Stalker reviewed in PCG UK

[Jintor]

?!?!?!?

$40?

Wtf, Aus tells me it's $90... but that's EB.

 

[destrukt]

?!?!?!?

$40?

Wtf, Aus tells me it's $90... but that's EB.

Well, we get screwed in prices over most things and I thought it'd be like $100AU.

 

[Jintor]

Well... bad news. It is.

 

[Seppo]

if it's anything like mp I've killed someone with a single shot to the head from across the map without using a scope

ah damn, that doesn't sound good

 

[Alan00000]

It is 40 dollars, I don't see the problem there..

It must be just me , Everythime i buy a game under the $50.00 mark it doesn't turn out to be any good. Maybe they lowered the price cause of all the delays???? lol

 

[Gargantou]

if it's anything like mp I've killed someone with a single shot to the head from across the map without using a scope

In an interview with GameSpot, lead dev stated that weapon recoil, breakage etc, is different for SP weapons than MP weapons(According to him, MP weapons have the more realistic recoil..)!

 

[CptStern]

ah damn, that doesn't sound good

ya but there are headshots in MP, and I was aiming for his head ..it was either a very lucky shot or the accuracy is just a little too spot on


btw why the hell isnt anyone playing the MP beta? I never find more than a single server with at most 4 people playing ..cant you guys get keys? it's tons of fun, just no one to play with ;(

 

[CR0M]

sorry cap, i'm holding out for the single player only, BF2 and guild wars are my only onliners right now...

 

[CptStern]

ya the mp plays like counterstrike but with respawning. The gameplay is familiar it's the enviroments that makes it somewhat different than most mp ..I'd much rather play the sp although they've managed to infuse some of the same atmosphere into mp. you can even see the sarcaphogus in the distance on one of the maps

 

[Dynasty]

it's tons of fun, just no one to play with ;(

aha just had a flashback to Ace Ventura When Nature Calls when hes in the monster truck chasing that guy, when he goes 'awwwwww no-one wants to play with me!' in that funny voice.

 

[Xoldier]

Some new videos at IGN from the final build - http://media.pc.ign.com/media/480/480467/vids_1.html. By looking at the videos seems like you can actually pull head shots now in the SP campaign or I'm just blind.

 

[CR0M]

That is looking more and more like immense fun. I only hope it's a stand up fight and not just another bug hunt.

Hudson sir, he's hicks

 

[alehm]

Stalker Demo is out today. But from what I read, it's in russian. Oh yeah and its multiplayer.

http://www.stalker-game.com/ru/

433 MB

 

[cadaver]

"yes its an fps - but its an fps for people whose favorite is deus ex, not half life 2".

"it is stalker. a singularity in the landscape of PC games, it deserves carefull exploration".

PC Gamer


The wait is almost over!

 

[Fishlore]

"yes its an fps - but its an fps for people whose favorite is deus ex, not half life 2"

THANK GOD!! I like this statement. In my opinion there are two or more shades of the FPS genre. HL2 is definitely at or really close to the top of one of those shades. I just don't like that shade anymore. I did for years but not anymore.

The aspect of STALKER that is going to get me to buy it at release, the first PC title in many months, is the way you allegedly are able to approach scenarios in many different ways. I like the freedom of the game as well, a.k.a not on rails. The RPG and creature AI are just bonus features. My biggest fears of course are bugs and developer support post release. I've saved so much money since I haven't been buying games that it's worth the risk.

 

[alehm]

I love half life's game play style. But that's because Valve does it best.

I am looking forward to Stalker too. It's all about having a variety of game styles that in the end are fun. Be it blanant linearism (half life) disguise linearism (deus ex), RTS, Turn based strategy, ect.

 

[Asknoone]

I agree alehm.

I think it's nice to see an FPS moving towards a different sort of area. I mean, I love the linearity of Half-life (as well as in many other games) and the very strict narrative but it's also nice to see other games shift into other realms. I don't believe in one being better than the other and all others have to follow the mold, and whilst I think 'choices' in games (story wise) aren't a very appealing, I'm looking forward to seeing more games build on what Deus ex did.

 

[MultiVaC]

Great! There are very few games of that type, the only big ones I can think of being the System Shock series, Deus Ex, and hopefully BioShock. And what's this about a demo?

 

[Cerpin]

Any info on how the game will run on mortal computers?

 

[Gargantou]

It'll be very demanding, for max settings you need a GPU with atleast 512MB on it, and 2 gigs of RAM for decent loading times, and a Core 2 Duo is recommended, they say that if you can run the MP beta maxed with 60 FPS or so, then you can expect to run the final SP game on high settings with around 30 FPS..

 

[Cerpin]

I guess I won't be playing it, then.

 

[cadaver]

The magazine PC Format has reviewed STALKER. Despite a few minor negatives, the game has recieved 93%.

A few quotes:
"STALKER is a thoroughly affecting game."

"Fears that, given Stalker's lengthy production time, it wouldn't stand up visually can largely be ignored. the character models arent that varied and theres the occasional clipping glitch, but it's gorgeous. in a gruesome, dirty, broken-down, mutated kind of way."

"Realtime lighting in particular is breathtaking."

"Impressive A-Life simulator."

"Method of moving between the areas is a bit of a sticking point as you only cross certain junction points, accompanied by lengthy loading screens."

"Disjointed storyline, which can be tough to follow for much of the game."

"When its all said and done, I havent been quite so affected by a game in a long while. There are parts that are so unpleasant that I felt uncomfortable just playing through them. I don't want to give too much away, but the early poltergeist lab is just plain horrible."

"RPG elements are not all that pronounced [but] definite progression to your character which is mainly down to the vast and varied equipment at your disposal."

http://www.oblivion-lost.de/index.php?zone=design2&lang=en&page=news&action=news_detail&newsid=2425

 

[Gorgon]

Russian version came out this mornin, and the English one just few mins ago.

 

[Llama]

I assume you mean the dark art of distribution that nice people dare not talk about?

 

[h00dlum]

I will play this game in about 15 minutes :thumbs:

 

[Cerpin]

I'll be playing it in about an hour. If it runs OK on my PC, I'll buy it for sure.

 

[Shamrock]

I'll be playing it in about an hour. If it runs OK on my PC, I'll buy it for sure.

Tell me how it is and if it is worth the purchase or just one of the download games.

 

[Cerpin]

Sure will. If I had a great PC it would be a definite must-buy for me, but I can't really justify (I know, not the right word given the situation) a purchase if I can't be sure it runs well.

 

[Seppo]

I will probably end up buying this, but I should get a new video card first

 

[Cerpin]

Alright, I've been playing this for about an hour now.

My computer is a P4 2.8GHZ with 1GB RAM and an X800 256mb card. So, my initial reactions were to put every setting on 'max' just to test things out. Suffice to say, it was a slide show. Inside. When I got outside, the thing just froze.

Well well, I thought. This game just wasn't for me, right? Well, my e-ego lowered a bit and I shamefully turned off dynamic lighting and restarted the game. Holy shit. Did I turn everything to 'Shitty'? Because now I was running the game at 50-70fps without a hitch. I checked the settings and everything was on 'max' except AA, AF and dynamic lighting.

I felt proud of my three year old computer, not bad. The game looks and feels great. Different to most western games, but the atmosphere and sense of dread is amazing. It's everything Oblivion should have been. I've been doing some easy missions, mostly killing the double-B's (boars and bandits) as well as some Fedex quests.

The combat is decent, mostly because it's quite rewarding in terms of loot. Still, it's not a great shooter. It's the exploration and survival elements that has kept me interested so far.

Here's a question though, what's the deal with the artifacts? You can equip up to five, but that shit will kill you in an instant. I know I can drink Vodka and take the RAD hypos, but that seems so awkward. Am I missing something here?

 

[Russian Mafia]

Maybe you need a suit that protects you from radiation?

 

[Cerpin]

Yeah, but the whole 'wearing something to protect your from something you're wearing that's also protecting you from something else' seems a little stupid.

Maybe I'm just mad at my shitty gear.

 

[DeusExMachina]

So turning off dynamic lighting fixes everything?

 

[Cerpin]

Pretty much.

 

[nutcrackr]

can you shoot friendlies and if so what happens?

 

[Cerpin]

I have no idea.

Anyone know how to show the gun-model properly when using widescreen resolutions?

 

[Adabiviak]

I've read the review, and they say they've never played a game with this kind of atmosphere since System Shock 2, they say it's very good, main cons being that it's buggy, but it's already known a release-day patch will be out on the 23rd March.

Good to know - I'll get it on opening day but won't play it until I get the patch. I'd like the first time through to be most enjoyable.

 

[MultiVaC]

It'll be very demanding, for max settings you need a GPU with atleast 512MB on it, and 2 gigs of RAM for decent loading times, and a Core 2 Duo is recommended, they say that if you can run the MP beta maxed with 60 FPS or so, then you can expect to run the final SP game on high settings with around 30 FPS..

Any idea why that is? Does SP have more graphical features or something? Because I have the Russian MP demo running at pretty high settings (I think; I can't read a word but the sliders are mostly high and there's dynamic lighting, high-res textures, and what looks like parallax mapping) and it looks and runs great.

 

[Space Farm]

Single player maps are often more detailed than multiplayer maps.

 

[Cerpin]

True. For what it is, I think it looks more than good enough even without the fancy lighting enabled. The atmosphere and sense of dread is really well excecuted.