|
|
 |
|
|
|
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Review (continued)
More User Submitted S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Reviews
Date: 2007-11-22
Hard...but very fun!
This game is defiantly for the more experienced gamers.
For the first few hours of playing I was cursing like a sailor with tourettes. It was almost impossible. Every little thing in the game = instant death. That is until I stopped trying to play it like Quake, running around with guns blazing, and started playing more like Splinter Cell...cover, wait, sneak, kill.
The real world physics are what sets this game apart from others.
Such as the smart npc AI and the weight system where your character will move slower and jump different, depending on how much stuff you have in your inventory.
There are tons of enemies that will attack on sight, even while you are accessing your inventory.
The items in this game aren't laying around everywhere, you have to learn how to go about finding them and then decide what to take depending on where you are heading to.
You're character will tire get hungry & bleed, so find a safe place to stop patch up and replenish.
The playing field is massive like in Elder Scrolls. There is a lot to explore so it doesn't get boring when you have to walk great distances.
The graphics, lighting and effects are very cool as well.
You WILL have to download the latest patch as the game is buggy when first installed. Other than that little thing this game rocks!
Date: 2007-11-20
What SHOULD be the next big thing in FPS
Shadow of Chernobyl is the most phenomenal first person shooter I have played in nearly ten years. I have played single player FPS games since the original Wolfenstein 3d and can remember a few games that really did new things for the genre. Wolfenstein, then Doom and Quake I - II, Halflife, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty I & II, and Far Cry, all pushed new ideas, new engines, and new game-play elements. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is the next game to push a really new element of realism into the FPS mix.
Actually, there are three elements that really make the game stand out over its same-gen FPS competitors. One is the open world, where you can go anywhere you can survive, shoot at just about anything that bleeds, pick up side missions enough to fill up real-time days, and get into more hairy situations than you can shake a stick at. Some people have said that the world could be bigger. Sure, the world could be bigger, but it can already provide up to twenty hours of non-repetitive exploration. So, I'm personally content to wait for an expansion pack to give me more areas to check out.
The second element I really love, as a long time FPS gamer, is the element of realism they've added to the shooting game. Shooting from the hip is extremely inaccurate, and reeling off an entire assault rifle clip is about the best way to waste ammo in the game (kind of like in reality). Circle strafing is not going to work very well in this title. If you want to shoot and hit something, your playable character should be in a stable shooting position, firing down his aimed sights. Even doing this, you'll have a challenge learning to handle guns that fire rounds that fly in parabolic arcs (though the arc is not as extreme as the designers originally intended). An enormous amount of research went into the creation of the bullet physics for this game. Every gun fires rounds in a slightly different manner. Different types of ammo will result in a flatter trajectory out of the barrel. This game is the closest thing to a free-range shooter simulation I have ever seen, and I am grateful to have seen it, regardless of the negative reviews complaining about inaccuracy that I've noted online.
The third element is the AI, and the pure difficulty in overcoming AI driven opponents. Once again, the opponents difficulty has been toned down by developers under direct orders. I think that this is kind of sad. However, they are still the best AI driven opponents I've seen so far (and I include the ones I've seen in CoD4). They'll split up by armament, with rifles providing ACCURATE covering fire, shotguns rush to close using leapfrog tactics and available cover, and miscellaneous armaments circling wide to flank in an orbit of your last known location! This is HUGE. I can't tell you how bored I've become with the flanking maneuvers of other games that are almost purely formulaic. "I'm here so they'll send guys there, across either that open spot or that one over there..." just doesn't apply to this game. STALKER's AI cannon fodder actually use cover, and fire in an accurate fashion. I found I had to use cover in entirely new ways, and continually shift my location and point of fire to keep from getting swamped by a relatively small number of AI driven units with similar armor and weapons. I don't think I can describe how excited I was by this.
The technical aspects of this game blew me away. I loved them. Add on to these the fact that the designers gave me a non-linear game world, upgradeable equipment and weapons, and the ability to play the game in a non-linear fashion, and we have the biggest jump in FPS realism since Rainbow Six proved that some FPS gamers like realism in their FPS games' game-play mechanics. This game transcends the boundaries of traditional FPS games, and I will continue to play it over and over again... until the expansion pack or sequel is released.
Date: 2007-11-18
Just O.K.
I was disappointed in the game engine, but it's still ok for people who aren't used to better games like Battlefield 2 or Half-Life 2
Date: 2007-11-11
HAD POTENTIAL
stalker is a good fps game. i am a serious gamer and have played all the best including halo, bf2, bf2142, half-life, oblivion, cod2 etc etc. i will list the good, the bad and the ugly. i also downloaded the most recent patch.
the good:
awesome graphics
non-linear (you can roam around)
interesting concept/idea
creepy with some surprises
the bad:
AI in some situations is toast. for example, i have seen the AI figure pointing their weapon in a different direction but i'm being shot at. at a distance they do not react properly.
you can't drive ANY vehicles.
you see plenty of helicopters but you will NEVER pilot one or ride in one.
you can pump a clip or two into an enemy and then they can kill you in a couple of shots.
NO mounted machine machine guns...even though their are lots of weapons.
the ugly:
buggy as hell. in one instance i tossed a grenade into a room of AI and every one of them came running out. had plenty of glitches in the quest PDA.
if you decide to run through the game and finish the main quest DONT. you cannot go back and do the minor quests you didnt get to. its over.
the ending SUCKED. should have been much cooler.
gray and dark most of the time. why do they do that?
multiplayer sucks
in conclusion, this game COULD have been awesome, but it was not well thought out. thank you and good gaming.
Date: 2007-11-05
Excellent Game
This game is an excellent choice if you're looking for more open ended FPS games that offer more than your simple "go here and kill" options. There is a whole trading, politic, and exploration aspect to this game you won't find many other places. Oh, and there are over 7 endings to this game! Try finding that in most other games out there!
Problem is, as you can imagine with an open ended game and that many endings... continuity is a bit hard. The story line has to be broad and ambiguous enough to allow for some very different endings. Problem is that it doesn't always fit together nicely either. Some seemed to contradict other info, and others hit you out of the blue completely.
Because of it's sheer size though, there is the possibility for a lot of glitches in the game. My recommendation is this: save often. All of this however does NOT detract from the depth and fun in the game. I still highly recommend it and would urge you to try to find different endings by doing everything you can... other than scouring youtube.
|
|
|
|
