Restrained and well-rounded, the third and final STALKER may also be the best.
Perhaps the relative technical proficiency was the result of relative restraint exercised in both the story and the scale of the game. There are less competing factions, the playable areas feel smaller and the game certainly took less time. This is a trade off I was happy with. It resulted in a game that was more grounded in this universe. There was no over the top, convoluted sci-fi plot as its predecessors dabbled in and ultimately failed to deliver a cohesive story of any kind. Your character felt small and the story felt real.
The same heavy, gritty, and real atmosphere presented in previous STALKERS is here as prominent as ever. Beautifully crafted ambiance and a fantastically gritty graphical style make for fantastic moments of suspense and terror which truly engages you with the world. On the other hand, voice acting is weak and the cut scenes are irritating and unnecessary. The camera needlessly cuts away from a first person view in conversations important to the storyline and pans awkwardly exhibiting awkward character animations and almost non-existent facial animations, reminiscent of a HL1 cutscene.
The world's economy and resource availability are well balanced to give you a feeling that you really have to fight to survive. Gun mechanics, variety and modding are great as always.