Gothic of Chernobyl (the first impression of the game S.Т.А.Л.К.Е.Р.)

I can not say that I was looking forward to this game. Actually, for many it was a surprise that she even went on sale. 6 years of development discouraged hope from even the most persistent in faith. Despite this, after the announcement of the release date, I prepared to go for the disc.

The toy store greeted me with a real blockage of boxes S....... Sellers thoroughly prepared for the boom. I was humble and bought a jewel case.

Inside the plastic box, besides the game disc itself, is an advertisement for a fantastic literary series. No, this is not the work of the Strugatsky brothers. Four books “written under the impression of the game” by authors unknown to me will most likely not be of any artistic value. Marketing!
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A coupon with a code was also found here. The code is useful if you decide to participate in the prize draw. I never win anything, but still decided to fill out a form on the site. There are a lot of questions. And they looked like they were KGB officers.



Now about the toy itself. The system requirements for the program, which began 6 years ago, are very immodest. To begin with, S.T.AL.K.E.R. wants 10 gigabytes (!) of disk space. It is recommended to have a computer with 1.5 GB of RAM, at least 512. Of course, the game will work on GeForce 5700 or Radeon 9600 cards, but what will the picture look like? Many owners of such cards complain of artifacts. I will say right away that I hardly managed to achieve a sane image on the Radeon X1600.

The minimum indicated processor frequency is 2 Ghz. I was lucky with that. My AMD 64 X2 4200+ just meets the recommended requirements. Nevertheless, even on the “medium” settings, the game kicked terribly, finding my computer not the best place to live. I had to tinker with the settings, persuading her to the contrary.

What the program suggested by default turned out to be unacceptable. Igrolina wildly braked and hung the system tightly. After a lot of reboots, I was able to set an acceptable number of frames seconds with graphics quality similar to the official screenshots. Hooray!



Of course I did not expect miracles from the game. It was not bought because of the super-duperness of the picture. Here the main playability. In this respect S.T.AL.K.E.R. did not disappoint The game captured me from the first moment.

So, get out of the basement and get into an abandoned village. These are the approaches of the Zone, a gathering place for newcomers stalkers. Immediately the group leader gives us the first task (to dunk the bandits in local outhouses), which is easily carried out. It is followed by another task (to fill up mutant pigs), and then the following (to find a special suit). The game moves smoothly along the convolutions of the plot. On the way we collect artifacts and various items. All this junk can be traded. Often, in view of the work done by agreement, our character is paid money.

Speaking of money. The money here is not Ukrainian or Russian. The money in the game is Soviet. Strangely enough, if we consider that in the gaming yard 2008 year. However, in the world of the Zone time is frozen. Broken Oise, Zhiguli and Zaporozhtsy, scattered along the roads. On the building of the scientific research institute, I found a hefty panel glorifying the work of our scientists. Long stood and looked at. I remembered my socialist childhood. The city is very similar to the dead after the Pripyat disaster. Here the "scoop" for centuries is preserved by radiation. They say that the game was collected from photographs of real events.



This should give the game a special, frightening atmosphere. Make it unique. But it turned out the opposite. All the time it seemed to me that I see ... yes, there is no doubt, I see the German Gothic Piranha Bytes. Everything is done exactly according to the patterns of your favorite RPG. We replace the fantasy fantasy atmosphere with radioactive anomalies, instead of swords and bows we distribute pistols and Kalashnikovs to heroes, and instead of a helmet we stretch a gas mask on a balda. New game is ready. Unfortunately, as soon as you discover this fact for yourself, you immediately lose initial interest to the object. For one simple reason - the secondary.

You can certainly argue and say that S....... it is generally a different genre. But the meaning of the action does not change. The same system of quests, the same transitions between locations. You also need to communicate with key characters. There is even a bar and an arena for fighting for money. From the game, I still expected greater originality and a different implementation.

I love it when the dialogue in games is written by masters of their craft. If you played "Broken Sword" or "Siberia", then you know what I mean. GSC didn’t think much about the text. Since the Zone is inhabited by bandits, soldiers, and other lumpen proletarians, their vocabulary is appropriate. “Boys”, “bullshit”, “bitch”, “pidarasty”, as well as many other wonderful words will be carried from the speakers of your computer, if you want to play S.T.AL.K..R. The voices of the actors (or maybe not the actors?) Fully correspond to the text. However, in a country where there is a TV show on TV "House 2" is normal.



In conclusion, I will say that despite all the disadvantages, S.T.AL.K.E.R. still a success. I do not regret that I bought this game. Unlike Gothic S.T.AL.K.E.R. rougher. There is no place for magical charm. Here you do not want to stop in the middle of the gameplay to admire the beautiful view and enjoy the sounds of magical music. If Gothic was a German fairy tale, then S.T.AL.K.E.R. prose, the likeness of which can be found today in the garbage dumps of the Moscow district of Kapotnya.

And further. I always write S.T.AL.K.E.R. But in fact, there is no such game. There is a game STALKER Another example of the attitude to the Russian language of our publishers. It’s good that the menu and dialogs in the game are not written in transliteration.