamming constantly.
Survival is key in STALKER. This is stressed to the max and is seen
throughout the hellish environment as mutant dogs fight bandits and
corrupt militants demand a bribe to get past a key bridge. Again choice
comes into play in these situations. You could shoot the militants in
the face and meet the consequences of army helicopters or you could pay
the money and be short for food or medkits. The possibilities are
almost endless.
The environment is also a main part to the game. The overall feel of
the setting of the post apocalyptic land is amazingly detailed. This is
shown by houses still with dinner plates on them from before the blast
and the many hidden stashes.
While STALKER is mainly a survival shooter it does have some fun RPG
elements to it. You aren't able to build your characters skill persay
but you do have an experience level that gives you better ability and
control with more advanced weapons. The inventory managment will be
used constantly and can determine how fast you move.
I really noticed the reality feature in STALKER. Whether it be the
regional body damage or the health system that makes you patch yourself
with a bandage when shot, the realness of the game is definately
noticable.
As with most of the newer, better looking games STALKER suffers from
long loads and high requirements but still looks great for an outdated
graphics engine. The only other fault is the rare, limitless spawns of
enemies (like at the Freedom Base) where you can actually see the bad
guys appear out of nowhere and run to attack you.
At the end of the 20-25 hour run you will be satisfied with STALKER
even if you get a "bad" ending instead of the other 6 possible endings.
The main point is that if you love shooters, have a decent PC, and
don't mind a good challenge then you should really check out
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
