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

"A very dark yet very realistic game"

Stalker is a game that takes place in the Ukraine Chernobyl site. It centers around the idea that mercenary's who are adequately prepared can enter the “zone” and perform jobs. These jobs range from finding items, to killing people. While this game is a First Person Shooter, its also got some RPG elements. There isn't as many as System Shock 2, or even Deus Ex, but veterans of those games will feel right at home with the game play. Is this game a good addition to the FPS/RPG hybrid genre?

Graphics
The graphics are very good…but not as good as they should have been. Looking at the previews for the last 3 years, the graphics looked great. However, since this game was delayed and delayed, the engine was apparently never updated. So by the time it came out, there were other games already out that were on par in terms of graphics. That is not to say they are bad, in fact they are quite good. You have a good feel of realism, especially in the “underground” sections. What is really good are the lighting effects, you will notice a difference when its nighttime and you need to turn on your headlamp. In short the graphics are solid, but not superior.

Sound
The ambient sounds, like animal sounds in the night and gun shots in the distance are some of the best I have heard in a while. Where the graphics fall short of “near real” immersion, the sounds make up for it. One thing that adds a great touch is that most of the talking that is not directed at you is usually in Russian…you are in the Ukraine after all. The battles are very good sound demos…you constantly hear gunshots and Russian curses/battle cries. The only complaint is that while in the “underground” areas, the emphasis on scare sounds is a little redundant and obvious. The footsteps in the empty hall done well enough to scare me…no need to add an extra “bump in the night”.

Controls
You should feel at home with the basic FPS controls. However, there is an extensive inventory system. You hit I to bring up the inventory and P to bring up the PDA. The PDA contains useful info about your missions, stats, ect. Then inventory gives you your health, armor, and current items all in one huge screen. It seems overwhelming at first, but it is pretty simple. All the items you pick up are here…but there are separate slots for your primary and secondary weapons, equipped artifacts, and armor. When you look at the general inventory screen, you will NOT see what is equipped. However, you WILL see them when you are buying or selling, because you can sell what you have equipped. You also have a stat screen here showing how each armor or artifact affects you.

To select your weapon, you use numbers 1 through 6. 1 is a knife, 2 is your secondary or pistol, 3 is your primary, 4 is for grenades, 5 is for the binoculars, and 6 is a screw. The screw is used for throwing to distract enemies, however I never used this. Most guns have either a scope or aim down the site feature. Each gun, and armor, has a grade rating that will go down the more you use. The value of the item will also go down. This leads me to the trading, which is the same screen except you will see both what you and the person you are trying to trade with are carrying. You put the items you are trading in there and the difference in price is displayed.

Game play
This is the bread and butter of the game. You are a “Stalker”, which is basically a kind of mercenary. You go around doing jobs for various buyers. A majority of the jobs you get will come from a “trader” of which there are 2 main ones in the game. There are also people you will meet along the way that will offer a job. The jobs can range from finding objects to assassinations. The reason for doing jobs is not only for money…but you also get some good items in exchange. Plus, it builds your reputation and you can select your friends and enemies along the way.

You start off Neutral, but there are 2 factions you can join later on in the game. The factions are Duty and Freedom. They are much like Republicans and Democrats in the sense that they never seem to agree on anything because they have different ideals. There are other factions, like the Army, but you can't join them. When you meet other neutral Stalkers, they will react to you based on how you react to them. Most of them will simply say Hello and possibly give you some info or trade with you. If you attack them then they will fight back. If you find a wounded Stalker and give up a med kit to help them then they will be friendly with you.

There are some people you will meet that will attack you on sight. These are mostly bandits that can travel in groups large or small. The Army generally does not like any Stalker and will usually attack. There is also a faction that is rather fanatical and will normally shoot any and everyone on sight if there territory is breached. You will also encounter “zombies” which are really other Stalkers that have lost it, and just shoot everything and everyone.

Finally, we have the mutants. There are various kinds of mutants ranging from strange looking dogs to telepathic humanoids. There is a wide variety of four-legged beasts, some larger and some small. Then there is the Bloodsucker, which is the most common of the humanoid type mutants. They can turn invisible temporarily and…well, the name says it all. Then there is the Pseudo-giant which is this large ugly thing that is called a giant more for its weight than its size. Last by not least, there is the Controller. The Controller is probably the toughest mutant you will face because they use telepathic attacks. Although the Pseudo-giant and the Controller are clear challenges to the player, they only appear 2 or 3 times tops each. The other mutants are really just melee only enemies. A little more diversity or harder mutants would have made the game that much better.

As for actually playing through the game, there are a few “story” missions that you can choose to do whenever you want to. These will advance the story at the pace which you choose. Along the way there are many side quests to choose from. Most will give you better weapons, armor and artifacts. Guns and armor both degrade over time so you will need to either get new or better ones as you progress. Artifacts are objects naturally created in the zone that will affect you stats in various ways. Some of them will make you bleed less, some will have you take less damage from a long fall, and some will give you more endurance. Great care must be taken when picking the artifacts you choose to use because many of them also have negative affects as well as positive.

While you move around the zone, not only are there enemies, friends, and other Stalkers. There are also anomalies. Radiation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to natural hazards. There is an electrical anomaly, a fire anomaly, and various air displacement ones. Most artifacts are found near anomalies because that is generally how they are formed. The combinations of various enemies along with environmental hazards demand that you keep your wits about you in this game.

Story
As stated before, the whole game is you completing various missions. There are a bunch of missions that have to be completed for you to advance the story. First, let me tell you that if you stick only to the story driven missions, this game will be rather short. Not to mention unrewarding and possibly rather difficult toward the end. I probably spent a good 10-12 hours on this game which is somewhere in the middle. The game could easily be shortened to 7-8 hours, yet it can also be elongated to over 20 if you choose to do every single mission possible. Plus, let's not forget that you can join a faction and then play the game again as a different faction. The game offers mega-reparability when it comes to the story.

Now as per the actual story, you are a Stalker with amnesia that has a mission to kill a specific Stalker. You don't know who the Stalker is or why you have been told to kill him. You pick up the game from there, learning about where they could have gone and how to get there. Missions are given to you to retrieve government documents and to find various items. You start in a place called Cordon, which is mostly where rookies hang out. The next place up is called Garbage, which is basically a major crossroad as you can get to various parts of the zone from there. Then you have the Duty controlled BAR area that is also a good access point for later in the game.

At first, you will spend most of your time in the Cordon/Garbage area. As you progress, BAR will be the area you are at the most. When you are finally ready for your final push to the center of the zone, which is towards the end of the game, you will need to pass by the Freedom controlled area. Once you get deep into the zone, you will encounter the radical Monolith faction, which will always shoot on sight. As you progress, you learn more and more about the zone, yourself, and your strange mission to kill this specific Stalker. The story has a great climax at the end, and there are multiple endings. However, it should be noted that you can reach all the endings by saving your game in on the last level.

While the game offers tons of replay-ability, you will not get anything new story-wise. However, each time you play can be different depending on what missions you accept and who you align yourself with. The biggest criticism I have for the game is that because the actual story is rather short, some casual/strait through gamers will feel that the game doesn't offer much. Although, that just adds to the versatility of the game, it can be as long or as short as you want. I might also add that at the time of this writing, there are plenty of mods available. This is a game that will last a long time in the PC game community.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/08

Game Release: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (US, 03/20/07)