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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Preview
GSC's FPS is finally out from under the shadow of delays
GSC's FPS is finally out from under the shadow of delays
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Screenshots
June 15, 2006 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is one of those games that's going to have a lot to prove when it's finally released. In development before we wrote our first article on the game back in 2002, the game suffered delay after delay and had pretty much disappeared off of the radar until this year's E3, where THQ demonstrated, behind closed doors, what's been done with the game. We were lucky enough to be invited to participate in the showing. Unfortunately, we had to wait until today to share our thoughts. The sad news is that the engine, one of the original selling points, while certainly still decent, isn't quite as lovely as it once was. The good news is the game looks to be on track, thanks to a little guidance from a THQ producer more familiar with working on large-scale products. Features have been shuffled in a positive way, goals have been realigned, and entertainment has become the focus. The most painful thing was having to sit four feet from a screen and watch someone else play instead of getting our hands on the game ourselves.
It definitely was good to see the game up and running at E3. Having been so long since the game had been shown at all was making us a bit nervous about whether the project would end up in the dumpster after all of the trials and tribulations of development. Not only did we get a chance to see the game running, there was actually a good bit of real gameplay shown including heavy combat and some of the mission structure.
Those unfamiliar with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (henceforth known as simply "Stalker" in this article) should know some basics. You will take the role of a freelance military treasure hunter on a quest to uncover some of the big mysteries surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. As one of these Stalkers, you'll have to play through missions, gather equipment, make friends and enemies, and fight for survival in order to push farther into the quarantine zone. Compared to most shooters around, Stalker is set in a very open environment 300 square kilometers in size, where players can wander and encounter other Stalkers, police, animals, and mutants of varying degrees of freakishness.
The story is still a bit of a mystery. What we know is that the area surrounding the Chernobyl disaster known as "The Zone" went active again in 2008, sending clouds of radiation spewing around the landscape. A large area was cordoned off by the military as expeditions into the Zone were ripped apart by strange anomalies and attacked by seemingly impossible mutant creatures. In 2010, new expeditions were sent farther into the Zone even with the dangers. New groups like the Stalkers began appearing in order to move into the zone and collect artifacts to sell for huge profits, while scientists searched for the reasons for the unexplained secondary catastrophe in 2008. Players will step right into the middle of this mess.
Among the features touted as next-generation is the living-world simulation that's constantly happening while the game is playing. Animals are out and about killing each other for food, mutants are constantly roaming around looking for the next person to creep out, and other Stalkers are wandering the landscape looking for treasure as well. One of the cool things about this is the relationships created in your dealings with all of the various wandering factions. Depending on how you interact with various groups, different missions will open up, like the first mission that was demonstrated at the show.
In this particular mission, the player character had become allies with a certain set of Stalkers, who in turn ended up asking the player to come along on a mission. This was completely dependant on previous interaction. Had the player traded bullets with these guys or pissed them off in some other way, the mission wouldn't be available. In fact, they'd shoot on sight. But instead, the group banded together to take on some local police that had captured one of their friends named Mole.
The combat routines for the AI were actually pretty decent. All of the AI looked for cover, were pretty aggressive, and seemed to work together to create heftier challenges. The action was much more fast-paced than I remember it being, although we had seen so little of it vs. other "humans" that maybe it was just a pleasant surprise to finally see the artificial intelligence given some life.
After taking out the military forces with the help of the other Stalkers and saving Mole, he provided the next step of the gameplay, which moved into an underground facility. While pretty much everything above ground has been accurately modeled to look almost exactly like the actual area around Chernobyl, these areas below the surface allow the developers to take a more creative approach and sculpt the pace of gameplay.
The underground area showed off the game's good use of lighting for mood and a bit more of the close-quarters combat. Among the enemies in this area were one of the game's mutant creatures, a humanoid with a missing lower jaw and tentacles growing from its face, that we've been seeing in screens for a while. These guys are apparently incredibly tough to take down, as it ate bullet after bullet before eating the main character's head for lunch.
Combat definitely leans more towards Rainbow Six than DOOM, especially when fighting with human characters, but it really lies somewhere in between. Basically, that means there's more running around than you might see in Rainbow Six, but weapons and tactics lean towards a much more cautious approach, since weapons and damage tend to be handled more realistically than in a fraggy game like Quake. One thing it did was make us want to get in and play a bit for ourselves to see how the control and weapons feel. Hopefully we'll have a chance to test the game out later this year and let you know how it feels.
One of the things the development team was really hoping to bring to Stalker was a sense of realism while playing which includes an incredibly healthy library of weapons. Players will have a chance to get their hands on an awesome variety of basic handguns, automatic rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and so on. Many of these weapons can be modified with extras like scopes as well so players will really have a chance to customize their combat experience.
Weapons and equipment will need to fit into a backpack using a grid inventory system, which anyone that's played Diablo will be familiar with. Though this type of inventory can turn into a time-consuming mini-game of its own, it also means careful choice will have to be given to what and how much of each item is carried along into any encounter. For a game that's based in a real-world(ish) setting, it's an important idea.
Some of the realism will be toned down. Details like needing to collect specific ammo for each of the different weapons in order to use them could get the axe. There's talk that ammo will be split into a few different and basic types to make the acquisition a little easier.
That decision wouldn't be surprising after some of the other changes that have been made to make sure players are focusing on the fun of the gameplay rather than micromanagement of little things. Originally, players were going to have to eat and sleep to stay alive, but those features have been eliminated altogether. While eating is still possible to regain some health, it's not something that will interfere with the core elements of play.
Another feature that's been removed (much to our relief) is the idea that other Stalker NPCs would be running around the world trying to complete the same goals as the player. While that idea was interesting in some respects, it meant that an NPC could potentially end up finishing the game instead of the player. Playing through 20 or more hours of gameplay only to find that some computer controlled AI had solved the main quest sounded frustrating as all hell. The removal of that aspect of the game should allow more of a chance to explore and experience the environment without that pressure of failure looming above. Considering the size of the game world and level of detail shown in replicating the area, it would have been a shame to have to simply run by it without being able to stop and smell the radiation.
Visually, the game is obviously not quite as impressive looking as it was back when it was first announced. It's not exactly surprising, considering how many times the game has been delayed. This isn't to say that the game looks bad. It doesn't. Architecture is very accurate and really does look good, and indoor environments still look very decent thanks to their lighting system. Either way, while Stalker might not be able to stand toe to toe with games like Crysis, FEAR, Prey, or Unreal Tournament 2007, it still looks good enough for us to enjoy.
We definitely want to get our hands on the game for an extended period of time. Watching a demo is great, but we need to experience first hand how everything controls and how the game all fits together with missions, quests, and story. The idea of the game is still very appealing and what was shown definitely looked fun. For right now, it's good to know that the game is still alive and kicking and will be released in early 2007.
source : IGN
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