STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl review

Meet and greet the shooter that came in from the cold

12DOVE Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Awesome setting

  • +

    Great action

  • +

    brilliant high-end weapons

  • +

    AI is awesome to be around

Cons

  • -

    Awkward side missions

  • -

    Crap script

  • -

    storytelling

  • -

    side characters

  • -

    Took forever to come out

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STALKER is different in style and execution from pretty much any shooter you’ve played. From one angle it’s defiantly (and brilliantly) different, and from another it’s willfully obtuse. We’ve been exploring the exclusion zone for several days now and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - more so than we have done in quite a while, in fact.

If you choose to buy STALKER, you need to be aware that this is not a super-silky Hollywood production - there are rough edges and it’s not tied up with a pink frilly bow. Despite this, despite the epic wait and despite the amount of scissoring that’s obviously gone on, we’ve still ended up with an excellent shooter. With that in mind, let’s delve deeper.

More info

GenreShooter
DescriptionMixing key RPG elements with classic FPS action makes for an excellent game, though it can be argued if it was worth all the delays.
Platform"PC"
US censor rating"Mature"
UK censor rating""
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