S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl Comments by Dan Whitehead

"I think PC gaming is growing just not at the rate console gaming does. "

Actually in terms of ratio of public who play games.. console gaming is becomming less popular..

The line about Deus Ex (one of my top five favourites ever), Far Cry (the best pure FPS I've ever played) and Oblivion (I thought it was shallow, but when all was said and done I had spent 100+ hours in the damn thing) really sold this game to me. So much, in fact, that I preordered it. 508 SEK (appr. 60€) it cost me! It better be damn good for that price..

The game's being in development for so long, it was aptly named by someone in Russia/Ukraine ZH.D.A.L.K.E.R., which essentially means the one who waits or is waited for. Pretty what it is really. Anyway, things seem to be going well, although the game has lost a chunk of its features for not-so-obvious reasons, if you look at the production time period. I'd like to stress that the game must be played and appreciated not necessarily for its shooting part, not for the life simulation thing or whatever, but, first of all, for its authentic graphic representation of the area. I live something like a day's trip from the place, so I was impressed by seeing the familiar surroundings of Ukrainian countryside and industrial architecture in-game, though they may be not that gloomy in reality. Quality job.

Multiplayer?? No co-op?? only deathmatch?... Hmmmm Exploration sounds a bit boring but otherwise I'm glad that previewers are still excited after playing it.

Can't wait!

Here's a question I'd really like to see answered: is the game mod-able? In Morrowind and Oblivion, mod-ability was what made the difference between good games and excellent games. I'm thinking S.T.A.L.K.E.R could be similar in that aspect.

Also (i believe it wasn't mentioned in the article), the game has dialogs with voice-over, yes? In a vid I saw once, the voice-over was in russian, which IMHO contributed greatly to the atmosphere. Will this still be the case in the final retail version?

"@Bleh : It's not finished.. You'd EXPECT there to be crashes and bugs. If there wasnt any, then it'd be on the shelves now! "

but generally speaking, games should be ironed out this close to release. all that should need to be done is some gameplay balances and odd glitches. for the game to be completely crashing this late in development still worries me. seems like they're going to need to patch it like crazy because THQ have put this deadline on them

Precisely, I have read in one artikel that the game suffered from memory leaks. Not something you want in a final release. And with a little more than a month to go you would like to see that there fixing some small thing, as stoopidgreg already said.
That not everything is working because it's still a pre build is logical.

No idea about mods, but the dialogue is being re-recorded in English - albeit with Russian accents. It's pretty good voicework, actually.

The memory leak was one of the known issues highlighted by the PR people, so the article you mention shouldn't have brought that up as a flaw.

Boiling Point. 'Nuff said.

Actually, no, not enough said. Boiling Point seems to have all this, and more, and it also seems more RPG-like than S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It's just not post-apocalyptic, but it seems to be better from what I read.

Boiling Point was buggy, boring and bad.

Stalker has some chance being good , though I always had doubts. Doubts which increased after they removed bunch of stuff. My main concern is the exploration and navigataing , no vehicles and how polished the final game will be and how good the basics - control , action , AI , design - are.

Boiling point was released UNFINISHED. Even worse then Battlefield 2!


Its was a joke and 100% unplayable.

Boiling Point. 'Nuff said.

Actually, no, not enough said. Boiling Point seems to have all this, and more, and it also seems more RPG-like than S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It's just not post-apocalyptic, but it seems to be better from what I read.

Boiling Point was fun for a while, but it was also broken, and none of the gameplay mechanics were particularly fun per se. I really don't quite understand how you come to the conclusion that Stalker is worse, based on the previews we've read so far. If it offers less than Boiling Point, but with better implementation, it might be an infinitely superior game. It might also be worse, of course. My point just being that we don't know yet. :)

Mmmm, Boiling Point. The game with the flying leopards. Or was it gepards? Some manner of flying feline. The buggiest game I ever wasted two minutes on before uninstalling and never looking at it again.

Boiling Point was a great game.. after you installed the 200 MB patch that was released a few weeks after the game. If STALKER is anywhere near as fun as Boiling Point, I'm going to love it!

I guess I've found my favourite genre.. Huge, open-ended games full of exploration and FPS action sprinkled with a little RPG sweetness.

"This fallen statue of Richard Stilgoe shows the overwhelming detail that has gone into the game."

LOL :). It's Vladimir Lenin's statue. :D

As we are talking about Boiling Point..looks like there's a sequel in the works.

http://www.deep-shadows.com/en/news.php

Like all European games this is a little more deeper and a little more intelligent and a little more slower to start. It also means that after about an hour of play you are hooked and this game will not, I repeat, will not let you go for a long long time! :)

pretty much the best FPS i have ever played. it's what boiling point wanted to be. plus the newest patch makes it rock solid, and some choice mods add drivable vehicles and other goodies. incredible game, and best FPS on the market right now, easy.

Reviewers need to look outside of the box. Which they don't do. Because you don't get stronger and you don't increase skills, it cannot be an RPG? Well my friends, yes it can. By going on missions you get items you can use and items you can sell, this is required so you increase your defensive capability, increase you offensive capability and have the cash for the ammo and the food and the very weapons and armour you need as the story progresses and you meet stronger adversary's. This IS roleplaying. You have to get stronger, but not through strength skill increases but through armour , you have to increase your weaponry skills, but you do that through learning the weapons and using them effectively. In effect you LEARN your skills. You learn who your friends are, you learn what is the best weapon against each enemy human or otherwise and you increase your stats through the use of better armour, better weapons and better artefacts.

So as far as I am concerned this IS an FPS/RPG hybrid. It just asks differently how you go about increasing your 'stats' in order to continue to the more dangerous areas.

So please, a little more intelligence. Or are we only ever going to get one type of way to roleplay because the media doesn't have the capability to realise any other?!

Oh yes, and the 'two keys needed to crouch' comment is false, in that you can bind a key to 'always crouch' (I use 'Z'), so with 'always crouched' on, you only need to hold down 'shift' to stay extra low.