STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl: First Impressions

I have been really keen to wander around this world since some of the earlier previews started to surface, what - 5 years ago? First impressions are that the product lives up to much of the promise.

Environment -
The environment is big, looks great and is very much a part of the story. The richness isn't just in graphics (which is lucky, as my hardware is lagging) - constant overcast, wind & rain, lightning, howls of distant animals, weapon sounds. The world is beautifully designed, and impressive in overloaded detail; buildings aren't pro-forma templates dropped next to each other and even structures that are irrelevant to gameplay and don't even have a stash of goodies are loving built and rendered.

Before playing, I was impressed by the comparison shots of ingame with those from Chernobyl and Pripyat themselves. Iconic elements like the mural wall on the cultural centre are just about spot on. There is also something chilling about the abandoned but lived-in feel - unlike many FPS games tracking through industrial/military compounds, walking past the abandoned/overgrown ferris wheel in Pripyat feels like people used to enjoy living there.

The rest of the population helps make it too - there isn't a sense of speed with soldiers running at you; everyone walks around doing their own thing as though they just live there. The fact that they walk slowly with heads down looks like they are resigned to being in the environment; again adding to the oppressive feel. Amongst the camps, little groups huddled around a campfire or playing an instrument add some real character (even if there are only 3-4 tunes in their mix).

While it does feel open ended - there are limits to the maps to hit rather quickly and many of the side missions are similar (kill, find, protect - although what else can you expect to do in an FPS?).

Gameplay -
3 quick mentions on gameplay; combat, inventory and the random creeps.

Combat feels refreshingly rough - weapons are not precise, they jam, they deteriorate. As they degrade, accuracy drops and jamming happens more. As a result, I kept finding myself having to run up to soldiers and firing off half a clip at close range, hoping that the rifle wouldn't jam. Use of weapons is also based on what you can pick up readily, so I ended up putting away a couple of favourite weapons simply because ammo wasn't around. While there is no XP system for making your character more powerful, the precision and power of weapons progresses (along with armour) so that earlier sections of the game are a breeze when returning.

This kind of leads onto inventory - this actually becomes a bigger part of the game than expected, as the weight carried first slows and then stops your character from moving. I eventually started stockpiling ammo in different crates around the map and gradually ferrying heavier stuff closer towards the reactor at the heart of the zone. The other element is the 'artifact' set found in the zone that add to your character and are basically the only things to change your attributes. As basically all of these have a negative side effect (+ rad resistance, - endurance), picking a useful mix of artifacts to use adds to the RPG feel.

I need to admit that FEAR had me creeped when I first played it, but on a second run through I knew exactly where trigger points were, etc. In Stalker, that doesn't really apply - the mutant that found me entering building A was wandering somewhere around the back of building B the next time. The first time a bloodsucker emerged out of the darkness and took a slash at me I felt ice down my back. I think part of this is that a lot of the environment is quiet - you get used to wandering into 50 empty buildings or rooms and the 49th has the mutant that can kill you in 3 swipes.

Plot -
Without describing too much, the plot is addictive - you know there is going to be some kind of big showdown at the reactor itself, you know that there is some hidden past to the player character, you know that there are several agendas for the groups within the zone. All of these kind of drive wanting to play through more, and gather as much info and gear from as many places as possible before hitting the heart of the zone. I think anyone that found Fallout intriguing on plotlines would be engaged with Stalker on the same elements - do as much as possible on the journey towards the final showdown so that you are best prepared to handle it.

Graphics -
Ok, so in giving in and buying the game on my (somewhat) older PC and graphics was not ideal. 3000+ processor and a mere 3/4 of a gig of ram with a 2 year old 6600GT (yes, AGP - woohoo). The thing is a solid (ie, HUGE) resource consumer for higher end graphics. On my system it is generally quite playable at low end settings, but obviously a lot of the immersion is lost in the process.

The fact that the core world runs ok on a pc made from bits ranging from 2-4 years old is good - while it will likely pale against the next-gen visuals of Crysis later this year, I will definitely be playing back through on a newer system to check out the environment with an 8800 and the bells and whistles.

Bugs -
When I first opened the game, the entire sky looked like the void seen via no-clipping in a half-life or doom environment. Turns out this was just me having not updated graphics drivers (dikhed). In game, there are occasional issues with NPCs getting stuck on corners/walls or guns/legs poking through closed doors - which immediately take away from the immersive feel.

After maybe 10-12 hours of gameplay, it has crashed to desktop twice, but to be fair I was in a particularly large environment with a heap of stuff in motion and did something like throw 3 grenades into a group of soldiers.

Overall -
Big thumbs up. There is some polish lacking, and the open sandbox promise isn't fully realised as you come to find the limits of the maps and limits of the quests. However, the plot is compelling, the environment alive (yet feels deserted) and the atmosphere constantly tense and oppressive.