paecmaker
08-20-2011, 05:04 PM
"You walk in the empty and dark streets while tall and dark buildings throw their black shadows over you, the whole feeling here feels threatening and it almost feels like the city don’t want you there. Suddenly the silence is broken by a high and nonhuman scream. A strange beast jumps out from a dark alley and as you twist the beast comes closer, the short smatter of your gun is almost absorbed by the tall and gloomy buildings and soon the silence is retaking its place and you have just been turned to another one of Chernobyls forgotten ghosts."
Welcome to the zone, where man made hell.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of Pripyat
Call of Pripyat is a standalone sequel for shadow of Chernobyl and is set directly after the game
Some back ground info for those of you that haven’t played Stalker.
The Stalker games are set in a version of Chernobyl there the zone gone to hell.
1986 reactor four exploded and radiation spread across the land. An area of 30 square milometers was sealed of and all civilians was evacuated. Armed guards started patrolling the perimeter to see that no one slipped in to the zone. In the 90-s there are small reports of strange things in the pripyat area and a few years later a tourist bus disappears in the zone so the military seals of the zone completely.
In 2006 the sky is lit up by a second explosion killing many of the soldiers guarding the perimeter, while the zone itself grows by several kilometers.
Now there are coming many reports of strange things in the zone and that certain people sneak into the forbidden area to obtain whatever is hidden there.
By 2011-2012 the zone is full of dangerous things as scavangers(calling themselves Stalkers)
Its during this time the games are set.
Clear sky(the second game) is a prequel and explains some of the happenings of Shadow of Chernobyl(the first game) while call of pripyat is set precisely after SoC.
In shadow of Chernobyl you play as the marked one that are hunting this guy named Strelok. The middle of the zone(Pripyat and the nuclear powerplant mostly) are protected by something called the brain scorcher that makes everyone close to it crazy(If lucky)
This Strelok guy got passed the brain scorcher and now the marked one hunts for him.
In the events of SoC the brainscorcher is destroyed wich makes the middle of the zone open to the stalkers. Now this is when Call of pripyat starts.
The military finds out that the scorcher is down and launches a big operation. Several specially equipped helicopters are meant to fly to the middle of the zone and try to either destroy it or just try to know more about it. The operation is a fail, none of the helicopters return and it’s here you come in. In the game you play as a major that works for the government that is dropped off in the middle of the zone dressed as a stalker, your mission….to find the choppers and figure out why they crashed as looking for survivors.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Stalker is FPS style with a few rpg and horror influences.
The Stalker serie are famous for its steep learning curve and call of pripyat is probably the worst of all, in the predecessors you had a small tutorial and started in a safe spot. Here you are dumped in the middle of nowhere with an assault rifle and some ammo. From here, you are on your own.
First the zones, while the other games got more playable places (7-8 zones in SoC) while there are only three zones in call of Pripyat they are much bigger and of much more use. In the older games if you were in a high level place like red forest or pripyat you had to go through lots of maps full of mutants and bandits before getting to safer zones. In Clear sky that was partly solved with the guides but it wasn’t perfect, special guys could only lead you to one or two places.
In CoP most friendlies you see can guide you in the zone you are in but there are also guides for longer journies, and the fact there are only three zones makes travelling and exploration so much better. The exploration in call of pripyat is also very fun, there are lots of places to visit and many underground caves and stuff to explore.
To help you in the zone you got a PDA, in there you got a map that tells you everything of importence, like missions, interesting places and stashes. You can also watch your statistics and look at your message log. The map works really well, it’s easy to use and shows the most important things. What I do miss from the SoC is the encyclopedia, it was pretty bugged in that game but I thought it was funny to read about different artifacts and beast you encountered or heard about.
I would say that CoP is a mix from many of the best things from both shadow of Chernobyl and clear sky. In SoC there was this unbeatable atmosphere and creepy places but also bugs and problems with the design. Clear sky fixed many problems but was also a buggy story plus less creepy.
Call of pripyat is both creepy and got some good design things, and the bugs are mostly gone.
One thingI missed in SoC was the ability to repair and improve weapons, well it was there in clear sky and is here now, even better. In clear sky you had to find all these usb flashdrives to be able to improve several weapons, now you don’t have to. Instead you have to find tools for the engineers.
The weapons tree is divided into three parts, rough, fine and calibration. The engineer can do one or two changes without having tools but you have to find three types of tools(rough fine and calibration tools) to be able too upgrade the weapon completely, and remember that if you give a technician tools he and only he can upgrade your weapon to that level, to make other technicians able to upgrade your weapons also you need to find tools for them to.
http://all4game.info/images/games/stalker_call_of_pripyat-1255327383.jpg
Ahh, what would Stalker be without its vodka.
Now the Hud and inventory is much better than before. You got much information from your Hud, like stealth meter, noise level, health and stamina. If you enter a dangerous zone you will be warned, small symbols will show up on the right, ranging from heat, chemical and so on. Now you will also have the F1 –F4 marked as shortcuts for important stuff like med kits, bandages and radiation meds.
Battles in the game are mostly hard, before you get a good suit a few shots will kill you instantly, and even later shots are very dangerous. If you have been hit you will mostly start to bleed. If you forget that In the middle of a battle it can dramatically lower your health and even kill you so always look for the bleeding symbol.
http://www.fpsteam.it/img2009/Stalker-Call-of-Pripyat/Stalker-Call-of-Pripyat-03.jpg
Isnt it cute :kiss:
But it’s not only the alive(and undead) things that want you dead, the environment can be a big danger to. Even if anomalys aren’t everywhere like in SoC they can still be a danger in certain places, even more if you want artifacts. This means that if you want to grab artifacts(small glowing things) you have to go straight in to a biological minfield full of poison traps or fire balls. Even worse is that you cant see the artifacts with your naced eye, you have to use these instruments that in one way or another shows the “kinda” position of the artifact, when you stand next to it you can see it and pick it up. With the kinda I meant that some instruments show the exact position of the artifact while others only give you a hint of where the artifact hides.
But why would you want to risk your life to get small glowing balls? Because artifacts are about the most worth objects in the game, and even if you don’t sell them each artifact got an ability. Some artifacts can make you carry more objects while other regenerates your health, most artifacts also emits radiation so use them carefully(The effects are only seen if you equip them).
Despite all the danger of fires and chemicals the radiation is probably the most famous thing in the game(because it is set in Chernobyl). When exposed a small cracking sound is heard and the screen turns blurry, radiation will be built up as long as you stay in the irradiated position and won’t disappear until you treat it with either meds or vodka (which got other disadvantages)
The weapons in the game works good and behaves very different, different weapon uses different ammo so its important to know what weapons you want cause you can carry them all. Weapons also deteriorate and start to jam if you use them much, but you can fix it at the technicians.
In Clear sky they implemented the system faction wars. In short it was an allout war between the different factions in the game and you could choose a faction. This was like a war game, you take over their bases and defend your own.
In call of pripyat they took this away again. The factions are still there and are still at war but you cant join them and its not a really important thing in the game.
For the curious heres the different human factions in the game
All humans in the game are either some sort of stalker or military.
(lone)Stalkers- these guys are just normal stalkers that has allied themselfes to protect against bandits and the military.
Duty- these guys are often ex militaries that sees themselves as the police and the law. They want to destroy the zone, are at war with Freedom.
Freedom- These guys are like militant hippies, they sees the zone as a gift to mankind and wants the world to accept it. They are at war with Duty as they are the opposite of duty.
Bandits- these are thiefs and murderes, all factions are at war whith them(but not with the player).
Military- these guys see all stalkers as bandits and always attack stalkers no matter what faction they belong to.
Monolith- these guys are mysterious lunatics, they attack everyone and always fight to the death. Even worse, they seem to come from the middle of the zone.
I said that the game got RPG influences, and the biggest thing is the inventory. You can pick up loads of things ranging from weapons and armors to food and even drugs. You can’t carry infinite amount of things before you get overloaded and can’t move.
Other than that are the conversation tool, but there are no voices on minor characters so there will be lots of text if you talk to someone, and some text are just copy pasted to several characters.
Technology (graphics, sound, AI)
Call of Pripyat supports dx11 and even if the main graphics are mostly the same even a little better the graphics mostly look pretty dated. The lightning however is very nicely done and running around in the night during a thunderstorm is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. The flashes are seen in the dark night sky and during a moment the flash lights up the whole place. The lightning work is working well and with the shadows it’s even better. Even if there are games with better engines this engine really paints up Chernobyl as a dark and desolate place, the artstyle is just fantastic and I have seen many beautiful places and Pripyat itself is a marvelous and yet haunting place.
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/6771/xrengine201012031930181.png
One of the amazing lighning effects.
Improving the dampness and the fact that Chernobyl is a hostile place is the sounds. The ambient sounds are about the most creepy in a game ever, For example Pripyat, when you walk alone you can hear the quite sounds from a world long gone, you can almost hear the children sitting at their benches at the school, or the industrial machines working. The atmosphere in CoP is just unbeatlebell, I have played no game that sends me this chilling down my spine, not in scaryness but pure creepiness.
Sadfully the only part of the sounds that destroys the feeling totally is the voices of your fellow stalkers, just the thing that most greets you with a happy Howdy, no matter what happened before, maybe all of the squad died by monsters and you speak to the lone survivor that greets you with a Howdy or worse. Thankfully the ambient Russian talk feels much more better.
They cant talk but they can however fight. The AI in battles are a dangerous foe. They take cover, throw grenades and flank you. I have still seen in a moment or two people don’t caring that they are under fire or just refuses to move. One thing they can do however is to shoot you, the ai aims better than ever so keep your head down.
Even the animals got improved ai since last time. Instead of just rushing into battle (Even if they mostly do it anyway) many mutants use hit and run tactics and tries to surround you. Bloodsuckers for example assaults you and hits you one or twice, then they retreat and turns invisible again, just to attack again from another direction, but I have noticed that even if you harm the animals they still attack, even enemies that are supposed to be cowardice and not aggressive.
Now the ai is better for all enemies without one, can you guess it?
If you guessed the zombie you got right, yes this game got zombies in it and they are as stupid as ever, ok they can shoot, they can only shoot but they can shoot better than before so they have atleast worked with their aim.
Overview
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat is an open FPS with a few roleplay and horror influences. The game is set in a twisted version of Chernobyl where things literally gone ****. You are alone in a hostile world where you have to find out about a few missing choppers.
The game is very creepy and the atmosphere is just breathtaking, you will hardly relax when exploring. Then enemies will also add to your pulse, there are everything from hostile humans to invisible things to dwarfs in trenchcoats (?)
The game isn’t plagued by lots of bugs, I have only encountered a few that the most annoying is that sometimes the people Im talking to just start to walk away thus ending the conversation. And yes you can speak to people, and trade and just kill them if you want that. The game also got a pretty complex weapons upgrade system and a complex health system.
The graphics aren’t the best but they with the sounds make the atmosphere almost unbreakable (except from the awful English voices)
Points
Gameplay- 9/10- its hard and unforgiving but the exploring is just the best
Graphics- 8/10- the graphics are pretty dated but I can’t deny that the game can look stunning in work with lightning effects and shadows.
Sound- 8/10- The sounds would be perfect if it weren’t for the awful voices,thankgod they aren’t a bigger part of the game
Total 8,5/10- The game is the most stable game in the serie and an extrodinary journey, Even if it lacks a bit of the surprise elements from the first game nothing can make you jump as a beast jumping just infront of your camera.
Welcome to the zone, where man made hell.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of Pripyat
Call of Pripyat is a standalone sequel for shadow of Chernobyl and is set directly after the game
Some back ground info for those of you that haven’t played Stalker.
The Stalker games are set in a version of Chernobyl there the zone gone to hell.
1986 reactor four exploded and radiation spread across the land. An area of 30 square milometers was sealed of and all civilians was evacuated. Armed guards started patrolling the perimeter to see that no one slipped in to the zone. In the 90-s there are small reports of strange things in the pripyat area and a few years later a tourist bus disappears in the zone so the military seals of the zone completely.
In 2006 the sky is lit up by a second explosion killing many of the soldiers guarding the perimeter, while the zone itself grows by several kilometers.
Now there are coming many reports of strange things in the zone and that certain people sneak into the forbidden area to obtain whatever is hidden there.
By 2011-2012 the zone is full of dangerous things as scavangers(calling themselves Stalkers)
Its during this time the games are set.
Clear sky(the second game) is a prequel and explains some of the happenings of Shadow of Chernobyl(the first game) while call of pripyat is set precisely after SoC.
In shadow of Chernobyl you play as the marked one that are hunting this guy named Strelok. The middle of the zone(Pripyat and the nuclear powerplant mostly) are protected by something called the brain scorcher that makes everyone close to it crazy(If lucky)
This Strelok guy got passed the brain scorcher and now the marked one hunts for him.
In the events of SoC the brainscorcher is destroyed wich makes the middle of the zone open to the stalkers. Now this is when Call of pripyat starts.
The military finds out that the scorcher is down and launches a big operation. Several specially equipped helicopters are meant to fly to the middle of the zone and try to either destroy it or just try to know more about it. The operation is a fail, none of the helicopters return and it’s here you come in. In the game you play as a major that works for the government that is dropped off in the middle of the zone dressed as a stalker, your mission….to find the choppers and figure out why they crashed as looking for survivors.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Stalker is FPS style with a few rpg and horror influences.
The Stalker serie are famous for its steep learning curve and call of pripyat is probably the worst of all, in the predecessors you had a small tutorial and started in a safe spot. Here you are dumped in the middle of nowhere with an assault rifle and some ammo. From here, you are on your own.
First the zones, while the other games got more playable places (7-8 zones in SoC) while there are only three zones in call of Pripyat they are much bigger and of much more use. In the older games if you were in a high level place like red forest or pripyat you had to go through lots of maps full of mutants and bandits before getting to safer zones. In Clear sky that was partly solved with the guides but it wasn’t perfect, special guys could only lead you to one or two places.
In CoP most friendlies you see can guide you in the zone you are in but there are also guides for longer journies, and the fact there are only three zones makes travelling and exploration so much better. The exploration in call of pripyat is also very fun, there are lots of places to visit and many underground caves and stuff to explore.
To help you in the zone you got a PDA, in there you got a map that tells you everything of importence, like missions, interesting places and stashes. You can also watch your statistics and look at your message log. The map works really well, it’s easy to use and shows the most important things. What I do miss from the SoC is the encyclopedia, it was pretty bugged in that game but I thought it was funny to read about different artifacts and beast you encountered or heard about.
I would say that CoP is a mix from many of the best things from both shadow of Chernobyl and clear sky. In SoC there was this unbeatable atmosphere and creepy places but also bugs and problems with the design. Clear sky fixed many problems but was also a buggy story plus less creepy.
Call of pripyat is both creepy and got some good design things, and the bugs are mostly gone.
One thingI missed in SoC was the ability to repair and improve weapons, well it was there in clear sky and is here now, even better. In clear sky you had to find all these usb flashdrives to be able to improve several weapons, now you don’t have to. Instead you have to find tools for the engineers.
The weapons tree is divided into three parts, rough, fine and calibration. The engineer can do one or two changes without having tools but you have to find three types of tools(rough fine and calibration tools) to be able too upgrade the weapon completely, and remember that if you give a technician tools he and only he can upgrade your weapon to that level, to make other technicians able to upgrade your weapons also you need to find tools for them to.
http://all4game.info/images/games/stalker_call_of_pripyat-1255327383.jpg
Ahh, what would Stalker be without its vodka.
Now the Hud and inventory is much better than before. You got much information from your Hud, like stealth meter, noise level, health and stamina. If you enter a dangerous zone you will be warned, small symbols will show up on the right, ranging from heat, chemical and so on. Now you will also have the F1 –F4 marked as shortcuts for important stuff like med kits, bandages and radiation meds.
Battles in the game are mostly hard, before you get a good suit a few shots will kill you instantly, and even later shots are very dangerous. If you have been hit you will mostly start to bleed. If you forget that In the middle of a battle it can dramatically lower your health and even kill you so always look for the bleeding symbol.
http://www.fpsteam.it/img2009/Stalker-Call-of-Pripyat/Stalker-Call-of-Pripyat-03.jpg
Isnt it cute :kiss:
But it’s not only the alive(and undead) things that want you dead, the environment can be a big danger to. Even if anomalys aren’t everywhere like in SoC they can still be a danger in certain places, even more if you want artifacts. This means that if you want to grab artifacts(small glowing things) you have to go straight in to a biological minfield full of poison traps or fire balls. Even worse is that you cant see the artifacts with your naced eye, you have to use these instruments that in one way or another shows the “kinda” position of the artifact, when you stand next to it you can see it and pick it up. With the kinda I meant that some instruments show the exact position of the artifact while others only give you a hint of where the artifact hides.
But why would you want to risk your life to get small glowing balls? Because artifacts are about the most worth objects in the game, and even if you don’t sell them each artifact got an ability. Some artifacts can make you carry more objects while other regenerates your health, most artifacts also emits radiation so use them carefully(The effects are only seen if you equip them).
Despite all the danger of fires and chemicals the radiation is probably the most famous thing in the game(because it is set in Chernobyl). When exposed a small cracking sound is heard and the screen turns blurry, radiation will be built up as long as you stay in the irradiated position and won’t disappear until you treat it with either meds or vodka (which got other disadvantages)
The weapons in the game works good and behaves very different, different weapon uses different ammo so its important to know what weapons you want cause you can carry them all. Weapons also deteriorate and start to jam if you use them much, but you can fix it at the technicians.
In Clear sky they implemented the system faction wars. In short it was an allout war between the different factions in the game and you could choose a faction. This was like a war game, you take over their bases and defend your own.
In call of pripyat they took this away again. The factions are still there and are still at war but you cant join them and its not a really important thing in the game.
For the curious heres the different human factions in the game
All humans in the game are either some sort of stalker or military.
(lone)Stalkers- these guys are just normal stalkers that has allied themselfes to protect against bandits and the military.
Duty- these guys are often ex militaries that sees themselves as the police and the law. They want to destroy the zone, are at war with Freedom.
Freedom- These guys are like militant hippies, they sees the zone as a gift to mankind and wants the world to accept it. They are at war with Duty as they are the opposite of duty.
Bandits- these are thiefs and murderes, all factions are at war whith them(but not with the player).
Military- these guys see all stalkers as bandits and always attack stalkers no matter what faction they belong to.
Monolith- these guys are mysterious lunatics, they attack everyone and always fight to the death. Even worse, they seem to come from the middle of the zone.
I said that the game got RPG influences, and the biggest thing is the inventory. You can pick up loads of things ranging from weapons and armors to food and even drugs. You can’t carry infinite amount of things before you get overloaded and can’t move.
Other than that are the conversation tool, but there are no voices on minor characters so there will be lots of text if you talk to someone, and some text are just copy pasted to several characters.
Technology (graphics, sound, AI)
Call of Pripyat supports dx11 and even if the main graphics are mostly the same even a little better the graphics mostly look pretty dated. The lightning however is very nicely done and running around in the night during a thunderstorm is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. The flashes are seen in the dark night sky and during a moment the flash lights up the whole place. The lightning work is working well and with the shadows it’s even better. Even if there are games with better engines this engine really paints up Chernobyl as a dark and desolate place, the artstyle is just fantastic and I have seen many beautiful places and Pripyat itself is a marvelous and yet haunting place.
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/6771/xrengine201012031930181.png
One of the amazing lighning effects.
Improving the dampness and the fact that Chernobyl is a hostile place is the sounds. The ambient sounds are about the most creepy in a game ever, For example Pripyat, when you walk alone you can hear the quite sounds from a world long gone, you can almost hear the children sitting at their benches at the school, or the industrial machines working. The atmosphere in CoP is just unbeatlebell, I have played no game that sends me this chilling down my spine, not in scaryness but pure creepiness.
Sadfully the only part of the sounds that destroys the feeling totally is the voices of your fellow stalkers, just the thing that most greets you with a happy Howdy, no matter what happened before, maybe all of the squad died by monsters and you speak to the lone survivor that greets you with a Howdy or worse. Thankfully the ambient Russian talk feels much more better.
They cant talk but they can however fight. The AI in battles are a dangerous foe. They take cover, throw grenades and flank you. I have still seen in a moment or two people don’t caring that they are under fire or just refuses to move. One thing they can do however is to shoot you, the ai aims better than ever so keep your head down.
Even the animals got improved ai since last time. Instead of just rushing into battle (Even if they mostly do it anyway) many mutants use hit and run tactics and tries to surround you. Bloodsuckers for example assaults you and hits you one or twice, then they retreat and turns invisible again, just to attack again from another direction, but I have noticed that even if you harm the animals they still attack, even enemies that are supposed to be cowardice and not aggressive.
Now the ai is better for all enemies without one, can you guess it?
If you guessed the zombie you got right, yes this game got zombies in it and they are as stupid as ever, ok they can shoot, they can only shoot but they can shoot better than before so they have atleast worked with their aim.
Overview
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat is an open FPS with a few roleplay and horror influences. The game is set in a twisted version of Chernobyl where things literally gone ****. You are alone in a hostile world where you have to find out about a few missing choppers.
The game is very creepy and the atmosphere is just breathtaking, you will hardly relax when exploring. Then enemies will also add to your pulse, there are everything from hostile humans to invisible things to dwarfs in trenchcoats (?)
The game isn’t plagued by lots of bugs, I have only encountered a few that the most annoying is that sometimes the people Im talking to just start to walk away thus ending the conversation. And yes you can speak to people, and trade and just kill them if you want that. The game also got a pretty complex weapons upgrade system and a complex health system.
The graphics aren’t the best but they with the sounds make the atmosphere almost unbreakable (except from the awful English voices)
Points
Gameplay- 9/10- its hard and unforgiving but the exploring is just the best
Graphics- 8/10- the graphics are pretty dated but I can’t deny that the game can look stunning in work with lightning effects and shadows.
Sound- 8/10- The sounds would be perfect if it weren’t for the awful voices,thankgod they aren’t a bigger part of the game
Total 8,5/10- The game is the most stable game in the serie and an extrodinary journey, Even if it lacks a bit of the surprise elements from the first game nothing can make you jump as a beast jumping just infront of your camera.