I like big guns and I cannot lie. Most of the games I play are fast, deadly and unforgiving. I have grown up with these games, in my youth I skipped games that didn’t meet that criteria. Games that made me think and micromanage were unwelcome. In that thought process I feel I overlooked too many games so I have started playing them again, while some were a waste of time others were simply amazing once I opened my eyes to what they had done and what they had tried to do. Let’s see on which side S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl falls.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, is one of the last games for a generation. A generation that saw a games as a base to show off their own work. These works were graphical improvements and animations from artists, bug fixes and new systems from coders along with new stories and overhauls from creative teams. To celebrate this generation I’m going to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl with the Complete 2009 mod.

Story:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl takes place in Ukraine in an area called the Zone which is a 30 KM area around the Chernobyl power plant. This area though cordoned off by the army has been filled by people called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s who are treasure hunters out to make their fortunes by finding artifacts created by the radiation and the exposure of radiation to animals, people and even the environment. They have their hopes, dreams and beliefs while being in a world that wants them dead.

In order to improve their chances, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s have formed groups, some who want to control the Zone, others who want to open the Zone to everyone who cares, scientific groups who just want to study it and finally bandits who want to make their fortune and don’t mind killing to get it. These are the people of our world when you drag them down to their beliefs and ideology. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl does one hell of a job explaining how different people with different views think and behave.
In the middle of all this, a man thought for dead wakes up with no memory of who he is and what he was doing. All he has is a message on his PDA: Kill Strelok.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl doesn’t throw a thousand cinematics at you, it tells the story via interactions with NPCs and notes you find in the world. While it does have around 3 to 4 cinematics they are just a few seconds each. The more you explore and talk to characters in the world the more you understand about what is going on, what has gone down along with the thoughts and views of the characters you meet. It’s something else.

Sound:

The world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is dark, you don’t need to start the game to know that, the background music at the main menu tells you that. It’s a dark and haunting orchestral tone which sets the mood for the game. In game there is rarely music but when there is it is nice but rarely combat music, even the music wants you to know that you are not special.

People aren’t happy to talk in this game, they all seem kind of lost and while they don’t mind sharing information they seem to feel that it could be the last thing that they do. It’s all very neutral sounding voices but while it would be bad in other games here it is the right way to sound. The main thing with the voice acting is that only greetings, enemy yells in Russian and a few story dialogues are done, the rest is all relayed to you via text.

The world has more dialogue than most games do including this one. The sound of rain, wind and most importantly the radioactive anomalies are all unique and all fit the mood. The sound of a freak fire and a freak electrical site are vastly different to each other and both are very different to the sound of standard anomalies which just go bang. Even the mutants that fill up the land be they humanoid, dogs, birds or even zombies have sounds that will point out what is near you which helps you think without even seeing what is near you.

The guns are another strong suit in the sound, while not very realistic they all have key sounds that let you guess what is being fired nearby. The most exceptional of this is the shotgun which sounds like pure rage. Most weapons in a class sound the same but with different pitches but it works. The sound of trying to fire them while jammed though is a little funny as it is just a click noise.

Graphics:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R’s world is grim, it’s always cloudy with a chance of rain. The graphics aren’t anything to write home about on first impression but they do make the world feel grim. They are lightly colored but they are not brown. They have colors in them which is a nice change. The trees are green, there is some grass growing, the buildings while grey, have occasional pieces of other colors to show the wear and tear that they have experienced since they were abandon.

Night is pitch black with the only thing visible being torches and light sources. On first look it seemed that these were static lights but they do move according to the changes in their source. At night one of the best things is the night vision goggles which let you see clearly albeit in black and white while every enemy who has a flashlight is given away from the white beams of their torches.

The rain while not pretty really sets the mood, it feels grim. After the rains when the sun shines again, small stuff like the concrete pathways have a very minor shine to them like they are born again. The clouds as well as the sun in the start of the days really show off the range in graphics that very few other games have. The sun rises slowly and looks detailed at each stage.

Characters are not swarms of the same type. While looking a bit similar from far away you can tell the differences between them when you come up close. Each faction has a unique outfit and colours on them, this is more obvious with the scientific team who wear hazmat suits which could be bright orange or green. Even the mutants are clearly different with some of the dog like mutants looking like they have been in a fight too many. Some mutants are just plain creepy looking with their big, flat faces while some remind me of the head crab zombies from half-life.

Gameplay:

Let’s be honest: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. doesn’t give a flying fuck. It’s not going to hold your hand, it’s not going to guide you, it’s not going to aim for you. It says here is a gun, here is a world, figure shit out. You don’t get a tutorial. Like all older games your only guide is the control page, it tells you what key does what and expects you to figure it out from there. You figure things out as they happen. The gameplay is never unfair but not something that most would survive either.

The first thing that this games teaches new players is that you are not a hero, you are a man. You do not have any advantage over others. As a matter of fact in the starting of the game you can run in the opposite direction from what the arrow is telling you, get filled of holes by the army who are much better armed, reload your last save and accept that this is one game where the odds aren’t in your favor.

Your character has horrid aim so you can’t replace your sniper rifle with a pistol. He gets tired if he runs and jumps too much, he will even stop moving if he is too tired. He can’t carry too much so will refuse to move if you treat him like a mule. He needs to wrap his wounds in bandages before he bleeds out, he needs to treat his wounds when hurt, he moves slowly when crouched. You get the idea, he is human.

The humans in this game except for the bandits and military are not your enemies by default. You make your enemies by taking jobs for opposing factions and killing faction members. The game gives you the choice to be the good guy or the rogue. It’s your choice if you want to talk and help other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s or shoot them dead to get their equipment. I had a problem here when the game glitched after I saved forcing a full faction to come after me while I was talking to them. I made an enemy I didn’t want but the other faction became my best friend so I guess that worked. An interesting point here is that if you clean out a strong hold it gets repopulated either by the faction you wiped out or other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s just looking for shelter.

The world is your worst enemy here and since it is an open world it has tons of surprises for you. In most games the enemy is the guy shooting you, here you might get hit by radioactive anomalies, get burnt by wildfire, get radiation poisoning or get eaten by wild dogs. Adding to confusion are the mutants who can warp your mind and remove your ability to aim, other mutants can turn nearly invisible and throw furniture at you and there are even zombies who are standard enemies turned to slower versions of their former selves but still know how to shoot.

The guns can either be found or bought. At the start you don’t have much money so you are dependent on finding weapons. The early weapons are really weak and have a lot of wear and tear from the previous owner whose body you are probably standing over. To add to confusion ammo doesn’t come along easily for a while so you spend most of your time scavenging which is what the S in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. stands for. Later in the game you get better weapons, there is a weapon for every situation but since they all add to your weight you chose all round weapons like assault rifles and add a scope to them. There are even different types of ammo like anti-personnel rounds along with different firing modes on some weapons which really adds to the strategy you take; do you go in guns blazing or pick them off from afar and go in for clean-up.

There are different types of armor to find in the world, each of them is different to the other. Some take bullets better than others, some protect you from radiation, fire, electricity etc. more than others. Some have add on systems like auto healing and night vision goggles so you need to study your suits before using them.

There is one final equipment type which are the artifacts. They improve some of your stats while weakening others. There are very few that are just positive. You can equip up to 5 of them at a time. The problem is that they have high monetary value so you might consider selling them for that new rifle that you are staring at.

All the equipment you find irrespective of if you get it off someone or find it hidden by another S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are in different conditions so you have to decide to use them and throw away the old versions or to discard something else so you can carry the new ones till you can get them repaired. Thankfully consumables like medical kits, bandages and the anti-radiation stuff like injections and vodka don’t have conditions, if they did my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. would be dead from expired vodka by now. Everything has weight though including your ammo so you might not be able to put on that fancy suit you found because you are carrying too much ammo around.

The missions are provided by barkeeps, shopkeepers and other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s. Each mission has different objectives like clearing out an area, saving a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. who might have some info you need or going into a long abandoned lab. Side quests are usually retrieval, area clearing or assassination jobs. The assassination jobs really got to me because the victims never attacked me first like they did in most games, I usually had conversations with them before ending them. This really shows that some might give up their humanity for a pay day.

All these systems lead to some frantic gameplay which has you switching weapons while running away from overwhelming odds, going from action to stealth on a moment’s notice in a desperate attempt to even the odds all while micro managing your inventory just to have a chance in a fire fight. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the first game where when I saw something odd I didn’t go to investigate, I ran in the opposite direction.

This game does horror better than some horror games. The horrors in dark abandon laboratories like furniture just coming at you is some of the best I have seen recently. You are scared out of your mind even though you know what to shoot but chasing it down is a pure fight or flight decision. The limited lighting and the like really keep your adrenaline going especially when your character is tired so you walk slowly hoping that the ghosts don’t catch up to you.

Conclusion:

Still wondering if you should get S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl? FUCK YOU, BUY IT! This is gaming. This is not an attempt to be a movie, this game is not cinematic, it is not going to steal the controls from you and make you watch a movie. It tries to do a lot and while it doesn’t do anything exceptionally well it does everything great and that is amazing in itself since a lot of modern games can’t do one thing right. Even if this game costs triple the price of Grand Theft Auto V I would recommend it.

I would give it the perfect score but it has a few bugs like stuttering at 1080p on a graphic card a decade younger than it and an occasional crash but they are rare and far apart so let it take this score:

Final Score 9/10

I’m now going to write to every publisher on this planet to find how gaming has fallen so much.