S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl may have been a good game two years ago, but it’s not so good today.
Recently, I had heard that a second expansion to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl was announced. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl and its prequel, Clear Sky, are a PC-exclusive series that I had never played so I picked up both for cheap and decided to start with the original. I guess the best I can say is that I was let down.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seems to be somewhat polarizing – there’s people that love it and people that hate it, but it’s generally agreed that the first game is better than the expansion. The game is actually like Fallout 3 in a way, as it’s post-apocalyptic and in 3D, but while Fallout 3 has RPG elements, Shadow of Chernobyl is merely a FPS game with item management. The game engine certainly doesn’t seem to have aged so well, as I found the graphics relatively clunky. I was also disappointed that there’s no statistics or any sort of leveling system, but graphics and RPG elements aren’t everything. After all, people enjoyed it right?
What ended up being the major turnoff in the game for me is just the interface. It’s not friendly or well designed at all. Whether it’s the item screen, the quest journal, using the map, etc. Everything seems to be somewhat of a chore. On top of that, there’s no way to fast travel across the world, so you’re busy just running until you get tired and then walking to your destination. Plenty of optional quests are also present in the game, with random item rewards that provide bonuses. Unfortunately, all the optional sidequests have time deadlines, so you can’t explore this post-apocalyptic world at your leisure. And they seem verry canned; nowhere near as immersive as the Fallout 3 sidequests.
My recommendation? Fallout 3 seems to have made this game age drastically and I’d say skip this in favor of Fallout 3. I may come back and play this during a slow spell, but I would have to probably be completely tired of everything else I have before trying to get back into this one.
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