Before I begin, let me first state that this is just a gamer’s opinion of the game. Nothing more and nothing less. I do however have a policy that I won’t comment on the performance of the game. This is mainly because I don’t have a powerful rig to test it out and compare.
Stalker: Clear Sky is a prequel to the original game, Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. The game is set in Chernobyl and is based upon the nuclear reactor meltdown incident. However, the game is set in a fictional version of Chernobyl in which not only one meltdown occurred but two. Following the second meltdown, anomalies began to appear and Chernobyl was turned into a hostile area in which people call The Zone.
At a glance, these are the goods and bads of Clear Sky.
The Good:
-Much closer to the original idea of STALKER
-Realistic weapons
-Faction wars offer a different experience
-Mood and ambiance is very good
The Bad:
-Traveling still a hassle
-Loading kills the mood
-Some missions are bugged
-Faction wars feels unpolished
-Grenade-spams
Clear Sky delivers on many aspects that the original did not. This time it included many things that many people were looking forward to in the original such as fast traveling, emissions and weapon repairs/upgrades. When I played the original Stalker I felt disappointed that many ideas were pulled out, and am pleasantly surprised to find them reimplemented in the prequel. The A-Life (artificial intelligence/life) for Clear Sky has also been improved. It’s not uncommon to see Mutants or the other NPCs traveling around anymore.
Clear Sky also offers very realistic gunplay. While the name of the weapons have been changed, the weapons still work quite realistically. One of the key factors is the bullet-drop factor. Firing over a long distance is much harder due to that factor. Also weapons can now be repaired and upgraded to a certain extent. There are of course certain unreal weapons such as the Gauss Rifle, but this is after all a game. The weapon play is quite satisfying, though having your Kalashnikov jam up during a firefight can be a terrible experience.
The newly included faction wars also makes the game quite interesting. Depending on which faction you join, certain missions can be easier or harder. It also offers the player a chance to do something else other than blindly following the main storyline.
Now, the new fast travel option is actually a very good idea except that it should have been there at the very beginning. If this game had some form of transportation (dirt bikes? LOL!) it wouldn’t have been such a big deal but as the whole game revolves around traveling on foot, the implementation of a fast travel system was a very good idea. However, traveling in the game is still a hassle as the fast travel system can be quite buggy at times. A lot of time will still be spent running from Point A to Point B and the short stamina doesn’t make things any better either.
Clear Sky’s loading can take quite some time, and it’s a terrible experience when you’re rushing a quest and you’re forced to wait a few long minutes before you get from one map to the other. It probably couldn’t be avoided, but it does dampen the mood of the game somehow.
As far along in the game as I am, I’ve not encountered any major bugs that would impede the storyline. Unfortunately, the faction wars missions/quests can sometimes be quite buggy. I noticed that the quests that are most prone to being buggy are the ones where you’re supposed to hold a spot until reinforcements arrive. Don’t be surprised if they don’t arrive, ever. It’s entirely possible for them to be ambushed and killed halfway, or they just stand still somewhere and not go anywhere. It’s also not unusual for those “rescue” or “attack point A” missions to be accomplished before you reach the area.
Now, faction wars is a very good idea. But I can’t seem to shrug off the feeling that it wasn’t polished up enough. I joined Duty, and wiped out Freedom (two different factions) and that was it. I wasn’t promoted to a certain rank (I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t do anything) or given some special weapon whatsoever. Joining a faction does make some missions slightly easier, and weapons sometimes cheaper, but that’s about it. There’s no special congratulatory message when I wipe out a faction or anything like that. That was a little bit disappointing for me.
The last dissatisfaction that I have is actually pretty small. The AI likes to spam grenades. WHen you’re engaged in a firefight, be prepared to run for your life. It’s not unusual for the AI to spam a few grenades continuously and trust me, you want to be far far away when a grenade blows up.
Overall, I feel that Clear Sky’s a pretty awesome game. A little lacking in certain aspects, but it’s still a very memorable game. It took a different approach to the very well worn FPS genre and while it may not be as critically acclaimed as Crysis is, it’s definitely a good game.
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