S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Pseudo-Review

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (that title's a bit of a mouthful, eh?), developed by the very obscure Ukranian studio GSC Game World, is a first-person-shooter set in the aftermath of a second nuclear incident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine that adds role-playing and survival horror elements into the mix to create a unique, strangely appealing hybrid shooter similar to Bethesda Softworks' recent Fallout 3, only... much less forgiving.

I'm gonna come right out and say it: I really like this game. Those crazy Ukranians struck gold here, and the real tragedy is that most people will never play this game, and those who do will likely throw it out rather than deal with the bugs and incoherent story. The bugs are horrible and nearly game-breaking, yes. The story wouldn't make much sense even if it were properly translated and quality-checked. But two things S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does get right almost completely overshadow its faults. Those two things are atmosphere and item management.

The sound and visual design in this game are amazing. They're both a bit lacking on the technical side, but some of the sights and sounds to be found in the game world are so well-done that, for a few moments, you'll be able to look past the faults and really step into the shoes of a Stalker (in the hunting and gathering sense of the word---no sexual predators here). And then you'll be scared half to death, because that's how the game is designed. And it works so very well.

The item management in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn't legendary or anything, but the grid-based backpack system conjures some very nostalgic memories of inventory management in Blizzard Entertainment's classic dungeon crawler, Diablo. Maybe I just have an unnatural obsession with grids, but I think there's something undeniably fun about moving items around your inventory in the middle of an intense firefight that gets the blood pumping and the brain gears turning. And that, on some level, is what video games are all about: finding excitement while exercising your mind and your coordination in a virtual escape from the real world.

A lot of atmosphere and a little inventory management could probably make any first-person-shooter ten times better. Except the awesome Call of Duty games cranked out by Infinity Ward. Those guys already make winners---consistently. But that's a topic for another day.