# Stalker: Call of Pripyat Reviewed



## revol68 (Feb 3, 2010)

I've been looking forward to this for ages, Shadow of Chernobyl was one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played and whilst it lacked the polish of a Fallout 3 it was just as impressive in it's own way.

Gamespot have just reviewed it and gave it a respectable 8 which is always good for a sequel.

Once I get through Mass Effect 2 I'll be straight onto this.


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## ohmyliver (Feb 3, 2010)

Thanks for posting this up. Got Shadow of Chernobyl for £1.30 in the Steam sale, and patched it up with the 2009 complete mod and have been loving it, as you say very atmospheric, and mebbe even slightly too realistic what with its weapon accuracy and carry weight.


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## debaser (Feb 3, 2010)

Good review on Rock Paper Shotgun as well.


The 2nd one was a bit of a miss step, this looks a lot better though.


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## loud 1 (Feb 11, 2010)

the graphics look a bit unfinished to me...


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## Dillinger4 (Feb 11, 2010)

Is this a game of the Andrei Tarkovsky film?


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## revol68 (Feb 11, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> Is this a game of the Andrei Tarkovsky film?



nope but it does take many influences from it.


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## Epona (Sep 3, 2010)

Bumping...

'cos I got a free steam code with my new graphics card for this game and just installed it.  Anyone enjoy it?  I only had time to play it for about 5 minutes and tbh at first impression was a bit disappointed with the graphics (at maximum settings) given that it was released not that long ago.  Just referring to the trees and scrub because I didn't get to see much else in the short time I had, there is some stuff in the distance that looks interesting, hopefully it will be pretty and detailed when I get up close.  I couldn't find any option to have subtitles (although I don't know yet whether there is much dialogue in the game, but if there is and it's not subtitled this could be a problem).

Looks like it could be fun, I had a quick run around and shot a couple of people and wasted a lot of ammo in the process.  Have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, possibly because one of the cats walked across the keyboard at a crucial moment depriving me of some instructions or mission briefing.


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## ohmyliver (Sep 3, 2010)

yup, I enjoyed both Shadow of Chernobyl, and Call of Pripyat.   Very atmospheric, very gritty and realistic, and at times scary.  There are mods to improve the graphics, I think.


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## Epona (Sep 3, 2010)

Cool thanks for that, I will look into the mods.  Gave it another quick go early this am, no need for subtitles it turns out so that's a relief!  Probably going to be a while before I get around to playing it as I'm on an Oblivion (+ loads of mods) marathon atm.


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## bhamgeezer (Sep 4, 2010)

I totally couldn't get into this at all. I just felt like the game dumped you in some gigantic world with no idea what to do. Reading quest texts really bored me too.


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## Epona (Sep 4, 2010)

bhamgeezer said:


> I totally couldn't get into this at all. I just felt like the game dumped you in some gigantic world with no idea what to do. Reading quest texts really bored me too.


 
Thanks, that sounds like my sort of game!  Sorry that you didn't enjoy it, but your critique is useful to me as I tend to be more into RPGs (especially open world/sandbox types) but there are always gaps between epic RPG releases (sometimes long gaps, where the fuck is TES 5, eh Bethesda, eh?) to fill with a good crossover/FPSy type game and the above comment made me think it's probably worth giving a go.  It's probably no Fallout 3, but New Vegas ain't out til the end of November!


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## ohmyliver (Sep 4, 2010)

Epona said:


> Thanks, that sounds like my sort of game!  Sorry that you didn't enjoy it, but your critique is useful to me as I tend to be more into RPGs (especially open world/sandbox types) but there are always gaps between epic RPG releases (sometimes long gaps, where the fuck is TES 5, eh Bethesda, eh?) to fill with a good crossover/FPSy type game and the above comment made me think it's probably worth giving a go.  It's probably no Fallout 3, but New Vegas ain't out til the end of November!


 
It's much more FPSy than RPGy, but it's very sandboxy. My only beef with it is the long save game load times, but then again it has to load the entire world in. It's much more realism focused than Fallout (i.e. ammo takes up weight, you can only realistically carry two guns and ammunition, guns aren't totally accurate). It's fairly accurately modelled on the actual exclusion zone around Chernobyl. Watching videos like  makes me want to fire it up again.


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## bhamgeezer (Sep 4, 2010)

Epona said:


> Thanks, that sounds like my sort of game!  Sorry that you didn't enjoy it, but your critique is useful to me as I tend to be more into RPGs (especially open world/sandbox types) but there are always gaps between epic RPG releases (sometimes long gaps, where the fuck is TES 5, eh Bethesda, eh?) to fill with a good crossover/FPSy type game and the above comment made me think it's probably worth giving a go.  It's probably no Fallout 3, but New Vegas ain't out til the end of November!


 
If that you're into that kind of thing then go for it, it's probably good at what it does. The gritty realism was just abit too gritty for me, I have no desire to RP a real post nuclear survivor! If it had been choc a block with cutscenes and plot like fallout 3 then I probably would have tried harder. But after doing the first mission, running into some radiation fields and getting lost in the massive world I just decided I didn't care. For me doing a mission and then being rewarded with yet a screen full of text wasn't enjoyable either...tl,dr. RPG is probably my favourite genre though, I love stuff like oblivion, dragon age, the mass effects, fallout3, the witcher, kotor but they're all story driven. Reminded me abit of far cry 2, perfect in theory but in reality not something I enjoy.


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## Epona (Sep 4, 2010)

bhamgeezer said:


> ...I love stuff like oblivion, dragon age, the mass effects, fallout3, the witcher, kotor ...


 
That reads pretty much like my favourite games list


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## bhamgeezer (Sep 5, 2010)

Epona said:


> That reads pretty much like my favourite games list


 
Can't beat a bit of escapism ay


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