Posted on: November 21, 2024
THX1342
Games: Reviews: 15
Souless... Stalker: Call of Duty
Performance at launch is terrible. To get the game to run on a "normal" PC the game need to look like absolute garbage and, even then, you get severe stuttering. But performance aside, since that can eventually be easily fixed, this game has bigger issues. 1) The Zone feels dead. There is no A-Life. Mutants don't interact with each other. Stalkers are not going about their daily routines. The Zone exists as a bubble around you, the main character. NPCs stand looking at the horizon waiting for you to go talk to them. After you talk to them they continue to stand there. With no purpose. With no agency. This is not typical of a Stalker game. In this one you are the main protagonists, the reason the Zone exists and this makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty 2) Overuse of cut-scenes that completely rip player agency. There are a lot of very well produced cut-scenes but that turn the game, in pivotal moments, into a movie and not a game. You don't get to have that amazing gunfight with overpowered enemies. You watch it happen. Your character making decisions for you. This is not typical of a Stalker games and makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty. On the positives, when you manage to get enough frames to process what's going on, the atmosphere (visually at least) is there even though the real things that make the Zone, the Zone, isn't (Stalker fans know graphics are not even 3rd on the list of what matters for the Zone). Also gunplay can feel pretty good. Developers did not have courage to take risks and bring back the uniqueness of Stalker. They played it safe and followed pre-existing, blockbuster formulas. Overall, this is a Call of Duty game with Stalker makeover. A disappointing Stalker game...
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