Only GSC Game World can make the world's worst man made disaster into a magical place of discovery.
Gameplay: 9 (with the Stalker Complete mod it basically cleaned up all the typos and bugs without changing the main game / survival FPS at its finest)
Graphics: 10 (the most beautiful, detailed world I have ever seen – period; thanks to Stalker Complete Mod 2009)
Sounds: 8 (only problem here is that the team who made the Stalker Complete Mod places too much likeness to the band Tatu; and it could do some more voice acting)
Value: 10 (side quests that's not too repetitive / plenty of places to see / Collector's Edition has goodies that makes you appreciate the game even more)
Tilt: 10 (a master piece – flawed in some areas however overshadowed by the immersion of the game)
In 1986, the world witnessed arguably the worst human made disaster in the history of mankind. A power plant located in Chernobyl, Ukraine exploded during a conflicted routine test. And because of this, plumes of radioactive particles extended all the way to Norway. This couldn't happen at a worse time as during this period, the Cold War between USA and Russia was at its zenith. To put it into perspective, the radiation spill from the exploded reactor four was one hundred times greater than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.
Stalker, the PC game plays on this history as according to the background lore, there were two explosions – the other one in 2006 (twenty years later). The game setting is in the year 2012 where you play a lone stalker, suffering from amnesia and your only hint of your past is a tattoo on your arm with the word 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' and your PDA which contains only one entry – to kill Strelok. Personally I'm not a big fan of these amnesia stories as it's a cop-out of making the story more suspenseful. However as the game progresses, I can forgive them just this once. Yet, after when completing the game, the story can be slightly altered yet still make it equally suspenseful.
The game play can be termed as a first person shooter (FPS) however it's has a lot of survival elements plus inventory management. Yes, you can point the gun and shoot however you'll soon learn that it's not wise unless you analyse the area. Here is what made this game shine and stands out among the saturated FPS genre. The 'zone' (the area marked by the military to keep out prying eyes) is roughly 30 square km and it's unforgiving. If you play like a dumb wit, you'll become one of the many victims of the zone – basically just a statistic.
To put it into perspective, after my 'welcoming' spill, I saw a military compound some one kilometre down the road. Armed with my default pistol I decided to pay them a visit. Heck, I'm in the 'starting' area so all should be good. So when approaching close to the compound, three military guys warned me to go away or they open fire (spoken in Russian of course however to those who don't understand Russian, their body language tells it all). Of course I didn't so in a matter of seconds, they all open fire and killed me so fast, I couldn't hit the reload game key fast enough to witness my pathetic death. Welcome to the zone, welcome to Hell on Earth. The smart will survive and the idiots will die.
So the game doesn't adjust the difficulty based on your character as all areas are equally hard and easy depending upon who you'll be up against. Fight a bandit armed with a pistol – that's easy (unless you are starting out of course). Fight against four blind dogs then the challenge creeps up. Fights against an elite soldier, you better have top class equipment otherwise you will witness (yet again) your pathetic death.
What makes matters worse is that your guy cannot run indefinitely (as he'll tire out) and you are limited to carry only 60kg. That may sound a lot however taking into account of every piece of ammo, armour, weapons and everything else, you'll learn very quickly that the more you carry, the quicker you will tire. And this is bad because there will be many times that you'll be out numbered and your best cause of action is simply to get the hell out of there quickly. And if you think that's not enough hardcore, you need to gauge his hunger (yes you need to carry food), weapon damage (as the more damage, the more often it gets jammed) therefore salvage everything as earning cash is rare.
So your most valuable skill in this game is not how to point-and-shoot (as it waste ammo and damages your weapon over time) however is to learn the risk-reward principal. Yes, killing a blind dog is easy enough however it wastes valuable ammo and your gain is nothing (other than the dog not attacking you anymore). And because the noise it makes can easily attract more critters and before you know it, you are surrounded by many dogs biting at your precious armour. So the morale of the story is use those binoculars – scan the area – plan your entry / exit points – think about the risks / rewards (is it worth my effort to kill those three guards to gain entry to the building or should I find an alternative path – but killing those guards MAY give me decent loot). Decisions, decisions!
Whilst the land can be treacherous at times, it also wondrous as the zone gave birth to new life forms. Crows that squawk high above actually gained extra scenery abilities; deformed humans like the snorks and bloodsuckers naturally gained 'inhuman' abilities to become a better hunter and so on. However the biggest drawcard is the artefacts. These items greatly enhances your abilities like resistance to radiation however most have a greatly reduced opposite. Only the rarest of artefacts don't have an equally downside. But artefacts don't come easy as they are the by-product of the unstable land known as anomalies.
Anomalies comes in many forms like flames, electric currents, winds and so forth. Some are very easy to detect (as you can see leaves swirling around or hear flames crackling) yet your anomaly detector should be able to detect them with a beeping sound – yet the better the armour you are wearing, the greater the warning distance. Also you can trigger anomalies by throwing bolts at it and gauge their pattern. However some are very dangerous as the 'vortex' for example, will suck you in with little chance to escape. And if you are laden with tonnes of equipment, you have no chance in hell of escaping it.
Radiation naturally plays a large part in Stalker as there are many areas that are laden with intense radiation. So there will be times that you just have to manoeuvre around it otherwise you will take too much radiation poisoning (and die of course) yet drinking vodka reduces the effect (gotta love those Russians). By drinking vodka causes the screen to sway and the more vodka consumed, the longer the sway. You can also purchase injections however they are very expensive or alternatively kill experienced enemies as sometimes they carry one (sometimes being the operative word).
To enhance the experience of this treacherous land, the graphics is the best I have seen to date – period. Every item, no matter how large or small is detailed to the minute element. So you will see plenty of rusted vehicles, peeling paint, cracked pavement and the list goes on and on. It even goes as far as the sun beams through the trees and cycles night and day. Note that night is definitely dark so bring a good torch with you. But beware that the torch beam gives away your position. Also if you can, make sure that you are awake around 4am in the morning – there's a nice surprise in stall. In addition to all of this, the maps closely resemble the real thing (save the actual size) so when travelling around the zone, you can rest assure that the buildings are the representation of real life structures.
Likewise are the sound qualities. From the melancholy opening score to the growls of those wild beasts to the sounds of the wind whispering through the trees, this certainly adds immersion to the ever changing world. Sometimes I bolt up on full alert when I hear the screams of another victim of the zone as the world can change even without you being there. So I quickly ready my trusty binoculars scanning the area only to see the results – dogs eating what remains of the corpse and the murderer no where to be found. So I attune my ears to full alert as maybe I am the next victim so you hope that whoever done the killing triggers an anomaly. And because the AI is absolutely superb and tends to stalk you down like a fox to a rabbit, the sound quality of this game has done exceptionally well.
I read cases that the game can be completed around the ten hours mark if you complete just the main mission quests. Maybe so if you are playing it on easy however doing so will be a waste of the game. I played this on hard and boy it's very challenging. In addition I explored most parts of the zone (save a few areas as they are just too damn hard) and finished it in around the 70 – 80 hrs mark. Granted that sometimes I just sit on top of a building just scanning the area for about five minutes only to see what's ahead / behind me. As mentioned before, it's very important to plan ahead than getting caught of guard (thus causing unnecessary frustrations). And if you don't complete the side missions, there's a very good chance that you won't befriend some very important non-player characters (NPC) as they do remember you and assist you later on.
Known as a vapourware, Stalker was announced in 2001 and forever delayed until March 2007. The game promised an ever changing world (even if you are not there), clever AI, realistic models and many more. Basically it promised to change the face of FPS as it's more of trying to survive than point-and-shoot. Upon release, it was a buggy mess as it wasn't optimised well enough and tends to crash at the worst possible time. I gave up playing this game until the 'Stalker Complete 2009' mod arrived. It basically cleaned up most of the bugs, corrected spelling mistakes and enhanced the graphics like you never seen before.
That said, Stalker (with the 'Stalker Complete 2009' mod) is definitely the most immersive game I have played to date. Looking in hindsight, I didn't play it as a game but played it as the main character – the lone stalker looking to work out his past and gaining fame in the process. When you become the main character – that is live and breathe just like him then you will start to worry about the main character. When this happens, you know that you're on a winner. And because I grabbed to Collector's Edition (with all the added goodies like the map of the zone, history of Chernobyl and many more), I am definitely satisfied with this product. Treat the zone well and it will reward you.