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

is great!

Usually I'm not a big fan of FPS, but a friend told me this was a good game that reminded him in a way the fallout 1 & 2 atmosphere. And he was right ! With outdated graphics, this game manage to create a unique atmosphere, I enjoyed every minute in the Zone trying to gather pieces of the story, fighting and walking among the anomalies. You can feel the danger every second, people are dying all around you, and you will die a lot too. I've been mad at the game sometimes becasue the gameplay is not perfect, but i recommand you it still for the experience. Clear sky then Call of Pripyait will have a better gameplay with an awesome story too. The background is so intense i had to read the book and watch the movie to go further. I wish there will be a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 one day

I bought the Stalker series of games back when they were released. They were highly anticipated and sadly very disappointing. I have never spent so much on a game and played it so little/gave up on it so quickly. First of all the graphics were decent for the time, but there was a sad lack of interaction with any of the objects. I felt like I was in a world where everything was glue to the tables and nailed to the floor. I didn’t feel immersed in the environment much at all. It is hard to explain without experiencing it yourself. The gunplay seemed unsatisfying to the point of actually being frustrating. I don’t know if it was the hit boxes of the enemies or just how the guns themselves were coded but it seemed to me that targeting was way off. I used to play Operation Flashpoint (Arma) at the time and I was pretty good at shooting. None of my skills at shooting in video games translated at all into Stalker. Bullets just whizzed right by the enemy without hitting them regardless of how well I aimed. Meanwhile they shot me to pieces. I vaguely recall missing a guy over and over while wielding a rifle from about 20 meters away. He was using a pistol or shotgun (something meant to be used at short range) and was nailing me over and over. Other times I was completely under cover (behind a thick metal pole) and bullets were still finding their mark. The environment was sort of cool but way too frustrating and difficult to enjoy. Oftentimes I would die of radiation or some puzzling blast that originated from nowhere without any warning or indication of it coming. Other times I would zone in to a new area and when it was done loading there would be a multitude of enemies, all aware of my presence, sending a hail of bullets my way prior to me even getting my bearings. If you saved your game before any of these things happened.....guess what....time to restart. As everyone said, the inventory system was abysmal. Your bag utilized the outdated and clunky system of grids.

Survival Horror / Shooter games are my favorite games to ever exist. I hate them when they stand on their own though ( Survival where it's a walking Sim because you're defenceless or Shooters where you're an unstoppable killing machine and there's no story surrounding it for example ) but when you bring the two together a game can be beautifully balanced between to two and that's where S.t.a.l.k.e.r. shadow of chernobyl comes to life. I'm not going to reveal any plot of the story but I will talk about a few key features that made the game so appealing to me. There are tons of different factions - some even coexist side by side like Loners and Stalkers. There is also factions constantly at war such as the hate for the Monolith - there are even factions that aren't even really militarized and exist for special purpose but won't actively be the ones shooting you down if you've sided with the wrong people such as the exologists. There is a inventory weight system that forces you to be a little Keen between what you'd like to lug around. Between radiation medication, ammo, guns, armor, food, and so on - without being too annoying it does make you think twice about what you want to take with you out into the wasteland of chernobyl in order to survive as comforably as possible but still be able to have the freedom to pick up some items along the way. The anomolies are different and fun - based of different elements - creating the way you progress to be more challanging and sometimes even puzzle like when you're out looting certain things but have to work around their existance. From humans, dogs, boars, military, bandits, zombies, poltergeists, and more. you will have plenty of different enemy types to work with making the game less repetitive then you're average bandit vs player in the wasteland cliche. And enviorment - wow they really killed it with this one. you'll have to see it for yourself. Also.. PERSONAL RECOMENDATION. GET THE STALKER COMPLETE MOD.

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