Loading ...S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, review, bugs, display problems
Stalker Review
So we were 5 years in the waiting. Was it worth the wait…..in my opinion certainly not. That said S.T.A.L.K.E.R is still a very goof FPS.
Firstly the reason we were waiting 5 years for what is a game that could have been delivered 2 years ago technology wise, is the fact that the small development team in Ukraine had to constantly update the game engine to keep up with the times and also build in some unique game features in the meantime!
As an FPS Stalker is excellent. The game features some excellent ballistic physics that move the game away from Quake + Doom in terms of holding the fire button and strafing! The weapons have varying accuracy and rates of fire, leading to a more realistic approach as you simply cannot spray approaching enemies on full auto as you will hit nothing. You mainly fire single shot or burst mode and go for upper body/head shots.
The RPG elements of Stalker are not so good. The inventory system is clunky and there is no character development/skill development….which basically means there are not many RPG elements!?! The game is free-form to a certain extent, however the transition between levels can only occur at designated points….meaning you are in fact channeled into areas to drive the plot.
The map is big, but not huge. I found the PDA map a little hard to use as the zooms either far too much or too little. Stashes of weapons and ammo show up as a triangle….but did not disappear once I had searched and looted them…..which is disappointing because I came back to the stash again and again! The setting for the game wins the day for me. The place is just wrecked (obviously!!). The post apocalyptic setting is always a winner….but is captured really well in Stalker. The underground flashlight levels are excellent.
The enemies are clever in places. They cover each other and retreat if out gunned. My only complaint would be the fact they are EVERYWHERE. You clear out an area only for them to return! This is good for gathering more loot from their bodies….but it can be a real pain if your on your way somewhere and are forced to endure a 20 minute gun battle to drive them off. I found myself running past them most of the time.
The performance on my system is excellent. Everything on full and it plays like a dream. I have heard reports of very poor performance on higher end machine….but I put this down to configuration. The engine looks good and the game plays well. I did get a display bug at night. During heavy rain and a lightening storm I was getting weird red and yellow lines all over the geometry. It looked very like an overheating problem but its not. If you Google this issue it seems some other players have had similar problems.
So to summarize: Ambitious and delivers in some areas but not all. Graphics not bad but certainly not amazing. Gun battles are excellent. Story is OK, sometimes very confusing (Russian subtitles?). Side quests can be annoying but always reveal some new equipment or weapons. Currency is irrelevant as you get all you need from bodies…….7 out of 10.
Just thought id point out a few bugs I have come across. Not show stoppers as such…..but fairly bad bugs all the same:
When in “The Warehouses” I did the mission to attack the Freedom Stalkers. I took out the sniper and then stormed the camp with Skull and the rest of his men. I killed the other sniper and finished off the leader of freedom with a well placed grenade.
Now during the mission many of Skull’s men must have got killed, and perhaps Skull himself……but once it finished it directed me back to an empty farm house to collect my reward of 4000 squid. Obviously I could not collect it and was a little confused. So I reloaded the last save inside the Freedom base….and the weirdest thing happened. A large bunch of enemies appeared in front of me and started running around pointing guns…..but they could not see me. They were still enemies as my cross-hair was red…but they did not fire. So I shot each of them in the face and went back to the farm….but this time all the Duty Stalkers were moving around as if under attack….and I could not talk to any of them???
Resolution finally came when I left the map and reloaded it. I went back to the farm and all was normal….and I got my money. Nothing like a good bug to absolutly shatter then sense of immersion. Can PC developers not make a single game right anymore?
Comment by Justin — April 10, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
hi
i got few problems with my game ! stalker … when on first mission i load or start first thing come out of bunker my game frezes and my laptop restarts!.. ?? help anyone?
if u ask wats laptops specs here it is!
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 - 1.83GHz (x2), 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache
* RAM: 1024MB DDR2-533MHz
* Hard Drive: 120GB
* Screen: 15.4″ Widescreen TFT
* Optical Drive: DVD±RW Super Multi
* Graphics: ATI Radeon X1700 supporting 512MB HyperMemory
* Wireless LAN: 802.11a/b/g - Call for advice on Wireless Networking
* Bluetooth: Bluetooth Enabled
* Warranty: 2 Year Warranty
* Operating System: Windows XP Pro
* Built-In 1.3 MegaPixel Camera
Comment by anton — April 24, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Hey anton,
Sounds like it driver related. I would try this:
Patch the game to latest version.
Get latest video/sound drivers for your machine.
Run the game on low settings and see what frame rate you are getting. You can increase it then as you see fit as long as its not crashing!
Hope this helps….
Justin
Comment by Justin — April 25, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
OK so I finished playing through STALKER….and I must say the ending I got was pure shite!!!
“I want to be Rich”……and then I get showered in gold…..which turns out to be cast iron as im only dreaming the whole thing or something!
Your not able to spend your money in the game on anything good……how the hell are you to get to the end of the game with very little cash….you get big black sacks of it for every side quest and YOU CANT spend it??!!??
Comment by Justin — April 30, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
Well I went back and played STALKER through again from just over the half way mark. I tied in vein to spend my hard earned rupees but alas there is nothing worth buying….
I did however uncover 2 more “endings”. If you follow the side quests you will eventually find a decoder to open a door within the Chernobyl sarcophagus. Once inside you find a group know as the C-Conscious. These freaks are all linked together to form a “super mind” to do something or other. Well once inside this secret lab you open up at least another 1 - 1.5 hours of gameplay! Well worth going back and exploring more if you were like me and got the crappy ending above.
Comment by Justin — May 15, 2007 @ 4:14 pm