I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time, some 3 years in total. Last year it was announced twice for released and delayed twice. The developers over the last 3 years also shared a lot of information about the game and it’s contents but unfortunately like most information shared has turned out to be changed in the final release.

This is a FPS/RPG gamer although the focus is primarily on the FPS side of things. The only real RPG elements are the inventory system and the types of quests. Normally in most games your main opposition is men with guns or creatures trying to make you in to a mid day snack, but in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. one of the main problems for players is the landscape. This game is set as if there has been a second nuclear blast in Chernobyl and as a result artefacts and creatures have started to take over the ever-expanding area.

The radiation is all over “The Zone” as it’s referred to in the game, some areas are safe to walk though and some areas are so saturated that spending more than a few second there will kill the player and leave them poisoned. Players have to get Bio hazard suits to run around in, only these suit have to be bullet proof too as there are some 1000 other stalkers in the zone, and not all are willing to just trade items.

There are factions within the game but you can choose not to join any of them. Freedom are the stalkers out for money from the items in the zone, Duty are the people trying to protect the world from “The Zone” and research in to the items that “The Zone” creates. Lastly there is the Military you can’t join them, as they are out to clean up “The Zone” and will kill any stalkers they come across, be it Freedom, Duty or just a Lone Stalker.

Graphically the game is very nice, but it isn’t by any means something new, it has retained the same look as the preview screenshots had a few years back which means it tends to look dated at times when compared to newer titles.

The original plan behind this game was to be free roaming, much like Oblivion where there are no levels just one open world, but unfortunately this was changed in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and now the whole map is cut up in to levels, loading times and all. This also means that vehicles were removed, as without an open land it wouldn’t have worked too well.

The levels are pretty well planned out and quite detailed. There are all sorts of ruins and rubble scattered around the landscape giving the game a great atmosphere with fog and other weather effects like storms.

The one place that they have got right is the sound effects, this completely makes the atmosphere of the game, so many people put too much stock in graphics but with a decent sound set up, it makes all the difference. Hearing a howl on the wind or the growl in the bushes or just some radio chatter over the clicking of your Geiger counter.

The game gives you an eerie feel, be it in a basement or even when you are outside and should be feeling safer, but creatures have a way of sneaking up on you and only their sounds will give you a clue where they are before they attack.

The main story is quite good but seems very short really but does offer 6 different endings. Unfortunately the game does force you to follow the main quests rather than just allowing you to run off and explore.

The game had so much potential a few years ago but now it just seems like they haven’t really been working on it that hard in all that time and ended up with something that is just another FPS game rather than the best seller it should have been this year.

It’s worth playing through as PC games these days are picked up for under £20 most of the time but if you have followed it’s development it might be a bit of a let down.