S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (First Impressions)

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I don't feel happy to write a full review yet, but I'll try to clear stuff up a little.

What Stalker

IS:
A solid semi-linear FPS (it's totally up to you what you do or don't do, but you start in one place and end in another)
Difficult - more difficult than HL2 for a start, but gets easier.
Buggy in places (the amount of bugs people get seems to be fairly random)
Atmospheric, Creepy and outright fucking scary in places.
Fairly long, not sure if it's the 30-80 hours suggested, but it's not a game you can complete in 2 sittings
Looking Very Moddable

ISN'T:
Oblivion with Guns (That is to say it's not a totally non-linear free-roaming RPG)
Going to live up to the hype (Especially if you last read about the game in 2004)
Massively replayable (Though I rarely replay games)

Graphics: Generally quite pretty, kinda dated in places, but get the job done and really add to the feel of the game

Sound: Again, mostly good, adds to the atmosphere, doesn't use stock audio for weapons which helps a lot

Story: Probably the only real let down in this game, the story isn't written or told well

Verdict: Stalker is a good game, it's not perfect by any means, but it's far better than most of the recent FPS offerings such as prey.

Rating: (7/10)

[Chickenz]

I don't feel happy to write a full review yet, but I'll try to clear stuff up a little.

What Stalker

IS:
A solid semi-linear FPS (it's totally up to you what you do or don't do, but you start in one place and end in another)
Difficult - more difficult than HL2 for a start, but gets easier.
Buggy in places (the amount of bugs people get seems to be fairly random)
Atmospheric, Creepy and outright fucking scary in places.
Fairly long, not sure if it's the 30-80 hours suggested, but it's not a game you can complete in 2 sittings
Looking Very Moddable

ISN'T:
Oblivion with Guns (That is to say it's not a totally non-linear free-roaming RPG)
Going to live up to the hype (Especially if you last read about the game in 2004)
Massively replayable (Though I rarely replay games)

Graphics: Generally quite pretty, kinda dated in places, but get the job done and really add to the feel of the game

Sound: Again, mostly good, adds to the atmosphere, doesn't use stock audio for weapons which helps a lot

Story: Probably the only real let down in this game, the story isn't written or told well

Verdict: Stalker is a good game, it's not perfect by any means, but it's far better than most of the recent FPS offerings such as prey.

Rating: (7/10)

Personal opinions:

Was stupidly piss easy to be honest, I played it through on the one above stalker mode and and had next to no problems (last quarter of the game was solid I admit).

Atmospheric at a few rare times, it did give me the heeby jeebys at a few points. Only involving Mr Tentacle Faces in the dark before I worked out there was night vision though.

Stupidly short game considering the time taken to get it out. If xfire had it supported I guesstimate that by the time I eventually bothered with the red forest I would have only had 12 hours gameplay. Thats including a shit load of side quests and a good few hours hunting bandits for the shits a and giggles.

Buggy as hell at times, had a few random crashes and some graphical borking at times. Missions at times are fucking horrendous as an example I was told to kill dogs, but there fucking weren't any when I got there

The weapons are totally unbalanced, there all shit up to the G36. Ak's pack no punch, SA80 with susat is inaccurate as fuck even at 100metres, pistols are underpowered and crap (Deagle included), sawn off is thankfully accurate but it pisses me off how its referred to as a rifle.

Not nearly as non linear as it's made out to be, certainly not up to Oblivions standards. Hell its not even halfway to being as good as that.

Summary

Bad Points:

Piss Easy, even when on HARD mode.
Shit weapon balancing.
Borked Missions.
Atmospheric at a few rare times.
Graphics aren't as good as I'd hoped they would be.
Non linear is a bit of a joke.

Good Points:

Really spooky at times.
NPC AI is fucking incredible.
Russia with guns!!!!
They fucking released it

Conclusion

To be perfectly honest after completing this on a quick rig im pretty disappointed. Was overly hyped up and id love to kick the shit out of the SP beta testers who said ok to releasing it. Could have done with uprated visuals, more time translating the story, fixing mission problems and some more time spent balancing the progress of the story and guns available.


:starempty::starempty::starempty::starempty::starempty: 4/10

[deject]

note to self: ignore chicken's opinions on everything.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

note to self: ignore chicken's opinions on everything.

That


*Remembers the whole GRAW review thing*

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

Can we stop the following please gentlemen :

[Roman Totale]

Can we stop the following please gentlemen :

Fix'd

[Dog Pants]

Actually, looking past Chicken's ranty style of writing and he makes some pretty valid points from what I've seen. I agree that the weapons I've used so far feel underpowered and that the graphics are nothing spectacular. Other people have said that it's more linear than they said it would be, and that some of the missions are broke. The only difference is that Chicken found these points a bigger drawback than others did. Although I find it hard to believe you found it really easy Chicken - I've seen how shit you are at BEEF

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I agree that the weapons I've used so far feel underpowered

That there is called missing (there's also a double damage mod available if you really want more powar!!!!1)

Remember a lot of the people you're shooting are wearing body armour, and you're probably still on soft point bullets. Pop one into their skull and they'll drop immediately, even from a pistol round.

[Dog Pants]

Pop one into their skull and they'll drop immediately, even from a pistol round.

This I've noticed, but I'm a rubbish shot. Didn't know about the body armour, and you're right - I am only on the first couple of pistols, although I didn't realise I was on soft point.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Y changes ammo type, you might have someone more useful

[deject]

Yeah I think a big part of it is that people want to play it like it's beef or CS:S. Some might have been spoiled by say F.E.A.R. and the way it handles stuff. The ballistics are a lot more interesting in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. if you ask me. You have to adjust for movement and bullet drop and constantly adjust your aim. I quite like it. The guns seem plenty powerful to me. Basically if they aren't dying you aren't hitting their face.

Also, if you know for a fact that you've put a few rounds into a guy (i.e.: you saw the little puffs of blood from the shot), wait for him to collapse from bleeding. A lot of guys will drop after a few seconds of scrambling and shooting and then when it's safe you can run up and knife them.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Also, if you know for a fact that you've put a few rounds into a guy (i.e.: you saw the little puffs of blood from the shot), wait for him to collapse from bleeding. A lot of guys will drop after a few seconds of scrambling and shooting and then when it's safe you can run up and knife them.

That - the npcs all skipped their first aid courses, they're unable to use bandages or FAKs

[deject]

if you're seeing the dust puffs hitting the ground behind your enemy, surprise surprise, you're not hitting him. a hit will generate the little cloud of blood and there won't be any dust. you'll usually hear the enemy react with a grunt or something when they've been hit. if you're not getting either of those get closer and try again.

[Dog Pants]

I think I'm so used to being bad at online shooters that I've forgotten how to be good at SP ones - I always used to go for headshots until I played online, when I didn't have time to aim any more. I also found the other day while on a museum's Halifax bomber gunner simulator that I was firing in bursts even though there was Rambo ammo. And I still got 124 hits, as opposed to my (also gaming) mate's 29

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

Berk, stop fucking about with the thread title, it's not big or clever, and you're annoying the fuck out of me

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Berk, stop fucking about with the thread title, it's not big or clever, and you're annoying the fuck out of me

and you're really annoying the piss out of me.

you can have the -PC or the windows icon.

i'd rather the windows icon as the -PC makes the thraed title look like shit.

[friznit]

I think STALKER rocks. The very first mission was quite tricky but once I got used to the way the AI misbehaves and got some bigger guns it got a whole lot easier. Weapons are more in line with say, ArmA than FEAR so IMO much more balanced although I'd like to have seen more body area effects such as disabling leg and arm shots rather than just 'head and everything else'. It may not been a truly non-linear plot, but there's enough of a feeling that I can do my own thing and not being forced down a set path by the designer that keep me interested. And the AI really isn't supposed to be that good. They scare the shit out of me sometimes.

[FatherJack]

Yeah I think a big part of it is that people want to play it like it's beef or CS:S. Some might have been spoiled by say F.E.A.R. and the way it handles stuff. The ballistics are a lot more interesting in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. if you ask me. You have to adjust for movement and bullet drop and constantly adjust your aim. I quite like it. The guns seem plenty powerful to me. Basically if they aren't dying you aren't hitting their face.

Agreed, although I think it's my CS:S pistol-headshotting playstyle that's helping me.

I can't hit shit when zoomed, and seem to instinctively go for the belly with the shotgun, but about 50/50 on heashots with the pistol from the hip, using it like the trusty deagle and making each bullet count. Old habits and all that.

Got the vertexed rain glitch even with the patch, and since it takes so damn long to load the map first time, have left it for tonight. The HUD seemed to go away at one point, but once I got into a firefight I was distracted and it came back at some time.

[Joose]

Ive got to say, im less than enthralled by the game. The first few attempts I died horribly, and came to the conclusion that it was rock hard. Then...well, I dont know quite what happened, but something clicked and I could do it. It suddenly became piss easy. Im not finding the storyline in the least bit compelling, im finding the combat a bit....well...dull, really. The graphics are reasonable, but nothing to piss myself over. The whole thing about emergent behaviour, or whatever they are claiming it to be, seems to me more like a bunch of scripted events with some randomly wandering bad guys mixed in. Im sure theres more depth to it than im seeing, but im not feeling any reason to look for it. The inventory system seems a little underdeveloped, but not so badly as the characters (ive seen paper with greater depth). The bad guys AI seems to compare with that of 10 year old games (ooh, im being shot at. Ill shout and bibble about a bit.)

Its not that its utterly terrible, its just that it seems average at best. Which, when coupled with the amount of hype the thing got (and, to a degree, is still getting) makes me feel quite solidly "meh" about the whole thing.

[Jediwannabe]

Ive got to say, im less than enthralled by the game. The first few attempts I died horribly, and came to the conclusion that it was rock hard. Then...well, I dont know quite what happened, but something clicked and I could do it. It suddenly became piss easy. Im not finding the storyline in the least bit compelling, im finding the combat a bit....well...dull, really. The graphics are reasonable, but nothing to piss myself over. The whole thing about emergent behaviour, or whatever they are claiming it to be, seems to me more like a bunch of scripted events with some randomly wandering bad guys mixed in. Im sure theres more depth to it than im seeing, but im not feeling any reason to look for it. The inventory system seems a little underdeveloped, but not so badly as the characters (ive seen paper with greater depth). The bad guys AI seems to compare with that of 10 year old games (ooh, im being shot at. Ill shout and bibble about a bit.)

Its not that its utterly terrible, its just that it seems average at best. Which, when coupled with the amount of hype the thing got (and, to a degree, is still getting) makes me feel quite solidly "meh" about the whole thing.

This ^^