Blog of Ortz

So I played S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl today… I haven’t been following it since it was first announced in 2001 like some people have, so I didn’t really have any expectations or prior knowledge to speak of.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is not “another DOOM” as was the impression I got from screenshots. It’s a first person shooter with RPG elements to it, such a trading for weapons and other items. It doesn’t have skills like most RPG’s have (you can’t earn increased accuracy) which makes sense for a FPS because you’ll get better at playing the game anyway. What you can do is upgrade certain abilities temporarily through “artifacts” that you find and equip on your belt. The biggest feature of SOC is probably the non-linear story. Grand Theft Auto is non-linear, but not like this.

You start out watching a few-minute FMV of the basic background for events that are to follow. You’re basically a “stalker” who got amnesia after he survived a crash while riding on a “death truck”, a truck that carries away corpses as you might guess. Then you listen to a spiel from the Trader (the guy you buy/trade stuff from) about how your PDA works. Your PDA is what you use as a map, journal, missions, stats, you get the idea. After that, you’re pretty much set free to do whatever you want. This is probably what gave me a bad taste in my mouth at first. I guess I just underestimated just how non-linear it was. Because your character has amnesia, if you want to know more about what you’re supposed to be doing, you have to do exactly what the game’s “non-linear” label suggests; ask people. This may seem a bit obvious for me to even point out, but I was confused at first as to what I was supposed to do. I guess I kept waiting for someone to egg me on like in Half-Life 2.

You talk to people just as you would in the usual RPG. You push to use key to start a conversation and then choose from a menu of questions to ask. Your first mission comes from the Trader and interestingly, you already have one mission in your PDA, a mission to kill a stalker you’ve apparently never heard of whom you get the feeling is important. You start out in a rookie camp for new stalkers so you’re not completely on your own from the get-go.

The first thing that struck me as I exited the bomb-shelter-turned-shop of the Trader, was the eeriness of the environment. There are lots of bushes and tall grass all over the place, and this, combined with the cloudy sky and the wind howling past, really gives you a sense that something could jump out at you at any moment.

Your first mission is rescuing a guy from the captivity of bunch of bandits, who has a flash drive with important information on it. When I walked out to where he was being held and met up with the guys who I was helping, I was given a choice whether to go it alone, (stealthily I suppose, but there were at least 6 baddies and it’s not like I had a silencer) or go with them. I died on my first attempt, so the second time around, after I restarted the game since I didn’t SAVE, (I don’t think there are any auto-save points) I let my teammates take the initiative. Even though I used up all my ammunition, I only killed one bandit. I was a bit unhappy about the pistol I had fired. You couldn’t really tell where the bullets were going or if they were hitting their targets. Though that may be partially attributed to the relatively low framerate I was getting from my old and decrepit PC.

Other than being able to tell where your bullets are landing, the weapons in the game feel great. The double-barreled sawed-off shottie you end up with early in the game really feels like it packs a wallop. The automatic rifle I’ve gotten takes up a large portion of the screen, especially when looking down the iron sights. I think this is a good thing because it actually feels like you holding and aiming the gun rather than shooting from the waist unrealistically.

Another thing I should mention are the anomalies, the strange unexplainable hazards apparently created by the Chernobyl disaster. There’s different types, which all have names that I can’t remember, like the most common, which is a gravity well of sorts. Anomalies create the artifacts that you sell and use to increase your abilities. You want to stay away from these because they’ll tear you apart. You can avoid the less-visible anomalies by throwing metal bolts at them, of which you have an unlimited supply. If it gets zapped into oblivion then you should probably go another way.

I really like the inventory system. I like how you have to manage what you carry with you (how much ammo you take and what weapons), as if you carry too much it will weigh you down and you get tired quickly when running.
The graphics are mediocre. You can tell they’ve been working on it for a while. It looks like Max Payne with normal maps and dynamic lighting. The good news is that it runs pretty good on my old computer. Though not with dynamic lighting and such. I must say though, this game has some of the best foliage I’ve seen. It doesn’t just look like a floor with sprites on it.

Well, that all I can think of to talk about. This isn’t really a full review, more of a first-impression. I hope this was not too long-winded. It’s my first review so comments are welcome.