Psychosocial
Violent serenity.
After playing STALKER Clear Sky for a considerable time, I decided to review it. It is a RPG/FPS hybrid from GSC Game World. It is a prequel to the much acclaimed STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl. I personally liked the game a lot and was quite addicted to it and am addicted to it. Without much blah-blah, lets begin the review.
(NOTE :- This review was writen with the 1.5.0.4 version of the game.)
Graphics (9/10) :-
One word, AMAZING! The graphics are on of the best I have seen. It reall gets great when you enable DX10 Lightning. Its almost photo-realistic. The graphics can almost beat Crysis'. You do need a powerful system to play it with all eye-candy but its worth it! I played it with High/ No AA/ Max Visual Distance and Max Sun Light Effect. It just was jaw-dropping. The character design is also better than the previous game. There are no objects popping out of thin-air like many free games. All in all, it really does well in the graphics part
.
Example -->
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/2d01849f9ec3d94c0e0f0b84a7664963441c76e6.jpg
Sound (8/10) :-
Its good. The weapons sound as they should. Bass is good. Grenades and explosions sound well. The best is in the night time with all those eerie and spooky back-ground noises. Voice acting is nice too. There is still the Russian accent but it adds to realism.
Gameplay (8/10) :-
Almost the same as Shadow of Chernobyl. You are a STALKER in the zone. You get less suplies and more hostilities. Guns are non-SciFi but realistic. They jam sometimes forcing you to reload, etc. You have limit to how much you can carry. If you are carrying too much than your player might get tired and as a result, he might not be able to walk. Firefights are damn tough and its not the usual run 'n'' gun. You need patience and determination to pass. AI is very clever. They will take cover. They will try to flank you. Cover each other and throw grenades to flush you out. Difficulty is realistic and very tough but that adds to the fun ! There is this new night and day cycle system which works pretty well (1 minute in real life = 10mins. of gamepley time). You are free to go anywhere. You have got a PDA which stores all the info. Your actions decide your fate and your friends ! There is one more new thing called Faction Wars. In this, you can join a faction and fight for them. There are a few glitches but most are sorted out with the 1.5.04 patch. All in all, the gameplay is really great.
Story (7/10) :-
Good to hold you to the end. You are a Merc in the zone who was found to have special abilities to survive emisson while others are blasted to peices. You then get to know that as you survive more and more emmisions, your life time gets less. The leader of the Clear Sky (a group of peole doing research in the Zone) promises to help you if you help him. Play more to know more !!
Final Score :- 8.5/10
Closing Words :-
Obviously recommanded to any FPS/RPG fan. Patch it and play it!
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/0a74ba0e8c6e3c95f8fbcdb91dc1bc11ee3cbf2b.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/4bbd489b539cc0ad1aefd10c6fa910e31923f467.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/d69211365870de3e7ebec502c3b23a2a0c6917df.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e19ee732b0417e78a0865acf03a1dc0699ddafa9.jpg
(NOTE :- This review was writen with the 1.5.0.4 version of the game.)
Graphics (9/10) :-
One word, AMAZING! The graphics are on of the best I have seen. It reall gets great when you enable DX10 Lightning. Its almost photo-realistic. The graphics can almost beat Crysis'. You do need a powerful system to play it with all eye-candy but its worth it! I played it with High/ No AA/ Max Visual Distance and Max Sun Light Effect. It just was jaw-dropping. The character design is also better than the previous game. There are no objects popping out of thin-air like many free games. All in all, it really does well in the graphics part
.Example -->
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/2d01849f9ec3d94c0e0f0b84a7664963441c76e6.jpg
Sound (8/10) :-
Its good. The weapons sound as they should. Bass is good. Grenades and explosions sound well. The best is in the night time with all those eerie and spooky back-ground noises. Voice acting is nice too. There is still the Russian accent but it adds to realism.
Gameplay (8/10) :-
Almost the same as Shadow of Chernobyl. You are a STALKER in the zone. You get less suplies and more hostilities. Guns are non-SciFi but realistic. They jam sometimes forcing you to reload, etc. You have limit to how much you can carry. If you are carrying too much than your player might get tired and as a result, he might not be able to walk. Firefights are damn tough and its not the usual run 'n'' gun. You need patience and determination to pass. AI is very clever. They will take cover. They will try to flank you. Cover each other and throw grenades to flush you out. Difficulty is realistic and very tough but that adds to the fun ! There is this new night and day cycle system which works pretty well (1 minute in real life = 10mins. of gamepley time). You are free to go anywhere. You have got a PDA which stores all the info. Your actions decide your fate and your friends ! There is one more new thing called Faction Wars. In this, you can join a faction and fight for them. There are a few glitches but most are sorted out with the 1.5.04 patch. All in all, the gameplay is really great.
Story (7/10) :-
Good to hold you to the end. You are a Merc in the zone who was found to have special abilities to survive emisson while others are blasted to peices. You then get to know that as you survive more and more emmisions, your life time gets less. The leader of the Clear Sky (a group of peole doing research in the Zone) promises to help you if you help him. Play more to know more !!
Final Score :- 8.5/10
Closing Words :-
Obviously recommanded to any FPS/RPG fan. Patch it and play it!
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/0a74ba0e8c6e3c95f8fbcdb91dc1bc11ee3cbf2b.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/4bbd489b539cc0ad1aefd10c6fa910e31923f467.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/d69211365870de3e7ebec502c3b23a2a0c6917df.jpg
*screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e19ee732b0417e78a0865acf03a1dc0699ddafa9.jpg
