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The wind wisps by as distressed dogs moan from out of the darkness. It’s midnight and I cannot see more than a few feet in front of me. My flashlight sways back and forth as I run, paranoia setting in. I can hear guttural growls but can’t see a thing. A voice comes out of my radio notifying me, with a thick Russian accent, that an emission is coming. I need to find cover desperately. I open my PDA, which has a vague topographical map, to try and find the nearest refuge. I spot what looks like arusted barge and make for an oddly placed wooden door in the side of it. As I reach for the knob I hear a shotgun blast and the door flies open. A man screams out at me from inside. Even though I’ve visited with him before he has no idea who I am. His mutated pet dog growls at me as I shut the door. Though he seems hostile he is actually quite harmless. I pace inside for about five minutes as the screen throbs red. The point of view camera sways as though I drank too much vodka and the sound of the emission is immense. After a few moments the kindly voice comes through my radio to notify me that the emission has passes. I have survived yet another one.

Ukrainian developer GSC World Publishing brings us their third installment of the Stalker franchise and it is quite an accomplishment. This installment picks up shortly after the events of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. You assume the role of Alexander Degtyarev, a military agent who is tasked with the investigation of a failed attempt to penetrate the center of the ‘zone’. Unlike the previous games, CoP had a very smooth launch, avoiding a lot of the bugs that hindered the previous two releases. The only thing I noticed was the occasional frame-rate drop when objects were being loaded in certain areas. After playing a while I didn’t notice it anymore. The tone of the game is truly eastern European. It’s a bleak, desperate existence where the world’s inhabitants are struggling to survive in a world where wealth is not easily attained and your diet consists of sausage, canned meat, bread, and vodka.

Like any Stalker game I started out confused and overwhelmed. I was not sure where to go or what to do exactly. After a short while I began to figure things out and was noticing nice changes from the previous games. The story this time around is much more coherent than the original. The missions are similar to the other Stalkers but they seem to guide you along better. The original game would give me missions and no map marker for them, or the marker would be wrong. That caused many frustrating hours. I played through the majority of the new missions without any problems at all. It was quite a relief.

The inventory system has been overhauled. It is a much cleaner interface and your weapons and armor are upgradeable. Also there are onscreen notifications if your weapons or armor start to wear down. Unlike the first two games you are able to repair items in CoP. The health system functions the same way, with bleeding and ruptures. You can also find and use many artifacts that give you certain bonuses as well as a nice dose of radiation. Though the artifacts were not nearly as prevalent as they were in the first two games.

A lot of the same enemies make their way back into this sequel but are deadlier. The most memorable occurrence was my first bloodsucker encounter. It actually grabbed a hold of me and began to drain my blood. A truly frightening experience when it is pitch dark and the creature moves around invisible.

The Stalker series is definitely not for every one. It is dark, gritty, and can sometimes be anxiety inducing. Yet I would still recommend it to anyone interested in shooters with some rpg elements. Once you get over the sleight learning curve it is truly a satisfying experience.

4A-Games has arrived. After all of the controversy over the game engine with former employees of GSC Game World, Metro 2033 has finally seen the light of day. Being a fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games I was very excited to hear that some of the former team members from that franchise were working on a new game. It was also nice to hear that it would also employ a post-apocalyptic setting based off of a Dmitry Glukhovsky novel by the same name.

My intent was to publish this review earlier but I have been immersed in the claustrophobic tunnels that reside below the surface of Moscow. It is a world where nuclear war was a reality and the passengers of the metro system were the ‘lucky’ survivors. The game places you in the role of Artyom, a silent protagonist ah-la Gordon Freeman. You reside in a world where the surface is deadly, the only currency is pre-war bullets, and mankind is still trying to kill itself. There are a few factions that are warring with each other. The communists, the Nazis, and what seems like everyone else. If that wasn’t harsh enough, there are strange creatures that lurk within the old Moscow subway system, just waiting for some unlucky soul to cross their path. Since the game is heavily driven by its story I will try not to touch on it. It is something best experienced without any foreknowledge.

My first reaction to the game was how amazing it looked. I’m running a rather fit system and was able to crank most settings to their highest limit. I was blown away by the quality. Beautiful texture work, particle effects, environmental and lighting effects. I found it hard to play through the game on my first play-through because I wanted to take in every scene and really take my time. The problem there was the fact that the story tries to push you forward a little too quickly. I also noticed I spent a lot of time looking at the ground searching for pre-war bullets, though I didn’t end up spending many of them through the first run.

One aspect I really enjoyed was the very organic feel to the game. The standard HUD is very limited to a view of weapons that is only seen when you scroll through them and a graphical depiction of your ammunition count when needed. Other than that it is completely nonexistent. The health-bar is replaced by a screen distorting red blur and rapid increase in heart rate. When wearing the gas mask you have a wrist watch you can refer to for filter change notifications. Alternatively, you can rely on the labored sound of your breathing and the excessive fogging that occurs on your mask as well. Another thing I learned quickly was the fact that the gas mask can break if you are wounded too often while wearing it, requiring you to loot one in better condition off of a corpse. Medkits are replaced by scarce adrenaline shots which rapidly increase your heart rate and cause the screens brightness to actually fluctuate for a moment. It is a welcomed addition to an already innovative system. Your head lamp and night-vision goggles are both set on limited battery life and require you to pull out a device to replenish the charge. It’s an interesting interaction that requires some preparation so you are not left in the dark at the wrong time.

The environments are another big plus. The game is set in a rendered model of the Moscow Metro system. At times you can also venture to the surface, which is a frozen wasteland riddled with creatures. There are a few elements in the game that pay homage to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series such as the anomalies that are in the subway tunnels, or the fact that you find frozen stalkers on the surface at one point. The dark is another aspect that you can use to your advantage. Blowing out lamps, shooting out lights, and equipping a stealth suit can allow you to play a silent assassin, stalking the shadows and dropping foes with knives, allowing you to conserve ammunition.

The game is not without its flaws though. There are times when outside that I felt as though I should have been able to go places but was not able to due to invisible walls. The entire game heavily limits where you can go, but that is to be expected. Also, some of the weapons are not as effective as they should be. I should not have to spend six shotgun shells on a soldier that is standing in front of me. Balancing like that can be extremely frustrating.

Still, aside from little things like that, this game is quite an accomplishment. This is the kind of storytelling that Modern Warfare 2 could not accomplish; a compelling environment that truly instills a sense of desperation and panic into the player. One thing to remember though, play this game at night. Make sure to have the sound up as loud as your living situation allows, and try to lose yourself in the experience. Perhaps it will eat up as many hours in your life as it has in mine.

-Matthew S. Toth