Anyone playing this game. There were threads for the other two Stalker entries so I figured I'd create this one.

This one is a lot better than the previous two installments when it comes to stability. I haven't hit any bugs yet. It looks good provided you've got the hardware to support it. It also seems to run a lot more efficiently than Clear Sky.

If you've played the other installments, expect more of the same. They've all but ditched the faction system as it appeared in Clear Sky. It's much more simplified now. You actually have to provoke an attack from most bandits as well. It looks like a larger population of mutant animals have replaced the bandits as the main threat. It's mostly welcome because bandits respawned too often in the old games.

All in all it's a solid entry, if for nothing more than finally having some stability in a Stalker game. The only criticism I'd offer is that the maps are larger, but they don't seem as interesting as the maps from the original games. So far I've only seen two maps, but they're pretty much the same thing. Large square with about a dozen evenly spaced landmarks. I'm hoping the other maps offer a bit more variety. Maps in the old installments were mostly linear, but they were a bit more unique with relation to one another and it felt like there was more to explore. Now it's just one big open map, so I feel like stuff has pretty much been explored as much as you can explore.

Everything else is pretty good though, everything does seem a bit easier this time around though. I certainly wouldn't mind them re-releasing the first two games on this new engine. It looks like they've also improved the AI quite a bit, at least when it comes to activities that are always going on in the background. A-life or whatever they call it.

[Edited on March 2, 2010 at 10:28 AM. Reason : -]

3/2/2010 10:25:12 AM

Yeah it's the best one by far.

3/2/2010 10:39:23 AM