The whole series is on sale (75% off) but I'm still reluctant. These games are a bit old, and I got Bioshock (1+2+Infinite) for about the same price. Are they really that good? Are they comparable to my all-time-favorite series Half-Life/Bioshock?

Should you get this?
- Yes.

Are they comparable with Half-Life/Bioshock?
- No.

These are openworldgames relying heavily on what the player self makes of it, also in terms of atmosphere and overall scarefactor Half-Life/Bioshock are nowhere near the Stalker games and for the fighting itself it is more tactical in nature and is more akin to Ghost Recon or ARMA albeit without squadcontrols.
While Half-Life/Bioshock have created amusing settings for their games they will feel like Disneyland after you have been sucked into the world of Stalker, wether it will work for you, that I don't know.

Hi,

Thanks for your time. I got the games today and played Chernobyl for a bit. I like it so far. What I found a bit odd is how many times I had to shoot a bandit till he died. I mean, does a human really need several head shots to drop dead?

If you increase the difficulty the bullets become more lethal, but that works both ways, they become more lethal to you too. Also weapons aren't pinpoint accurate and will become even less accurate when its condition worsens.

I see. I guess once I get bit more used to the gameplay and feel confident, I'll experiment with different difficulty settings. I've chosen 'stalker' for now. Thanks!

I find the prices a bit absurd. Even on sale they aren't decent to be honest. And at full price over 20 bucks for each game? I think that's getting a bit out of control.

Stalker mode can be quite frustrating (playing Shadow of Chernobyl). It takes about 90,000 direct hits to kill anything. The difficulty settings do seem very badly balanced. Increasing the difficulty actually seems to reduce the number of hits both ways, as Strijkbout said.

I find the best way to enjoy the combat is to think of it as a tactics-based thing - as opposed to a realistic, or arcade-style 'line them up, they die' - 'shooter'.. I suppose even though there are no stats governing your accuracy, the combat is supposed to simulate the likelihood of your hitting or missing depending on factors such as range, weapon choice etc. At least, that's what I keep telling myself :P

It is a bit silly how it can randomly take 3 clear point blank headshots to kill an enemy. Taking it a bit far, that is. Still, fun game.

I tried switching to master difficulty. I don't really see any difference, except maybe I die a bit more easily (hard to tell).

EDIT:
As I describe in a separate post, the problem was the difficulty setting was reverting back to 'stalker'. Now that I actually play in 'master' difficulty, I can confirm the combat is well balanced.

Thank you all.