S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the only game that creates a living breathing world, and call of pripyat does it the best of all.
Call of Pripyat's story begins with a cutscene that describes the events leading up to your mission. The cutscene does a great job of letting new players know what is important and kicking off the story. Speaking of which, the story isn't very good. The story is very slow and only picks up toward the end of the game. The conclusion is very stale.
At the heart of Call of Pripyat, lies the important truth that the game's real story isn't that of the game. It's YOURS. The game includes a system called A-Life that controls every AI and anomaly in the game. It creates a unique and living world for you to survive in. Every second in the zone is spent creating that story. Stalker is designed with elements from rpgs and shooters to help make the world feel real. Shooting takes some getting used to, but *getting* it makes it feel perfect. Unlike most RPG/Shooters, you don't level up in any way, your skills become more sharp and your equipment grows more powerful. The amount of exploring you do affects the kind of equipment you gain access to. The in-game economy is much better than those of the previous stalker games because there are many things to use your money on such as: rare weapons, advanced suits, upgrades, medical supplies, attachments, and all sorts of other things. Side quests are well crafted and bountiful. Artifact hunting is a blast, and all of it contributes to your story.
The rendering isn't particularly impressive, but the attention to detail far outweighs any shortcomings of the graphics engine. The lighting is the only thing that is really up to date. The lighting helps craft some of the greatest fear inducing, eye popping, bleakly beautiful atmospheres in the history of gaming. The sound, the weather, and the locations combine in such beautiful ways. The music will play somberly in the backround, in the middle of a ruined city, while raining. These moments are some of the best in gaming when you realize that the world you paid however much for came to life on your computer monitor.
There is multiplayer, but nothing to rave about. There are mostly russian servers. The gameplay is a combination of battlefield and counterstrike in the zone. You play in large areas and constantly earn money to buy new equipment. It's fun, but only when you can find the people to play with at a latency that is not ridiculously high.
Overall S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat is one of the greatest gaming marvels ever crafted despite some insignificant shortcomings.
Overall: 9.5
Story:7
Gameplay:10
Sound:10
Graphics:9
Multiplayer:9
+ 0.5 Living breathing world ready for you