Game deserves its reputation as "one of the best" FPS games to date.. Its flaws: 1. "Open world" . . . sort of, but no, not really. On the continuum from Open World to Linear S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (SSoC) lies in the middle: more possibilities to side track than in say, Half-Life, but considerable less than say, Skyrim. I've been spoiled by Minecraft and Skyrim, and expect too much when games are billed as "open world." There is plenty do to here, and at least some alternate paths you can follow, but on the whole you WILL follow the same path that most other players have ever followed as you progress toward the game end. 2. Highly detailed and Interactive world. In SSoC, there are quite a few buildings, many with some complexity to explore, some truly atmospheric underground areas, and overall the environments are quite satisfying. But there just is not that much to interact with honestly. Combine this with no crafting or building system and the game shows its age. 3. Computer-Opponents which can be mistaken for "challenging." What I've observed is that the so-called "AI" is programmed to foil the players actions, NOT to behave in a believable fashion. For example, (a) you point your weapon at a bad guy. Just as your cursor comes into position, he will dart away. (b) The computer-opponent is an incredibly good shot, incredibly good at doing the right thing at the right time (e.g., jump you just as you are changing ammo), and takes a helluva lot of punishment to go down. When you combine this with points 1 and 2 above, the game can have a tendency to feel more "arcadey" than I like. I like to play games like Skyrim or Fallout 4 in "Dead is Dead" mode, meaning, no reloading an old save if you die. I find this to be extremely difficult to do in SSoC, and while it could be done, it would be very tedious and boring. The lack of real "content" in the environment means that running to the next gun fight is the most entertaining thing in the game
By modern standards, naturally this game seems slightly dated. But ONLY slightly. I own the latest version of MS Flight Sim X, and this game easily matches up to that more modern, regularly patched up engine. If you have ANY interest in WWII flight combat sims, owning this one is like automatic. Flight games are a little to difficult for my tastes frankly, and having tried them out pretty intensely this summer, I think I'm probably gonna let them slide back onto the back burner (maybe my joystick is shite?). But even so, I definitely feel that this was money well spent. If I ever have an urge to fly an old classic WWII era plane, I can always fire it up and have some fun! Definitely worth it!
I hate to be negative, but I'm just gonna be honest and give my uncensored opinion here. By 2009 standards, this game sucks. The graphics are crap, the combat system is crap, and the game world concept is lame. I know there is a Gothic II and Gothic III, and maybe those are not as utter crap as this one but unless someone buys them for me as gifts, I'm probably never gonna find out cause I took the wind right out of my sails.
