S.T.A.L.K.E.R. delivers a great FPS/RPG experience that offers great replayability and an interesting premise.
User Rating: 9 | S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl PC
When I first saw the box art, I was generally unimpressed. Seemed kind of generic but as I read more of the previews, the game grew on me and so I snatched it up when it came out. This game succeeds where many FPS' fail: replayability. STALKER is sort-of similar to Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, minus the level-up system. You will have an inventory, with all your weapons, ammo, food, anti-rad medication, and artifacts and the world (which is quite large) has a primitive economy. I was taken back by the sandbox gameplay since this is quite a new experience. The only other sandbox games I played was Elder Scrolls III and IV. The story is interesting, especially the setting but it is kind of incoherent and not cohesive enough. The graphics, though dated, are still quite good. All the weapons and environments look detailed. There's not much music, but the sound effects, the howl of the wind and the cries of mutants are very well done and draw you in. The shooting gameplay is challenging, and features a wide assortment of guns to play with, but makes you choose carefully since you have a weight limit. Artifacts too, since they offer a positive constant effect and a negative constant effect. The AI is on par with F.E.A.R., though indoors in kind of acts a little wonky. Overall, this is very ambitious game, and GSC has succeeded in setting out what they wanted to make. I can see myself playing this game 2 years from now. Only major gripe is that another patch is needed just to fix a few bugs and optimize loading times.
