| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (PC DVD) | 
 enlarge | From: Focus Multimedia Ltd
Category: Video Games
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £4.64
You Save: £5.35 (54%)
Buy New/Used from £3.45
Avg. Customer Rating:   (7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1244
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Media: DVD-ROM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
EAN: 5031366017635
ASIN: B00186NJF8
Release Date: May 2, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 what's the point? November 16, 2008
The game would not load. There was extra instuctions about changing your virtual memory on your pc in order to play the game but to no avail. My PC is top notch and plays everything else available but it won't play this game! What the hell is a swap file anyway???
What is the point of making a game that won't play on decent spec computers? Unfortunately I have thrown away my amazon receipt, so I can't even send it back......probably.
 Pure class October 14, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This game is pure class. Think Oblivion with guns, as opposed to all the other FPSs out there. The RPG aspect isn't overdone though. Its just enough to keep you interested.
If you are umming and ahhing about getting this game then do the following:
1. Buy it.
2. Download the 1.5 patch.
3. Download the "Oblivion Lost" mod.
The patch fixes most of the bugs. The mod gets rid of the others. The mod also adds stuff. You can carry more kit for a start. You can also continue playing the game once you have finished. Plus you can upgrade artifacts and play with more weapons etc. With the Oblivion Lost mod (which is free) you will gain hours of extra gameplay and make this the bargain of the decade.
Also, it ran out of the box on my Vista rig. But I applied all the patches first so perhaps that's the trick?
One final thing, if you are not paying attention to the plot in the game you will finish the game early. There are actually three possible endings.
Fun game, if repetitive September 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
STALKER is a great game, one which kept my attention for several weeks. The game looks very good, and plays well. The controls and camera work well, although I was dismayed at the lack of a pause at the inventory screen, meaning you could die before reaching the anti-radiation drugs (I guess that's part of the realism). The plot is well done, and the cut-scenes, although sparse, look great. Towards the end, however, I found myself getting a little bored at the repetitive nature of the game, and there were some bugs that caused the game to crash (though these were few and far between).
All in all, the game itself is remarkably well done, with a fantastic atmosphere, and very enjoyable guitar pieces performed by other stalkers.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. debugged? No. September 10, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I originally bought STALKER on it's release over a year ago, and like a lot of people, found it to be a deeply atmospheric and characterful experience in a very original setting.
Unfortunately, it was also unplayably buggy and I had to abandon it halfway through because a mission bug had made it impossible for me to continue. I uninstalled and the DVD went back on the shelf, forgotten for a year...
Anticipating the release of 'stalker: clear sky' I decided to install 'Shadow of Chernobyl' again and see what patches were available - maybe it had been fixed over the intervening months and I could actually get through it this time :)
I downloaded the official 1.0005 patch and a mod called 'The Zone Reclamation Project' which together are claimed to fix *most* of the issues that stopped me playing the first time around. I've been playing for a few hours now and everything seems smoother and there have been no signs of any mission bugs, which would have shown up by now in the unpatched game.
FINALLY after over a year, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl seems to be close to the game it was supposed to be, and it is as moody, dark, scary and challenging as ever.
If you're bored of the usual linear story-driven FPS, give Stalker a go. The setting is perfect, the radioactive badlands around Chernobyl are among the most distinctive locations ever seen in a video game. No game since System Shock (1 or 2) has done such a good job in putting the player in a believable place, the open ended approach means that the player rarely feels directed or hemmed in. The firefights are tough and chunky, the enemy AI is more than adequate, and some of the underground areas are genuinely scary.
It's not perfect - some of the dialogue is pretty rough and sometimes the voice acting is awful, and the free-form nature of the game means you do tend to revisit areas quite often...and you do need a pretty phat PC to get the best from it.
For a tenner it's a steal but don't forget to download the patches.
EDIT. My earlier optimism was misplaced. After 10 hours or so of steady progress, my saved game is corrupted. Gave up on it again. Rubbish.
Great game unless you have Vista August 13, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
First and foremost, advertising this game as Vista compatible is a bit of a stretch. It may be possible to get it working if you are pretty tech-savvy and prepared to mess around for ages, but it's certainly not out-of-the-box compatible. I'm yet to succeed.
I did however, play it on XP before I "upgraded" to Vista, and this game is a real treat. Unbelievably atmospheric, pretty scary in places and about the most freeform shooter out there right now. It's not particularly fast-paced but if you enjoy a shooter with a bit more than endless corridors and constant blasting, you'll love this game.
Expansive playing areas, meaty real-world guns, mission structure (rather than on-a-rail levels) all make this a cut above the majority of games out there at the moment. It's a little buggy, but the patches sort most of that out.
In summary, if you're (sensibly) running an XP rig, get this game now. If not, I'd probably wait for the imminent prequel "Clear Skies" which will hopefully improve on an already close to perfect template.
|
|
|
