STALKER - Reviews

[EvilNed]

Try shooting the fire anamolies, should deactivate them for a few seconds. I'm at Chernobyl now. I was expecting so much more from the end of this game. I haven't beaten it yet, Red Forest, the last lab, Pripyat and Chernobyl is just one big targetting range. I got tired of this while I was still in Red Forest, more of it doesn't help.

[MinionZombie]

Apparently you've gotta chuck grenades at the orbitting ... erm ... orb. Cos when I back up against the door, the fire jets cease and it's just an orb circling the room...hmmmm...found a forum topic about it online, but nobody said whether shooting it did or did not work... Lots of action in the later parts eh? Perhaps that's more what Lou was/is after then...the first part of the game is fairly sedate by comparison ... by the sounds of things.

[EvilNed]

The problem is that it isn't any FUN action and you do absolutly zero adventuring. It's just like an hour or two of linear shoot outs that you get bored with very quickly. Every shoot out is identical to the last. Anyway, I beat the game now. The last part of the game was definetly a let down. I barely explored Pripyat and Red Forest at all, and they actually seem rather dull. Which is a shame cause Pripyat had such promise! But I didn't even see any buildings you could enter. The Chernobyl level was massive, though. Fairly interesting, but again, all action. I got a good ending - I think? It was rather ambiguous.

[MinionZombie]

Don't tell me the content, but does the ending play out as a pre-rendered video? I was trying to track down the other STALKER folder on my computer, found it, but there were no Bink videos or anything...but I did find my screenshots that I took when I first got the game. Didn't play it last night, only because X18 is far too scary for a midnight sesh ... and got a good night's kip as a result. *additional* Finally discovered where my screenshots were being saved to, so here's 5 screenies I took during my first gawp-around when I got the game a week ago. Not bad for: 1gig RAM 256mb ATI Radeon 9600 AMD Athlon 2200+ Got it on Medium Settings with a couple of tweaks here and there. Gonna see about getting the hell out of X18 sometime today...but I must resist for a while, I've got some work to do which I totally put off completely yesterday to play this game for about 3 hours.

[capncnut]

Noice pics MZ!

[LoSTBoY]

Apparently you've gotta chuck grenades at the orbitting ... erm ... orb. Cos when I back up against the door, the fire jets cease and it's just an orb circling the room...hmmmm...found a forum topic about it online, but nobody said whether shooting it did or did not work... As I recall I just shot at it until it popped. And yes, the endings are video.

[MinionZombie]

I wonder if someone will post all the video endings online sometime, like on YouTube, I'd like to see all the endings, but I don't wanna play the game 7 times to see them all (and that's if I do things the right way to get all the endings)... I'm now back in the Cordon after escaping X18, blasted it with a grenade, then fought off some Mercs with the Rookies in the first camp near the trader's underground hang out. Still a great game...then went and tried out what happens when you turn right, rather than left when you exit that first camp - headed towards a checkpoint, slaughtered everybody, found a locked gate beyond the checkpoint...lol, worth a look ... Gonna do a few more missions in the Cordon area before I head back towards the Bar to give Barkeep the documents from X18...

[EvilNed]

Yes, the endings are pre-rendered videos.

[LouCipherr]

I guess the Red Forrest is what Lou is looking for, as he was saying he personally prefers 'fly by the seat of your pants action', whereas STALKER is something you play over an extended period of time in small chunks at a time and take the time to explore and such, there's not too much bashing about like you get in games such as Doom 3 or Half Life 2 even... Yes, this was and is my one issue with this game (other than there being no goddamn vehicles! i'm getting sick of walking and wandering around!!!). While it has fantastic eye candy and is interesting to look at, as I was telling MZ, my personal favorite kind of games are the move-so-fast-you-can't-think-just-react kinda games like Quake4, Unreal Tournament 2k4, Battlefield 1942 & 2, etc. STALKER, as great as it looks, I can honestly say it hasn't kept my interest long enough to play it much more than a few hours. I haven't touched it since this past weekend now that I think about it - but yet, I keep going back to Q4 and BF2 for some reason. Hmm.. I dunno, just not my kinda thing. I was hoping for more action earlier in the game, and I just didn't get what I was looking for. Still sounds like a good game and concept, just doesn't keep my interest. Now I'm just waiting for Left 4 Dead. LC

[MinionZombie]

Yes, the endings are pre-rendered videos. Which was handy, because I downloaded them all (at least I think so, got all the ones I could find anyway) from YouTube (using KeepVid.com). So when I finally reach the end of STALKER, I'll then watch the alternate endings. I'm currently back in Yantar, about to go off and do some readings with Kruglov so I can get than psi-thingymajig so I can then go into the complex nearby to go into X16 to get some more documents. ... convoluted? Perhaps... still jolly good fun? Oh yeah. Definitely a game that you have to play in short stints throughout the day/when free over a much longer period of time than your usual FPS, which is much more 'run and gun down a set path' in style. I'm also taking quite a while as I'm doing a lot of side missions ... however, due to one of the bugs in the original build of the game, these missions have a tendency to 'reset' themselves so you can do them again and again if you're weird enough to, or some missions don't work properly (like getting the scientist a blind dog's tail - I've got like 5 of the f*ckers on my backpack!) There is a patch to fix these things ... utterly gheay problem is though - your existing save games won't work with the patch! So I've gotta finish on this run through, then the next time I play through I'll apply the patch...*sheesh!* Mind you, STALKER isn't the first game to patch and fudge up existing saves ... I wonder why that is? Can't they put some effort in to keep a player's saves?!

[capncnut]

I might look into getting this.

[MinionZombie]

Was playing some more today, I still wish vehicles were in there, running back and forth down a road can get annoying, but as soon as you progress into new areas to explore and continue with the story, then it picks up again. I've gotta go into the Red Forrest to go into X19 ... so if it's anything like X18 and X16, I'll be bricking it - even in mid afternoon. Then I've gotta yomp off to Pripyat to go into a hotel to find some room to find some stuff stashed in there ... looking forward to seeing new areas, but I'm actually kinda creeped out ... what horrors will I find ... only time will tell. Interesting how the mutants start spreading outwards into other areas of the zone as the game progresses and the effects of the zone change/increase/whatever...spooky stuff. Goes by as fast as you choose to play it. Fast if you just barge the main story and help nobody, quite deep if you take the time to help people, do side tasks, and most importantly - EXPLORE and GAWP. The hopelessly derelict surroundings are just fascinating ... then you remember it's based on real life ... and that's scary stuff.

[capncnut]

Sounds SWEEET! Gonna have to get it... must wait for inevitable 360 conversion... nggghhhh!!!

[EvilNed]

Sounds SWEEET! Gonna have to get it... must wait for inevitable 360 conversion... nggghhhh!!! I don't think there is one planned, and as far as I know they have no deals with Microsofts whatsoever... Besides, I don't think this game would do very well on a console because it's NOT arcadey. A mouse is pretty much required. Anyway, I'm going to replay the game in a week or so. Then I'm going to look for completly alternative ways to play the game. I remember thinking while playing the game that I couldn't voice my opinion on it yet because it felt as if I'd missed so much. Well, I've beaten the game and it STILL feels like it! I barely touched Pripyat (mostly because I didn't like it), and the Red Forest was a "blink and you miss it" moment for me. I mostly hung out in Garbage, Bar, Yantar and Army Warehouses.

[capncnut]

I don't think there is one planned, and as far as I know they have no deals with Microsofts whatsoever... Besides, I don't think this game would do very well on a console because it's NOT arcadey. A mouse is pretty much required. Er okay then, I shall give up all hope.