First Impressions of STALKER Shadow of Pripyat

The first term that comes to mind is “open-ended”.  Maybe even a little TOO open ended.  But hey, some people really like that.  It’s impossible for me to not compare this game to Fallout 3 right from the start, because the two games are so very similar:  They are both set in a post-apocalyptic future, where the world is now full of the effects of severe radiation.  Both are shooters with many aspects of RPG. 

So, I find that I must try and quell a lot of these comparisons, because Fallout 3 is such a great and polished game.  STALKER is not polished.  This game feels very rough around the edges.

And surprisingly, this sort of works in its favor a bit.  A lot of people, expecially hard core RPG lovers who want to customize every facet of their experience, will relish how BARE this game is.  And by bare, I mean that you really don’t get much in terms of help, or guidance, or anything like that.  The minimap is atrocious.  The backpack looks like something out of a 1995 dungeon crawler.  The large scale map is a confusing set of gridlines and white circles.  All of this leads to one thing:  If you want to play the game, you have to figure things out for youself.  And some people will love that.  Admittedly, I sort of like it myself. 

Now, for its strengths — at least those that I’ve seen so far in just a few hours of game play: 

The best thing is the atmosphere.  Here is where I notice the most significant difference from Fallout 3.  To me, Fallout 3 is more of an adventure game.  Sure, there are some gross and disgusting creatures.  Sure, there are some places that are dark and spooky.  But it’s really nothing compared to the atmosphere created in STALKER.  Walking through a dark cave is an exercise in not peeing your pants.  Mutants jump out at you all over the place, and what adds most to their creepiness is that you hear them loud and clear before you’re able to see them.  And you don’t know which direction they’re coming from.  Also, being out in the open countryside in the middle of the night with your dinky ass flashlight is just a beatifully rendered destruction of your nerves. 

I will continue playing this game — at least until either my PS3 comes or I get Metro 2033.  There’s a hell of a lot of games demanding my attention right now. 

Oh, and here are a couple of screenshots for STALKER.  Enjoy. 


The open areas look a bit bland and empty.  I guess the emptiness is to be expected, considering this is supposed to be a nuclear wasteland.  But the trees look crappy and the colors suck.  Not nearly as impressive as indoor areas. 


I was out in the middle of the countryside, and suddenly alarms start going off.  Lights start flashing.  A big, booming voice in the distance announcing that I need to find cover…NOW.  I’m like, “WTF?”.  So I do as it instructed, and soon every square inch of the countryside is engulfed in some kind of red, fiery apocaplypse.  This is just another example of the atmosphere of the game.  I can’t explain how cool this felt — being holed up in an abandoned warehouse while the firestorm raged outside. 


Fellow STALKERS are actually scattered about in impressive numbers.  The human population is definitely a lot larger than what I was used to seeing in Fallout 3.






This thing scared the fucking hell out of me.  See the circle of light created by my flashlight?  That’s all I see.  The dark you see around it?  That’s the rest of my screen — utter and complete darkness.  Now imagine that thing jumping out of that darkness into my dinky beam of light.  Yeah.  Atmosphere.  It’s a wonderful, panties soiling thing.

 

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