Inmidst the rising mediocrity of single-player FPS came STALKER, a game that took me by storm with its unique atmosphere and environment. It is an RPG-like FPS but with no XP: equipment, skill and ammunition replace that. The progression comes from the player, how good he can react to threats, knowledge of the game and what equipment he managed to get on the way, not that some skill he unlocked after 1000 zombie kills. The maps are big, the NPC and monster AI make every venture out into the wild an adventure, ripe with stories to tell later at the fire. A sprawling, dedicated mod community lets you tweak the experience to your liking.
although the graphics or the distinctive shader and some of the interactive scenes were novel at the time of release, as a shooter the game failed for me. the shooting/movement is not precise enough and the leveldesign and AI lacked in every departement. Still recommended if only for nostalghia and the lack of guts and risktaking in todays shooter landscape.
