S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (PC DVD) | 
| From: Koch
Category: Video Games
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £14.67
You Save: £15.32 (51%)
New (4) Used (10) from £10.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 1092
Platform: Windows Xp
Media: Video Game
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 4020628502379
ASIN: B0013JZ2H8
Release Date: September 5, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 Worthy Successor November 24, 2008
I was a big fan of the original game, and Clear Sky is similar and different enough to make this one worth your while.
If you have a top-end video card, the game engine is highly impressive in DX10 mode, but you will need a top-of-the-line video card to see it. I have an 8800GT paired with a Core2Duo and 4GB of RAM, and my setup is creaking under the strain. Tweakguides.com has a very good configuration guide which will show and describe exactly how to modify the graphics engine to best effect - I strongly suggest you read it.
Clear Sky expands on Shadow of Chernobyl by opening up large new areas around those in the original; you start off in the Swamps outside the Cordon, and can progress past Yantar into the Red Forest, and more still. Existing areas you've seen in the first title are now subtly different, as are the gameplay mechanics. If you want, you can largely ignore the "faction"-based gameplay, and just roam around as in the first title - major- and sub-missions will guide you through the story, although on one or two occasions it's a bit jarring to have your progress forced along. It's also notably much tougher this time around, too. Enemies are quite a bit tougher, much more heavily armed and smarter now, and it's harder than the first title to acquire useful equipment and money. Plus, you'll get mugged at least twice in this one, meaning you lose all the cash you're carrying. Mutants are now very very dangerous indeed; much more so than other human characters. Clear Sky is also a pretty long game; if you take your time, you'll get 20 hours out of it pretty easily.
I have found this game to be unduly buggy, though, and I didn't start playing until a couple of weeks ago in November 2008. Patched several times, it remains unstable - there is definitely a bug where trying to load a quick-save after you die (i.e. pressing F9 after dying) without going to the main menu to do it is guaranteed to cause a fatal crash. You also stand a good chance of getting randomly shot at by pre-supposed allies now and again.
For the money, this is not half bad, even accounting for the bugs
Opustil Oruzhie November 21, 2008
A note on computer requirements:
To run this game properly you should really have a dual core processor and 2Gb of RAM.
I have a 3GHz single core processor with a Nvidia 9600 GT graphics card and 1.5Gb of RAM (Windows XP) and my processor suffers with this game, the gameplay is jerky, thus is not very playable. Which is a shame because the actual game looks amazing.
So make sure you have a nice PC before getting this.
 Just GREAT! November 13, 2008
I just bought this game.Its just great, played patch 1.05.07.For me its better than shadow of chernobyl.Really good game.Also am playing it on laptop for full dynamic lihting, dont need any 8800gt or whatever.I own hd 2600 in my toshiba, and its just great.Of course there was few problems from the start, but now, finally they did good job.
Overall a good fps November 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to say, when i first played this game i didn't like it. Why? Bugs, bugs, bugs. But after i patched it i changed my mind completely, the patched game is great.
It is not as good as S.O.C however, it somehow lacks the original, brilliant atmosphere. Maybe because the zone feels familiar? The story is also non-existent but if i wanted an amazing story i would watch a movie or read a book. The learning curve is a little steep so i guess this game isn't for those unfamiliar with the zone's perils!
Overall an enjoyable romp with no shortage of horror, violence or vodka.
 Good fun when it works! November 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have bought this game after I played the STALKER Shadows of Chernobyl for a few times. There are a lot of new ideas in the new game, for example, upgradable and repairable weapons and armor or a "teamwork" when you join one of the factions and go to a battle together.
The downside is that the game was so buggy that it was almost unplayable on some of the maps. It seems that the game developers were pushing for a release deadline and now we are all beta-testers!
Also, the game end is somewhat disappointing - all that hard work just to see a low resolution cut scene at the end!
Nevertheless installing the latest game patch helps a lot. The game still crashes but at least these crashes are not persistent, i.e. not happening at the same place, so reloading a saved game usually helps.
IMO this game is a must have for those who liked the original Stalker game but if you are not into it then you can safely skip it.
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