Stalker: Call of Pripyat, game review (video). Review of "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat." Further into the Zone, closer to the sky... - Video reviews on XGames Game TV Stalker Call of Pripyat review
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.
IN new game There are also huge disadvantages that 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 Kyiv 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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« 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 that there weren't enough interesting tasks. 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 skies“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 one could not 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: convenient map with key locations marked, inventory and radar slightly adjusted, four cells 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 in order here too: the frame rate compared to Clear Sky has doubled even by 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, with a fair life simulation system and well optimized. Good game without any “buts” and “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.
Replay value-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.
STALKER Call of Pripyat is the third part game series"Stalker". In the final game of the series, the developers tried to refine and optimize the project as best as possible. As a result, fans got the "Stalker" they were waiting for: with a heavy atmosphere, increased complexity, a feeling of hopelessness and love game mechanics. This is how “Stalker: Call of Pripyat” turned out. For system requirements, an overview of the game and mechanics, read further in the article.
Game idea
From game to game, the concept of the Stalker series did not change at all. The player plays the role of a lone stalker who encounters various groups along the way. Whether you join them or start a war is up to you. Such decisions also affect plot twists. Frankly speaking, in the third game the story does not shine with interesting characters or colorful dialogues. Everything is done in the usual “Stalker” style: laconic characters, sharp, abrupt phrases and tasks that, in their wording, are more reminiscent of an order from their superiors.
However, no one has ever called the game "Stalker" friendly and welcoming to new players. Why? This point is worth explaining in more detail.
Game mechanics
For "Stalker: Call of Pripyat" system requirements became a stumbling block. Despite the standard requirements for its time, the game received disgusting optimization. One could turn a blind eye to this oversight if the game received new engine, which has not yet been tested by developers, and modern graphics. However, everything turned out rather sadly. For “Stalker: Call of Pripyat” the system requirements are too high, and the player gets a dubious result: the graphics completely replicate “Clear Sky”, with more effects applied to it.
But what fans of the series and setting will not endure for the sake of spending dozens of hours in their favorite game! Fans of the game claim that they got exactly what they wanted when the very first part was released. And although the assessments of gaming journalists turned out to be very contradictory, the reviews from fans were mostly positive.
“Stalker: Call of Pripyat”, the system requirements of which will be written below, was several years late with its release. This is exactly how GSC studio planned to release Shadows of Chernobyl. The developers did not have enough budget for a full-fledged second part. Mixed valuations led to low sales, forcing the company to close. Many fans are still hoping for the announcement of a full-fledged second part of Stalker.
Stalker: system requirements, “Call of Pripyat”
To start the game on minimum settings quality graphics, you will need to install the game on a computer with at least the following configuration: Pentium 4 processor or similar from AMD, 512 MB of RAM, video card with 128 MB of memory.
These are the system requirements of Stalker (minimum). For a full game with best quality graphics you will need: a 2-core Core 2 Duo processor or similar from AMD with a frequency of 2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 512 MB of video memory. However, even with this configuration, the game does not guarantee stable FPS and will not freeze. For comfortable gameplay, it is advisable to stock up on a more powerful video card and add another 1-2 GB of RAM.
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 graph will spoil the impression of getting to know updated version Zones: some are immersed in the atmosphere of hunting for a chimera, and some of us will only wince from participating in a ridiculous school performance with logs in 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.
Hello to all artifact seekers. Come and sit by the fire, now I’ll tell you about one of the best games in the CIS – Stalker Call Pripyat.
The special thing was that GSC Game World listened to the requests of the fans, and made the final part of the series the way the audience wanted it to be. Thanks to this, players replay the project over and over again, both in its original form and with various mods.
Each part of the Stalker series was unique and gave players a huge amount of impressions and emotions. But it was the last one that became the most relevant - Call of Pripyat.
Three large locations, a wide arsenal of weapons and artifacts, the ability to improve equipment, interesting side quests, best graphics from the entire line they made the game into a simply fantastic project. But, let's look at each part of the game separately.
So, I begin my review of Stalker Call of Pripyat. Go!
Locations
The location system in the game has changed significantly compared to Clear Sky or Shadow of Chernobyl. Previously, the player wandered through dozens of different territories, half of which were filled with anomalies, and the other half with textures, so it turned out that there seemed to be open world, but most of it is not available to us.
In Call of Pripyat they did it differently. Now gamers have access to 3 locations that are completely open for exploration. Each territory will open as you complete story quests. That is, if you go through the plot, you can complete the entire game in 3-4 hours and end there, but if you do Additional tasks, then the game process is delayed for a day.
Let's now look at each location separately.
Backwater. Starting location. Most of the area is a swamp with small factory complexes and huge crevices in the ground. The swamp is teeming with all sorts of mutants and bandits, it’s better not to walk here at night, otherwise you might run into a snork, the complexes have been chosen by mercenaries, and the crevices are full of anomalies and artifacts.
If you don’t like the location, you can leave it within an hour, just do the storyline and you will be given the opportunity to move to Yanov. But don't rush. Side quests in Call of Pripyat are very interesting and have their own scenarios that can drag you down.
After completing additional tasks, you will be able to meet a cannibal, destroy the lair of bloodsuckers, get a unique artifact and much more. I recommend thoroughly exploring the area before moving to the next zone.
Yanov. Second location in the game. Everything is much more interesting here. We will meet the familiar groups Duty and Freedom. In addition to them, on the territory there is a bunker of scientists, a camp of bandits and a place in which a unique artifact, the Heart of the Oasis, is hidden.
Here you can join one of the groups, help scientists conduct research, save a stalker from bandits demanding a debt, rescue a group of mercenaries from an unknown anomaly. Each quest has its own charismatic characters who will tell you interesting story, and will help in addition to the main storyline see a dozen other scripts.
Pripyat. Now we have reached the heart of the zone. This city is one of the best locations in all parts of the game. Explore every street, every house and compare how similar the game is to real objects.
After playing Stalker Call of Pripyat, you can consider that you were in Pripyat, because most of the key objects are implemented in detail in the game. All this is done in the spirit of Stalker and helps to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere. In general, the location, in addition to the picturesque landscapes of the city, can offer a number of quests that will also appeal to gamers.
The best thing about this game is that each mission is a different story. There are no cliched “Bring me an artifact” or “Kill a mercenary named ****” here. The zone is alive and everything in it flows under its own power. Therefore, the project is interesting to play, even if you have already completed it several times.
Gameplay
Just a living game world is not enough to achieve the devotion of gamers. For total immersion the gameplay should be interesting and exciting. At the same time, after tens of hours, you shouldn’t get tired of playing no matter what. To achieve this, GSC Game World added many other interesting features to the game in addition to side quests.
Search for artifacts. Do you want to save up for new armor or improve radiation protection? Artifacts can help you. They can be inserted into special containers, and each artifact will provide certain bonuses that strengthen the player.
If you have no problems with this, then you can sell rare items and buy new weapons or armor. The process of searching for these rare things is already enough exciting process, which helps to significantly diversify the game.
Equipment. Finding new clothes is another integral part gameplay. After all, who doesn’t want to get an exoskeleton or a Gauss gun? To do this, you will have to work hard, completing additional tasks for key characters or placing orders from sellers.
As soon as you get the equipment you want, you will need to improve it; to do this, you will have to look for tool boxes that are scattered throughout all three locations of the game. In general, all this does not allow you to get bored while playing.
Combat system. All of the above would have no weight before the main part of the game - shootouts. The zone is a dangerous and harsh place, where at every step another bloodsucker or mercenary awaits you, with whom you have to deal.
If GSC Game World had poorly implemented the combat, it would have been a complete failure, since this is the main part of the game, taking up 70% of the time. Fortunately, everything worked out well and the shooting was done at a high level.
Your HP melts quickly and some stalker will be able to take your character out of a few accurate shots. Therefore, you have to play carefully and avoid big clashes. But when you have good gear, you can fight with an entire group.
Search for hiding places. Unlike other parts of the series, here this process is implemented in an interesting way, and the loot in the caches is really worthwhile. In Clear Sky, you could be forced to go into a wild boar's den for a backpack with one first aid kit. In Call of Pripyat, all caches store a large number of different things, from first aid kits to unique weapons.
Searching for caches is not easy, because first you need to buy information or find it in the corpses of enemies. But even if you know the exact location, it’s not a fact that you can get to it. I used to sit for hours and think about how to get on this damn roof.
The game world is alive, where you can always just listen to songs with a guitar near the fire or farm for yourself new gear. Do whatever your heart desires, Stalker Call of Pripyat, nothing limits you.
Player support
If you are still in doubt about whether to play the game or not, for example, because of old graphics or poor detail, or maybe you are confused by the dull plot or outdated interface, do not worry about it. The game is so popular with gamers that even after 9 years, modifications are regularly released that improve the graphics tenfold, update the interface, add new weapons, locations and tasks.
So if you are afraid to play old game, just update it with mods, one of which is Misery. It will significantly improve the picture, change the interface and completely change the game.
On my blog you can find an article about the 5 best mods for Stalker Call of Pripyat, which improve the game several times. I highly recommend checking it out.
This concludes my review of the legendary project Stalker Call of Pripyat. Subscribe to the blog and don't forget to read other articles on the topic. See you soon, dear readers.
