S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

"Good game, but extremely buggy."

The sequel to "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" takes place in a lot of the same environment as the previous game, though there are wholly new levels. In fact, there's a whole lot of new things all the way around. New anomalies, new events (no spoilers for this), new artifacts, new areas to explore; everything that was inherited from the previous game has been tweaked for the new system. Also debuting is the new faction system, where when you choose a side, you gain access to their specialists (for repairing and upgrading weapons and armor). You can remain un-allied, but there's a downside to that (explained later). Enhanced graphics are there too, but it takes a killer rig to really run the game maxxed out (and rumor has it that the game doesn't make use of multiple CPU cores, so there's no help coming from that direction, either). The plot almost parallels the previous game, and provides some juicy hints of things that weren't fully explained before.

Now, for the down side. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Anything from random crashes to the desktop, to losing part of the interface permanently (I lost the ability to drag bodies in mid-game, and haven't gotten it back since). Also, the barter system is hit-and-miss, as not every trader takes every kind of object (bartenders only take foodstuffs and vodka, for instance). Some traders will trade in ammunition, but not weapons, which is really irritating because it doesn't make sense. There are still areas without any traders at all, and that makes life hell when encounters regenerate over time. Furthermore, the trade system is balanced poorly. If you don't choose a faction, you get the worst deals when bartering. If you do, though, the rate is still poor (50% of real value in some cases). Since the old weight system is one of the few systematic things that carried over from the original game, you have to juggle inventory again - not so much because of the weight limit, but because of the lack of traders who will take all kinds of spare goods. You can't really unload all of your stock anywhere. Also, while you can (with artifacts and armor modifications) carry over 100 kg of equipment, your overload limit has stayed at 50 kgs. In some circumstances, this can be lethal (as you need to run during some portions of the game, and taking hits or bites slows you down temporarily). You can pay guides to instantly transport you from place to place within a level, but they charge for the service, and unlike the previous game, you are cash-poor here (at least for the first 30 hours of gameplay, anyway), so this isn't very useful. Also, unless the paths are clear, they won't take you - logical, but still annoying. Add to all this the random bugs (drop to desktop without warning nor error message) and crashes (like having too large of an inventory - AGAIN), and it takes away from the pleasure of the game. It's frustrating that they didn't learn from their previous game's experience, which if I remember correctly was very buggy on release, too.

All in all, if you loved the previous game, you'll love this game...if you can wait a while for a stable patch to come out, that is. Otherwise, you'll be extremely frustrated. The next patch will probably be a Neverwinter Nights 1 / KOTOR / KOTOR 2 type of patch, where you will lose any previous save games on patching the program, due to the enormous number of bugs being reported. For me, that's around 30 hours of gameplay - lost.

This review was made using patch 1.5.04 of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/08

Game Release: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (US, 09/15/08)