After the glory that was Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear sky seemed a very dissapointing game. Game destroying bugs, incredily bad combat and the facion wars were broken. I played it Vanilla and with a realism mod, but it seems that it was doomed to the "Failed expansion" pile.
But the other day i discovered some great mods that have inspired me to write this reveiw.
The Mods are : Faction Respawn Fix http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/stalkerclearsky/mod/29920.html
Modded Sky 1.0 http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/stalkerclearsky/mod/26715.html
AMk sleeping bag mod.
For details of what these mods do read the readme. They all seem compatiable wiht the newst patch and with each other.
Story: The story i felt took second place to the rest of the game. You have to track down a group of stalkers who are causing the large emissions to rock the zone. To do this you have to follow a trail of clues, but because this is the Zone, you have to earn the infomation. It serves as a neat way to introduce to you to the rest of the zone and its characters, but after that its forgettable.
6/10
Gameplay: This game has solid gunplay (when modded with above mods) and is extremely unforgiving. Every gunshot wound will cause bleeding that will drain you health if it becomes to serve, and health kits are scare if you dont use them wisely. In the first few areas you will in a constant battle for medkits, money and ammo, but once you have some decent weapons the pressure eases a lot. The AI is can be so good it scares you, but does occassionaly get stuck or fail to notice you. But when a full enemy squad is bearing down on your position, they start to use flanking and rushing tactics, and are excellent at finding cover. As i said before the gunplay is excellent, along with almost perfect bullet physics. The guns are very satisfying to use and each have their own strengths and advantages. You can upgrade every weapon so it performs in your suited style and most rifles can have extras such as scopes and grenade lauchers attached.
The atmosphere is second only to Shadow of Chernobyl. The Inky black nights make for some tense gameplay, wether you sneaking up on a enemy position or being stalked by roving dogs. A single dog can seriously ruin your day if your paying attention.
Anomloyies are alot rarer than in the first game, but this mean they catch you unwares more often. You need to pay attention to you surroundings, in case you wander into radition heavy areas, or end up being burnt to a crisp.
There is a real reason to explore, either to find stashes or artifacts, or just to see what you can find.
Gameplay - 10/10
Graphics: This Game is gorgeous, the charater models are fantastic, and the sun rise and sunsets are worthy to be desktop backgrounds. Despite most of the colours being brown and depressing, this game truely is beautiful. Just talking a stroll though the woods is enjoyable for so many reaons.
10/10
Conclusion: As i said before all the above is taking the mods into account. GSC owes thier community big time for tweaking thier games to perfection. The gameplay is now excellent, the factions wars work, and we have a STAlKER worth of living up to its predessors name.
But the other day i discovered some great mods that have inspired me to write this reveiw.
The Mods are : Faction Respawn Fix http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/stalkerclearsky/mod/29920.html
Modded Sky 1.0 http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/stalkerclearsky/mod/26715.html
AMk sleeping bag mod.
For details of what these mods do read the readme. They all seem compatiable wiht the newst patch and with each other.
Story: The story i felt took second place to the rest of the game. You have to track down a group of stalkers who are causing the large emissions to rock the zone. To do this you have to follow a trail of clues, but because this is the Zone, you have to earn the infomation. It serves as a neat way to introduce to you to the rest of the zone and its characters, but after that its forgettable.
6/10
Gameplay: This game has solid gunplay (when modded with above mods) and is extremely unforgiving. Every gunshot wound will cause bleeding that will drain you health if it becomes to serve, and health kits are scare if you dont use them wisely. In the first few areas you will in a constant battle for medkits, money and ammo, but once you have some decent weapons the pressure eases a lot. The AI is can be so good it scares you, but does occassionaly get stuck or fail to notice you. But when a full enemy squad is bearing down on your position, they start to use flanking and rushing tactics, and are excellent at finding cover. As i said before the gunplay is excellent, along with almost perfect bullet physics. The guns are very satisfying to use and each have their own strengths and advantages. You can upgrade every weapon so it performs in your suited style and most rifles can have extras such as scopes and grenade lauchers attached.
The atmosphere is second only to Shadow of Chernobyl. The Inky black nights make for some tense gameplay, wether you sneaking up on a enemy position or being stalked by roving dogs. A single dog can seriously ruin your day if your paying attention.
Anomloyies are alot rarer than in the first game, but this mean they catch you unwares more often. You need to pay attention to you surroundings, in case you wander into radition heavy areas, or end up being burnt to a crisp.
There is a real reason to explore, either to find stashes or artifacts, or just to see what you can find.
Gameplay - 10/10
Graphics: This Game is gorgeous, the charater models are fantastic, and the sun rise and sunsets are worthy to be desktop backgrounds. Despite most of the colours being brown and depressing, this game truely is beautiful. Just talking a stroll though the woods is enjoyable for so many reaons.
10/10
Conclusion: As i said before all the above is taking the mods into account. GSC owes thier community big time for tweaking thier games to perfection. The gameplay is now excellent, the factions wars work, and we have a STAlKER worth of living up to its predessors name.
