S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (Gamer's Choice)

If I were to make a FPS it would be this. The setting and the premise are so cool. The huge, wonderfully bleak, wasted industrial landscapes are awesome. Running around doing missions, scaveging loot from fallen enemies, talking to other characters you meet and trading with them and doing the occasionl job for them, killing all kinds of mutants and stuff, and lots of cool Soviet/Russian weapons.

There's also the realism aspect; you have an encumberance limit, you have slots in your inventory for a main weapon and a backup weapon and you can only have one of each equiped at one time, and weapons wear out with use and begin to jam as they degrade. There's even a cool little paper doll image of you that changes when you equip different armour so you can see what you look like. It's right up my alley.

The only problems are the bugs (but you get that these days don't you) the respawn, and the graphics. Respawn is never a good thing in games and usually ruins them, and in one particular area it ruined it a bit for me. You fight through a hoard of bandits at a road block to get through to the next area, and when you come back they've all respawned and you have to kill them all again. What's fun about that? The graphics are nice but seem pretty average to me. Some older games like Far Cry and Doom 3 look better and run perfectly on my machine yet this one runs poorly except on modest detail and lighting settings. Can someone explain that to me? There's terrific atmosphere in the underground areas though.

Other than those few niggles I'm enjoying it more than any game I've played in a long time.

After breaking loose the chains of boredom that grip you in the first hour or so, I found the game transformed into a fantastically gripping and dark game.

The storyline is great! The main story gives you the ability to branch off to loads of different missions and climaxes while still providing a driving force behind the non linear nature of the maps and locales.

Graphics were great for the age of the game and the local Stalker community offers some new engine additions which will bump the awesome factor for those of with more powerful machines.

Gameplay begins a bit slow but quickly becomes fast paced and gripping as the story unfolds. This is, of course, interspersed with safe areas in which you an buy items and guns and such to further the plot. The underground and indoor sections are some of the creepiest of any modern game. You are forced to endure a soundtrack so atmospheric you'll end up walking with your back to the wall while you hide in the light and squint through the dark to spot your assailants.

Despite this it has its fair share of irritations:
-Its very very buggy in places and patches are mandatory
-Some issues with physics can ruin enjoyment in some areas (gates falling when they aren't supposed to and corpses clipping into the void)
-It is hard to get started, it took me an hour or so before I really got drawn into the game.

I was able to overlook these defects however for the sheer enjoyment I got out of this game.

All up this is one game that'll be in my top ten for all time!

you are missing out if you dont play past the first zone, yes the noobie weapons suck and yes you will die a lot. Once you get a decent weapon and some ammo and figure out how the game works its an amazing piece of work. remember to get the patch before you start to play as it kills your saved games so if your picking this up to play it patch it first.

having a blast with it, well worth the money if you have a comp that can run it.

STALKER is a fantastic game. It's not perfect but I think its one of the best FPS's yet.

You're not a bullet proof superman in this story. STALKER is about survival and sneaking and hiding. You gotta take your time, manage your resources carefully and shoot accurately. And yes, your gun will jam sometimes, the bad guys are good shots and the psuedo dogs will rip you to shreads (if you're overloaded and can't run) That's the game and it's cool.
Play the game on a high difficulty setting, it's more challenging and more fun. If you want all the eye candy you gonna need a high spec machine, and make sure you patch it.
STALKER looks good and has a good story with multiple endings depending on your choices.

I got the collectors edition and I'm glad I did.

I love this game! it has pretty good gameplay.. and i love the rpg/fps style. with 4gig ram and a 512mb graphics card it runs awesome and really smooth. has a great storyline and some cool guns, but as others have said that mods such as weight mod make it ahole lot better.

cant wait for Stalker clear skys to come out.. counting down the days