"Stalker: Call of Pripyat": system requirements and game review. Stalker: Call of Pripyat, game review (video) You have an anomaly

What do you need to know?
Game system: AMD Phenom 8450 TripleCore (2.1 GHz), 4 Gb, GF 8800 GTS
Settings: maximum on DX10
Version: 1.6.00
Exclusivity: We are the only gaming resource that publishes a review on the day the game is released. Moreover, we played in the developers’ office, and did not download a pirated game.

Say that "Call of Pripyat" They didn’t wait - they were lying. Still, after the prequel, which disappointed the masses with its instability, the developers needed to regain the affection and trust of the players - and we waited with bated breath for something fascinating. Clearly understanding that the rights to the second "Clear sky" They dont have, GSC Game World I threw a lot of money and man-hours into testing and debugging a new game. In addition, we were promised large levels, an interesting story and handmade quests.

Meanwhile, the short development period and extreme attention to the stability of the game made us worry about the in-game content. The early builds were not bad, but they could not give a final answer to the question about the “insides” of the game world. The PR department's and the public's focus on stability only intensified the unsettling feelings. Didn't it come at too high a price?

And now, a little more than a year after its release "Clear Sky", we can stop speculating and evaluate the new creation of Ukrainians on its merits. Ready? Then go ahead!

“...the heroes of science go to lay their bellies on the altar in the name of humanity, knowledge and the holy spirit, amen.”
(c) Strugatsky, “Roadside Picnic”

If you believe army documents and the stories of experienced stalkers, the assumption that the Chernobyl accident in 1986 is the least mystery in a series of strange events that finally changed the appearance of this piece of Earth. Twenty years after the accident, the Zone experienced a cataclysm of unknown nature, which destroyed almost all living things and radically changed its world and internal structure. For two long years, scientists tried unsuccessfully to understand the nature of the new Zone. It was then that people calling themselves stalkers appeared in the Zone, inhabited only by scientists and military personnel. Time passed, there were more and more stalkers. In 2012, a stalker with the call sign Strelok solved the riddle of the Burner - and opened the way to the center of the Zone. Stalkers rushed there - some in search of the legendary Klondike Artifacts, others - the no less legendary Wish Granter. The military also sensed a chance to take control of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and organized Operation Fairway. A reconnaissance group of helicopters rushed to the center of the Zone, but the operation failed - for unknown reasons, all the helicopters crashed. To search for helicopters and study the reasons for the failure of the operation, Major Degtyarev, a former stalker, is sent to the Zone. Deep in the Zone, communication with the Center is lost, and now the major must rely on himself...

We will be helpfully told about all this in a beautiful introductory video, stylized as old photographs. And then the game itself begins...

The first thing that catches your eye is the size of the levels. There are few of them, but they are really big. We start at Zaton, a dry river bed, where the remains of ships are still preserved, in one of which local stalkers settled. Next we will get to Jupiter, where at the Yanov station Duty and Freedom live side by side. Then we will visit the dungeons of Pripyat, which we will have to navigate together with a team of stalkers assembled and equipped by us. And finally, a detailed recreation of the stunning Pripyat, which, unlike “Shadows of Chernobyl,” we will be allowed to walk around to our heart’s content. In addition, there are several other underground locations, for example, the X8 laboratory. It's nice that the player is not only allowed to explore the locations, but is also encouraged to do so. Firstly, the game has quests without direct instructions, say, “find two comrades of the mechanic Cardan.” Only a curious player has a chance to stumble upon them, while others will not help the old drunkard in his search. Secondly, hunting for artifacts is still a fairly profitable business. By the way, the big anomalies in the game are well designed and look fascinating.

We will move not only on our own, but also with the help of guides. At each level there are about a dozen important objects, and some stalkers are ready to take us to any of them for money, and this can be negotiated not only in a bar, but also by simply meeting the stalkers in the middle of the level. By the way, stalkers walk mainly in groups of several people, and each group has a commander: only with him can we communicate and trade - a very reasonable and cunning move on the part of the developers. There are, of course, more specific methods of movement, say, a spatial anomaly, but this is still an exception, and the rule is that our only alternative to walking is with guides. But for some quests (mainly collective ones), the game itself helpfully takes you to the right place and - after completion - back.

I remember one of the USPs "Call of Pripyat" Handcrafted quests were meant to be, and in a recent preview we mentioned that keeping them "interesting" was vital to the game's success. This fact may seem incredible to some, but G.S.C. really made a huge step towards the players. Firstly, many quests are non-linear. For example, you can help the bandits kill the stalkers and divide the swag, or you can tell the stalkers about the ambush and shoot the bandits in the back. Secondly, in the “Statistics” tab of the gaming PDA you can see your “Achievements”: they are awarded for completing some key (and non-plot) tasks, often consisting of a chain of quests. Thirdly, some quests play on the player’s feelings in one way or another: say, one stalker convincingly deceives you for an artifact, and another takes credit for your merits. Naturally, you will restore justice, and there will be a lot of blood. Fourthly, there are quests that are interconnected, and some obviousness of these connections does not make them any less interesting. Fifthly, in G.S.C. They did a good job on stories - even vampirism found a place. Sixthly, this time we didn’t forget about humor: after a “walk” on all fours past a flock of sleeping bloodsuckers, your partner exclaims: “Well, why not “quiet hour!” Of course, there are also less interesting quests, but in their main They evoke a cry of approval from the masses.

Another big plus of the game is the well-developed characters. Many of them were given a detailed appearance, and people in the know quickly guess who is who (“Oh, that guy from the airsoft! Ha, look, it’s Yasenev, their leading programmer!”). Each has its own story and its own goals. Vano, a funny guy who got into trouble with bandits. Noah, a crazy guy who firmly believes in his special destiny. Zulu, a man of principles. Cardan, a drink-loving mechanic, in a drunken delirium remembering three comrades with whom he quarreled... One way or another, but you will influence their fate, and they will influence yours, so the player, perhaps for the first time in the series, empathizes with the characters - why Just take a run through the dungeons of Pripyat: I’m sure many will try to save their partners’ lives!

Despite his rank, Degtyarev is not burdened with good weapons or a protective suit, so an easy life is not expected at first. A personalized pistol and an AK-47 are not the strongest arguments near the center of the Zone. However, with the right skill, you will probably be able to save money on new weapons for quite a long time, and besides, a curious player will find many interesting things in hiding places. And there are fewer living creatures in the Zone...

...which is, of course, the main distinguishing feature "Call of Pripyat". The faction war idea used in "Clear Sky", was interesting, but did not fully fit into the original concept of the Zone. IN "Call of Pripyat" the inherent returns "Shadows of Chernobyl" a feeling of frightening emptiness, a feeling that a person is just an uninvited guest, and not the ruler of this world, only now this feeling is deeper. Yes, stalkers sit in the bar, go looking for artifacts and clearing territories, but don’t expect them to come across you five meters away. Every meeting with a group of stalkers is a little joy: after all, they can take you to the right place, help you with fire, or buy an artifact from you. Whatever, even if these stalkers are aggressive: it’s still better than stumbling upon mutants.

By the way, a regiment of mutants has arrived. To the “regular” creatures of the Zone, they added a chimera, with which a whole storyline is connected, and a burer, who appeared in gameplay videos - both mutants are quite strong. The behavior of other monsters has been corrected: now they have their own “daily schedule”, which determines when they are awake and when they are asleep. As before, jerboas and dogs win by numbers, controllers and bloodsuckers – by skills, although there is always a chance to stumble upon a couple of bloodsuckers – you’ll have to work hard. Usually the creatures can be heard from afar, but most of them are quite cunning and try to attack from behind. Sometimes you can watch how mutants attack each other - a rather funny sight, which it is better not to interfere with.

However, the main character in "Call of Pripyat" there was a serious argument in the form of the Shotgun, a new weapon that is a very powerful shotgun. Even despite the small magazine (12 rounds) and long reload time, it significantly affects the balance of power, especially in conjunction with any rapid-fire weapon - especially now that we are allowed to put an assault rifle in place of a pistol and thus quickly switch between a shotgun and an assault rifle . Considering that there is a fairly quick way to get hold of a Batter almost immediately after appearing on Jupiter, you can criticize the developers a little for the balance. As before, weapons can be repaired and modified, but fans of various modifications will have to work a little hard to find the tools mechanics need. Towards the end of the game, the gauss cannon familiar to us from previous parts will appear. As for protective suits, the most significant change was the separation of the vest and helmet (however, there are also “complete” copies). I recommend taking a suit with a night vision device as soon as possible, otherwise at night you will see no further than your nose. In addition to the usual ways to get weapons and armor (purchase, caches, kill-take) in "Call of Pripyat" It is possible to order the necessary equipment from a stalker with the call sign... Nimble. Yes, yes, exactly the one we saved in "Shadows of Chernobyl" and who told us about the capabilities of our PDA in "Clear Sky".

Otherwise, there are minor changes: you need to eat periodically, you can sleep to pass the time, medicines, first aid kits, etc. are now “linked” to the function keys. In multiplayer, we added new maps, introduced a rating system...

At the end you will be given a choice: leave the Zone or stay. The first option will take us straight to the final video. IN "Call of Pripyat" the ending directly depends on the player's actions. Under a beautiful final musical theme, we - again, in pictures stylized as old photos - will be told the further fate of the characters who played their role in our story, and will be shown how the quests we completed and those we did not complete changed the world of the Zone. If you decide to stay, you can complete important quests and, after talking with the guide, “leave the Zone” - in this case you will see an alternative version of events.

As for the graphical component, it is no longer as impressive as before, but it still looks very decent, especially on a sunny day. Of course, there are some ugly textures and the animation is lame at times, but overall the game is visually quite attractive. On a test computer in DX10 mode with maximum settings and a resolution of 1024*768, the game ran smoothly, without stuttering. In DX11 mode, thanks to tessilization of textures and correct shadows, the picture looks even more realistic; moreover, the performance of the tenth render did not drop on the test machines.

Flaws? They are here

As one of the characters says: “Our Skadovsk is always in place, it won’t float away anywhere.” Likewise, the shortcomings in Stalker migrate from game to game. These include clumsy animation, annoying phrases and, at times, the hopeless stupidity of the AI. The corridor levels look better than before, but are still worse than the "open" part of the game. There is also the traditional “I’m lost” for the series, with running along the same corridors of buildings in search of a key point or exit. It is also worth noting that the voices of key characters, especially the main character, are not always well chosen. Well, we are already so accustomed to all this that we hardly pay attention.

And the biggest drawback of the game is unique to "Call of Pripyat" and is directly related to its main advantages. Larger levels, fewer stalkers and monsters living according to the laws of A-Life... And you sometimes run carelessly to the other end of the location and feel that life in the Zone is passing you by - these endless expanses where you will not meet either a stalker or a monster, no one and nothing. Perhaps it was worth adding anomalies, because at such moments you begin to get frankly bored, and it is not always possible or desirable to use the services of guides. And where then is the notorious “there are no direct paths in the Zone” if “straight” is almost always the shortest road?

***
Of course, we cannot ignore the question of stability that interests many. I honestly tell you that the game is significantly more stable than the previous two parts. During the entire time, it never crashed once and hung only once (during a save, and the save was working). Accordingly, the costs of testing the game were justified. Well, I can’t be the only one so lucky?!

Despite the skepticism of many towards the project, "Call of Pripyat" was a success. Even though the developers have something to work on, it is already clear that “ZP” will not require many patches to work correctly on all systems, and the game itself has something to offer even a sophisticated player. Considering the enormous pressure from the gaming community, the short development time and the quality of the final product, it is quite possible that "Call of Pripyat" became an important game not only for the series, but also for the company itself.

Over the course of three and a half years, we saw three different guises of the Zone, each of which was another step towards creating the Dream Game that has been raving about for many years GSC Game World and an army of millions of fans. The next step, apparently, will be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. In the meantime, enjoy "Call of Pripyat". Happy hunting, stalkers!

« S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat"- perhaps the most unambitious project GSC Game World. The story of his birth is similar to an instructive Eastern legend, in which an arrogant and lively young man boasts that he will accomplish a feat, but over and over again he fails. So, GSC is exactly the same young man who succeeded in the feat only on the third attempt. Having tempered their ardor and managed to find inner harmony, the developers finally achieved what they wanted.

Third time in first grade

GSC has two large experiments behind it called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In the title. A lot of promises, bold statements, postponed release dates and a lot, a lot of criticism - no less than laudatory reviews. There was much less noise around “Call of Pripyat” from the very beginning. The list of game features is not much different from what we were once promised in “Shadow of Chernobyl”: Exclusion zone, radiation, anomalies, artifacts, mutants, life simulation. Instead of coming up with a new idea, the developers took everything best that was in the two previous parts, improved it, mixed it, painted it with fresh paint and filed it in order to release the highest quality game by the promised deadline without any delays.

Plot-wise, “Call of Pripyat” is a direct continuation of “Shadow of Chernobyl.” The shooter opened the way to the center of the Zone, and all and sundry poured in: free stalkers, bandits, “Duty” and “Freedom,” the military. With the latter there was an embarrassment: five helicopters flying to Pripyat were smeared on the ground by unknown forces. The player is asked to find out what happened to the rotary-wing aircraft. You should not expect any script revelations: in “Call of Pripyat” the plot, as in all other games in the series, is of interest only to convinced fans of the setting. The main reason why people play Stalker is the opportunity to plunge into a dangerous, abandoned world, saturated with melancholy and despondency, in which life seemed to be in full swing quite recently.

In "Call of Pripyat" this world has become even darker. It is perfectly characterized by the words of a random stalker: “Well, we’ve arrived at the center of the Zone, so what?” But actually, nothing. There were no scatterings of artifacts here, but old problems suddenly worsened. There are practically no safe places, there are many times more mutants, emissions of anomalous energy occur almost every day. That’s why people’s mood is appropriate: stalkers dream of a home and smoked meat, bandits complain about lousy weather, even irreconcilable enemies, “Duty” and “Freedom,” have moderated their ardor, sit under the same roof and, out of old memory, kindly tease each other.

Well, let the work go smoothly!

One of the biggest problems with previous games in the series (especially Clear Sky) was the uninteresting missions. Unique quests could be counted on one hand, and randomly generated “go and find out” orders didn’t add to the enthusiasm either. But it was very interesting to discover new places, explore the world around us, study the laws by which it lives. In “Call of Pripyat” this is still important, but even such extreme tourism you will sooner or later get tired of. You need a reason to stay in the Zone, and for this, the developers came up with and manually created several dozen quests.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. constantly compared with Fallout, and now this comparison has become more relevant than ever. The game now not only has interesting tasks, but even the ending is made in the same style: you will be shown a whole gallery of slides with a story about the fate of key characters. And this story depends entirely on your actions. Therefore, if you complete the game not very successfully (you destroy interesting characters, fail some tasks), an irresistible desire appears to fix everything.

There are twice as many unique characters compared to Clear Sky, each of them has their own character and way of communicating. The types are written much better than before. Let's say, on Zaton (first location) the mechanic is the most natural, never-drying alcoholic. You can get him to work only by giving him a couple of bottles of vodka and patiently listening to a few toasts (“Well, so that your hands don’t shake!”). Moreover, he is not just a local clown - by talking to him, you can find out how he came to such a life, and in the finale he is given an entire slide with a detailed story about his fate.

With the exception of a couple of quests, there is not a single identical assignment in Call of Pripyat. Tasks branch, intertwine, merge with each other and sometimes end in the most unexpected way. For example, a seemingly simple request: investigate an unknown anomaly with an improved detector. To complete it, you must first get this detector (and this is a separate quest), then get to the anomaly and, in the end, decide to whom it will be more profitable to sell these results. The ending of another quest will depend on this choice, which you can easily miss if you don’t actively explore the Zone and don’t listen too carefully to other stalkers. And if you do complete it, in the future you will have a little more choice when solving the third problem, which, it would seem, has nothing to do with the previous two.

Another component of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which the developers are trying to perfect for the third time, is the A-life life simulation system. Let us remember that thanks to it, the inhabitants of the Zone, be they people or mutants, had to act based on their desires and needs. But somehow this didn’t work out. There may have been a simulation in the first game (as the developers claim), but it was almost impossible to see it with your own eyes. In “Clear Sky”, A-life, on the contrary, was put on display, which many did not like - the outskirts of Pripyat turned into a densely populated war zone, where it was impossible to take a step, so as not to get into a firefight. This state of affairs fit poorly with the gloomy and abandoned world.

Therefore, in “Call of Pripyat” A-life was tweaked one more time, and the result was exactly what was needed. Stalkers honestly leave the base, walk around the Zone, fight with mutants and hostile groups, take a break, tell jokes and complain about life. They stopped sitting in the camp for days, walking different routes, constantly looking for something, searching bodies and taking valuables for themselves, rushing headlong to shelters before being thrown out, and in the late afternoon they try to return to safe territory.

The behavior of the monsters has also changed a lot. Firstly, the binding of mutants to a specific area has finally disappeared. Now you can’t go beyond the invisible border of the habitat of some pseudo-dogs and busily shoot the creatures raging in front of your very nose with a shotgun. If you are targeted by a bloodsucker for dinner, it will be very difficult to escape from him. And it can attack anywhere, and not just in the area in which the developers “registered” it. Secondly, the monsters themselves stopped acting according to the same pattern (pushing ahead and biting), acquired individuality and generally became much more dangerous. A pack of blind dogs is already a problem, one bloodsucker is a big problem, and two are practically a disaster.

The new freaks - the chimera and the burer - fit perfectly into the general zoo. The chimera goes hunting at night, moves in ten-meter jumps, and usually chooses the back of the main character as the landing point. The bureaucrats don’t go anywhere, but if someone comes to them, the guest will not find it small. With their abilities they will deprive him of his strength, knock the weapon out of his hands, immobilize the enemy and tear him to shreds.

You have an anomaly

The rest of the changes to the game are mostly cosmetic. The developers have almost completely redrawn the interface: a convenient map has appeared with key locations marked, the inventory and radar have been slightly corrected, and four cells have been added for quick use of medicines. For successfully completed tasks you are rewarded with achievements, each of which gives some useful bonus. Help the stalkers - and they will give you first aid kits in gratitude; respect the merchant - and he will give you a discount.

The hero now has two full slots for weapons (previously, one of them only held a pistol), so now you can choose a combination of barrels to suit your playstyle. At the same time, pistols did not become garbage: they are still the only weapon (except for a knife) that can be used in conjunction with an artifact detector.

The rules of life in the Zone have also changed slightly. Valuable artifacts are still hidden in the anomalous fields, which are also the only way to earn money for a cool exoskeleton and improve your favorite rifle. But money has ceased to be such a problem as in Clear Sky. After being thrown out, artifacts may well reappear. So, already at the very first location you can afford the kind of uniform that in the two previous games you only dreamed of in sweet dreams. Fortunately, there is a cunning stalker at the base who can get anything for money. Delivery, however, will have to wait, and here the opportunity to sleep for a day and night will come in handy. Next to the bed there is a box for personal belongings, in which you can store valuables without fear for their safety.

The developers also paid attention to fans of extreme radioactive tourism. There are only three locations in the game (not counting a couple of story ones), but believe me, this is enough for dozens of hours of running around. The levels are huge, and Pripyat, the main attraction of the game, is absolutely gigantic. An entire microdistrict with all the attractions was modeled: a hospital, shops, a kindergarten (a terrible place) and a river port. If you inadvertently remembered the linear Pripyat from “Shadow of Chernobyl,” immediately throw it out of your head.

On each map there are hidden caches hidden in nooks and crannies, and you can stumble upon a stash completely by accident, unlike previous games where secret boxes were empty until you received their coordinates. And so that you don’t get tired of multi-kilometer races, the developers have made all the stalkers you meet into guides: for a moderate bribe, they will take you almost anywhere.

And finally, many are probably interested in knowing how the game is doing with the technical part. When the author of these lines first told the editorial office that “Call of Pripyat” does not crash, does not slow down and does not glitch, everyone was extremely surprised, and Maxim Eremeev even jumped in his chair. Incredible, but true: the new Stalker can be played without pain and patches.

As for the speed of the game, everything is fine here too: the frame rate compared to Clear Sky has doubled even at maximum settings. Another thing is that for this purpose we had to slightly degrade the quality of the picture: you will no longer see such beautiful volumetric rays and smoke as were in the previous game, and the detail has decreased somewhat. However, if we choose between volumetric rays and stable fps, we will definitely prefer the second.

* * *

Nothing special happened. The sky did not fall to the ground, thousands of voices did not cry out as one. Within the context, within the series and within the video game industry as a whole, “Call of Pripyat” does not bring anything new. But this is the same “Stalker” that we expected it to be three years ago: balanced, with interesting quests, an honest life simulation system and well optimized. A great game without any buts or ifs. There are only two "whys". Firstly, I would like to ask GSC why this could not have been done in 2006? And secondly, why not make S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was the same quality from the very beginning? They can do it whenever they want.

Replayability-Yes

Cool story-No

Originality-No

Easy to learn-Yes

Meeting expectations: 90%

Gameplay: 9

Graphic arts: 8

Sound and music: 8

Interface and control: 8

Did you wait?“Call of Pripyat” is the same S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but with clear quests and without technical rough edges. As it turned out, this is quite enough.

" served as a good lesson for GSC Game World. Indeed, the July open play test showed - “ Call of Pripyat"much more stable than its predecessor. Alas, the developers skipped other classes in creating games.

Deader than dead

But the Zone has not become any more dangerous. The authors removed the crowds of people and monsters, again scattered the anomalies into the backyards and... noted their position in the PDA. So we rush for more than half of the game along the route “Customer - Destination - Customer”, holding down the “W” key. Of course, now every second stalker can become a guide, but... who to turn to when there is not a soul around? “Fast travel” is unique in these parts.

Since the Shooter destroyed the “O-Consciousness,” little has changed in the Zone. The local people never sleep, but only crowd into shelters at night to tell stories that are mostly worn out to holes again and again, grumble about fate and scream when the hero approaches. During daylight hours, small detachments wander around the area to die shamefully from the teeth of flesh and blind dogs, and the most desperate pretend to look for artifacts in anomalies.

Dialogues have become a little more informative. By the way, when talking with another NPC, keep a notepad and pencil handy - the PDA does not take important notes, and searching for the right words in the “history” is long and tedious. Yes, you will have to read a lot. The game throws kilobytes of text in your face, and not a single conversation is voiced (except for the poor scenes in the engine, mounted according to the “camera flies around paralytics” template). Is this why the key characters are so faceless? Not only. Look into the frozen eyes and barely moving lips of your counterpart. A doll, not a person.

And again the whole world is falling apart, just like two years ago. It cannot be saved either by a more “transparent” system of upgrades for equipment that wears out extremely quickly, or by handmade quests. Some tasks are multi-stage, there are simple “black and white” dilemmas and a primitive choice of “kill or pay”, but winding up kilometers on flights through the Dead Zone kills the fun. In addition, we are given ill-fated “Revenge for an Important Item” scripts, far-fetched “corridor” throwing at the Jupiter plant and predictable triggers. The firefights and damage model coming out of the binge still leave a lot to be desired.

Call of boredom

Pripyat - the finish line - confirmed in " Salary» the title of a ghost town. The artificially dangerous territory, where, according to the surviving colonel, his soldiers disappear every day, is deserted and toothless. It more or less comes to life in the post-story “freeplay”, but for now there are rare packs of dogs cutting through the streets here, and the controller and the “Monoliths” crawl out strictly according to the plot. Secret Laboratory X8 is a pale shadow of X18 from " Shadows of Chernobyl" The only annoying things here are raging poltergeists and strange “brakes” caused by splashes of water. Boredom rules the day.

In Pripyat, the main intrigue emerges, so much so that doubts arise about the strength of mind of both the main character and the screenwriter. Such an outcome is tantamount to the appearance of a helicopter boss over an abandoned hospital in " Clear skies" However, the uncredited author showed himself in the beginning when he sent a single agent to investigate the failure of a military operation, who reveals his plans to the first person he meets.

You can't find an outlet in multiplayer either. Old rules, old modes and just one new map. Among the tangible new things are the now fashionable “achievements.” But the network code compared to “ CHN» version 1.5.10 passed. Now I understand why the system requirements include such a wide Internet channel.

* * *

GSC's third attempt to create its own “post-apocalypse” strengthened my opinion that the PR department works most effectively in this company. And the lot of untalented developers is to sculpt sequels for fans who are again ready to feed on the “atmosphere” from every radioactive UAZ.

The surly technical support service sent a short, helplessly doomed response: “Select Generic Software in the sound options.”

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2009)

Stalker... A legendary series of games, and equally controversial. She has both ardent fans and haters. Call of Pripyat is a game that Stalkers all over the world had high hopes for. And partly, these hopes were justified. The continuation turned out to be, on the whole, interesting and larger-scale compared to the first part. We invite you to read the review of the game Stalker Call of Pripyat. If you have not yet purchased the game disc, this review of the game Stalker Call of Pripyat will help you make your final decision.

Graphics or atmosphere: skier or snowboarder

The Achilles heel of the series is the antediluvian X-Ray engine. No Direct-X 10 based manipulation seems to be able to
lift it from the sidelines of progress. For some gamers, the archaic graphics will spoil the impression of getting to know the updated version of the Zone: someone will plunge headlong into the atmosphere of hunting for a chimera, and some of us will only wince from participating in a ridiculous school performance with logs in the key roles. If you are one of the first players - behind the not so perfect graphics, you will discover spacious and beautiful locations, an alarming atmosphere, an exciting hunt for the secrets of the Zone and quite funny shootouts. Do you want to finally decide on your attitude towards the Stalker Call of Pripyat graphics? You can also see a video review of this part right here!
Eh, roads…..dust and fog…..

The game Stalker Call of Pripyat, a review of which is presented here, is designed for a gamer who loves not only trashy shootouts, but also long

the road through the mysterious locations of the Zone. Naturally, such a journey is filled with dangers. How could it be otherwise if every tree is guarded by a bloodsucker or some other creature of the underworld? The game Stalker Call of Pripyat, a video review of which is also presented in this article, suggests the possibility of long transitions. You can spend almost half of the game time on the road.

It's good to travel light, but if you have a heavy machine gun and a bunch of other goodies on your shoulders, this prospect is very annoying. For such irritable ones, there is always
helpful guide. This is one of the differences between Call of Pripyat - guides began to meet much more often. From them you can not only buy everything you need, but also save time on the wandering by asking you to guide them.

The recently released sequel to the first part has already found its happy fans and brought gamers closer to the more realistic laws of the Zone. In the review I will pay special attention to the degree of this approximation in comparison with the previous part of Clear Sky.

The new game also has huge shortcomings, which for some reason are not particularly mentioned in the online media. Let's proceed to a detailed consideration.

The game version is updated to 1.6.00, and the main character becomes a military man sent from Kiev to find out the reasons for the fall of several helicopters, ordered by reconnaissance of Pripyat after the incident with the massacre between Strelok and the O-Consciousness group.

Logically, the plot should be extremely simple: get a couple of pieces of paper, inspect the helicopters and it’s done. But, as is customary with GSC Game World, the task of making life more difficult for gamers was successful. If earlier you suffered with endless bugs at every step of the game, now you are faced with a new problem - the extreme complexity of tasks.

The most unfinished stage was the one called “Jump into the Anomaly.” The arrow for the direction of your movement is indicated straight, and the mission goal is on the right, so every 100 meters after jumping into the anomaly you have an increasingly annoying line with the name of the same mission.

The next flaw is related to the eternal waste of money. If earlier you could easily get to the transition to another location, now such transitions simply do not exist. But there are guides who can take you back and forth for a considerable fee. Until you find a map with a short route from Zaton to Jupiter, they will always charge you a lot of money. I couldn't do a bunch of extra-story missions just to save up money for these transitions, as well as to buy a suit for one of the main missions. I solved the problem simply - I hacked the game through ArtMoney. I think the rating of this program will increase sharply after purchasing the new part of STALKER.

I also noticed the absence of large quantities of ammunition for Vintorez, but in the previous parts everything was completely different. First you had to find a shotgun, then a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and only then Vintorez, Val and other rifles. Now there is no clearly structured system for such improvement of weapons, and modernization for technicians has become more problematic. The second and third levels of improvements will be opened only after finding tools for fine, rough work and calibration.

The stupidity of the lack of bandages and first aid kits has been improved: in each corpse you will find a first aid kit, a bandage, some edible things, sometimes you will come across vodka, a pistol, cartridges, and it is also possible to find several weapons at once (usually an AK and a shotgun).

When loading a saved game and moving to another location on the loading screen, the developers have added a “100 Tips for Surviving in the Zone” panel. I still can’t understand how turning on a flashlight using the letter “A” will help you “survive”. I almost never turn it off for a minute due to the darker atmosphere of the game compared to other parts. A lot of stupid advice can come across in such an informer.

Regarding the atmosphere: new stories of stalkers have been added, which smell more of the degradation of intelligence in radiation areas than of respectable humor. But the avid fan will be pleased with the new abundance of monsters, zombies and a bunch of anomalies with worthless artifacts that can only be sold for very good money.

With all due respect to the developers, I leave the details of the game at the same level as they are in reality. The slogan “Fixed one thing, ruined another” remains here as well. Maybe the second part will allow us to enjoy a more pleasant atmosphere, a thoughtful plot and a lot of unforgettable moments. But the toy rightfully deserved the award of a nostalgic miracle.

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