S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Review

By Kieron Gillen Published 1 September, 2008

Restraining orders.

Version tested: PC

The first moment that comes to mind when thinking of the original Stalker (we'll dispense with "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." if that's alright) is from my first playthrough. I'm descending into one of the toxic Ukranian underworlds and come across something that makes me stop and laugh. A paint-pot is levitating, bouncing against the ceiling and twitching spasmodically. I'm playing it in a room with fellow journalists, so call them over to have a giggle at Stalker having one of its very special moments.

Everyone has just enough time to gather before it comes hurtling at my head causing a mass panicked jump and me diving at the controls to run back the way I came. It wasn't a bug. It was a poltergeist. To me, it kind of sums up the best of Stalker - its sheer vigour and determination to summon a world completely overwhelming your expectations (and experience) of technical foibles. Stalker overcame its weaknesses. Clear Sky - while interesting in half a dozen ways - ultimately doesn't.

It's a graphically improved prequel that integrates a mass of things that were promised for Stalker with assorted game tweaks that - on paper - sound as if they'd improve the immersion of the game considerably. In practice, it mainly shows that there are no good or bad ideas: only good and bad executions.

The core of the game remains the same. You play an eponymous stalkyguy operating in the Zone around Chernobyl where reality has been rent apart as reality tends to be. Mutants roam the land. Anomalies dot the landscape - often invisible counter-natural singularities which maim or kill anyone who walks into them. However, they also act as portals by which artifacts have arrived - and it's these alien items which have brought the Stalkers to the zone. Various factions populate the area, each acting according to its own desires. For example, the Bandits are only after wealth, but Duty are trying to fight against the increasing insanity of the Zone. It plays much like any realistic-edged FPS does, but with minor RPG elements (you can improve your equipment or equip ability-improving artifacts) and it's in a living open-world. It's basically Oblivion with gu... oh, we've used that one before. And there's still a load of bugs.

'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky' Screenshot 1

The opening swamp's actually the best demo for the faction war sections.

It's understandably familiar. As a prequel, there's a lot of visiting areas you met in the later game and seeing them in a different light. Putting aside the graphical improvements (in short: the graphics have been improved), the biggest changes are an increase in character-customisation and reworking of its A-Life system, which manages the simulacra of life in the Zone. The most obvious effect of this is that there seems to be a far greater sense of a war being fought, which is pretty much because there is a war being fought between one faction and another. Units of each will head off to try and secure or defend mission points, often generating an on-the-fly mission for you to go and try and help. You'll regularly - well, constantly would be nearer the point - have people shouting that they're about to be overwhelmed and need help. Like, quickly and stuff.

The character-customisation is equally welcome. Weapons simply have many more options available - you're able to repair and improve them in multiple ways with the help of specialist characters, spending incrementally more money to improve a gun's accuracy, magazine size or many other aspects, often in ways which preclude a further advance in another area. Or in crude terms: if you make an assault rifle more suitable for sniping, you'll be excluded from the advances which develop it into a close-quarters storming weapon. Similar advances are available for the armour, and some of the higher-tier abilities require you to locate a flash-drive with the plans. Without going fully RPG - which would break Stalker completely, I suspect - this is about as powerful and interesting system you could integrate.

'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky' Screenshot 2

This guy's called Forrester. He lives in a forest.

The other half of the character-customisation system has been downplayed in importance, however - well, not "in importance" but "as a core part of your experience". The original game was criticised for having artifacts far too easily available, often littering the floor near anomalies so you could easily gather and sell them for enormous profits, keeping the good ones for yourself. This time, obtaining an artifact is an actual achievement. First, they're invisible, so you have to locate them via a detector, which tells you their proximity - and, I believe, you have to be looking right at them. Actually, that's not first, it's second, as you have to actually get close enough, which means working your way through (also mostly invisible) anomalies which you detect by lobbing nuts ahead of you and surviving whatever radioactive/chemical/psychic hazards are in the area by having good enough armour or anti-rad drugs or whatever.

On the surface, both of these seem splendid additions. The first means that there's plenty of stuff to spend your cash on and the latter means that artifacts become meaningful, strange and spooky. It did seem odd that anyone was trying to rob one another in the first game's Zone when there was this fancy stuff lying everywhere.

The problem is simply a string of design and balancing issues. In practice, after I received my first artifact in the training sequence, I didn't get a second for at least ten hours of play. That's "get", not "find", by the way. In some cases I was in the right spot - or, at least as close as I was when I managed to get hold of one - but completely failed to make the thing appear. In most cases, however, the area I was lead to was toxic above what I could survive for long enough to locate the tricky blighter without burning medkits. So I mostly just ignored it and carried on.

The obvious solution would be to get hold of some better armour, which would involve actually being able to afford any. Getting money is simply too hard, unless you're ignoring the forward thrust of the plot completely. If you simply play the game and do some occasional helping out, you find yourself falling into a poverty trap. To try and save up for a decent protective suit, you find yourself scrimping on buying things like medkits, which only exacerbates the somewhat punishing death system even further.

To stress this is a primarily a design issue rather than a me-being-rubbish issue, there's a point when you're starting to get on your feet - in my case, having saved up three quarters of the money for an "okay" suit - where it simply and unavoidably strips your character of all your equipment, artifacts and money. Which, for a game that's trying to make you buy into character development, love of your customised weapons and all that, is a bit like letting you gain your mount in World of Warcraft and then dragging it off to the knacker's. (Is there a way to get it back? Maybe. God, you'd hope so. But it's certainly not signposted and I certainly didn't find it.)

On a similar note, take the Bandits guarding crossings. You can shoot through or stand still, waiting for them to walk up to you. If you do the latter, they start a conversation about taking some stuff and proceed to purloin every single thing you have, bar your pistol. Once the conversation kicks off, there's no way out of it and no warning. Where most games that do something like this would include an "Actually, no, let's fight" option or let you haggle a toll, Clear Sky just goes for the equivalent of turning you into a level 1 character. Obviously enough, you're not going to carry on - you're going to just reload. They must have known the player was just going to press reload. In which case, why did the designers choose that as an option? Immersion - as that's what Bandits do - but "reload" is as big an immersion breaker. (And when I shot the guy with my pistol immediately after being robbed, he didn't have the stuff. So not that realistic, eh?)

'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky' Screenshot 3

At least the guys with the guitars are back. They're awesome.

GSC certainly likes reloading. The enemy AI that throws grenades is nice to see, but it'd be even nicer if you could see it more regularly - there's little of the vocal warnings you may expect from what's an instant-death weapon thanks to Clear Sky's more characteristically realistic damage model. And remember you're bleeding to death, as you were turning down bandages to try and save for a decent suit. And what about that bit when you leave the swamps for the first time and they just lob a machinegun ahead of you which leads to a trial-and-error working out of the "correct" route down the hill? What were they thinking?

Well, I suspect they were thinking about trying to create as harsh an image of the Zone as possible - it's the only explanation for something like the Bandits. Stalker's always been a survival-horror game where some of the worst creatures of horror are humans, and you have to scrimp and save to survive. But Clear Sky takes it too far - when your resources are as limited as they regularly are, you fall back on the one resource you always have plenty of: the quick-save. That said, when other horror aspects like the underground missions have been minimised and the comedic aspect of the people you meet have been pumped up, you wonder if they were just confused.

'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky' Screenshot 4

What's the Elvish word for friend?

There's been a lot of negativity, hasn't there? There's still a lot of what made Stalker so appealing here. It shows how having these sorts of character-improvement and living world elements can improve a shooter's appeal. Why do you think we're so angry when they take away all our stuff? Between the improved weapon modification and the more living Zone, a certain strand of Stalker fan will find much here to applaud, and those who've never actually played the earlier game at all will still be enchanted by the unique atmosphere of the place... but would be recommended going there first, perhaps with the Oblivion Lost mod attached.

A little tough? Maybe it's appropriate. Life is tough in the Zone.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kieron.

About Kieron Gillen

Kieron is one of the founders of the lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun and nowadays writes comics for Marvel starring characters that even his mum has heard of.

Read more articles from Kieron by visiting the Kieron Gillen archive page.

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Comments (82) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GiantHaystax #1 3 years ago

    First!

    (now to read the review and write something constructive....)
    Edited by 1 at 01/09/08 @ 23:33

  • Windsong #2 3 years ago

    70%?

    Meh...

  • El_MUERkO #3 3 years ago

    take your 'first' and fuck off somewhere else, no one gives a damn about a 'first' posters opinions

  • George-Roper #4 3 years ago

    Hmmm, STALKER really did rock (once they'd got the patches sorted) and with this being just 17.99 on Play, is it really that much of a punt?

    Fuck it, order placed.

  • Triggerhappytel #5 3 years ago

    "take your 'first' and fuck off somewhere else, no one gives a damn about a 'first' posters opinions"

    ...Unless they don't mention the fact they are first (honestly, we don't give a flying fuck) and say something useful and/or interesting.


    Anyway, I really like the sound of the Stalker games, but I don't do PC gaming. Any word on whether this is coming to consoles?

  • mkreku #6 3 years ago

    Well, since I thought gaining money was way too easy in the first game, I guess this wouldn't be a huge problem for me. I actually like games that are difficult. And I don't mind reloading every once in a while either. I'm getting this!

  • Katsumoto #7 3 years ago

    "Anyway, I really like the sound of the Stalker games, but I don't do PC gaming. Any word on whether this is coming to consoles?"

    Maybe a later game, I wouldn't expect these to be ported though. If you're getting a new pc in the next couple of years (or recently got one) you can always play this using a 360 pad if you so wish (with a modicum of effort), definitely worth a go.

  • UncleLou #8 3 years ago

    Hm, as expected - I am almost looking forward to finding out whether I like this or not as much as I look forward to the game itself, if that makes any sense.

    Definitely buying this in any case, seeing how Stalker is my favourite game of the last few years by a mile.

  • ExplodingClown #9 3 years ago

    @UncleLou: Amen, brother. This is so bought. No doubt the community will start to mod it as soon as it comes out anyway - if they could put back the blowouts, vehicles and discarded mutants in the first one, they'll iron out the bumps. Hell, I still play the first one even now.

    @TriggerHappyTel/Katsumo to: I emailed Oleg at GSC after being completely blown away by the first game, to ask if there would be an expansion pack - this was long before Clear Sky was announced - and he said there would first be an expansion then a console version, though admittedly that's quite some time ago now.

    They've become certified Xbox360 developers in the meantime, so chances are good for a port.

    Wonder if that guy at thefloatingpoint.org is going to overhaul the shaders on Clear Sky like he did on STALKER? Fantastic job, that was.....

  • Ajay #10 3 years ago

    "Anyway, I really like the sound of the Stalker games, but I don't do PC gaming. Any word on whether this is coming to consoles?"

    Very unlikely I would have thought. If it's any consolation, the original at least isn't nearly as much of a system hog as you might fear if you do have a modest PC knocking about - I ran it on a 3500 and a 1950XT with dynamic lighting at acceptable speeds.
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 00:16

  • Dynamize #11 3 years ago

    Sounds like some absolutely barmy design decisions have gone on...but I'm still getting it. So I can be rendered a big girlyman by the Bloodsuckers, poltergeists and Snorks :/
    I wonder if it features Ghost and Fang in any capacity in the plot or fighting.

  • Triggerhappytel #12 3 years ago

    Thanks for the info, EC. To clarify for everyone, it's not only that my PC is shit and can't run any games post Operation Flashpoint, but it's also that I just don't like the whole process that comes with playing PC games. I'm impatient - very much more console-style.

  • Ajay #13 3 years ago

    Fair one. If EC's right then there might be hope - the original at least is a corker.

  • Sneerk #14 3 years ago

    Im going to get if of Steam, but i was hoping for more praise review-wise.

  • UncleLou #15 3 years ago

    "That said, when other horror aspects like the underground missions have been minimised and the comedic aspect of the people you meet have been pumped up, you wonder if they were just confused."

    That's almost the most worrying part of the review - how could they minimise the underground missions? Surely they were one of the aspects of the original almost everyone agreed upon were brilliant?

  • richardiox #16 3 years ago

    That Oblivion Lost mod sounds excellent.

  • espy #17 3 years ago

    1. A request to Auto- and Permaban anyone who posts "first!" without exceptions
    2. Arg. I was hoping they'd get this right the second time around. Guess we'll have to wait for people to mod it again.

  • dsmx #18 3 years ago

    Sounds like a wait 6 months for them to patch it kind of game, bit like the first one.

  • hoonatic #19 3 years ago

    I've nearly finished finished my second playthrough of Stalker (main storyline only, this time) ready for the realease of Clear Sky on Friday, but I am concerned that this won't live up to the original.

    Stalker is a flawed game redeemed by having bags of atmosphere, but I've been concerned for a while that some of this may be lost ever since I saw preview videos where drum & bass tunes kick in during battle (?!?!?).
    If underground levels have been vastly reduced then it may have lost something for me - that slow descent into X10 where you are waiting for something to leap out at you, left me a nervous wreck by the time I reached the bottom (but in a good way ;~)

    Oh well, if Clear Sky breaks my heart then I at least have the Oblivion Lost mod to look forward to for my 3rd playthrough of the original.

    I really hope it does not go to console as I fear it will not be well received.

  • paavopaavo #20 3 years ago

    7/10 seems kinda high score for a game with such big design fuck-ups.

  • siro #21 3 years ago

    Seems GiantHaystax (first poster) is a slow reader =)

    Stalker is about the only game for which I really would like to have a current PC instead of a 4 year old notebook. Concept just sounds awesome. So prolly this is the same.

  • Scimarad #22 3 years ago

    Saying 'First!' on a site that allows you to Ignore Poster...Kind of makes you wonder why they bother to make an account in the first place:-)

  • zoidberg #23 3 years ago

    review and score seem spot-on, if maybe the score a little too much.

  • Stickman #24 3 years ago

    Score seems higher than the review suggested it might be.

    I think I'll wait and see on this one. UncleLou, you'll have to let us know what you make of it, you teutonic pc gaming god, you.

  • Hunam #25 3 years ago

    Hunam am cry :(

  • Turambar #26 3 years ago

    Hmm, do i get it on release or wait for the inevitable save game breaking patches to be released?

  • PearOfAnguish #27 3 years ago

    Oh dear, this doesn't sound very good. 7/10 was generous.

    where it simply and unavoidably strips your character of all your equipment, artifacts and money.

    Who the hell thought that'd be a good idea? Seems like they took the criticism of it being too easy to make money in Stalker and went way, way overboard.

  • kallenai #28 3 years ago

    Sounds like a re-run of the original Stalker, novel idea flawed by too many bugs, as some have commented I suspect this will be another case of waiting 3-4 months for the developers to get some patches out. Its sad really that GSC seem to think that they can release a sequal that's as flawed and bug ridden as the original was and the gamer will just suck it up.

  • Nabokov #29 3 years ago

    Just wait for patches and mods. I just ordered SoT, it's 11.5€ in play.com. I guess I should go straight to the Oblivion Lost mod before even trying vanilla?

  • magicpanda #30 3 years ago

    The flaws and bugs in the original didn't stop it from being one of the greatest games I've ever played but some of those design decisions so sound a bit flaky. Hopefully we will see a decent patch or some mods to fix some of the really annoying things within a few weeks. Being stripped of all equipment without warning sounds the worst, I think I can live with the rest.

  • Snooz #31 3 years ago

    I'm amazed that the GSC guys can do such apparent design flaws both in SoC and CS, but I'm equally amazed by the oblivion lost mod(community) ironing out bugs and adding gameplay elements I'd believe you'd need to have in depth knowledge to the source code (although I don't know anything about coding or making games)

    I'll buy the game now or in a few months and continue finishing the original with the OL mod, the CS flaws will most definitley be fixed by the modders or GSC them selves.

    edit: CS not SC

    In the end I'm a bit worried about the lack of talent and/or decision making at GSC. Still I intend to support them with my money. As my inner fanboi would say: Prolly bestest 7/10 evar!!!!111 ;)
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 11:16

  • Pulsar_t #32 3 years ago

    Even though this is too much déjā vu for its own good I'm still getting this one. I guess the devs didn't deliver on their promises after all. Is it alright to reward them for their complacency? Or are we to blame the publishers?

  • Cider86 #33 3 years ago

    First!

    Oh wait...

  • Gene #34 3 years ago

    hm somehow this doesn't read as a 7/10 review, but still, ignoring the numbers, it looks like a bit lighter, morie shootier than the first one. I loved the original so i have high hopes for this, and will try this as soon as it gets released in poland.

  • Eraysor #35 3 years ago

    I got the original for Ģ6 a couple weeks ago, so I might try that Oblivion Lost mod on it.

  • ZuluHero #36 3 years ago

    why doesn't everybody that 'hates' "first" posters just use that little bit of blue text under the outburst?

    That way you can say something more creative and appear to be first and eventually all you will see is good and interesting posts!

    Win - win all round if you ask me :)

    I really wanted to like the original STALKER, but i could never really get into it, im guessing that this will be no different, but at least they managed to overhaul the graphics AND get it released in a resonable timeframe so that they don't look dated.

  • MrWonderstuff #37 3 years ago

    I'm still waiting for GiantHaystaxs' 'constructive' comment. He did promise you know. Bet it's good.

  • magicpanda #38 3 years ago

    The people that cry about first posters are worse than the people that post first.
    Rampant jealously in its most pure form.

  • ZuluHero #39 3 years ago

    is there some kind of kudos to be gleemed from posting "First" then? I always took it to be more annoying especially when you get the people that post "First" and then Edit it to say ".. Now i'll just go read the article"

    It all seems a bit, well.. pointless :S

    Maybe i'm just getting too old to keep up with the crazy kids these days.. ho hum :)

  • Hypercube #40 3 years ago

    Was the first game ever patched 'fully'? I borrowed it from a friend and while it was outstandingly atmospheric, the bugs, tedious bits and sheer impenetrability made me give up after the first 5 hours.
    He keeps telling me its the best game of the last few years, but I hated the beginning. Now it's dirt cheap, if it's been patched properly it might be worth trying again...

  • PearOfAnguish #41 3 years ago

    Apply the official patches and some mods and most of the problems are fixed. The beginning of the game isn't exactly welcoming, stick with it for a few hours though.

  • George-Roper #42 3 years ago

    "I borrowed it from a friend and while it was outstandingly atmospheric, the bugs, tedious bits and sheer impenetrability made me give up after the first 5 hours"

    OMG! That sounds like me and one of my ex's!

  • Turambar #43 3 years ago

    "Was the first game ever patched 'fully'?"

    No. Though a lot of people seem to htink this was down to the way THQ handled patch releases rather than GSC. I blame both.

  • UncleLou #44 3 years ago

    I never thought it was that broken in the first place - certainly not after the first patches. It had a few niggles at best for me, which is a lot more than I can say about most AAA-high-budget releases which might be more polished on the surface, but aren't half the game Stalker is.

  • kangarootoo #45 3 years ago

    When it comes to writing "first", personally I couldn't care less.

    What does seem weird to me, is when other people get really angry about it. I mean, not just posting "stop being pointless", but actually breaking out the big guns and telling people to f*ck off and so.

    Seriously, anyone who gets even remotely bothered about someone else writing "first" has a screw loose. Its not even an offense worth ignoring the poster over, let alone actually venting your spleen.

    Drink some milk, count to ten, breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Job done.

  • General_Zod #46 3 years ago

    Dont know about other Zavvis but I saw Stalker for Ģ6 at the one at Metrocentre in Gateshead.

  • ZuluHero #47 3 years ago

    "Drink some milk, count to ten, breath in through your nose and out through your mouth"

    lets hope they are not so angry to get that in the wrong order :)

  • Ryuken #48 3 years ago

    "I never thought it was that broken in the first place - certainly not after the first patches."

    Aye, never had serious crash issues or anything with 1.004, of course there are still some odd things left in the first Stalker (repeating quests, a bit too much respawns after short time, too easy to get rich, etc.) but those don't stand in the way of the whole experience which was just incredible. People giving up after half an hour because they could only shoot with a lousy pistol don't know what they've missed (the underground horrors, brain scorcher, dogs flying at your throat, hell, even that arena was fun).
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 11:53

  • captainrentboy #49 3 years ago

    First!

  • Tomo #50 3 years ago

    Gah.

    /shakes fist

    Still, I loved the first, so I'll get it. I was hoping the review scores would be high for the developers sake more than anything. I want to see them do well and produce more ambitious games - hopefully sales will be helped by the fact that it's a sequel to a bit of a cult classic.

  • dryden555 #51 3 years ago

    a thoughtful review (and I'm pretty critical of reviewers). I'm still buying this game. I dont mind re-loading a game save because the developers decided to make the game too hard, and that seems to be the biggest gripe of the reviewer. The upgradeable weapons options sound excellent. It isnt clear from this review if the main story is interesting or not -- perhaps the reviewer is trying to avoid giving away the plot. And there's not enough mention of the quality of the enemy AI -- that should have been MUCH more discussed in a review of this type of game.

  • Chufty #52 3 years ago

    Is the AI as completely pathetic as it was in the first one? Does it run terribly even on a good system, and even though it doesn't look that great? Are the ropey animations and aging combat mechanics back?

    Did I read correctly that it's nice to see AI that throws grenades?? What year did Halflife come out again?

    I'll give this one a miss I think.

  • Bru-Man #53 3 years ago

    Would love to have played the first game, but only ever got 2-3 hours in due to the constant crashing to desktop. And this was on two different PCs with different gfx cards, updated drivers, latest patches, trying different settings etc. etc. just pissed me off in the end.
    Think I'll be avoiding this one too, unless there is an engine bug fix for "Hang every 15 minutes"?

  • UncleLou #54 3 years ago

    Is the AI as completely pathetic as it was in the first one? Does it run terribly even on a good system, and even though it doesn't look that great?

    Completely the opposite of my experience. Loved the AI - it could be exploited, like pretty much any can, but for an AI that navigates a pretty much open gameworld, it was excellent. Certainly one of the most fun AI to play against of any shooter, alongside Half-Life 1, Operation Flashpoint and FEAR for me. All you need to do to test the AI is do the very first mission, the carpark one, alone and on one of the higher difficulty levels.

    Also ran great on my at the time less than stellar system.
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 13:01

  • asphaltcowboy #55 3 years ago

    "...where it simply and unavoidably strips your character of all your equipment, artifacts and money..."

    LOL! Amazing design!

    EDIT: Oh and are the guns as shocking terrible as they were in the first game?
    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 14:53

  • mkreku #56 3 years ago

    The guns shockingly terrible? I thought Stalker had the best gun feeling of any game I've tried over the last couple of years! Or did you refer to the main character's bad aim? Or the way weapons constantly broke down?

  • avoozl #57 3 years ago

    The original game was difficult enough for me. I remember getting frustrated trying to approach the power plant at the end. I really enjoyed the game but that was because of the open-ended world, the atmosphere and attention to detail.

    kangarootoo:
    Maybe you havent seen a board where every first post is "Firsties!" and the second post is something like "Firsties!! edit: DAMN! NOOO!" and there are about 100 posts at the end that say "Lasties!". The people who said fuck off- these mental defectives just don't like spam. Crazy.

  • UncleLou #58 3 years ago

    Oh and are the guns as shocking terrible as they were in the first game?

    A part of this thread is obviously from a parallel universe, where people word their dubious subjective opinions as facts, and Stalker had bad AI, ran badly, and had terrible weapons. :p

    Absolutely loved them - never saw the need for any of the weapon mods. The first few weapons are weak, yeah, but that quickly changes.

  • Snooz #59 3 years ago

    @avoozl: Yeah, the last part of the game apparently was rushed and obviously was a major disappointment, for me the middlepart of the game where you were starting to become a well equipped stalker with firepower and experience was where the game showed it's true potensial. Also form what I've heared the Oblivion Lost mod changes the end-part so you can investigate more around the power plant and not sprint to the first door you can find. The two last maps for me ended up in having lost of money and guns but no ammo. I had to gun down snipers on rooftops with crappy pistols or mp5 and scavenge any ammo i could see falling down.

    Played it on hardest, I'm now in the start (first underground map) of Oblivion lost 2.2 mod, had to restart from 2.1 to 2.2. The beginning is indeed boring especially the 3rd time around, but wthe very fist time I felt it was a decent tutorial area to learn how animals and soldiers noticed me and having a safe plase to just getting to know the world. The mod is no problem to play on hardest because of the "real damage" model i.e fewer well placed bullets to kill.

    edit: Typos and anomalous sentenses

    My hope for Clear Sky was that this middlepart would be streched out with more side quests with helping factions or just dominating the zone, but it seemes like GSC have lost their way in what they really want ,yet again, by vaguely "improving everything" and even adding more flaws like the "stip all inventory" bugs(?).

    Still I remain positive with the modding community ready to... well, fix it :/. (the OL 2.2 mod is the final since Clear sky is out these days).
    Edited by 2 at 02/09/08 @ 16:25

  • Silvervein #60 3 years ago

    I enjoyed original stalker a lot. As far as shooters go, it beat all the competition to the ground in the atmosphere department. Mind you, I didn't use any mods, but after I heard about oblivion lost mod, and read what it does...it seems that it turned stalker into something very, very good. Pity it's not compatibile with my version of stalker, oh well.
    So who knows, maybe this staker will be good also. Besides, the point where you are getting robbed...Even at the beginning I was always keeping at least two different stashes of spare ammo and guns, just in case I'd need them or lose the ones I have. Hopefully you can do it in clear sky also, thus reducing the problem of losing everything.

  • Chufty #61 3 years ago

    I definitely remember shooting baddies in the foot without them noticing, in a throwback to 90's FPS games. And something about the weapons just didn't feel right... they didn't feel punchy or powerful and sounded like they were being fired in a furniture store.

    being able to throw a grenade was about the most intelligent thing the combine AI in HL2 was capable of doing.

    I didn't say 2 :)

  • asphaltcowboy #62 3 years ago

    The first few weapons are weak, yeah, but that quickly changes.

    Indeed, by which I mean they were weak, inaccurate and fell apart. Annoying!

  • darc #63 3 years ago

    The 1st STALKER was probably the best game I ever hated. I was REALLY hoping they'd get it right this time, but I'm not surprised to hear the prequel is also flawed. 7/10 is about where I'd rate the 1st one, after honestly considering everything that was great about it, and everything that was broken or just sorta weird about it. I wish the critics had been as hard on the original as this reviewer is here. I always felt like STALKER got a bit of a pass on some very poor design decisions.

    I actually built a new PC (for the 1st time in a couple of years) hoping this would be good, but considering how much the last game ticked me off (with everyone calling it an 8 or a 9/10), a 7 is not compelling.

  • reflux #64 3 years ago

    Oooooh. I JUST, less than an hour ago, came back home from a trip to Ukraine and a photo expedition to Chernobyl and Pripyat. On the flight home I was thinking that I maybe should play S.T.A.L.K.E.R but I had no idea there was a new one out.
    EXCELLENT.

  • VMerken #65 3 years ago

    Not as good as MGS4, then.

  • Ryuken #66 3 years ago

    "Oh and are the guns as shocking terrible as they were in the first game?"

    Try getting a bit further, nobody judged HLē's general gun feeling by its awful first pistol and spray-rifle either.

  • ph101 #67 3 years ago

    Hmm. Well i'm disappointed at these flaws. But like many I'm such a fan of the first I will probably still get this off steam. It odes annoy me when people say the "gun feel" was bad in stalker. In fact I thought it was excellent, you just need to get some slightly better guns and be accurate. Played really well. This open world FPS has a character unlike any other, and is something I would love to see more of so I will support the creators. With the design decisions stripping your kit, that's not great.

    I like the review to a point but some of the detail on missions and also the structure of the map (the first one was tiled together in quite a linear fashion I felt) would be nice. Are all the locations from the first available as well as new ones..

    Also how much of the first did I miss if I just stormed though and pwned everyone first time? I remember the zombie bit being the best, but i think I may have missed the poltergeist oir maybe I forgot.. Aslo some milatry base that I stormed through but think I could have done on stealth if i was cleverer - not sure? Also it ended really abruptly and I seemed to have to just peg at the end to just survive..

  • stevenbrouwer #68 3 years ago

    I agree with the reviewer about the quick save option. I hate to see that GSC left it in. Free Roaming games should NOT have quicksave, because it turns the game too much in a trail and error game instead of an open world experience. I loved the OL mod - dispite the quick save option - so I don't know... I am going to wait before buying it and see what mods come out...

    GTA, Diablo are the most succesfull offline open world series and they didn't have quick save too. But much better saving systems that increased the open world experience.

    I think that that is the first fundamental design fault that GSC made..



    Edited by 1 at 02/09/08 @ 22:08

  • peppergomez #69 3 years ago

    stalker was the best open ended pc shooter of the last 5 years, easy. i think of it as the heir to classics like dues ex and system shock. superb ballistics, weapons, atmosphere, storyline, graphics, and darn good ai. and what's more, it's not one of these "let's pamper the attention span deficient console mentality gamer." leave it to the eastern european game designers not to babysit lazy gamers, but instead to challenge them and make them think and work...bring it on!

  • Obiwanshinobi #70 3 years ago

    and what's more, it's not one of these "let's pamper the attention span deficient console mentality gamer." leave it to the eastern european game designers not to babysit lazy gamers, but instead to challenge them and make them think and work...

    "Console mentality"? There's no such thing. PC-gaming handicap can console him/herself believing in his/her mental superiority, but playing PC games doesn't make one less handicapped, than playing console games.
    If you enjoy getting stuck in some gloomy anus of game's world, frantically wondering what the hell did you miss and where the bloody hell it was (because now, to finish the game, you must backtracking aroud, licking evry single corner of every location - fool's errand, one can say - unless you give up and read the solution), play Super Metroid (SNES game, pretty much ancestor of Thief, Deus Ex and so on). Implying that console games generally lack challenge, reveals lack of knowlege.
    S.T.A.L.K.E.R. surely is PC-game-like PC game (no wonder, considering it was developed exclusively for PC), but it's also underdone in PC-game-like manner. Reading about all content supposed to be there, I was (heck, I still am) hyped up, expecting no less than Fallout, Deus Ex and Gothic in one package. Early screenshots impressed me even more. In fact I'm familiar with post-Soviet (middle)Eastern European landscapes (and I must admit - H-L2 designers, despite being Americans, did incredibly good job), Strugatskys' books and Tarkovsky's movies, and all those elements "in my head" still fit perfectly to each other. Then the game was released and appeared to be mainly FPS. Still good to hear/read it's at least playable and not short of proper atmosphere. For me S.T.A.L.K.E.R. remains only good reason to bulid new PC. I've yet to play, but I've seen it running with details set on medium-to-low; looks and sounds great in my opinion (human bevaviour could be more polished though, and I don't mean AI).
    Edited by 1 at 03/09/08 @ 03:28

  • smelly #71 3 years ago

    Smelly HATED the first game.. boring as hell!

  • testpattern #72 3 years ago

    sounds a bit like the reviewer got stuck in the initial slog part and got disheartened.
    strange nothing mentioned about the much heralded factions system?

  • Snooz #73 3 years ago

    I got some of my questions answered at the stalker thread at the EG forum.

    Snooz wrote:
    @bad_english

    Cool

    Questions:

    1.Are the areas larger than the original?
    2.Are there bottleneck-places you have to go to enter the neighbouring area?
    3.Do you need sleep?
    4.Does food still heal you?
    5.Are there vehicles?
    6.Are there random blowouts?


    1. I have not yet finished the game ... There are very interesting and atmospheric places. And quite large
    2. Yes. Tne ZOne have a lot of "bottleneck-places" in different parts. We also have companions, who quickly brought to the correct part ZONE for money.
    3. No:( Can not sleep. This is bad, personally I wait to modifications.
    4. Yes. A little
    5. No
    6. I have very rarely. But many plyng peoples complain it.
    Maybe in your release some bugs already fixed

  • espy #74 3 years ago

    Oh and are the guns as shocking terrible as they were in the first game?

    You didn't play very far, did you? :D Some of the AK variants are already pretty good, but once you get to the NATO weapons, they're fantastic. And you've obviously never fired the Vintar before :D Easily one of the most fun weapons in any game ever.

    But I can fully understand where you're coming from. The first couple of hours, your weapons are admittedly absolute rubbish, but I actually liked that. It gave the whole thing a sense of progression and achievement without resorting to experience points and stat bumping.

    I expect CS will be a grower and really shine with the first patch and some mods. Should be good.

  • jmg123 #75 3 years ago

    I must admit I gave up on the single player game after crossing the railway tracks at the beginning of the game, standing 10ft from a soldier, the crosshair saying that I am aiming in their head (or chest) putting 10-20 bullets in them only to have the soldier not flinch and kill me. RUbbish

    Multiplayer was good though, might give this one a try as it is cheapish on play.com

  • Snooz #76 3 years ago

    @jmg123

    I believe many of us have quite different expectations to what guns do in reality. Yes in Counter Strike etc you will hit where you aim, but in AmericasArmy, operation flash point and stalker, single shots and burst are the best ways to fire. Not that I have fired many guns in my life, but hitting anything form more than 20m starts getting tricky enough with single shot rifles.

    And crossing that railroad was really where the game begun.... first time i crossed it it was night and i could see gunfights between stalkers, bandits and some mutant animals.

    Multiplayer in my opinion was a major disappointment no matter how hard I really wanted to like it.

  • MayonE #77 3 years ago

    Oh man....

    The reviewer is... how to say? A total asshole that had only played with an atari in the 80īs...
    Havenīt any one noticed that he started the review whith a story of a flying bucked in the underground that suddenly was thrown to his head!!! And later on the review he states that the sensation of survival horror was pulled down...I feel so sorry but for me horror is when unsuspected things happens...
    and that the game is hard as hell because of the possibility of losing all your equipment at once if you decide to stand in front of a camp of bandits; also for the lack of money, armor, healing kits and artifacts... well that can be a good definition of survivalism... Oh, wait, first I said HORROR and later on SURVIVAL, that word reminds me of something... wait that is Survival Horror!!!

    What I said the reviewer was not at all the correct person to evaluate this kind of game. Mainly, the criticism of the review is only about how damm hard can it be. That could be true if the game was Super Mario or Gears of War, but we are talking about a simulation of the zone and if anyone has seen the original movie he will now of what I am talking about (if you liked Stalker and havenīt seen it and like european cinema with philosophic content look for it and wonīt regret it) mainly the idea of the game is that you are in a contaminated zone where weird things happens... you shouldnīt complain because you cannot find the artifacts (the zone is not disneyland whinner!!!)

    Ending (all of you who didnīt pass to the next post I love you) keep in mind that except for the thing of losing all your equipment (thank you for spill a great moment for all of us!!! Thank you Experienced-Reviewer-Spoiler!!!) it seems that every aspect of the review was exactly what I was expecting for Clear Sky...

    (I have cancelled all my social life for the weekend)

    If y lilked the first Stalker you know you canīt miss the prequel....

  • ThorUK #78 3 years ago

    I've played quite a bit of the game (on veteran, and subsequently master difficulties), and overlooking the lack of stability and the bugs, it feels like a significant improvement over Shadow of Chernobyl.

    The newly added features (artifact detectors, and the need for them, fast travel, factional warfare and upgrades) all go twoards improving gameplay. Making enemies and anomalies more deadly goes much the same way (also, you can now shoot through trees, and probably other light cover, providing your calibre's high enough).

    Money isn't an issue - by the time the plotline took my money (yes, i loaded and spent it!) I had in excess of 60,000 rubles, which upgraded my TR301 nicely into a sniper variant, as well as getting me a set of partially upgraded Military armor (with enough change for a fully upgraded Spas shotty, my sidearm, for blowing away all those pesky mutants).

    Admittedly, the atrifacts are currently rather buggy - they just dont spawn as they ought to, leaving you trampling through deadly anomalies and malignant areas (which fry your brains, balls or burn you in various ways) while the so-so souvenir of the zone is pulled into our plane of existance. The guns, too, seem in need to a few tweaks - early on, an upgraded pistol will mean you can easily clear the first few levels just by using hard cover and leaning out for headshots.

    The main issue for me are the NPCs - it's true, if you have a friendly (or not) faction in the area, they assault your PDA with calls for help or assistance in raiding their foe's outposts. Even clearing the enitre map of hostile groups doesn't help since the respawn rate is on the far side of unrealisic! (mutants in the area west of Garbage - I forget what it's called, and renegades in Swamps). Not to mention the AI which perhaps should be recalled for factory defects, or renamed AS - for Artificial Stupidity. Not only do vendours sometimes get spooked by enemies that aren't there and wander off, leaving you to twiddle your thumbs and make small talk with the "normal" NPCs while you wait for them to regain their "misplaced" gip on reality, or walk/fast travel to an alternative base. The enemy AI, again proves "interesting" and impressive in some aspects, and shockingly retarded in others. No sightings of the promised "bring fire" from them, either.

    All in all, the game is a prequel, and follows in the shadow of... Shadow of Chernobyl, which made a big enough impact to make any followup look either as the work of Christ, or major disappointment. Happily, I'd say that Clear Sky falls somewhere between the two for me. It stood no chance of being Godsend, as it was just too much a "prequel" the engine and graphics are essentially the same, as are half the levels (and most of the guns and enemies)! The improved gameplay ascpects, however prevent it being a disappointment and the updated graphics mean that no one in their right mind will say "it should've just been an expansion".

    Oh, on a side note, the properties of the artifacts have been changed - they may bear the appearance and name of those you are used to, but just make sure you read the stats (soul is my current favourite)!

    As for the review itself, I'd say 7/10. It's an early version and you made as much of it as you could have. And in contrast to what you suggest, it seems that you are at fault, to some degreeat least, for not being industrious enough. That being said, the game is far from perfect, and feels like it's been released at least a month too early.

    As a side note, the Russian collector's edition is brilliant: a glowing artifact, butane lighter, bandana, patches of various factions, story book,dog tags, etc. Whereas the european collector's edition is just disappointing... a tin, a poster and a map...
    Edited by 1 at 04/09/08 @ 03:48

  • darc #79 3 years ago

    Hmm... So... In case in a fit of optimism I decide to buy this, here's a WILDLY optimistic question: Will it run under Vista x64?

  • darc #80 3 years ago

    That's... about what I figured. :/

  • Luckz #81 3 years ago

    Why would it not run under Vista 64?

  • lessofthat #82 3 years ago

    The first one had graphical glitches and frequent crashes (esp when saving games, yum) under Vista 64-bit. Patches and hacks gradually fixed that.

    I'm running unpatched CS on Vista 64-bit and it seems fine (though dynamic lighting at dawn and dusk taxes the machine)