This game (Call of Pripyat) is definitely the most polished in the series. I find it also the most interesting, but it depends on the player's expectations: - 3 completely new maps, much larger than maps in SoC and CS - CP is a longer game, feels more open world - exploration feeling is best here, second is CS and last is SoC - all factions are neutral to the player, but they still attack each other - no faction wars as in CS, that's why gunfight again factions is nearly non-existent at the beginning - can be extremely scary even on veteran difficulty. Some rarer mutants are very powerful and player doesn't have a chance if he/she meets them at close distance outdoors. - one of the team missions is the best in series. Characters and dialogs are unique. There isn't such immersion in SoC. Team members become your friends and you want to bring them all alive at the end of the mission. Bad thing is it can become old save reloading nightmare if you don't choose your weapons and equipment wisely.
I've played all 3 games (SoC, CS and CP). To me Clear sky gameplay is a big upgrade over the original game (SoC still has great main story): - in-game money isn't useless because player can do upgrades and upgrades are important to survive. In SoC you just find better items, no need to buy anything from traders. - artifacts are rare and cannot be obtained without good detector and good protective suit. In SoC you just go, see them and grab them. - faction war brings more immersion because it makes the zone more realistic. In the beginning one outpost may be guarded by bandits, next time it may be guarded by another faction. - veteran difficulty is difficult, you can't go to 3 bandit camp with a simple shotgun and not get killed. Attacking non mutant enemies requires distance and planning because player is always outnumbered. - Story in SoC was great and very dynamic. Story in Clear sky is somehow more mystic, like an introduction before something bigger happens. Clear sky forces you to explore the zone. SoC forces you to finish the main plot. - most of the maps are the original SoC maps which is great. Some of them are expanded in a good way (like Yantar). In CP game they changed the world completely but it didn't end in memorable experience. After all patches through the years CS is currently much more stable than SoC. I have installed both games in a separate HDD running windows 7 without network drivers. (using the gog offline installer) When i want to play i just boot from the other disk and without network drivers there aren't any windows updates that could spoil my experience.
