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| From: Koch
Category: Video Games
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £14.97
You Save: £15.02 (50%)
New (7) Used (7) from £11.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 1020
Platform: Windows Xp
Media: Video Game
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:
 Enjoyable but not a great avance over Shadow of Chernobyl October 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I heard that that there would be a prequal (ratehr than a sequal) to the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I built myself up to the same expansive play that I had enjoyed in the first game.
Sadly, it hasn't really delivered what I had hoped for. While there are a couple of new maps, much of the play revolves around the simpler maps from the first game, but without as much thought and enjoyment. The ability to go wherever you wish still exists to some extent, it isn't quite as good as the first.
The ability to modify weapons does add a little to the game play, but it is just a little.
So much more could have been done with the game and in the end it comes across as rushed and the ending is abrupt to say the least. Even without the bugs and crashes that you have to expect from this developer, I was disappointed and will probably find myself playing the original game more than this one.
 Bugs,bugs and more bugs October 27, 2008
I played STALKER SOC over and over again, there were so many different ways to play the game and I expected this game to be the same or better. Unfortunately, even with the latest patch 1.5.05, it's got more bugs than the Natural History Museum and this spoilt the game for me. If it's sorted, great, but if not, I'll bin it.
So so October 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Feels like a sequel rather than a prequel which is what it is, played this game to death. I loved SOC and this is not so bad a lot of immersion is lost in various parts and was disappointed not to see new mutants and other things. The crafting/upgrade options for weapons and armor is rather slick but they are very expensive. Game is buggy as hell even with latest patch I had to install a mod to get it to be stable. Also had to install the fair trade as traders prices are really silly (you won't want to be farming for 10hrs to buy a new armor suit)
Bit peeved I paid top dollar for it but I would give it a go for a cheaper price and if you do buy it do yourself a favour and check out the current mods for it, nothing like a little bit of modding to make a better game overall.
 Stalker Clear Sky October 23, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Do not buy this game(What a waste of money and a lot of hassle!)
Very very very glitchy, even when patched upto 1.5.05 (crashing out,freezing and blue screening)and its not like I've got some weird system(Intel processor,Nvidia 280 graphics card and Vista)
The first few patches wiped out my saved games.
When sniping from far far away beware because they can shoot you ... from the hip ... at night & while being taken by surprise, not only that but they must have throwing arms like the Hulk because even when they are just dots in your scope the can still hit you with grenades!
A real shame because it could have been very good game(if it was finished)
It should never have been released ... we are customers not beta testers! get it right or don't release.
Good but not great October 20, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
OK, yes, this is not as good as 'Shadow of Chernobyl' and there are a HUGE amount of bugs and stupidity in this game that baffles me as to how the developers could actually think that this is a 'release' version. However, I still enjoyed playing it and will venture into the Clear Sky 'zone' again - but only when a number of further patches have been released or the 'Oblivion Lost' guys get their mod out.
It's definitely prettier than the original but requires more of a modern rig to run it. Nothing in my rig is less than a year old, and I have had very few CTD (other than the ones I explain below) - although there are people I have read about on the inter-web that have complained bitterly about not even being able to install the game let alone play it. Also, I had to have the settings on DX9 as if I switched to DX10 it went nuts with graphical polygons everywhere.
The inventory screens have been sorted out, in SOC if you brought up the inventory screen your equipment was on the left, but search a body and your equipment was on the right (or the other way round). Now all your gear is now on the right all the time - makes much more sense. Also, hover over an item and it will display a pop-up with an informative description of that item, which is better than clicking the item to find out what it did.
A great new addition to the game is the way in which you locate artifacts. Now you need a 'Detector' that will point you in the right direction of an artifact - but only if you're close enough to be in range of its scanning capability. Most of the artifacts are located in anomaly clusters which will kill you, but usually there is a safe route in and out to the treasure but you'll probably do a lot of dying before you find it. The beauty of this little introduction is that it really forces you to explore the map and makes 'artifact hunting' as enjoyable as whacking a group of bandits.
The developers have listened to the community and introduced 'Faction Wars' and 'Blowouts' to CS. Neither really work. In fact, I found 'Faction Wars' just don't work. I tried being a member of the 'Loners', 'Duty' and 'Freedom'. The 'Loners' only really care about killing the Bandits, and hardly venture past the Garbage - so FW is rather pointless with them. 'Freedom' are way too chilled out, and love 'smoking the reefa' so much that they can't be arsed to move further than the Garbage also. 'Duty' loved to advance, and I was able to get to the 'Freedom' base overrun it completed all of the FW objectives on my PDA but didn't get a reward. What a total waste of time, armour and bullets. Also I experienced multiple CTD when playing 'Faction Wars' with both Duty and Freedom (something like 15 in 3 hours). 'Blowouts' aren't random, they happen whenever you venture through 2 maps, or whenever you go into the Garbage; they are totally tedious.
The enemy are amazingly brilliant at throwing grenades, which I could forgive if I could do the same - but you can't as you throw like a little girl. And I want a Bandit jacket that can withstand a shotgun blast in the face at very close range; and honestly it was very close range. (As a side note - don't bother with shotguns they are pointless, even after upgrading - a better weapon is a decent pistol, longer range, much more accurate and quicker to reload).
Also I should mention the missions that are impossible to complete, like the 'go to X and get Y for me'; when you get to X, Y isn't there or I find Y but the mission never updates as complete, or the missions that are issued and failed immediately, or the missions that are issued and give you a certain amount of time to get there - not enough time; and you fail. They are quite annoying.
The atmosphere is lacking and is nowhere near as enthralling as SOC. It appears the developers have focused more on the 'Faction Wars' than the 'horror survival' of the first; which would be OK if 'Faction Wars' worked - but they don't they suck. The storyline isn't as interesting and the less said about the final mission at Chernobyl NPP the better. Not wanting to ruin it for people who haven't played it yet, so let's just say it's a bit gash.
Having said all the negatives, I still like this game. I just love the ability to roam around doing as I please, and it's as addictive as hell. I've played it constantly for about 3 weeks. My girlfriend asked me to grab some milk on the way home from work and I heard that little 'bleepepep' PDA noise go off in my head; I walked into the supermarket and wondered if there was anything good stashed in the electric box. Seriously, this game will take over your life; time will pass by as you play this and before you know it you've forgotten to go into work.
However, CS is not SOC and not even close to SOC with Oblivion Most mod. Keep working Dev's you'll get there eventually. Well, hopefully.
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