posted this under the witcher thread but am interested in what ppl think of the game so will repost- here goes:

great game- if u can look past the slightly dodgy russian translations (makes it more authentic anyway) and the sometimes quite 'chunky' graphical style then its utterly absorbing. It was a bit of a departure from GSCs origional vision of a massive non-linear world with no level loads- but the sections that do load are enormous and the game itself is dauntingly huge. The modelling of delapidated buildings, bridges, abondoned cars is great and textures have been lifted directly from the dev teams reasearch trip to the real exclusion zone. Some of the areas are actually spot on in their re-creation of real landmarks- the town of pripyat and the reactor nearby especially are incredibly faithful to real-life (there are photos on the bonus disc)

What is most compelling to me though is the free-form nature and the fact that u dont enter the world as a 'god-like' being who can frag anything in his path- you are vunerable. You have little equipment (to begin with) and you have to take into account things like eating and bandaging yourself when you're bleeding- thats right, you bleed! An RPG-esque inventory stores what u need and juggling weapons and ammo has never been more important in a game (and weapons there are many, probably about 10 different assualt rifles, 4 or 5 pistols, several sniper rifles and shotguns- all of which can become jammed or break depending on their reliability and condition and all of which are varied).

It really is a game to love or to hate- many find it too hard to start, but often when u die something can be approached from a different angle the next time round. Indeed it may well be a totally different situation on a re-play as the AI is so reactive and dependant on factors like the weather, the need for creatures and characters to eat and sleep and the ongoing war between stalkers and mutants and various factions. In fact I spent a good 20 mins the other day looking for a guy who'd asked me to procure something for him at the spot I'd met him, until I realised it was night-time and raining and he was asleep taking shelter in a nearby barn. Another person I was entrusted to protect was dead when i found him one time, and the next was alive and well and had finished off a pack of mutants before I got to him! Storms and thunder even give u realistic cover when approaching enemies and many times ive watched a pack of hungry dogs move in on a kill ive made to satisfy their digital hunger! (a shot in the air with the shotgun will often scare a small pack of these mutts off!)

All in all deserving of far more than the 87% or so that PCG gave it a while back.. id say more like 90%.. maybe more with a patch or two!

See http://www.tweakguides.com/STALKER_1.html and http://stalker.filefront.com/ for some good stuff. Be careful not to over-mod it though as some of the mods are pretty game breaking. Aim for a balance by playing the game un-modded first and see what you think would improve it.

Latest patch here btw: http://stalker.filefront.com/news/STALK ... ased;36048

This is probably the best graphics mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R out there. It enables much better graphics/lighting etc for both high AND low spec machines

Floating Point Software clicky

Biggest draw for me is the atmosphere. Sound plays a big part. The RPG leanings are good too. Inventory, trading, day/night cycle. It's almost Oblivion with guns heheh.

chrono you sound like a Stalker vet! -Can i asked if you finished the game cos I sure as hell havent yet!

Nope. Still play it now. BTW a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. MMO is now apparantly being considered by the dev team although currently they are working on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. prequel "Clear Sky"