Bad Guys, Big Guns, and Vodka!
Graphics:
- Graphically, out of the gate Stalker isn't going to win too many awards. The environment can come off being static, and some of the character models, and faces could have used improvement. I should note this has been an issue with me since the initial release of this title.
- Even though the environment can come of bland, and drab in the color department, and some of the environmental fixtures are somewhat static, hey what do you expect when most of the areas are wastelands? What sets it apart is most of the areas feel lived in, or occupied. The world around Chernobyl feels lived in, almost vibrant in an eerie sort of way.
- Environmental lighting, weather, and smoke add to the features of doom and gloom. This experience even though nice does let off feels that you don't want to be here.
- Frame rates off both of the rigs I have showed very little frame rate hiccups even when using the ATI X1950XTX @ 1400 x 900 on a dual core AMD. Now on the ATI HD3870, with an Intel Q6600 I can run this title on highest available settings, at 1680 x 1050 with zero frame rate issues.
Audio / Sound:
- The audio in this game is nicely accomplished, nice directional audio, and additional environmental audio to accentuate to the doom, and gloom as well as give life to the area.
- The voices, speech, and weapons sound nice, and I didn't feel as if they were tacked on. I could actually tell what type of weapon was being fired by sound in some cases.
Game Play:
*Single Player:
- The single player is huge, and robust. The campaign almost comes off like a current to a future Elder Scrolls: Oblivion type of play style. You have what you can carry, your body armor which can protect you from different things, your ammo, food, and bandages. All of this is based off of a weight limit. Start exceeding the limit, and you slow down. Go over it by too much, and you are immobilized.
- The story in some points can be slow, and confusing. You will find yourself running all over the place, and trying to avoid radioactive zones. Some missions can be marked on your in game PDA, but there was some issues going through that certain missions could not continue on if one of your main allies would die.
- The weapons and game play in game could turn some players away, because this title is unforgiving on the run, gun, and spray mentality. In game you must you cover, you must watch your flanks and you must use fire discipline. Not following this mentality you will not hit your opponents when needed, and you will just go through the limited amount of ammo you have, and further risk increasing damage to your weapon. All this goes into the worst case scenario, which is your avatar's untimely death.
*Multi Player:
- Multi player can be extremely fun; I have played Stalker at numerous LAN parties with friends, and have had a blast. The major issues I have are in team death match you have neon armbands. So it kind of helps you stand out like a sore thumb.
- The net code for me had a tendency to head south sometimes especially on quite a few public servers, in a LAN format I was more appeased with the performance of the game.
- The game modes offered are standard; the title offers the standard death match, Team Death match, and Artifact Hunt. All good, and the maps are in my opinion are well designed. The maps can host from large groups 32 players to as small as a two-player duel.
Additional Thoughts:
- This title really done well in my eyes, it's not an overly simplistic game; the weapons actually require a hunter-killer mentality. The storyline in my opinion pretty much forces you into making valuable choices which impact the overall survivability of your avatar.
- I can only really have two complaints with this game, and other users have voiced this same issue. First, in this game where are the females? I cannot recall seeing any. Last umm, where are the vehicles?
