S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Fantastic game, just short of first Stalker game.

Shadow of Chernobyl did a lot of things right and wrong, Clear sky did everything wrong, Call of Pripyat does almost everything right but still has some flaws (Soc - Shadow of Chernobyl, CS - Clear Sky, COP - Call of Pripyat) Story - It is the final chapter in the series with lots of fun, intimidating and overall interesting quests. I liked the story, not as much as SoC, but I like it. If you want to experience the full game then do all the sidequests as most of them have good backstories. Gameplay - I find this to be the worst thing the game did. This is just my opinion, but I feel like I barely had any action in the game, rather it felt more like a walking simulator in both a good and bad way. As said already, the quests make the game real and interesting, not just the action. SoC and CS made me feel under pressure as you never know when the next bandit is going to shoot you, in COP you just walk around knowingly that the chances of getting attacked are very low which made me feel bored. Overall it is the quests that make the game, not the action. Sadly it is also the smallest game only having 3 areas to explore. You also don't feel the difficulty that is so bone crushingly difficult in SoC and CS, which is good. Soundtrack - As with any S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, the atmosphere feels real and scary thanks to the amazing soundtrack. There is not much to say about it other than it's phenomenal. Verdict - it is the most polished, best atmosphere and less action, more story.

As title suggest I went to the Stalker series from the end. At first I was a bit confused about the concept of anomalies and artifacts, but I guess that is my problem not playing the previous games. All through this game a word connection I had i my mind is that this is "Ukrainian Fallout". When you get into the system of the game it gets more interesting and I actually caught myself enjoying it more and more. On technical side, there are some graphical issues (bugs) and voice acting is really bad in English version. I am not sure about Russian, but listening to some dialogues in English made me "Wish for nuclear winter" or Russian version. The Russian battle chatter is quite refreshing, on the other hand. The open world feels good. The game definitely worth money and time. True is it ended quite suddenly without a warning. I felt I am just getting warmed up, and there was the end.

Sure, it may not have as much of the atmosphere as Shadow of Chernobyl, but it's still S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and it's a pretty small price to pay for much better optimisation, DirectX11 support, bigger, more open maps, more refined mechanics, new mechanics and of course, bigger and better mods. Rating? Well, -1 star for the weaker atmosphere, +1 star for the actually open open world, +1 for the more refined mechanics and +0.5 stars for the good framerate (unless you turn on SSAO, so just turn that crap off) Now what does that make? 10 - 1 + 1 + 1 + 0.5 = 11.5 11.5/10

I feel like this went under the radar. I played the first Stalker when it was release but I was unaware any other had come out. I was blown away when i found this and played it. It is awesome! Great game play, very immersive, believable atmosphere. I had loads of fun and I think I may play again after seeing it was release on GOG.