S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl goes G.O.L.D.
by John Bardinelli 
{ Mar 3rd 2007 at 12:10PM }
Delayed once to avoid the holiday rush. Delayed a second time to add some spit and polish. Since 2003 this poor little game has been repeatedly shoved on the back burner and ignored. But now, according to publisher THQ, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has wrapped up development is is sitting around just waiting to be shipped. This month. Seriously!
Set in an alternate-reality post-apocalyptic Chernobyl, the gritty first person shooter promises weather effects, intelligent AI, destructible objects and a robust multiplayer mode. The stuttering S.T.A.L.K.E.R. release smells a lot like the Prey delays or the now-laughable Duke Nukem Forever, but if it turns out as interesting as it sounds, maybe it can actually make a dent in the crowded FPS market.
[via Shacknews]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John @ Mar 3rd 2007 12:48PM
Finally! I have been waiting for this game for so long. I hope it doesn't disappoint me!
Diskoboy @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:04PM
I've actually visited the city where this is supposed to take place (Pripyat, Ukraine).
I hope the game is as creepy as the actual city, itself. It was quite a sobering experience standing in a large, metropolitan city, in absolute silence. Communist propoganda posters still lining the buildings and bulletin boards from the day they were posted over 20 years ago. You're one of only a handful of people for miles in any direction...
Fierce360 @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:10PM
game looks sweet. i hope my pc can handle it.
Fierce360 @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:12PM
is the city safe to go to? it would be sweet to go there, as long as there is no chance of radiation poisoning.
Autocrawler @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:26PM
Eagerly awaiting this.
Poisoned Al @ Mar 3rd 2007 1:48PM
If it's half as good as it sounds, then this will be awesome.
And Fierce360, no it's not safe, but if you ask for a permit REALLY nicely they will let you in. It's one of the most serial places on earth, and the towns and cites around the exclusion area are just as strange.
cheesebanana @ Mar 3rd 2007 2:23PM
can't wait tbh. been aching for a new PC FPS for a fair little while now.
From gameplay video's it seems to be fairly solid looking. As long as its not as much ofa dissapointment as FEAR was (which was originally set to release at around the same time. i remember both games getting massive hype but this one always seemed to interest me more).
Lets just hope its good :D
Diskoboy @ Mar 3rd 2007 2:27PM
Fierce360 - It's safe for certian periods of time. And while your there, you have to stay mainly on paved roads or sidewalks because of the radiation in the soil. Buildings are more dangerous because A. They're delapidated... and B. The radiation concentration is highter indoors. And it is very had to get in the city without a tour group. It's next to impossible to get within 1 mile of the plant because security is super-tight. Plus most of the waste is still buried there, and has a halflife of several thousand years. The best part of the tour was seeing the 'graveyard' of vehicles used in the cleanup. Hundreds of trucks, jeeps, buses, and choppers still contaminated.
Aprime @ Mar 3rd 2007 3:10PM
You'll be disappointed by the MP capabilities of this game, that's all I can say.
jasmin @ Mar 3rd 2007 5:16PM
Hurry and bring it over to C.O.N.S.O.L.E.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 3rd 2007 5:41PM
I seriously hope they neglected the multiplayer part. Games with great multiplayer tend to have horrid single player experiences. Their sad attempt to get around the AI problem by making other players the opposition.
A top-quality single-player experience should come first, multiplayer is just a way to add a little extra to the game.
ConflictZero @ Mar 3rd 2007 5:54PM
I would LOVE to see the actual city where everything went wrong. It would be such a great experience. I did a report for school on it once and learned a lot of interesting things.
Anyway, I've been playing the MP beta for a while and it honestly rules. While my GFX card can run it at High settings, it gets really choppy at most parts and my shooting is delayed, and my ping gets really bad. But even at low settings the game still stays unbelievably beautiful and detailed. The anomalies also look great. Gun customization is awesome and the dynamic day and night cycle make it challenging to see enemies at certain points. The Singleplayer will most likely live up to what it's said in recent news posts, so I'm only expecting the best from both realms.
nithron @ Mar 4th 2007 7:15AM
There's something strangely cool about nuclear wastelands. But anyway... What IS That in the picture? The dude's shining his torch on... one of those novelty furry rubber balls...?
Steve @ Mar 4th 2007 1:21PM
Ugh. It bothers me when people compare games with long development to Prey. 3DRealms on Prey started in 1995 and continued till 1999 at which point it was completely scrapped. In 2001, a completely different development team (Human Head) started fresh only using the basic gameplay concepts from the original - that's what was released. It's more like two completely different games with typical 4 year development times than one game with a 10 year development time. It's not like Duke Nukem Forever where the same team has been working on the same game continuously for 11 years now.
Anyway, STALKER - so far everything I read said the game performs horrendously slow even on high end PCs.
bob @ Mar 5th 2007 5:37AM
I've had the full game for the last few weeks...it's awesome. And yes, it is VERY creepy.
lara0016 @ Mar 5th 2007 11:23AM
haganlo para el tres60!!!
hansen @ Mar 19th 2007 8:59PM
what a piece of crap this game is - gave it like dozens of chances to present something awesome that´ll make up for all the crap mentioned in the review......nothing.....setting up the controls took me like an hour because it wouldnt save my changes... i mean WTF !!!!!! they didnt even get this part to work correctly - scrolling through weapons in a gunfight is deadly .... dont even try ...... forget quick movements like hidin behind cover or even crouching, it´ll take a few seconds until your keyboard responds.....WTF.....constant stuttering, lag freezes with minimal video settings with like 200 fps ..... even bigger WTF !!!!!!
tired...bored....and hungry.....gettin burgers now.........and beer...........maybe it´ll cheer me up