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Full user review
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4.5 stars
"Oblivion Lost"
Pros: Game-play is excellent
Cons: bugs and crashes
Summary: sI was making my way into the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Suddenly, my visibility meter became full. I was spotted, I looked around trying to figure out the location of my enemy. It didn?t took me long to realize that I was committing a grave mistake not taking cover. And then a white beam hit me. Although I was wearing a Seva Suit, second best suit in the game, my health came down by 80% straight away. I turned around, my opponent was standing on top of a building. I equipped my sniper rifle and took aim, another big mistake. The display toggled into third person mode as my body flew some distance and landed on the muddy floor. Head Shot!! Boiling, I hit the escape menu and exited the game. I was playing Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl.
Stalker is a first person shooter/ role playing game developed by GSC Game World and published by THQ. The game was released on March 20, 2007. ESRB gives Stalker a ?mature? rating. It is launched only on PC.
The game requires a minimum of 512 MB RAM, 2 GHz processing speed and 128 MB video memory. It requires graphic cards equivalent to nVidia GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 9600. NVidia GeForce 7900 or ATI Radeon X150 are recommended for STALKER. The game runs fine on Windows 2000 (SP4), XP and Vista.
The making of Stalker was first announced in November 2001. The game was originally set to be released in the year 2003 but was interrupted several times. Also, the game was originally known as STALKER: Oblivion Lost but the name and the storyline of the game were changed as the developers lived close to Chernobyl.
Shadow of Chernobyl is based on the nuclear disaster that occurred in Chernobyl nuclear power plant on 26/4/1986. Only here, a fictional twist is introduced stating that another explosion has taken place during the clean-up of Chernobyl. The second incident taking place on 13/4/2006. The whole game runs in ?the Zone?, the fictional version of the ?Zone of Alienation? (a 30km segregation area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor).
1. Game play:
The player is Marked One. A stalker suffering from amnesia, remembers nothing of his past. He was found almost dead near the crash site of a death truck. The only thing that links him up with his past is his PDA, which contains information about killing a Stalker named Sterlok. The player has to complete missions and run errands given by fellow stalkers, gather information about Sterlok and ultimately kill him.
a. Movement: Marked One has normal movement attributes. He walks, sprints and jumps. He loses stamina while jumping or sprinting. Stamina loss depends on the amount of weight he is carrying. Also, he cannot fire his weapon while he is running.
b. Gauges: Apart from the health meter, the game consists a stamina and a visibility meter. The visibility meter comes in great use if u are using stealth in the game.
c. Guns: The player has different types of guns at his disposal. The weapons are characterised by their rate of fire, amount of damage done, accuracy and range. There are handguns, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, rocket launchers and sniper rifles in the game. Also, the weapons get damaged on over use. The weapon starts jamming if it suffers some amount of damage. The only way to undo the jam is by reloading. Guns can be taken from dead NPCs or can be bought from merchants. There are hidden weapons in the game, actually upgraded versions of the guns that u take from NPCs, they can be obtained in secret stashes marked on the map or can be received as a quest reward.
d. Weight: Marked One can carry up to 50 kg of stuff without any difficulties. Any increase in weight after the 50 kg mark will result in considerable loss of stamina. 60 kilogram is the threshold and he cannot carry any more stuff after reaching this limit. This threshold increases up to 80 kg mark if u are wearing an Exoskeleton suit.
e. Suits: The Zone consists of high level of radiation and is littered with anomalies, also there are enemies which do not make things any easier for u. Therefore, Marked One will require suits that provide protection from radiation, anomalies, bullets etc. There are 20 different suits in the game. Suits can be bought from traders, obtained as quest rewards or can found in hidden locations. List of suits found in the game:
i. Leather jacket
ii. Skinner anomaly
iii. Bandit jacket
iv. Mail jacket
v. Mercenary suit
vi. Stalker suit
vii. Ghost Suit
viii. PSZ-9D Duty Armour
ix. Berill-5m Armoured suit
x. Healing Berill
xi. SEVA suit
xii. SSP-99 Ecologist
xiii. SSP-99M suit (best suit in this game)
xiv. PSZ-9Md Universal Protection Vest
xv. Wind of Freedom
xvi. Guardian of Freedom
xvii. Monolithian suit
xviii. Exo-skeleton
xix. Military armoured suit
xx. Tourist suit
f. Anomalies and artifacts: the zone is full of anomalies and artifacts. While anomalies poses a threat to a stalker?s life, an artefact can enhance his performance such as increasing the stamina, quick healing etc. If u get trapped in an anomaly without an protection, u will die.
g. Mutants and zombies: due to the excessive exposure to radiation, some of the animals have turned into dangerous mutants. Most of them will attack u at sight. Also, there is a reference of PSI-emission in the game which converts stalkers into zombies if they are exposed to it for a longer period of time.
h. Factions: there are 8 factions in the game. Most of them are enemies and will fire at you on sight. While others have a neutral attitude towards u from the beginning and will change into friend or enemy depending upon yr actions.
i. Real time bullet physics: another notable feature of STALKER is its realistic bullet physics. Bullets bounce of walls, are affected by gravity etc. The effect of gravity can be noticed while using a sniper rifle.
2. Graphics:
The impeccable game play is backed up by excellent graphics. Guns, anomalies, artifacts are highly detailed. Use of motion blur, weather effects are impressive. The makers have taken a lot of reference from the photographs of the zone of alienation and certain areas look very similar to the photographs of the zone.
3. Difficulty:
STALKER becomes somewhat difficult in later stages of the game. Specially, when u are fighting the expert monolithians. Well, during my first run in the game, I wore an Ecologist suit to Chernobyl NPP and was practically gangb..ged by the monolith soldiers. Only god knows how I completed this game during my first run. Anyway, I will suggest that u aim under the neck of an opponent, the recoil of the gun will ultimately deliver a headshot.
4. Endings:
There are 7 different endings in the game. Six of them are fake endings, in most of them Marked One ends up in a body bag. Only one of them is a considerable and a suitable ending to this game. The fake endings depends upon the amount of money u carrying at the end, yr reputation and the condition of the faction leaders.
5. Bugs and other demerits:
well, I am not the first one to say this, the game is full of bugs. Specially, that bleeding artefact. Also, huge distances are to be covered on foot. The reputation meter sometimes acts in weird manner.
Overall, this game was worth the wait. And for first person shooter fans, this is a must play game. A good news for STALKER fans is that a prequel STALKER: CLEAR SKY is to be released in 2008.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC):
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