S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (Review)

After years of wondering “what’s going on with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?”, we suddenly can’t escape the game’s shadow. It started a few weeks ago with a preview build of the single-player game (which we’re still playing), and now we’re knee-deep in the game’s multiplayer beta test, which will soon become available to the public via Fileplanet. While the multiplayer is a bit more traditional than the ambitious single-player campaign, we’ve been pretty happy with what we’ve seen so far.

To start, we were glad to see that the performance of the multiplayer beta was substantially improved over previous hands-on playtests. Granted, it helps that we just finished building a brand new test PC to play it on (with an Intel Core Duo E6600 CPU, 2GB RAM and a GeForce 8800 GTX), but even at 1920×1200, we had a smooth framerate going throughout, which we’re guessing gave us a bit of an advantage over the average player on the test servers (who, even at point-blank range, often seemed to respond slowly and miss horribly). The only drawback on our end was that we crashed to the desktop every 2 or 3 games, something we’re obviously hoping won’t be the case with the game’s March release.

The beta included two large maps and three gametypes: traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch and an “artifact hunt” mod (well, they call it “artefact,” but we won’t split hairs). Wanting to ease into things slowly, we started out with basic deathmatch, which, as it turned out, wasn’t so basic.

For the first ten minutes, I ran pretty cluelessly around the huge “Railway Station” map with a wimpy little pistol, wondering why I couldn’t find the cool weapons everyone else was killing me with. The reason: because I was a dumbass who failed to see the “press B to access the Buy menu” message at the bottom of the screen. Taking a cue from games like Counter-Strike, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a simple system where you purchase weapons and other gear every time you’re killed, from body armor to grenades and first aid kits. You start off with enough cash to buy some simple weapons, and then rack up more cash as you get frags (you get bonus money for headshots and scoring streaks). Throughout each match, you can go up in rank (I eventually made it through “Experienced” and to “Professional”), which opens access to the best gear.

With the formality of getting some decent weapons out of the way, I started exploring the Railway map, which was huge. In some ways, it reminded me of the large train station map from Call of Duty 2 — only twice the size. That might seem like overkill for a deathmatch map, but with lots of vertical architecture, like watchtowers, run-down buildings, and elevated railways, there were plenty of points to get a wider view of the map and snipe enemies from far off. Of course, being able to see that much of the map means enemies can see you, too, which helped speed up the pace of the action.

Set in a radioactive, rapidly deteriorating outdoor area near the Chernobyl plant, the action clearly sits on the “realism” side of the fence, with weapons that feel like they have a bit of weight behind them and lose accuracy as you move around. You can lean, sprint and crouch, zoom down the iron sights on most weapons, and you’ll limp around when you’re almost out of health. One nice touch is the energy bar that controls your ability to sprint; jumping will also deplete that bar, which should discourage bunny-hopping to some degree. Overall, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the classic Action Quake 2 mod (which, in my mind, is one of the highest compliments you can pay any deathmatch game).

Before long, I started to get the hang of the Railway map, using vertical structures as landmarks to get my bearings. It seemed most players like to gravitate towards a crumbling three-story building on the perimeter of the map; it provided a great view of the map, and you usually knew one or two players would be lurking about. Soon, I found a few favorites among the weapons, and started taking advantage of upgrades as my rank went up.

I think my favorite moment was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with a would-be-sniper; I managed to maneuver myself right under his position, noticed the slim spaces between the ceiling boards, and proceeded to shoot him right through the roof. It’s rare we see anything new in first-person shooters, but that was an entertaining first for me.

Eventually, after a few quick games of Team Deathmatch, I moved on to the Artifact Hunt gametype, which plays like a variant of Capture the Flag. Two teams start at opposing bases, outfit themselves with gear, hunt down a radioactive artifact on the map, and attempt to bring it back to their base. While the map was nicely designed for this style of gameplay, the mode could benefit from a few in-game tips, as many players didn’t really seem to grasp what they were supposed to be doing. In some games, players would just run around and kill each other, as if playing team deathmatch, while other times it seemed players weren’t quite sure where to bring the artifact.

This was a general problem that permeated the beta: there’s some confusing UI design and a lot of things that take some figuring out. Once you know how everything works, it’s easy enough, and there’s enough depth to keep people hooked for months, but it’s easy to see people jumping into the multiplayer, getting confused, and possibly discarding it without giving it a full chance.

Graphically, there are some things about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that look amazing, and others that look just ordinary. A day/night cycle runs during multiplayer games, along with the occasional rainfall, both opening up opportunities for dramatic lighting effects. Every area is full of little details, and yet as a whole, the two maps we played still felt a bit washed out. Granted, it’s supposed to be a dreary setting, but we’ve seen games like Half-Life 2 do desolate and still manage to be eye-catching. Considering S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s long development cycle, we’re just happy the game is finally reaching completion and still looks pretty good instead of horribly dated.

It’s remarkable that even at this late date, it’s still hard to make a solid guess on how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will turn out. Like the single-player portions we’ve been playing through, the multiplayer looks well-designed and has a lot of depth, and yet there are still a number of little issues that we’d like to see worked out before the game’s release next month. In the meantime, we’re going to keep testing both the single-player and multiplayer sections of the game; stay tuned to GameSpy for the latest on S.T.A.L.K.E.R., including the chance to check out the multiplayer beta.