STALKER: Clear Sky

quarryman

Eurogamer review up:

7/10

Dammit. Was trying to rush through Shadow of Chernobyl so I could jump straight into this. Might give it a miss now.

There's been a lot of negativity, hasn't there? There's still a lot of what made Stalker so appealing here. It shows how having these sorts of character-improvement and living world elements can improve a shooter's appeal. Why do you think we're so angry when they take away all our stuff? Between the improved weapon modification and the more living Zone, a certain strand of Stalker fan will find much here to applaud, and those who've never actually played the earlier game at all will still be enchanted by the unique atmosphere of the place... but would be recommended going there first, perhaps with the Oblivion Lost mod attached.
A little tough? Maybe it's appropriate. Life is tough in the Zone.

Maximilian

Yeah read that this morning - very disappointing. Bad design decisions and more bugs. I think I might sit this one out, unless a patch sorts it all out. There's too many other good games coming out this month. Shame.

quarryman

Yep. Might finish SOD with no mods and go back and install Oblivion Lost as they suggest.

Kiith

7/10, and you'd give it a miss? Thats still a good score, if not the 90% that Stalker got. If you loved the first one, you'll more then likely love this as well.

quarryman

I've too many other games to play. If they loved the first one and weren't so mad about this one then I would expect to feel the same way.

yoyo

7/10 is actually ok, I'm worried if its dropped the marks for gameplay effecting bugs though , Unfortunately the first stalker at launch was full of bugs and needed a couple patches to fix, lets hope this one will be a better launch expirience...

Nick

quarryman

tbh the review actually read worse than a 7/10, i think they were being generous. Both EDGE and IGN gave it 7 also.

MOH

PC Gamer gave it a mediocre review, and I think a mid-60s score. Sounds like GSC mucked it up a bit.

Maximilian

Kiith wrote: »

7/10, and you'd give it a miss? Thats still a good score, if not the 90% that Stalker got. If you loved the first one, you'll more then likely love this as well.

With Spore and Warhammer coming out, I think I'd probably end up not playing it much anyway. Its clearly not an "essential" game. Might pick it up in a few months when its patched though.

The Freeman

PC Zone UK and Games Master UK have both given Clear Sky a score of 88 out of 100, while Edge Magazine gave 7/10 saying the game "turns the best and worse of PC gaming into something extraordinary". [4] PCGamer UK however, awarded the game 68% saying it is "The disappointment of the year", particularly criticizing the increased difficulty and that the atmosphere of the zone was not as well delivered as the original.[5] Fan backlash has accused such negative reviews of playing the game in the wrong frame of mind, wishing it were more like other games such as Bioshock and having unreasonable expectations of the game.

PogMoThoin

Hope they added a quicksave.

I loved the first game, even with all its niggly little problems. I'll be getting this for sure. AI in the first game was great

BadCharlie

How many Stalkers are their out ?
I bought the orginal on the pc when it came out and completed it. Was their another expansion added or is this going to be the first one.

quarryman

its a prequel i think. This is the 2nd game in the series and not an expansion.

Sand

Sounds like he just found it excessively difficult and got pissed when he was jacked.

Quicksave FTW!

Jack Sheehan

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, don't listen to Eurogamer! Wait for a real review.

Krieg

Im disappointed to hear that review. I read the PCzone mag review last week and they were a bit more favorable. I stilled loved the first game and have had clear sky booked for 2 months. Ill still buy it the minute its out

Maximilian

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, don't listen to Eurogamer! Wait for a real review.

I think Eurogamer gets it right most of the time. Many of their reviewers have been around a long time.

MooseJam

what price is it going to be, hope it's budget, the original is selling for 14.99 now, will this be the same or will it be a 44.99 job, don't think I could fork that out right now, will probably wait six months till it's down in price

Jack Sheehan

Maximilian wrote: »

I think Eurogamer gets it right most of the time. Many of their reviewers have been around a long time.

I say pish tosh to that (not because I think its stupid but because its fun to say pish tosh.)

Eurogamer do a lot of their reviews to be 'edgy' and 'different'. They generally end up looking like petulant children not happy with great games.

humanji

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

I say pish tosh to that (not because I think its stupid but because its fun to say pish tosh.)

Eurogamer do a lot of their reviews to be 'edgy' and 'different'. They generally end up looking like petulant children not happy with great games.

+1 to that. The review above is horrifically written. The guy really does seem like he's just trying to be "cool". As Sand said, it does sound like he didn't like it because it was too hard for him.

Maximilian

Well having played the first game and noting the changes they have made, I agree with almost everything that reviewer said. The changes to the artifacts for example. I can see my own experience of this game being identical to his, if I were to play it.

To be fair, it doesn't seem as though their review will be much different to any of the others in this case. It seems to be the case of a great idea but the execution doesn't live up to those ideas. And once again it's buggy. I think like last time, it will improve with patches.

Edit: Jim Rossignol of PC Gamer gave it 68% and he's not as quirky as Kieron Gillen. Review here.

0ubliette

7/10 is a fine score, and eurogamer dont know their arse from their elbow at the best of times. Anyone whos played the STALKAN GAEM with oblivion lost mod should know what to expect from CS.
EG raving about how crap CS is in comparison to SOC fail to remember that SOC was close to being an unplayable mess for months after its release until at least patch v 1.0002 and the mods started appearing. CS will be no different.

MOH

0ubliette wrote: »

7/10 is a fine score, and eurogamer dont know their arse from their elbow at the best of times. Anyone whos played the STALKAN GAEM with oblivion lost mod should know what to expect from CS.
EG raving about how crap CS is in comparison to SOC fail to remember that SOC was close to being an unplayable mess for months after its release until at least patch v 1.0002 and the mods started appearing. CS will be no different.

Yeah, but in fairness they're reviewing the game that the publishers ship. I bought Stalker when it came out, played it through before any patches were out, and I thought it was a piece of junk. Uninstalled it straight away and it's still sitting on a shelf cos I never got around to selling it. Had even updated my gfx card for it (it was a pretty old card ).

Might try it again sometime patched and modded, but if they've shipped Clear Sky in the same state, I hope their sales go through the floor.

Maximilian

0ubliette wrote: »

7/10 is a fine score, and eurogamer dont know their arse from their elbow at the best of times. Anyone whos played the STALKAN GAEM with oblivion lost mod should know what to expect from CS.
EG raving about how crap CS is in comparison to SOC fail to remember that SOC was close to being an unplayable mess for months after its release until at least patch v 1.0002 and the mods started appearing. CS will be no different.

You know I hope you're right but you can't expect a review to be be based on how the game might play after a few patches.

Like MOH, I played the original when it first came out and finally quit as I couldn't stick all of the bugs. Then when the patch did come out, your existing saved games wouldn't work. It was a farce. It was months before I went back to the game and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. Great concept but my experience leads me to believe that...

I still think the reviews I've read are fair and accurate. 7/10 ain't bad but it's not amazing either. Maybe after they patch it, it will be an 8.5, who knows.

Dare I say there appears to be some fanboyism going on here? :pac: And all of this from people who haven't actually played the game yet feel they know better than those who have.

5uspect

The first STALKER was rough around the edges but it was a unique gaming experience.

Hopefully with Clear Sky the balance issues will be addressed with a mod or patch, otherwise I might hold off until it hits the bargin bin, and I'll need a new PC first!

Hitman Actual

Maximilian wrote: »

Like MOH, I played the original when it first came out and finally quit as I couldn't stick all of the bugs. Then when the patch did come out, your existing saved games wouldn't work. It was a farce. It was months before I went back to the game and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. Great concept but my experience leads me to believe that...

Re. the first game, I'm in the same boat. I ditched it and came back to it after 6 months, and when I 'cleaned it up' using the various mods that were out by then, I thought it was amazing.

I really want to buy it tomorrow (just after buying a 4870, you gotta love the GFX price wars these days ), but I know I should hold off for a while. I still have Mass Effect to finish anyway, which isn't a bad game at all. And I want to replay The Witcher when the extended edition comes out soon.

Also, regarding the PC Zone score of 88 for Clear Sky, it was written by that Irish dude Hogarty who I think is a bit of a Stalker SOC fanboy, so he's probably over-rating it a bit. Although, it could just mean that if you liked the original, you'll like this one too.

0ubliette

CS got a 9 in games™, so its not all bad news. The first mods are already out for it, and an EU patch is scheduled for release tomorrow ready for launch (tho wether it happens or not is beyond me), the changelog appears to fix a fair feew crashes etc

Maximilian

I think Spore is out tomorrow, plus Warhammer beta on Monday. I think I'll have my hands full for a while. I'm a sucker though, I'll probably end up getting it anyway, despite the reviews and my misgivings,

Sephiroth_dude

ordered this from play.com,got an email saying I wont have it for 3-5 days,which means I wont have it tomorrow.

yoyo

It will be very sad if clear skies is plaged with allot of bugs like the first one, for that they used THQ as a excuse for rushing them to release it, lets hope this one wont be as bad

Nick

MOH

yoyo wrote: »

It will be very sad if clear skies is plaged with allot of bugs like the first one, for that they used THQ as a excuse for rushing them to release it, lets hope this one wont be as bad

Nick

Well, in fairness, they were a tad behind schedule ...

yoyo

MOH wrote: »

Well, in fairness, they were a tad behind schedule ...

They got it out before Duke Nukem Forever though

Nick

Krieg

Been playing it for a couple of hours now and its quite good so far, but there are a lot of bugs.

1st bug became evident the second the game started, some of the walls were flickering black, but this went away after I left the camp and when I returned the flickering didn't come back

Second bug was the biggest I came across, some bandits were about to attack some outpost and I was asked to go up there. When I arrived the bandits were just standing there and 30 feet away from them was an ally standing still. As soon as I opened fire, everyone came to life

Relatively minor stuff but I dont think any game should be released in this state. Granted the flickering could be down to gfx card (8800 GTS). There were a couple other very minor thing bugs but not worth mentioning

Good points -
Guns have better sound effects
Vision blur while reloading is a cool addition
Lots more allies and bandits for slightly larger scale fire fights
Dynamic light is Very very cool
I quite like the addition of the artifact detector
Emission explosions kick ass

However, Starting off in the swamp, you are constantly being called to aid allys for the first hour and some of them you just cant make it in time and its irritating to have guys screaming down the radio for help every 10 seconds

I haven't been playing it for long, but so far i think its quite good. If liked the previous stalker then its worth getting

0ubliette

Havent had any crashes or major bug myself. So far, so good. Needs some optimising tho as performance can be poor at times.

My advice for people with performance issues is turn of MSAA in user.ltx file, find the 'r3_msaa on' line, and change it to off. Its a feature that apparrently doesnt even work yet causes a massive performance hit. Also, turn SSAO to either disabled or low for another performance increase. With SSAO on low, im able to run the game in full DX10 mode. when it was on medium the game chugged along.

Spear

The patch to update it to 1.5.0.3 is out a few days already.

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/12845/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:+Clear+Sky+1.01+Patch

Krieg

Spear wrote: »

The patch to update it to 1.5.0.3 is out a few days already.

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/12845/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:+Clear+Sky+1.01+Patch

Yeah I got this, its a major patch that solves a lot of performance issues, but please note that when you implement the patch your previous save games become invalid meaning you have to start over again

5uspect

Déjà vu anyone?

Sephiroth_dude

Krieg wrote: »

your previous save games become invalid meaning you have to start over again

well thats a pain in the hole!

0ubliette

first mods are already appearing. just installed a weapon sounds mod to make the guns sound better, definite improvement

Krieg

I don't want to spoil anything but some advice.
Make a save game when entering the Garbage and keep it, you'll thank me later

Sephiroth_dude

I suspect I'll have this from play.com tomorrow with the help of god,are there any scary bits so far in it?what are the mutants like?any new additions?Is it as atmospheric as the first?and lastly is the AI any good?like is it as random as it was in the first one?

thanks to whoever can answer my many questions....:)

Fnz

Krieg wrote: »

Second bug was the biggest I came across, some bandits were about to attack some outpost and I was asked to go up there. When I arrived the bandits were just standing there and 30 feet away from them was an ally standing still. As soon as I opened fire, everyone came to life

I'm guessing this was to give you enough time to get to the outpost before the action started - in case you had been further away.

Krieg wrote: »

Starting off in the swamp, you are constantly being called to aid allys for the first hour and some of them you just cant make it in time and its irritating to have guys screaming down the radio for help every 10 seconds

You can't save everyone, that's intentional. You have to choose who you can best assist in the time that is given.

I dunno if the could fix one of these 'bugs' without making the other one worse.

Headshot

is this worth getting lads?

Krieg

Fnz wrote: »

You can't save everyone, that's intentional. You have to choose who you can best assist in the time that is given

Ah that would makes sense



Ive a number of bugs today

- Unable to hand in side quest rewards (NPC's wont give the option to hand over item/recieve reward). Ive got this twice so far
- Left modified weapons in a secure place. Came back couple hours later to find the weapons had lost all modifications
- One crash to desktop when changing area

I felt the bugs were quite minor to begin with, but they are really starting to piss me off.

ToughyIRE

5uspect wrote: »

Déjà vu anyone?

you mean mods! needed to save and make the game playable yet again

5uspect

ToughyIRE wrote: »

you mean mods! needed to save and make the game playable yet again

No, the first patch nuking your save games. :pac:

quarryman

Yep. It just shows how fundamentally a game is broken if the patch prevents you from playing your old save games.

Stalker (at least the old one anyway) is one of those games that you need to ignore for the first few months following release to let the bugs get ironed out before you invest your time. Otherwise you'll find yourself half-way through and then discovering a showstopper bug that a patch will fix that you can't apply because you can't load your save game!

I'll come back to this in a few months i reckon.

Gummy Panda

For some reason I can't capture the last point so i can leave the swamps. I killed all the bandits around the area yet Clear Sky can't be arsed to send any reinforcements to secure the final zone i captured.

Waited 10 mins for them to show up.

/sigh

Spunge

Does it have the same feel as stalker, like wide open areas with dogs and stuff running around at night.

Sephiroth_dude

Whats the AI lIKE?

Spear

The 1.5.0.4 patch is out and guess what it does to your savegames....

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/12845/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:+Clear+Sky+1.5.04+Patch+-+Retail