Review : S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl

A long, long time ago a bunch of guys announced they were working on a game that would change gaming forever…and it probably would have if it had been released a lot sooner. The name of this game was S.T.A.L.K.E.R …and it’s finally here…thank God.

Even after all these years these game is still very impressive, especially the open world ready for you to explore. In my opinion this is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s strongpoint. I don’t think I’ve ever played that made me feel as free.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you play as The Marked One a mysterious scavenger suffering from amnesia who is trying to find out who he is and what he was meant to do before the accident that caused his loss of memory. To do this he must reach the center of the exclusion zone, a place surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s fictional world suffered a second explosion in 1989 creating all sorts of weird phenomena and causing mutations to all life in the area. The center of The Zone is Chernobyl itself.

Unlike other survival shooters in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you have to worry about more than shooting your way through hordes of enemies…I mean you’ll do that too but you’ll also have to learn how to master your weapons and scavenge through fallen enemies’ bodies for ammo, med kits and other useful stuff that can help you survive in a world where danger is everywhere. You’ll have access to a large array of weapons(this IS a shooter),mainly shotguns, machineguns and pistols…and learning to use them wisely might just save your ass when it most needs saving. You wont be able to fire all you have at your enemies ‘cause this way it’s going to be a mighty short ride. Enemies adapt to the surroundings hiding behind walls or trees and trying to find a way to pop up behind you and blow you away…and before you know it you’re dead. And the unarmed critters aren’t particularly easy to kill either, some will race toward you with lightning speed and others just die hard(Bruce Willis doesn’t star in this game). So…stay calm, conserve your ammo and try to shoot for the head. The AI is definitely superior to other games of the genre and this adds immensely to the game’s overall value.

The complex world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. offers many types of characters to interact with, from the other stalkers scattered through the zone to all the faction members that you can join to take part in large scale battles that give this game a more realistic feel. And of course all the other mutants, crawling creatures some kind of zombies and ghosts give the game its horror feel.

The multiplayer mode is pretty fun as well, it offers the traditional death-match, team death-match and a capture the flag mode called Artifact Hunt. For every kill, you get some cash that you can use weapons, ammo or equipment.

As far as graphics are concerned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looks extremely good, even though as we all know it’s been in development for a few years now so personally I thought it would look outdated and old. But it holds its own against most of today’s top games and that is to be admired. Especially because it manages to make such a vast and complex world look so real and even enjoyable to look at. Everything changes so naturally…it starts raining, it gets dark…everything seems so real and alive…you just have to see it to believe it.

I’d like to end by saying that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. met my expectations despite the loooong wait and I strongly recommend you at least try it…as long as you’re not one of those Rambo kind of guys who like to mindlessly push the trigger.

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