An incredible game only brought down by bugs and poor multiplayer
Most of the time, games that have been in development hell and later released fail. Not in this case. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was easily on the best PC games of 2007, and is still worth a play. The storyline is very good. Without spoiling too much, I'll give the premise. You play as "Marked One". You were found in a death truck with a strange mark on your arm. You can't remember anything of your past, and set out to find answers. The game takes place in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the sight of the real-life nuclear disaster. Another disaster has happened and has caused mutants to appear. The story is driven by a journal, so you don't lose track of it. The game has multiple endings for a nice touch. The actual gameplay is great. The guns are very realistic. Bullets will bounce off walls, and your weapon will jam in the rain. The A.I. is very smart, and can kill you easily. It's hardest near the beginning, but gets easier as you gain weapons. The is somewhat set up like Oblivion as you can explore a huge world and do quests for people. The game is of good length, but sadly the multiplayer doesn't add much to the game. The multiplayer community is practically dead, and the setup copies Counter-Strike (gain money to buy weapons). Artifact mode is boring. Thankfully, more value is added by the lively mod community. The graphics are great, and show great detail to lightning and guns. There are many bugs, however. Sometimes, enemies will twitch around when their dead (it's pretty funny though). Other times, quests become glitched, and unable to be completed. The voice acting is pretty good also. Some Russian is also spoken for a nice touch. Overall, Stalker is conpelling game that will last you a long time. It's streangths outweigh it's weaknesses. I highly recommend it.
