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

The atmosphere is unbeatable in this game. Combat is a bit clunky but otherwise very enjoyable, the ai is not bad at all - trying to flank and run for cover. The devs tried to sneak in some rpg elements, but they are mehh. This is a shooter at its' core, with a non-linear world using some survival elements.

The best first person survival tactical shooter of all time. Only System Shock 2 comes close. Modded, it becomes one of the best games of all time, regardless of genre or platform. Period.

This is a very good game and I would recommend it to everyone. Positive aspects: * solid FPS shooting, weapons * open world design * level design and environments * graphics Negative aspects: * lack of subtitles during speeches/cutscenes * 16:9 aspect ratio not supported everywhere Enjoy!

As the title implies, the game is barely playable as is. No, I am not talking about technical problems or crashes - I have not experienced any. The game is barely playable because of bad design (I have not tried any mods yet, not sure if I care to try): - nothing is intuitive and nothing is explained and there is nowhere to get relevant information (do you use anti-radiation meds before entering an irradiated area or after? so trial and error meaning save/reload A LOT); - a survival/horror game like this should have perfect directional sound so you can determine from where potential danger comes (if some people on my left five yards away are talking, their voices should be coming from the left, not from the center of my head like a mono song from a headset); - I have a noise meter showing how likely someone is to hear me, but I can never hear anyone approaching - no enemy movement sounds to speak of; - graphics are rather bad, vegetation moving in the wind is jerky and unnatural; - Inventory management is clumsy; - weapons are extremely inaccurate; - "awesome atmosphere" means it is always night or twilight and it is always raining; - you spend 50% of play time pressing R (reload weapon) and quick save/quick load buttons - by the time you finish the game you will have pressed each of these buttons 20 thousand times (automatic reload anyone?); - you will die and reload last save a horrible LOT - so where's "immersion"? - most side missions are not doable because they are on a timer, so to do them you must review but NOT accept the missions and only accept them once you've found the required item, then just accept and complete right away; - wire or bolt cutters are non-existent and everywhere there's barbed wire that you cannot penetrate (you are funneled through the game world... open world my a$$) GOG now limits review size, so I have no room to list all the "great features", but I guess you get the idea. Save/reload A LOT is not my idea of fun. Is it yours?

This is one super immersive game. The gunplay is awesome, the setting is awesome, and if you like exploration adventure RPGs, this fills that craving. It's like a more first person shooter-y Fallout, to give a rough example. Before I get into the flaws, which should prevent ANYONE from giving this game a 5-star rating, I will say that the flaws can be mildly ammended via mods. The carry weight is abysmal. I'm all for an inventory weight limit, hell, I think the Fallout series is WAY too forgiving in that department, but this game is WAY too stingy with it. The whole setting of the game is where it's you an a bunch of scavengers trying to dig up ammo, food, and artifacts to survive and profit, so having to constantly drop stuff or make LONG trips back to the shop to sell stuff really bog the game down. Then there's the story, which I had a hard time trying to follow. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I usually don't have such a difficult time in other games I play. There's also the quest system. You have STRICT time limits on optional quests, which prevent you from taking them unless you ONLY set out with JUST that side mission in mind, and even then sometimes the quest markers bug out or don't go away. Lastly the difficulty. I couldn't finish the game. I got to Pripyat, which is about 80% through, before it just didn't even seem worth the effort any more. The enemies become just too well armored to the point where gunshots to the face just mildly annoy them, they can shoot you through the level geometry which is some real BS, I have so little ammo for the situationally appropriate guns so I'm counting bullets like a jewish hitman, for every one enemy that I manage to down, two more pop up on my radar, and after save-scumming for a few hours straight, I just said "fak it." I bought the game for around $2, and considering the fun I had and the game's strong points, me feeling like giving the game anything less than 4-stars, all this^ considered should say a lot.