Zero Punctuation: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Stalker is fun... once you find the right weapon to use - go for the submachine gun and aim generally for the head- you won't hit it spot on, but because of its handling and rate of fire- you're bound to land a headshot within the few rounds you spew at them.
I do love the relative realism (not when you go hide around a corner, and it seems all your enemies have taken a dare each to go in one by one to see if you're still in the mood to chat while you're more interested in surprising each and one of them with a bullet or two). When you attack a bunch of pathetic dogs- well, they're not so pathetic when they gather around you and make you look like you pathetically fell into a lions den. Full of really hungry lions.
What lacks realism is when you use enough ammunition to take down... lets say an armored truck, it doesn't seem to be enough to take down a relatively squishy yet agitated mutant.
I do love the relative realism (not when you go hide around a corner, and it seems all your enemies have taken a dare each to go in one by one to see if you're still in the mood to chat while you're more interested in surprising each and one of them with a bullet or two). When you attack a bunch of pathetic dogs- well, they're not so pathetic when they gather around you and make you look like you pathetically fell into a lions den. Full of really hungry lions.
What lacks realism is when you use enough ammunition to take down... lets say an armored truck, it doesn't seem to be enough to take down a relatively squishy yet agitated mutant.
I must say, great review Yahtzee. The "I'd suck at this in real life" bit was a great intro into what appeared to be a realistically-difficult FPS. And the freeze/crash bit was very well done (screw everyone who says it was obvious; if it's so obvious, why doesn't anybody else use it?).
It's good to see a review which is just about the game itself (with a sidebar reference to real life) and takes time to focus on all of its qualities, not just the good or bad.
One thing you should consider is the time and emphasis you put on individual points. Difficult with a 4 minute clip I'm sure, but the time and emphasis are what give the viewer a sense of how important you thought each point was.
It's good to see a review which is just about the game itself (with a sidebar reference to real life) and takes time to focus on all of its qualities, not just the good or bad.
One thing you should consider is the time and emphasis you put on individual points. Difficult with a 4 minute clip I'm sure, but the time and emphasis are what give the viewer a sense of how important you thought each point was.
@Alydr very well said!
what i meant about the traders is that they give way too little, even your own factions trader.
to raise any useable money you have to run 6 times back and forth with only loot (things you are not gonna sell are left in a stash to save weight). now you can buy your first nato-ammo gun. then you run 10 more times and you can upgrade it to reasonable accuracy.
this is not good gameplay, i believe this is what wow-players have to put up with...(i will never find out, cos i'll never play it)
at night, as long as you sneak, the enemy remains oblivious of your presence.
but once they've spotted you, it's like you have a big f-ing lightbulb on top of your head that no one can miss.
and the thing i liked most about SoC is the extremely creepy and terrifying indoor enviroments, with all the background sounds that scare the shit out of you. and overall all the cool stuff to discover and explore.
clear sky is more showing off open spaces design, and hell, they are REALLY nice, but there's no indoor enviroments, no secret labs conducting shady research to explore
@yahtzee no comment about the graphics???
the graphics of s-cs is at least on par with crysis
ofc you need a 4870x2 to max out the game with playable fps
which i believe is well within your budget, many times over
what i meant about the traders is that they give way too little, even your own factions trader.
to raise any useable money you have to run 6 times back and forth with only loot (things you are not gonna sell are left in a stash to save weight). now you can buy your first nato-ammo gun. then you run 10 more times and you can upgrade it to reasonable accuracy.
this is not good gameplay, i believe this is what wow-players have to put up with...(i will never find out, cos i'll never play it)
at night, as long as you sneak, the enemy remains oblivious of your presence.
but once they've spotted you, it's like you have a big f-ing lightbulb on top of your head that no one can miss.
and the thing i liked most about SoC is the extremely creepy and terrifying indoor enviroments, with all the background sounds that scare the shit out of you. and overall all the cool stuff to discover and explore.
clear sky is more showing off open spaces design, and hell, they are REALLY nice, but there's no indoor enviroments, no secret labs conducting shady research to explore
@yahtzee no comment about the graphics???
the graphics of s-cs is at least on par with crysis
ofc you need a 4870x2 to max out the game with playable fps
which i believe is well within your budget, many times over
Great review. I think my dad was wondering what I was laughing so much at. I must say I enjoyed the original Stalker immensely, despite it starting off incredibly hard (a good thing) and ending up far too easy. I was tempted to get this but the consistently average reviews have put me off slightly.
Personally, I really like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (especially the first one), but I can understand why some people don't. I think this is one of the better videos in quite some time, I had to keep my laughter in check this time. The past few ones have been kind of boring, perhaps because I don't actually have those games. I can't wait for nest week's ZP!
While he got the story wrong (on purpose, most likely, but the story's kinda important for this game) 'twas a good review overall. Being a huge fan of the first game will ensure that I buy the second one. As for difficulty, well, yes. It's fucking hard, but that makes it all the more worthwhile. On the whole, STALKER is probably the best FPS game series out there. Hooray for not-always-100%-accurate-magic-weapons.
Don't you mean Clive Barker's Clive Barker's Jericho By Clive Barker? (joking...)fullbleed post=6.74071.821065 said:
Back on topic, I most definitely agree that this is the best ZP review to date. I watched it a second time and still cracked up on the "...and whistled for a baboon." part. Then I took a closer look at the "error" boxes to find strange messages... Thanks, Yahtzee, for putting something in there for us obsessive types.
Stalker was one of those games I thought I'd get into immediately, but it completely lost me right off the bat, so I've got no desire for the sequel. I wish they'd just made it a real post apocalyptic RPG and not tried to create a little oasis of Hell in the middle of the modern world, since that really makes it feel forced. That's on top of the quirky, buggy gameplay and the bizarre difficulty setting.
Kudos to them for trying something unique, but they really should have gone at it from a different angle.
Kudos to them for trying something unique, but they really should have gone at it from a different angle.