The best shooter of its kind.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s development was started in early 2001. Six years later us, the gamers, finally get to play this highly anticipated Shooter.
Set in Chernobyl, the site of a large nuclear explosion and radioactive waste land, you are a STALKER. A Stalkers purpose is to collect and cash in on artifacts from Chernobyl that each have special abilities and can be worth a great deal of money. You however are more than your average Stalker. You find yourself with a PDA that gives you one main objective. This is to kill a certain man named Strelok.
While you may eventually kill this Strelok you can explore the world and do what you please. It is kind of like Oblivion the way you have free will to do what you see fit. This is a great aspect of STALKER and if you do explore you can find many odd and time worthy things, such as rare artifacts and some cool weapons.
Speaking of weapons there are lots of them. While some are just common you can amp the level of them with certain ammo types like armor piercing or if your lucky you can find upgraded guns. The upgrades on these special weapons range from higher rate of fire to more damage. In addition to special upgrades you can equip them with silencers and scopes you find along the way, which is even cooler. The depth with the gun types is rich and they even have condition meters, so you can't use the same gun throughout the whole game without it jamming constantly.
Survival is key in STALKER. This is stressed to the max and is seen throughout the hellish environment as mutant dogs fight bandits and corrupt militants demand a bribe to get past a key bridge. Again choice comes into play in these situations. You could shoot the militants in the face and meet the consequences of army helicopters or you could pay the money and be short for food or medkits. The possibilities are almost endless.
The environment is also a main part to the game. The overall feel of the setting of the post apocalyptic land is amazingly detailed. This is shown by houses still with dinner plates on them from before the blast and the many hidden stashes.
While STALKER is mainly a survival shooter it does have some fun RPG elements to it. You aren't able to build your characters skill persay but you do have an experience level that gives you better ability and control with more advanced weapons. The inventory managment will be used constantly and can determine how fast you move.
I really noticed the reality feature in STALKER. Whether it be the regional body damage or the health system that makes you patch yourself with a bandage when shot, the realness of the game is definately noticable.
As with most of the newer, better looking games STALKER suffers from long loads and high requirements but still looks great for an outdated graphics engine. The only other fault is the rare, limitless spawns of enemies (like at the Freedom Base) where you can actually see the bad guys appear out of nowhere and run to attack you.
At the end of the 20-25 hour run you will be satisfied with STALKER even if you get a "bad" ending instead of the other 6 possible endings. The main point is that if you love shooters, have a decent PC, and don't mind a good challenge then you should really check out S.T.A.L.K.E.R.