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

"An enthusiasts dream and a causal gamers nightmare."

Graphics: GSC is proud of their X ray engine and head lining E3 and other game conventions were demonstrations of their DX10 mode and new features. Real time rain, god rays, beautiful sunrises, realistic storms--It all looks stunning then and it looks even better in real time. I'll give you an example. You're walking through a broken down, rust covered hangar. A fire casts shadows in every direction. Rain pours through cracks in the ceiling, causing realistic wet spots and puddles on the floors under the cracks. When the storm clears the rain dries and sun pours through the cracks, shining the spots it hits. The game looks extremely good and is one of the most realistic I've seen. The environments have been totally reworked with sharper textures, a new rain system and more. On complete max this even makes Crysis raise an eyebrow in some departments.

On the more personal side, AI and animations have been reworked. Animations are now fluid and pretty seemless but still twitchy. AI can now use cover so that means pressing their backs against walls and boxes, jumping, diving. It all looks and performs great. The whole visual presentation is extremely good looking. Probably the most beautiful slide show I've seen.

This game runs terribly. 4 gigs of RAM, a quad and an 8800 struggle to run this game. Although this game looks fantastic its performance is awful leaving no choice but to cut down on these visuals in order to PLAY the game. This isn't a large issue but I'd have imagined in the process of testing this game on max they'd actually make it playable or notice the terrible FPS on their own machines. Eh.

Summary: The game looks good. Real good. Nights are finally dark! Too bad it runs like crap but I have confidence patches and the modding community will fix that problem. 9/10

Sound: Upon firing up the game I was severely disappointed to hear the same exact ambient noises and music as the first game. But it still works. Ambient, chilling violins screech and moan and at night you'll hear dogs bark or other more sinister things roar. It all works really well in delivering the atmosphere. But paired with nice sunshine and a cleaner look, skipping through a meadow to hear a blood thirsty creature roar is really odd and I do *not* like it

Most of the flack has gone towards the English voice acting. Some of them have extremely exaggerated accents but most of the time the actors sound fine. Its all heavy handed and not too realistic which can turn some people off but I didn't expect this to be expertly narrated. People expected too much from this game. I'm willing to forgive silly accents...

But not crap gun sounds. The crack of the AK or the slam of the shotgun are gone. They reused most of the old sounds and now pretty much every pistol sounds the same. Too much treble, too crackly. The guns in mods for SoC were pretty intimidating and so were the un-modded sounds for Shadows of Chernobyl's AK's and shotguns. To their credit the new creature sounds are damn terrifying. I literally jumped when a bloodsucker decided I was dinner and roared at me. Same with the wild shrills of Snorks or dog barks.

Summary: Same music, rehashed gun sounds, new mutant sounds. Not a very good sound scape. 5/10

Story: You play as Scar. You escort a couple scientists to somewhere and you get hit with an emission. (That is, an "explosion" of radiation) They turn into particles and you survive. You find out the violent emission was caused by people reaching the center of the Zone. You are then tasked to find and stop or kill Strelok and team. That's the basic plot outline, I won't spoil any more. Here are my main problems with this story:

A: One ending. The original game had around 6 endings. Only two were "real" in that they provided closure. The other four were ironic, twisted endings that gave you a tongue in cheek feeling and also a sense of dread/doom. They really suited the game. Now all you get is one ending, and that one ending absolutely sucks.

B: Scar isn't interesting, nor is strelok. One greedy jerk gets to the center of the zone and another tool gets sent after him. Insert drama.

Also one of my biggest problems with the game is that the entire "Info" section of your PDA is gone. No folklore, no backstory, no mutant descriptions. The Zone itself is the best part of the story. And reading pages and pages about Garbage or the NPP or mutants was fascinating as hell. Where did that all go? The Zone is the main character and they decided not to give it a script this time.

Summary: Lousy plot, the Zone's backstory took a lunch break. 4/10

Game Play: The changelog of improvements for this game is massive. Lets start from the top.

AI: The AI completely got reworked. The AI now uses cover, blind fires, uses grenades, has an ammo supply, uses medical kits, flanks and surprises and ambushes. The AI is vicious in firefights and is out to kill you just as much as you want them dead. No longer do they stand there waiting to die. They now fight for their lives. They also capture territory on their own in the faction war system, and most of them supply quests and stash info for a price. A soldier with a sniper rifle will stick to cover, a shotgun user will get up close, a rifleman will use cover and blind fire. The AI is so varied and intelligent. Some of the best I've seen... when its not spawning in fires or shooting through trees.

Faction War: You can now join most of the factions and fight for territory. This means literal points on the map. There is a HUD that shows the amount of enemies/allies and whatnot. The system works quite well, with rigorious fighting later on. You can easily get lost in trying to secure an area instead of doing the main quest. More territory owned means better items at your factions trader too, and better pricers.

Quest system: Every Stalker squad leader can give quests, same with traders/faction leaders and mechanics. There will always be a spot to take, always be an item to retreive. When you finish a quest you have to report to the faction's trader to get your money. This "paycheck" system works very very well. Also, no time limit on most quests.

New Mutant AI: If you stand on a box you are no longer invulnerable to boars, dogs and fleshes. All three will jump or maim your legs. They think on their feet and eat with their mouths, so to speak. The mutants are very intelligent. A pack of dogs now functions as a squad, not individuals.

Fast travel system: For a price, you can go to a guide and he will safely escort you to another guide. This is pricy most of the time so long distance travels are highly uneconomical, but short distance travels are convenient for getting your paycheck or finding a stash. This also negates the need for cars, ever.

Upgrade System: You can outfit your guns and armor with any upgrade you want. More accurate, more deadly, lighter--You name it, its here. You can add your own touch to your equipment to play how you want to.

Artifact system: Artifacts are no invisible, and hidden in anomoly mazes. You need a good Artifact Scanner, a good bolt arm and a lot of quick saves to find one and backtrack out of the anomaly. This makes it more realistic as to why so many people are after these rare gems. In SoC they were everywhere like candy, and I always wondered why people acted like they were so rare. Now they are.

This game is extremely hard. A simulator lover or survival horror fan will be in heaven here. Its a richer, fuller but less scary experience than the original. Its also unbelievably hard and the AI is beyond brutal even at easier difficulties. People who want clean, trimmed and gold plated games will be disappointed by the performance and crash problems. People who oversee these flaws will see a rich game with brutal firefights, lots of quests and lots of fun and intrigue. The lack of alternate endings or really varied factions cut replay value in half.

Summary: The game is improved, alot. There is a lot more to do, a lot more people to kill, and with the entire Zone overhauled with new bases and outposts and skirmishes it feels even more alive. The faction war is the icing on the cake, delivering a reason to fight and loot. Weapons are disappointing, AI is almost too good.

And in essence, this is the more energetic of the two games. You'll be shooting alot, you'll always find people to get quests from or to kill. Around the bend a camp is under attack. Up the road a building is being sieged. If you are a shooter fan, and want constant action with realism akin to Red Orchestra this is the game for you. If you want to walk for miles in a dreary and doom filled world than Shadows of Chernobyl is for you. That game is harder, scarier, and has an infinitely better mod community. 7/10

Replay: There is a ton to do, from capturing outposts to mutant hunting to looking for stashes. Or you can sit around a fire and enjoy the atmosphere.. at night only. Most of the original horror and fear returns at night, but day time is no longer bitter sweet. The skies are too clear for this one.

Pros:
+Graphics are amazing
+AI has been improved dramatically and I didn't think it was possible over SHOC's
+Gameplay Additions en masse

Cons:
-Bugs, crashes, performance
-Story is lacking
-Lack of Zone backstory
-No new mutants and no new guns mods didn't add for the predecessor
-Sound is weak, crackly and unintimidating



Misc:

(Minor update)-Updated July 23rd, 2009 to fix spelling errors. Game Play, Sound, and Story sections have been added to slightly.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/08, Updated 07/24/09

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