This game features infinite spawning, a seriously annoying feature which ruins all immersion the game would have had and actually frustrates me enough to make me quit. For example, I am in one zone called "Garbage" and I want to travel to the next adjacent zone. Unfortunately, the exit was guarded by a gang of bandits who proceeded to shoot at me on sight. OK, so I get into an exciting battle killing them off and after 15 minutes they are dead. I loot their bodies but am now overweighed so I walk away a short distance to a spot I can stash the items to sell later. Now I am excited to continue to the next zone. However as I walk that short distance back to the exit, a new bandit gang has magically appeared, and I have to start all over! After the third time doing this I ripped the game CD out and flung it as hard as I could against a concrete wall and watched in glee as it shattered into small shards.… Expand

If the developers had taken the time to properly polish this game, I would have easily bestowed it a score of 9 or 10. But this game STILL has, even with the latest patch and after so much time after its release, an annoying number of bugs and glitches. A number of side missions appear to be glitched or broken. The game stutters, crashes and causes the computer to freeze randomly, EVEN when you tone down the graphics settings to something your computer can easily handle. It also has excessively high system requirements. Weapon ballistics are mostly very realistic, though at times weird things seem to happen, like when you shoot your enemy at point blank range with a shotgun and somehow still miss. Your combat knife is a complete joke, most of the times it doesn't even seem to hit your enemy. Features that should have been included in the game are sorely missing, like there is no way to repair your weapons or armor, and your only option of travel is on foot, no vehicles, no optional fast travel (the game takes place in a pretty large map). The game features a large quantity of weirdly translated in-game dialogues; as if the translations to English were done by someone who didn't properly understand the English language. To me this is a serious flaw because it detracts from the mood of the game. And overall, the game feels like a number of exciting and innovative gaming features that have just been thrown together instead of having made sure everything works well together. This last flaw is important because Stalker isn't simply a FPS where you go about gunning down your foes, it's also about doing missions, scavenging, exploring, and surviving in an unforgiving landscape. In the end, Stalker promises to be an original and really exciting game; but it's simply dragged down by its bugs, glitches and unpolished gaming features.… Expand

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" is one of the best games ever made when it comes to atmosphere, storyline and geography. The personality of the characters in this game is amazing as well. You will never feel alone in this game. Even though the FPS part doesn't really bring something new to this kind of genre, it's amazing how it works in combination with some RPG elements. Yes, there are quite a few bugs and glitches here and there, but with one or two patches, the game is truly stunning. I have to say that when I first played the game, I fell in love with it in a few seconds.… Expand

Loved this game, played with the "Complete" mod and really enjoyed the experience. I skipped Clear Sky, but have Call of Pripyat and am awaiting the "Complete" mod for it...

A truly atmospheric game which gives you a very strange feeling while playing it. I remember the first time I played it, I hated it for the dated graphics (even though I never look at the graphics in games), for the bad so called tutorial and the (what I felt then) extremely hard gunfights. As I was going to uninstall it I got the feeling that I should give it a chance. I don't regret that choice today. While you play along you get to learn the art of killing in this game and get a very rewarding feeling when you do it. Combat is complex in this game but that is a positive thing since I'm tired of today's FPS games where you are like a tank and your weapons are so easily used that even your grandma could pull a shot at somebodies head. Other than that I can guarantee that you will fall in love with the Zone as it is truly alive with its mutants, environments and anomalies. This game combines big parts of the FPS genre with its own twists and elements of the RPG genre with its free roaming, scavenging etc. I recommend this game to everyone cause it is a remarkable and special game in it own right. Give it a shot and you won't get disappointed. Good hunting stalker!… Expand

This is hands down, the best single player game I have played. The atmosphere is fantastic and unlike any other game out there. it was in development for years and even though they didn't manage to include everything they wanted, what they did is still incredible. this is no Console shooter or port, if you want a simple run and gun don't buy it and play for 20 minutes and complain when unlike Crysis you can't kill everything in 10 seconds with your hi tech gun and invincible **** suit. First of all, don't play it without downloading the Complete mod for free first. This updates the textures, sounds, AI, fixes a load of bugs and errors and makes the game what it wanted to be. It doesn't change anything, just cleans it all up. This game isn't like other FPS because it is actually hard. You don't start off with an amazing gun and squad and intel, you have a coat and a pistol and aside from that you are on your own. The Zone is an easy place to die even without having a host of powerful mutants and heavily armed humans roaming around. This game doesn't hold your hand like Western shooters do, or load you up with amazing gear under the guise of being some Spec Ops soldier. The atmosphere is incredible, part's of it are creepy as hell and scary and not like the Doom3 teen equivalent of having a monster jump out when you press the door button or a loud bang etc. It is hard to get into because it is so unforgiving, and the first few maps and missions you are constantly trying to find a decent weapon that doesnt force you to retreat when outnumbered etc. If you want a linear shooter like HL2 or CoD with no freeplay, dialogue or exploration and lots of cutscenes then look elsewhere. There are plenty of games liek that around. if you want a slow hard atmospheric adventure then give it a try, turn out all the lights and play it till the sun comes up; call in sick and keep on playing. Very few games are ever made like this because of the time spent and expertise of a dedicated small team that a large company could never replicate. There is such a talented modding community there are literally thousands of mods you can install; including some Total Conversions that change the story completely - and are good enough to be stolen by the developers for Call of Pripyat. 10/10… Expand

This is a stunning game. I've been playing Stalker for two years and still can't find any game which would deliver a similar experience in the atmosphere. Although, these were the various mods (Russian version of the game) that enriched the game immensely, I got hooked on the original game and still can't shake off its charm.

After years of development, S.T.A.L.K.E.R comes through and delivers a first rate experience in almost every way. If not for a few minor bugs and some poorly localized text, this would have got a 9.

This game is very impressive and atmospheric. AI behaves in very intelligent way - think CoD2 where soldiers after battle sit around the fire, playing guitar, telling jokes and drinking vodka. You can talk to every stalker, ask him about rumors, try to trade or ask for a quest. Gameplay is about doing quests, roaming around the Chernobyl zone, avoiding deadly "anomalies" and radiactive area and battling with bandits, military, mutants and aggressive wildlife. Zone represent area around Chernobyl with forests, plains, city of Pripyat, nuclear plant itself, small willages, roads and soviet Ukraine cars and trains wrecks. The game is mostly FPS but RPG elements are very strong. You have an inventory and doll for different types of gear. Every weapon have it's stats and durability. Every character have a name, inventory and an opinion about you. There is a player reputation system. If you help a dying stalker with a medikit he will become your friend. If you come close to neutral stalkers with weapon drawn they will warn you and if you don't listen, they will open fire and become hostile. You can use zone artifacts to improve your stats. Inventory is limited to weight you can carry. There are many quests in game - main quest line and side quests, many of them are time-limited. Models and textures are a bit outdated but light and shadows are very impressive. System requirements are somewhat high but it's not a big problem. I'd say they are close to F.E.A.R. requirements - slightly higher though. You can also use lower graphics settings on old video cards. After two days of gameplay I experienced a few minor AI and graphics glitches and only one CTD. Game is pretty stable and it lets you use Alt+Tab with no problems. Summary - if you want to imagine what is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. looks like... it's like F.E.A.R. meets Oblivion in living world of very realistic Chernobyl area. P.S. There IS eating and anti-radiation vodka drinkin in game. If character don't eat very long it will starve to death.… Expand

As soon as they iron out all the bugs, the game will be a classic. Currently I have to exit and launch the game again to get the PDA to update the mission status. The fact that the enemies keep reappearing out of thin air is extremely annoying. This must be switched off. And, guys, since you equipped the NPC with guitars, get them a decent repertoire of Russian tourist songs (hint: Visbor is out of copyright).… Expand

At first, I didn't like this game. I saw the flaws and bugs: Not pausing the game while you loot bodies... Being over burdened while under fire... save / loading bugs. But being one who hates wasting his money, I gave it a solid shot... and this game grew on me. It's not a conventional shooter by any means. It's an adventure shooter with light rpg elements... food, weapons, ammo, armor... etc. The A.I. is very strong... Enemies will fall back when out gunned, regroup, flank, and attack. Dead bodies are persistent until a predator/scavenger devours the bodies. Enemies dont spawn in front of you, they actually walk across the environment and repopulate previously cleared areas. There are weather changes, day / night cycles, and the behavior of all adapt and take advantage of it. There are many types of environmental hazards and strange/creepy creatures. The environments themselves are massive... and extremely detailed. The more you explore and play this game, you begin to realize that the environments themselves are alive! You also realize just how much work went into it... and it shows. I still don't think it was finished when it went out the door, but it's still solid. And for a first title on a new game engine... it's amazing. This game blatantly dares to be different and has successfully enhanced the FPS genre and raised the bar dramatically. One of the most impressive FPS titles to come out in a long time.… Expand

It's a great game with with greatest gunfights ever.

Excessive respawn is addressed in patch 1.0003. Don't be.....

How can someone rate a game zero? Especially this game? This game is great! Like a combination of Halo, Morrowind, Half-life, doom, Freelancer and maybe a few more. The new patch is out that fixes many of the bugs that have been complained about so don't worry about that, it's just kind of hard to find a place to get it from but it worked out. The AI is amazing, constantly changing tactics and adapting to enviroment, but they do act like they have an IQ les than that of a jar of mayonaise, but not often.My only grip about this is that if you wan't to run this on high settings, you've got to have a beastly computer. All in all, great title that mixes different game elements to create a unique and gripping expeiriance.… Expand

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is a wonderful FPS/RPG. It has stunning graphics (MUST HAVE A BITCHIN' COMPUTER) and the soundtrack is very well composed. NPC's are very helpful, but turn bland if you ask too many questions. Other than small lag spots in certain maps, this game is amazing. Immerse yourself in this post-apocalyptic game and I promise your palms will be sweating before you can say Pripyat.… Expand

This game is amazing. I have played FPS since Wolfenstein 3d(probably about 100 fps games total) and this is the most immersive environment I have ever seen. The game is so spooky, and is so addicting. I have clocked over 100 hours on the Single Player alone. My only problems with the game are it's technical jitters, but the game should not be missed. Stop reading this, and go buy it.

I dont normally play FPS im a bit naff at them and ive never really enjoyed rampaging around but with its role playing elements, a good story and multiple endings depending on your actions this game drew me in and ive become addicted. Its tragic about the bugs, some of which have crashed my laptop but do give this a go, its worth it.

For the love of God, stop comparing this game to Oblivion and FEAR!!! FEAR sucked, it only had cheap scares, and Oblivion is only good with a couple thousand mods running at once!!! STALKER is based on real life. And it captures that feeling well. If you think that you can't handle STALKER, then maybe you should all just crawl back to your cribs where you belong. As fr me? I give it a 10 just to shove it in these babies' faces. And it deserves the 10, too.… Expand

GREAT!!!!! The only problem with me are a few bugs in the quests but this is becuse they wanted it to be almsot fully in english. If some of the characters speeches we still in russian there would be no bugs. The one phrase they left in russian is to me important. when the guy says but down ur gun its in Russian!!!! good thing I already knew waht it mean.

I am absolutely astounded by how good this game is. If it is not the stunning graphics and effects, the realistic physics, the brilliant AI, the gameplay and the vast size of the world, it's the superb atmosphere. The game runs exceptionally well on my pc, though it occasionally crashes to the desktop (hopefully, this will be addressed in a patch). I have waited almost four years for this game, and I am extremely happy that it has fulfilled all my wishes.… Expand

+ Fantastic atmosphere. + VERY good AI that flanks (even in the vertical!) and uses cover. + Very stable for me. Not one CTD yet. + Impressive graphics engine that makes the environment believable. + HUGE draw distances + Weapon accuracy/ballistics just "feels" real (bullets impact at distance with nice dispersal effect witnessed by bullet impact graphics/lighting) + Firefights, between the enemy AI and the ballastics, are just wicked fun! + Very open ended gameplay. Fun for explorers. + Non-scripted activity abounds! The world feels alive. Seriously. - Real resource hog with type lighting effects. Running on 7800GTX SLI OC'd, X2 4800+, 2gig and can maintain over 30fps in 1600x1024 with HDR *most* of the time. High object density areas can dip it into the high-teens. - Story is weak. If English is the writer's first language, he/she has the literary skills of an 8th grader. - Overall lacks "polish"; mouse wheel works poorly with map, fonts often look like place holders, need to push-and-hold to maintain "iron-sight" view. etc. etc. - Economic system seems imbalanced. Seems a bit too easy to get cash and not too much to buy.… Expand

This is a great game and a huge persistent world with realtime weather and day change. There are awesome enemies it just takes a while to progress. If you like free roaming exploration and a storyline that isn't just fed to you with a kickass atmosphere get this game. you will get lost in it. Think HL2 meets Fallout 2 meets F.E.A.R. meets Oblivion, with better graphics. better have at least a radeon X800 or Geforce 7900 GS with a decent processor though.… Expand

I'm really enjoying this game, but not for the same reasons I've been looking forward to it for the past few years. The game has a lot more in common with Deus Ex than it does with Oblivion. You do have a certain level of freedom to explore but the world is quite small overall. Its broken up into somewhat linear maps and the side quests are a lot like those found in Freelancer, standard "shoot him" or "collect that" fare. Still, the single player campaign is quite good. The human enemies are extremely smart and always surprise me with their capacity to flank, hide, and cover one another. The game's most promoted feature, the so called "A-Life", seems to be there in full effect but almost never has enough room to run around. Packs of wild dogs (among other things) move around eating things, running when outnumbered or scared, and working as a team, but only three or four of the games areas feature these elements and most can be run across in a couple of minutes. I was also disappointed to see the more innovated enemies like the bloodsuckers and psychics almost completely constricted to the main quest. You'll rarely run into any interesting enemies until you reach the last few areas. The Zone's anomalies are also hit and miss. They range from nothing more than boring, glorified minefields in the open areas to well integrated traps and visual effects in some of the interiors. Radiation has some cool implementations like radiated, burned out vehicle hulks on some maps but it is often simply used to mark the edge of someplace you can't go yet. The artifacts are interesting, though they're really nothing more than stats boosters randomly strewn across the landscape. The factional elements are also woefully underdeveloped and don't come close to what you'll find in other free-form games. In the end, you're investing in a standard FPS with a great sense of style, gripping atmosphere, and solid gameplay. Sadly, for any of us who frequented the game's original website (replaced a few months ago), this isn't quite the game we expected. No vehicles, no massive world to sink into, and practically nothing interesting to do off the beaten path of the main quest. Everything unique or outstanding gets showcased in the plot missions which can sadly be breezed through in under 20 hours.… Expand

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a fascinating game. To no other title would I devote so much of my time while the game was damn near broken. I have a fairly decent rig, but the game runs like garbage in single player, I have to play in windowed mode with the settings at low-medium and I get a terrible frame rate much of the time. Despite that fact though, I push onward because for every time I want to stop playing and wait for the inevitable patches, there is an instant in which the game completely and utterly surprises me. If you were (or maybe, like me, still are) a fan of Fallout 2 and really wish they would hurry the hell up with making Fallout 3 the sequel we all hoped for, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. should certainly make the wait easier. Hell, they could have released it a year from now after all the issues were fixed and called it Fallout 3 and I would not have complained. An amazing game.… Expand

I found this game extremely immersing. I was reminded of my Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion experience. So much to do, so many things to kill and loot. The setting is perfect for the gameplay and creates very intense situations. There are a few bugs, and some of the interface could use some polish, so I cannot grant a perfect score. If you are interested in a Fallout styled Oblivion experience, this is the game for you.… Expand

It ends so suddenly, nice weapons, nice sounds, a good game.

Has a learning curve of sorts, you really need to figure out how best to survive in your environment. That being said, the game designers said that's what they wanted. I think this game is fantastic, I think the graphics are quite spectacular, even though they rely on very high rig specs. This game might have the best gun fights I've ever seen in a game. The Ai is impressive, they take cover very well and will escape if they feel out-gunned, they will even hid so they can ambush you later. I enjoy the inventory system they use in this game, you can find detachable under barrel grenade launchers and scopes for your weapons, armor and relics of the wastes. The environmental qualities of the game are above that of HL2 if not as varied. Most everywhere you go will be very.....Russian. The grass isn't going to be bright green and there won't be palm tress but there are still sunny days and it feels like summer sometimes. The designers took trips to Russia to get it right. I think they did, if you like abandoned buildings, research labs, makeshift military camps, sewers etc in quarantine zones you'll like the setting. There are dynamic day/night cycles, which means if you speed up time you see the sun raising and setting and the shadows growing longer, very cool. There is also a dynamic weather system, there is nothing cooler than having a gunfight with an enemy faction through the streets of an abandoned city with flashes of lightning lighting up everything around you and casting realistic shadows of all the trees and buildings. It's needless to say at this point that the real-time shadows are re-donk-ulous. One of the cons of this game is that every-time you move through an area and it needs to reload it, the enemies come back. Which is a huge jolt of unrealism, because the bodies stay for like a week game time. So after clearing out one of the much larger camps of 50 or so enemies and you go back, you have mounds of corpses. I built a wall via "300" of corpses, must have been 80 or so, that's the most un-realilistic thing ever. Another con is that to enjoy the awesome graphics you need to have a computer that can run Oblivion without dropping below 30 fps at any time. It seems to me that the longer I play the more I take a hit on fps because the game has more to remember in high traffic areas. You need a moderately powerful computer to run this game well. Personally I haven't had any crash error problems, but I hear that's a common launch problem. If you install the first patch your save games from V1.00 don't work anymore. It has issues, but I feel I got more than my moneys worth in this game.… Expand

**** story, **** combat, **** graphics, just horrifically boring. The game doesn't explain much to you, there is barely any story line, your time is spent wandering around from pointless quest to pointless quest untill you end up in an area where you are continually losing health from radiation and no idea of where to find a god damn radiation suit.

Let's see. Things that went right: ...uh. Things that went wrong: Durability system with no method of equipment repair -- really, REALLY annoying to have to, even near the end of the game, constantly switch out armor because it greatly loses effectiveness when you've taken a couple shots. Character progression entirely item based -- Self explanatory. If you aren't hoarding the artifacts and armors, you're not going anywhere (and living). Fallout clone -- You heard me. This game is entirely a Fallout clone in FPS (I've not played Brotherhood of Steel, so I'm not going to say anything about that). The final things that made me realize this were the exoskeleton (increases carry capacity... please), and the gauss gun. No quicksave, poor autosave -- I don't even know what triggered autosaves, I guess one full day. The lack of quicksave was really annoying, because you had to completely interrupt the action before doing something potentially stupid. Encumbrance -- This is just idiotic. Carrying any amount of weight over your 'maximum' causes you to almost instantly waste all of your stamina when moving. Weapon selection -- The pistols are absolutely worthless. The rifles (and ammo) weigh a figurative ton. I was rarely more than 3 kg under maximum carry weight, because I had to carry so bloody much ammo to do the storyline missions and I didn't want to use the horrible AK set of weapons. Zero sense of accomplishment from the ending -- There is no real reward in beating this game UNLESS you follow a very obscure chain to get the one 'good' ending. And even that is a let down. Let's not forget getting randomly one-shotted by NPCs who sneak up on you because they forget to make any sounds and do an incredibly absurd amount of damage for their difficulty level (yeah, uh, I played on the second lowest difficulty and I still got killed in under a second by some of the enemies. gg.) You want a pseudo RPG like this? Go play Bioshock.… Expand

Pretty terrible game all around, I really wonder how anyone can give this a 9 or 10. The only unique concept is it's attempt to blend FPS and RPG but even then, Deus Ex and Bioshock do it better. The game starts out with the worst tutorial I've seen in 15 years of gaming. It gives a 3 minute demonstration on how to use your PDA, while not mentioning how to open the PDA UI at all. It leaves you to find out how to access your inventory, switch weapons, zoom in, etc etc. A pretty miserable start. Graphics are terrible from an artistic perspective (gray and brown as far as the eye can see) and from a performance perspective. Gameplay feels like a grindfest without any xp to grind out. AI is a complete joke, both of allies(which is typical of all FPS's so no faulting it there) but also of enemies. Half-Life, which was released 10 years before this game, had better enemy AI. Overall this game plays like Deus Ex's retarded stepchild, and I feel sorry for people who give this game 9s and 10s. A non-linear world does not mean an immersive world. Trudging across fields of brown nothingness breaks immersion pretty damn fast. This game does NOT have good graphics, even at top settings. Lots of graphical detail doesn't compensate for crappy art. It has the most unintuitive start of any mainstream game ever. There are a laughable amount of bugs, even if they are fixed in later patches it is still unacceptable.… Expand

Has some short comings, but an interesting idea that holds up. A game with real immersion. I bought the game after reading T Man's comments figuring that if a child didn't like it I might find it really interesting so thanks T Man.

When I first glimpsed at this game, I felt this would be the next half life 2/Gta:sa hybrid because of its claim of being an RPG/FPS. Early images from the website depicted the game as immense, with vehicles, rpg stats/features, advanced ai, more factions and a strong storyline. When the game came out, there was a huge disappointment in the game as nearly all of the features stated above were gone, and replaced with a gta:sa clone with better graphics, an extremely bad selection of enemies and no free-roaming map. This game must be one of the most disappointing I have ever encountered.… Expand

It reminds me of Boling Point Road To Hell. Rember that game, no i don't think you would. Dont get me wrong, S.T.A.L.K.E.R is good, but not that good. Its the same, go kill some one, walk somewhere. it goes on and on. Yeh, i'll give it a 10 for original story, but a 0 for graphics. It was meant to come out as the 1st Direct X9 game. It came out far to late, in the eria of Direct X10. A shame realy, in Direct X 10 i could see this rivialing Crysis.… Expand

This is one of the best games i have played in a long time. By the time you are done with it you want more. Combat and story are superb. It is great just to sit around a campfire listening to the guitar in a post apocalyptic environment.. You never want to come back. Great job GSC

This is one of those games where the draw is much stronger than the flaws. Yes, there is a lot wrong with the game, but there is so much right I am mezmorized. I've played many games that were polished more, but very few that I've enjoyed more.

The AI in the game is really good, by far the best feature. The graphics may be good, but the horrible performance requires a state-of-the-art card to see it. My card is decent, even runs Oblivion with stunning detail and AA, and yet in this game its bad. The lack of fine tuning graphics options gives me a choice of static lighting with max details or decent lighting with details on minimum -- both of which look like crap. Moreso changing the lighting requires a full restart, which is bad since the load times horrendously long. The movies play at the frame rate you render a scene at -- so if you have anything less than 30fps they play at that and look bad. The intro movie plays before you can even tweak options.. The controls are bad (why do i have to hold two keys to get slightly better COF). The missions are OK, but poor directions and distances: 2 kilometers north is just over that ridge the blue arrow points (or was it red for north), realistically 1000 feet at most. Execution of said missions is bad. One mission was to 'stop the rebels attacking'. I get to one rebel left, I fail the mission. I kill the last rebel and I succeed the mission. By the time im done looting the bodies, another wave comes. By the time I kill them, two more waves come. This is well after I succeed eliminating the attack. Whats the point of tactical combat if you arent given time to scavenge much needed ammo and weapons. Guess im supposed to stick to the non-story 'kill boars' missions. Maybe its just a matter of bugs that will be worked out in a future patch, but right now its not even worth playing, and definitely not worth the money.… Expand

I really had my hopes up for this game. When I bought it, I was really excited to start playing. However, I started playing the game, and found that I was severely mistaken. Terrible sound, graphics, story, missions, everything. Everything is broken. Not to mention this has to be one of the most bug-filled games I've ever played. Complete waste of money....

I really tried getting into this game, but I couldn't. 1. The graphics Set at the max level, look outdated, not sharp, Just a disappointment. The screen shots from the game looked a lot better! 2. Missions are really unclear, there really is no goal or path that you take. You just walk around doing pointless mini quests for money. Overall a very big disappointment for a game I waited so long for to come out.… Expand

This game could be a sweet game indeed but for a few essential tweeks that need to be made with difficulty level. Right now it is un-playable. Don't waiste your money as I did. I sent feedback to the deveolper's forum and got a nasty response "Then don't play it. I'm tired of people complaining". I have deleted the game from my hard drive after two days of playing. I have never deemed a game totaly un-playable before and it's sad because this could have been a sweet one.… Expand

I have been wainting for this game to come out for years and was quite happy with the end result. I had to upgrade my rig just to run it smoothly. The story lines not bad and love the multiple ending. I have played it about 4 times and gonna start it again soon.

I'm proud of this game! I'm proud to be Ukrainian as the creators of Stalker are! Remarkable game, worth the story to be continued....

I bought this game off Steam and it won't run on a brand new system and the developers don't seem to be offering any technical support whatsoever. I think that pretty much says it all!

The best shooter ever.

The most atmospheric games I have ever laid my eyes on, is the basic way to put it. You never expect anything to happen more than twice when playing the game. Very scary at times as well, to make it scarier try to play the game with the brightness toned down as if night time. The only minor problem for me was the lack of some realism, such as shooting point blank at a target in the head with the obokan it misses. Also it takes a unfair number of shots to kill a certain monster or person. Don't get me wrong I really loved this game, and I can't wait to buy Clear Sky! This is a true MYST BUY game! For 20 bucks? This is more bang for the buck without sacrificing the game play at all!… Expand

This is a great game in my opinion. Love the atmosphere and the gameplay is extremely addictive. My only gripes are that the ending is lame and there should be more expansive levels. Better bonuses to the exo-suits would be a good idea too. I really hope they make a sequel for this.

I loved the fact that I was actually walking around in a world that was really like the aftermath of Chernobyl. I thought there were a couple of little bugs in the game but overall I really enjoyed playing it. It did take me a while to get used to the style of play as I mostly played FPS prior to this but great game!! Cant wait for the next.

I loved this game possibly rhe best shooter you can get from Morristons at 5.00 quid .Every single detail about Chernobyl is immense like how they captured the Pripyat town exact!.I dont have much to say except at any price this game is worth it and is possibly the best first person shooter i have ever played.

I think this is a great game. It's not perfect, but it's good. One person has mentioned a poor tutorial and this I agree with. The in-game help when starting should be more thorough. But the world where the player lives in is incredible. The movments of the mutant animals and just the feeling of being in a wastleand is so realistic. Currently, I have not finished the game, but night has fallen and I'm too scared to continue so I've headed back to camp. I'm not sure what to do now. My only ral gripe is a better tutorial especially when it comes to using the PDA and getting through the missions.… Expand

This game is simply beautyful. Not the colors and stuff, but the gameplay! The difficulty of this game is mixed with the little feeling that you CAN win! The weapons are realistic and awesome! This is one of the games where EVERY single enemy has the ability to kill you with a single headshot, so you wont be left unchallenged. If you are/want to become a great gamer, try this game. If you succeed you can call yourself a real gamer. But bevare, enemies will try to flank you, sometimes you must fight a whole army (10-20 people) and you will die ALOT. But you should try it out, it's pretty damn fun. The 6th best FPS i have played. (Bioshock, System shock, SS2, Doom and Deus Ex are higher if you wondered).… Expand

I really agree with the other low reviews. This game is extremely underdeveloped, and I felt as though I was testing a draft. I happened to only play it for 30 minutes and that truly was enough to rate this game. Overall, it's dull and uninspiring. There is no music in the background, and music, of course, is crucial for any game to be fun (that's just fundamentals people). And one guy plays a guitar around a campfire, which is nothing special. The game is also empty, and I mean quite literally. Most buildings have no details inside; there's just slabs of concrete and some boxies (which really gives a bad image of Chernobyl), and no one has anything interesting to say. Everyone just wants to kill everything else. Gang anarchy! That's new. The character walks like a gangster wobbling side to side, which gets annoying after awhile, not to mention I got a headache a few minutes into the game. There's also very little voice acting and too much text messaging, which is mostly fluff and garbage anyways. I had to force myself to read some of the dialogue once I started playing. By now, there really is no excuse for no voice acting. We're in the 21 first century people (even if there was voice acting, the quality of the text was poor). The story is also very superficial and ambiguous; I really don't get what's going on, which is probably because there is no tuturial whatsoever. I just started walking around, and low and behold, 5 dogs pounced on me out of nowhere., and then flashes of radiation randomly killed me. What? Ummm. . . okay. Perhaps some kind of warning could have been helpful? The inventory management is also very poor and clumsy; I felt moving items was really a chore. But what I truly hated about this game was the simple fact that it's way too serious and there's no humor or wit at all. Fallout 3 feels much the same way with the open world (at least in theory) but at least it has some genuine humor and music along with the bloody shooting and gore. In this game, you just go around shooting things, and you really don't know why; there was nothing that compelled me to move forward. No music, no dialogue, no interesting people or plotline, no detailed environments or buildings. There is nothing intriguing or revealing. You just join some arbitrary gang and start killing other gangs. So what? Doom was great with that kind of senseless violence. (I know some die-hard fans may be unhappy with my review, but this is what I truly felt while playing the game. I'm honest here. I played so many shooters and I really see nothing worthwhile in this one. It's one of the worst ones I've ever played. The only thing that stopped me from giving it a 0 was that it ran smoothly on my computer).… Expand

Great ending. Tough game, but not insurmountable with a good mix of action and maze. Gameplay is not as non-linear as some reviews make it out to be -- like most games you pretty much have to follow the missions to get anywhere. Great dark, cynical story line and plenty of weapons. No vehicles though.

Best game I've played this year. Very good atmosphere, maybe especially for mature gamers who are looking for a game wortwhile of other action-rpg such as Fallout, Deux ex or Vampire:Bloodlines.

The game is quest based rather than linear. You pick up quests, loot, trade and upgrade you gear much like a RPG. You move freely around the lands and you can explore on your own loading only at level borders. Some quests will take you to underground bunkers or houses and here the game looks more like a classic FPS. The AI's are fairly good, they take cover behind corners and aim well. The atmosphere of the game is good and scary. I would picture it as a Mad Max scenario in a radio active Ukraine with unknown mutant horrors lurking. However, it's not a realistic shooter as some others suggested. For realism I would play OFP, ArmA or the more linear Red Orchestra. What bothers me with the shooting is that it almost takes a full clip of 30 rounds to kill one enemy using a fair AK. The one handed guns are useless for anything but critters, you need to get very close and put a few rounds in between the eyes for any effect. I would rather use a real life slingshoot or a stick and expect better results than that. Perhaps weapons and ammo will get better later on. The grenades are good and at this point it's my only efficient weapon to down anything quick. The game engine have some major flaws. I experience crashes, even blue screens while playing. Initially I couldn't exit to desktop without a blue screen and system reboot. I removed all sound hardware acceleration, EAX and now it's better but I still have issues with random blue screens crashes in nVidia DLL's. If you want to play this game you better search the community FAQ's on how to minimize crashes and don't forget to quicksave often. The game is mercyless, death or a system crash comes fast. Despite the major flaws I really enjoy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.… Expand

?? - ??????, ????????? ? ?? ???? ???, ??? ?? ????????? ?????????? ????????? ???????! ??????????? ???????? ??????? ? ????? ????? ?????????? ?????????-??????, ??????? (??????? ?????? ?? ????, ?? ???????? ????? ??????? ?? (!) - ?????????, ????? ??????,) ???????, ??? ???? ??? - ??????? ????, ????????, ? ???? ???????, ???? ????????? ????? ?? ? ??????, ? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ?? gameplay! ??? ? ???????, ?????(deer) ?? - mister T and nothing more... ? ????, ??? ?? ??????? ????????, ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ???????, ??????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????(, ?? ????????????) - 8,5… Expand

Shows plenty of positive aspects of the developers. Worth the wait for just like aging a vintage red a Penfold maybe? Atmospherically I give this title a 10 over F.E.A.R & without the claustrophobic & bland environments of both F.E.A.R & Doom 3 too. This game win hands down...

At the end of the day it's a solid and enjoyable game, but after all this time I was expecting a little more. Just a bit more polish. Still, it will probably go down as one of the top PC games of 2007 (even though it should really have been 2004 or 2005). In time it will probably come to be regarded as a classic.

I've only played a few hours of this. It is moderately hard, so be conservative in just going for the first missions right away. Honestly, this game is the most unnerving game in its realism, you actually almost FEEL you are breathing this sickly radioactive air walking around this devastated and infected area dizzied by blows from enemies. I have to say this is the first game that I am actually affected by this intensely. It'll probably take JERICHO, but this is one scary experience. There is so much sensory play and creepiness that it takes a special person to appreciate it. Like I said, only a few hours and I'm scared to play it. I love it. The storyline's a bit vague, but hey.. that's what WE have imaginations for. I don't have to know yet. I believe there's probably one way that gives you the best ending. Either way, the realism is beautifully implemented in the organic engine this game uses. You'll notice on repeat missions (which you'll have a few), that the weather's changed or monsters, etc are there. Not as much obvious scripting, it's really mindblowing. I don't mind the press ESC save function. I think the graphics are great even for today. The smoothness helps everything seem living and breathing. All is fairly detailed, it's just the landscape is not 'pretty. I keep getting paranoid to leave camp after dark for what lies out there. I haven't even touched multiplayer yet. More fun. This game rules, BUY IT.… Expand

A very, very fun and unfortunately, a somewhat flawed game. This game is a must have for anyone who has ever liked Fallout (2), System Shock (2), or ever liked zombie games. In a nutshell it is a mix of Operation Flashpoint, Half Life 2, and Oblivion (which i've never played). This game requires a bit more patience (especially with the random crashes...) but it rewards your patience with a very enjoyable gaming experience. thumbs up!… Expand

The best thing to happen to the FPS genre since System Shock2, Deus Ex or Operation Flashpoint. This game is a milestone in FPS history. It has been said in most reviews that the story is badly told; as a system shock fan, I can tell you it's just told "differently" - through fragments of knowledge and awkward conversations. It fits the setting well. I've also read that the graphics are dated, but from what I've seen so far, the lighting and texturing detail are top notch. There's nothing spookier than seeing the room illuminated a lighting storm through the cracks in the wooden ceiling and brick walls. Combine that with normal and parallax mapped surfaces, amazing weather and foliage systems and great particle effects, and I can't see why people think the graphics are 'dated'. The only disappointment is that the world is not seamless like Oblivion or Morrowind, there are artificial 'loading zones' joining a series of levels surrounded by invisible walls.… Expand

I tried very hard to like this game, and bought it at a deep (Halloween) discount on Steam (along with Pripyat) because I had always heard good things about it. Today, having just gotten to the Garbage, I was prepared to uninstall this game and write about how crap it is. I was JUST ABOUT TO go through with that... when I noticed that the game has a modding community. Surely, I thought, some astute modder has by now (the game is 3 years old) overhauled this game and made it not suck. YES! In summary, downloading and installing the STALKER Complete 2009 (currently 1.4.4) mod is a REQUIREMENT to enjoy this game. If you don't, you WILL NOT like it unless you're retarded. If you do install the mod, you might still not like it, but at least it will have put its best foot forward. The game is literally incomplete without this mod installed, and experienced gamers will identify the fact that the game, even fully patched, is in a development state that could be called "late beta". This is what the STALKER Complete 2009 mod rectifies. It alters so many aspects of the game, and the filesize is so large (700mb) that it might as well be called the official version of the game. What came out before that was just a buggy release candidate. For graphics cards that can handle it, the mod also makes the game pretty, departing from the game's original "real is brown" philosophy, aka the "we're too cheap to give you decent HDR" philosophy. I'm giving the game only a 6 because it was released in such bad shape, and the developers didn't have a hand in this mod, so why should they get positive recognition for it?… Expand

"In Soviet Russia (ok... Ukraine), game plays you..." I play this game with the "Complete 2009" mod. They say you have to play with it because it removes bugs and updates the graphics, without removing or adding any gameplay mechanics. So credits to them for making this game a "10" title. This game isn't a console port which gives it 1 bonus point in my opinion. I think even reviewing a game in many cases is a spoiler because the best thing is to just go and play it without knowing before hand what you can except and without having so many opinions about it... Awesome rpg meets awesome fps shooter. 10/10… Expand

If your system can run this game with max settings, then you have to get this game. It is the best and most immersive PC game I have ever played, the level of detail in the graphics is nothing short of amazing, especially the landscapes. This game is fantastic and you have to do it justice by putting it on a worth PC. No problems with bugs etc... just make sure you patch it to version 1.0004. 10/10.… Expand

Too repetitive. Monster respawning on zones borders is a pain, especially when enemy is respawning close from the player. Enemy shooters "see" through bushes and are far too good at sniping from long range.

good game but bugs are getting very annoying and developers don't fix them, like they are pretending that they don't see/find them. that's very very strange. Robin Z says he needs cheats to play it? what a noob! =) this game isn't that difficult if you find cool armor and weapons. Search better! STALKER is meant for exploration too, not just running straight dead ahead. and that's exactly the idea that you know nothing about the zone when you play this game first time, isn't that more interesting??… Expand

I have to say, this game is broken. NPCs get stuck walking into walks, they attack each other and bodies spasm out of control on the floor. Yet if you can ignore all of that like i did, it's a great game. I was never excited about this game when it first came out but when it was on Steam for cheap, i thought i may aswell try it. I'm glad i did. The less you know about the game, the more times you swear when a monster jumps out at you in a basement because you don't expect something like that.… Expand

First the bad stuff: A TERRIBLE ENGINE. I run a Dell XPS M1530 nwith everything maxed out, and as such am used to a pretty good gaming experience. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. runs at about medium quality, so be warned. UNBALANCED GRAPHICS: a beautiful environment, interseting monster design. But NPC characters look cartoony and absurd, and don't get me started on lip-sync. GOOD STUFF: STORYLINE: awesome hard-SF storyline that kept me riveted. COOL WEAPONS: I liked all the guns in this game, in part because thy helped keep me anchored to reality in a totally trippy game. FPS/RPG HYBRID: this game wouldn't work without the hybrid gameplay, with takes most of the linear drag of, say HL2 or Halo, out of this game. WEAPONS SYSTEM: I liked how the weapon system worked in the game, allowing for the keepiong of many different weapons without sacriicing realism (Half-Life 2, anyone?) ENVIRONMENT: Like I said, the environment looks beautiful, with light blooms and the whole shebang. Being set in post-apocalyptic Ukraine allowed for both rolling hills, forests and (my favorite) abandoned industrial structures, which make for endless fun with a sniper rifle. OVERALL: I like this game alot. Yeah, I'd like to be able to turn the graphics up more, but the kill-or-be-killed gameplay keep me on my toes enough to allow me to look beyond this fault. Like Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, a bad engine can be trumped by fun gameplay and better story. I recomend buying it.… Expand

Yes it does have outdated graphics by todays standards and yes it has its bugs. But this is one of the most immersive and breathtaking game worlds I have ever played in: The detail payed to background and information about the zone, to the dark, dank labs which are sure to give the most hardened gamer a jittery trigger finger. I'm currently playing through it for a third time! And it seems to me its gotten even more scary... I would recommend this game to gamers whod dont just rely on graphics but who enjoy a good story and atmospheric games.… Expand

Absolutely one of the best games I've ever played. Large free-area, realistic weapons, shooting is really hard and above average story. Graphics are awesome and gameplay is quite buggy, but its half fps and half rpg, that's why the action and shooting isnt as smooth as in games like F.E.A.R.2 or half-life 2 (I love those games) but who gives a shit? so much things and tasks to do in this game! this game is definitely worth of playing.… Expand

Probably the best FPS in the world :) For me it had a very high degree of re-playability. Finished it over 5 times till now. The game play is very realistic, specially the ballistic system for weapons. Unbelievable multiplayer action!!! Definitely a MUST PLAY game!!!

-Awesome action/adventure/rpg FPS, with Fallout appeal. -Awesome weather, 'anomaly' effects and interesting storyline. -Quite challenging. -The only thing I could see to improve the game is a little more 'polish' on some models.

This game is great! The game is huge and lots of various armours and weapons.

You know what? I didn't hope a lot for this title..for me this is just another shooter when it was hype frequently 5 years ago...but when I first got my hand into it..it just came into life..what I mean is it's like you're really a stalker.. you have a almost dark life.. your best friend would be your flashlight and gun.. you see people from far.. and when you see the world.. it was like so beautiful for a nuclear plant..everything was so beautiful..a world that was torn apart..it's like seeing FALLOUT game again with the first person view.. and it was so scary yet interesting to travel alone in the night.. when you spot another stalker and you're in dark..just like stalker..you always want to see what he do..and everything..while you remain in dark is somewhat.. i feel lack of some first person shooter nowaday.. it is true that game like FEAR will chill you out to the bone but FEAR lack something call freedom.. I mean you can watch your enemy from a hidden spot and then think what to do..and then take out one by one or distract them is somewhat real.. to tell you in simple way,, I don't even hope something from this game..yet I ended founding something that have equality from the FALLOUT game..not the gameplay..not the story or anything else but the mood and atmosphere ..… Expand

Well since I wasn't really hyped before I played this game i was able to enjoy it a lot. For me this looks like an unusual big and much more exiting project than most other games. The few bugs will be fixed soon, maybe an addon in sight? I don't know but could immage one. The graphics are already pretty nice and will get a real boost with the next pc. Sound and Music create a good atmosphere. Generally this game just feels "true" and believable and creates a nice atmosphere. Well already had a lot of fun with this game and will have a lot more in future i guess. So 10/10… Expand

Stalker: Oblivion Won? Well, it actually did. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion was on the market a year before Stalker, it sported the same open-ended world and adventure, much better graphics and facial animation and, for goodness sake, much fewer bugs. They did not have to issue a hotfix ten days into the game release. For me, Stalker is Elder Scrolls with bugs and a Kalashnikov. Too buggy, too late.

Graphics not up to the mark, game play is good... story line did not have a punch.

Very fun game, but won't work for a large amount of users. GSC released a game that was 3/4 finished. If it works for you, it's a fantastic game. If it doesn't, it's a nightmare and a waste of money.

I cant really rate this game because I cant even get the game to start up from my steam client. I really dont understand what the problem is. Maybe its steam, or maybe the game files are all screwed up because my other games boot up just fine from steam. So 30 bucks wasted.

It has a good amount of annoying bugs and quirks, but its still one of the best games I have played. Very good game!

A very disappointing game. When you start the game, you absolutely know nothing about the zone and how to deal with these tons of dangers out there. Also the game isn't beatable without cheats in normal difficulty. First I had that bug that the scientist got killed in the cutscene and I had no possibility to proceed. After reloading the save game unbelievable 33 times and always fighting my way to the cutscene where the schientist dies, the bug hadn't appeared. Also, later in the game you need to blow A WHOLE MAGAZINE into the enemys head to kill them. And the NPCs have one-shot kill abilities. Guess who dies first: the player. And I bet my life the final chapter is impossible without godmode! Even though I play FPS for years and being an slightly above average player, I needed a trainer which gave me 10000hp and I still had to retry several times.… Expand

This is undoubtedly one of the most unique games I've ever played. The plot is spectacular and the mutants and factions are simply creative genius. The broad exploration and weapons were fulfilling too. But even through all these great things, there were some that will drive any standard gamer out the door. My general complain in any FPS is ballistic accuracy of firearms. It would have been superb if this game had ballistics like Ghost Recon Advanced Warrior or even Call of Duty 4. One shot kills as well as realistic accuracy of weapons. The survival aspect could be greatly improved. I didn't feel as if I were fighting for my life, just blowing magazines at enemies who had no sense of self-preservation. The stealth factor too was also pathetic, which is my method of choice in any take down. There were bugs, as most games do, but I don't rate it down for that. All in all, this game would undoubtedly be one of my favorite games if it were merely more realistic.… Expand

Without mods, it's not really worth your time, it's set up to give an illusion of artificial life, but everything spawns in the same place, every time, and characters never leave their assigned area. Redux+AliVe, however, spectacularly solves this, and makes the game incredible. Combining the realism of Redux with the variety of AliVe leads to some awesome moments. The Dark Valley's underground lab has some truly nerve-wracking moments.… Expand

This game gave me heavy deja vu of when i was young and playing doom2, scared sh1tless because i was being hunted by grunting pink demons. I have not played a game in a long time that really rattles the nerves by atmosphere and noises alone. This is a great game.

Those who played this says it's a good game. I won't say that it's not, but it's that the game takes forever to load, wich completely destroys the feeling. And when I started playing it, I felt very trapped. Because there's tons of like radiaton things that subliminally says "You have to go there, not this way", and therefor I didn't feel free. I'm sure it's a nice game, but for me it was a waste of money.… Expand

Absolutely a stunning game. The non-linear plot and fully-explorable environment make this game seem like Oblivion...but much, much darker. The mutants you encounter throughout the game have a habit of making you jump or straight up scaring the crap out of you, and the AI really works well for allies and enemies alike. I give it a 9/10 only because it can be kind of buggy (crashing and what not), and the learning curve is kinda steep as it is tough to get comfortable with how the game works until you're about halfway through the game. I recommend this game, though. Keeps you on your toes through one of the most widely known areas in the world - and one of the worst nuclear disasters ever to happen.… Expand

This game is way over-rated in my opinion. It felt like a ripoff of half-life two in a Fallout-3 setting but done very poorly. Both of those games are far better than this collosal waste of time. The graphics arent anything spectacular / the dialogue and storyline are awful / they throw you into the fray with no tutorial at all / the shooting machanics are unrealistic(when you shoot the enemy in the face six billion times and they dont die but they have one shot one kill ability it feels like dirty pool). Dont waste your money on this game. Im just glad it came in a bundle so I didnt pay full-price for it. I ask myself why this gets such high praise from the critics and even players. We need to set the bar higher folks. I found this this game got me frustrated at best so if thats what you find fun then have at it.… Expand

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is definitely not a game for everybody. It can be brutally difficult, even on the normal setting. It doesn't hold your hand or cut you a break at the beginning--there's not much of a tutorial, early weapons are inaccurate and weak, and you'll die a lot. But that's part of the charm of it all. It's a rough world out there, and it's not meant to be easy to survive. Whereas games like Fallout 3 make the post-apocalyptic world seem almost harmless, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brings out what you'd expect it to be like. You're no super-human, you're a regular person, a bullet to the head will kill you just like it'll kill anyone else, and those people will try to kill you in return just to survive.… Expand

I'd usually leave a commercial game alone, because no matter how much feedback I give it's not going to change the game a lot. After playing this game for a while though, I'd have to say this is the worst 5 dollars I have ever spent. Having played similar titles like Deus Ex, Elder Scrolls IV (released before STALKER), and Bioshock (released only a few months later), this has got to be the worst attempt at blending the genres. I have no issue with the ideas behind the game: item based character advancement sounds like a refreshing change from ability points and xp; post-apocalyptic world sort of appeals to me. But the entire execution of the game was horrible: hit boxes don't work correctly, i.e. your bullets don't exactly land where they look like they're landing. This is more apparent when you're trying to knife the AI and you find that pressing right up to him isn't quite enough, and the computer sort of rolls a die to see if it hits him. The head bob is horrendous. Quake has headbob, COD:MW and MW2 has headbob, but it doesn't get in the way like STALKER's headbob. Don't give me any of that crap about how it makes the world more real - realism is about not reminding me with a twisted gut and headache that I'm looking at the screen trying to pretend that I'm moving my head like a spring doll when I'm just bloody walking. The keyboard/mouse interface is unresponsive, and simple UI concepts such as being able to navigate the character info/map/inventory with the mouse alone is missing. The inventory system, while could be given credit at an excellent attempt at realism, doesn't work when you're designing a game where you have to keep game balance in mind. The designers of Fallout 3 did the gamers a favor when they assigned ammunition ZERO weight. Not saying that ammunition should be weightless, but that design decision has to be made with reason. If your ammunition weight is going to limit the amount of firepower you can carry such that it actually CRIPPLES the pace of the game, then BLOODY DITCH IT. The abovementioned AI barely qualifies as AI - Half-Life, released in bloody 1998 had better AI than this. Fine, the game was released unfinished (which is not a valid excuse anyway, shame on you THQ), but there are many fundamental flaws to the game, that when put together, makes the game near unplayable. This is coming from someone who dearly loves the fps genre, enjoys a challenge (hard mode and above, unless otherwise directed), and has been following post-apocalyptic gaming since the first Fallout. I am baffled by the sheer number of positive reviews that this game gets.… Expand

My favorite game. It is intense and interesting wherever you go, what ever you do. im not even a big PC gamer, but holy crap. now i would not tell everyone to go buy the game, as i can see how some may not like it. Its smaller area then promised, its bugs and flaws, plus a lack of polish are annoying. but to most people, the non linear game play, great AI, and the realism put into every creature will soon make you forget its flaws. there is always something to do, main storyline, side missions, arena, or even just raid any old bandit camp, everything is awsome.… Expand

Well, the game started off pretty good, nice graphics, some sort of storyline thing. And the fact that you could roam and fullfill quest after quest seemed anticing... However that's what I expected to continue.... I have a nice high-spec machine so I never expected it: random crashes... saving a game was like throwing the dice: will it crash (9 out of 10 times it did) or will it actually save my progress and maybe even let me continue for a bit... Patches didn't come any time soon, and when they came, I already lost interest... Besides they didn't help... By the time I heard it was finally getting somewhat more stable, I didn't actually care anymore because I got the Orange Box... So, in short my opinion on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : The game that promised much and delivered little. The most satisfaction you get after buying it is UNinstalling it.… Expand

I waited a long time for this title. It was worth the wait. I was pleasantly suprised. This is a great adventure. Bascially an RPG lite game with an FPS as the underlying engine. They are well blended. The story line is done well. This game has replay value. Graphically it is fantastic. But you better have the machine to run it. STATIC LIGHTING mode is what most people will need to run it in to keep thier framerates up. Even in that mode it is beutifull. Dynamic Lighting Mode adds alot of atmosphere but it requires an ATI 2900XT or geforce 8800GTS320MB or better to play smoothly in that mode. Make sure you uppdate to 1.004 or whatever comes next. C.… Expand

Most of what Marked One said is true, except for the likening of the visuals to F.E.A.R. and Oblivion. The graphics are not nearly as good as they are in those two titles. And Marked One also failed to point out that the game is, for the most part, boring. Unlike Oblivion, characters don't actually talk in STALKER. Instead, you'll get a big paragraph or two to read. Fun! Not. And the weapons are underpowered and most lack scopes, even though you need to do a lot of long-distance shooting. The graphics and shooting experience reminded me of Red Orchestra, not Fear and Oblivion. This game has been overhyped! It's very disappointing.… Expand

After playing it a good 8+ hours now I have to say I'm hugely disappointed. The great initial concept of the game is wasted with mundane and frustrating game play. The missions are uninspired fetch quests and the level design is almost non-existent. On the easiest settings I'm frequently killed and subjected to lengthy reloads. I've yet to encounter any compelling story line--surprisingly the Chernobyl meltdown is hardly even mentioned. The "anomalies" are all just variations of the same thing. Little flickering distortions in the air that you have to avoid or take damage. Some are kind of fiery, some kind of windy--you just walk around them automatically after 10 minutes. The quest system is just plain broken. I'm constantly informed I just failed a quest that I didn't even know I had undertaken, or that I fulfilled some obscure aspect of a quest I've never heard of. There's no sense of whether I'm advancing the main storyline or just doing odd jobs. (Starting the game as a character with amnesia doesn't' help). The game this reminds me of more than any is "Postal 2: Share the Pain" Yeah, everybody groan in unison. Big sprawling zones with huge reload times, factions of NPCs that are either enemy or friend depending how you treat them, and endless, non-tactical firefights against other paramilitary types. And the thing that's really ticking me off is that 99.9% of the enemies so far have been regular humans. I've faced two scary mutants and a bunch of Resident Evil zombie dogs. Every other baddie is a carbon copy of my character. I don't know what the hell these guys have been working on all these years, but it wasn't hordes of cool creatures like I was hoping. Finally, on a positive note, STALKER was inspired by the science fiction short story "Roadside Picnic" which I began reading along with playing the game. Ironically I find myself eager to quit the $50 game to go and read the free story. It's really cool! In the story, the Zone is a total A$$ kicker and the anomalies are lethal bits of freaky, alien nastiness. It's great stuff.… Expand

This is a very disappointing game, especially after the long wait. The graphics are mediocre, the gameplay is tedious (just mission after mission, no ultimate goal) and load times are slow. Maybe it's unfair to compare everything to the incredible fun of a Half-Life 2, but that game is several years old and still thousands of times better than something like this.

After playing it a good 8+ hours now I have to say I'm hugely satisfied. The great initial concept of the game is created with fun and interesting game play. The missions are fun quests and the level design is almost too good to be true. On the easiest settings I'm frequently loved and subjected to lengthy loads of fun. I've encountered many compelling story lines--surprisingly the Chernobyl meltdown is hardly even mentioned. The "anomalies" are all just very vast and each one is exciting every time . Little flickering distortions in the air that you have to avoid or take damage. Some are kind of fiery, some kind of windy--you just walk around them automatically after 10 minutes. The quest system is just amazing. I'm constantly informed I just failed a quest that I greatly enjoyed. There's no sense of whether I'm advancing the main storyline or just doing odd jobs. (Starting the game as a character with amnesia doesn't' help). The game this reminds me of more than any is "Postal 2: Share the Pain" Yeah, everybody loved that game too. Big sprawling zones with huge fun times, factions of NPCs that are either enemy or friend depending how you treat them, and endless, very tactical firefights against other paramilitary types. And the thing that's really make me happy is that 99.9% of the enemies so far have been vast and fascinating. I've faced many scary mutants and a bunch of Resident Evil zombie dogs. Every other baddie is a large difference of my character. I don't know what the hell these guys have been working on all these years, but it was worth the wait like I was hoping. Finally, on a even more positive note, STALKER was inspired by the science fiction short story "Roadside Picnic" which I began reading along with playing the game. Ironically I find myself eager to play the $50 game and read the free story simultaneously. It's really cool!… Expand

It deserves to get noticed almost on them delivering a playable game that lives at least potentially up to its promises. Thankfully, pulling together simply to finish and release the game isn't the only things the developers accomplished. What we receive is a hauntingly atmospheric, if slightly under-polished game; one that proves a FPS doesn't have to have you go up against immeasurable odds with guns blazing. The graphics, while not as shiny as say Oblivion, very much sell the location. When it's night, it truly is dark; When it rains and storms, you really feel like you should be seeking shelter. While the wait may have been long, we're fortunate it did not fall into Daikatana Syndrome, or something more terminal such as Duke Nukem' Forever Syndrome. For that alone, the developers deserve our kudos.… Expand

If this is the sort of game that gets this amount of hype and acclaim, then PC games must be near their end. While consoles are pulling out games like God of War II and Gears of War, PC games are left with slop like this. Just the opposite of the on the edge/every minute something new is happening gameplay of those "war" titles, STALKER is a meandering, boring mess. There is no point to play this game, unless you are just bored. There are no bugs and nothing that bad, but those two things stopped making a game "good" in 99'. STALKER is basically Fallout reimagined as a FPS, except without the charm and imagination. The first 2 hours are good as your mind imagines where this game is going to go but it ends up going nowhere. 8 hours later you will be looking at the same 2003 graphics, same 3 enemy models, same endless fields of nothing, and same guns. Nothing changes and nothing was that great to begin with. With Crysis coming to the 360, I have a bad feeling I might not ever update my 3d card again. Half-Life ep2 is about all this rig has going for it and thats an expansion to a 2 year old game which won't do anything new either but at least start and end perfect.… Expand

This game was disappointing and hasn't lived up to the promises made during it's eight years of production. Many features that would of been enjoyable were cut, such as vehicles, large loadless environments, and truly dynamic AI.

I think this game deserves a 9, but I gave it a ten to balance out Kyleb's double vote of 3. For those of you who have been following the game for years, you will be slightly disappointed. The game involves a lot more standard 1 vs army fps gameplay than I expected, and the Zone isn't as dynamic and alive as I had thought. Every AI does have its own agenda, and the AI is very good. Unfortunately, the main quests do involve spawned enemies. However, if you've never heard of Stalker before, you have nothing to be sour about. The game does chug a bit, and as of March 23rd it is very hard to find a good server for net play. There are few dedicated servers, and you can expect multiplayer to be too laggy to enjoy. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. All of the other good things to be said about the game can be read elsewhere. I think it was definitely worth my 40 dollars.… Expand