S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (PC)

Once fully patched, this ambitious PC shooter will no doubt impress.
9/23/2008 6:16 PM | 6 Comments | Page 2 of 2

While the improved AI adds to the game's believability, it's also plagued with technical bugs that take away from it. Clipping and collision detection problems mean that a character might walk through another or through a wall, or slowly push another character across the ground as he walks into him. Characters will walk in thin air, about a half-foot above the stairs they're supposed to walk on. You can get stuck in odd crevices with no way to get loose.

But before you download the 56 MB patch to repair some of these graphic glitches, be forewarned: Installing this sucker will delete your saved games (I found out the hard way). This is too bad, because the game's DirectX 10-supported graphics are one of its strongest merits until you see someone with half a leg stuck in a rock or doorway. Therefore, take heed and install the patch before you begin to play the game.

Another issue is the lack of an auto-save feature; it's up to you to manually save the game in case you bite the bullet. And this can happen anytime, such as when you're peering through your binoculars and suddenly see yourself face-down on the ground in third-person, with the "You Are Killed" message. Great.

Clear Sky can also be played online with up to 32 players. Along with the usual Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are two other multiplayer modes: Capture the Artifact (steal the enemy's artifact and bring it back to your base) and my favorite, Artifact Hunt, in which players are split into two groups, Stalkers and Mercenaries, and you must deliver an artifact to your team's base before your opponent does the same. You can upgrade your rank by playing well in online games, and thus unlock better equipment, weapons and weapon abilities (faster firing rate, higher accuracy and so on). Earn money to buy items by fragging others, killing with headshots, finding cash, and (depending on the mode) bringing artifacts back to the base.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky isn't a bad way to spend $40, but you should probably wait -- as with the first game -- for a number of the bugs to be addressed, by way of downloadable patches, before picking up this impressive shooter. The clever RPG elements (mixed with tactical and survival horror elements), expansive environments and high replayability (with the ability to join a different faction each time) make this action game worth trying out for PC fans. It's just too bad it shipped before it was properly tested and fixed, which might hurt its chances of becoming a fall hit.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.