STALKER: Call of Pripyat Review Page 2

05 Feb 2010 at 15:53:23 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

But I mentioned wide-open areas, and that's something that deserves talking about. Call of Pripyat is divided into three areas of roughly equal size: the opening Creek area, the ruined Jupiter Neighbourhood and, eventually, Pripyat itself. Each has its own unique feel, and each quickly becomes familiar thanks to clever layout design and some impressive landmarks. For a change, few factions are immediately hostile, making exploration a bit less of a ball-ache, but the threat of death-by-hideous-mutant maintains the tension. Opposing factions Freedom and Duty can't exactly be courted in the way that they previously could, but both are pretty much always at least neutral towards you, and even bandits are happy enough to chat rather than gunning you down on sight.

A nice touch in Call of Pripyat is the personalisation of your equipment, through the unique upgrade tree each has. Taking a particular option will generally lock you out from another, meaning that you have to think – would you rather your assault rifle be 15% less prone to breakdown, or would whacking on another 10% to the fire rate be more helpful? Does your armour need ceramic plating for extra combat protection, or would you be better served by chemical protection?

Despite these improvements made across the board and the lack of game-killing bugs, it's still a shonky game. Characters are most definitely not characters: they're blank walls that sometimes issue out walls of text. Too much of the world is too empty, too – complaining about this might seem odd in a game about exploring a desolated area, but there are too many big areas or landmarks that would be ripe for some wonderful scenes or quests that are never really used. It's true in buildings, too, with one apartment block area in particular just being a series of totally empty rooms as you make your way higher and higher up.

All is forgiven when you experience some of the better setpieces, though. When exploring a potential bloodsucker lair and just waiting for one of the invisible bastards to grab you from behind, or assembling a team to suicidally delve into an underground network of tunnels, or even just coming across a random battle between Stalkers and roving mutants, you forget all about the issues and find yourself immersed in the mix of excitement and dread. Combat itself is as enjoyable as ever, with enemies aiming at where they think you are rather than where you actually are, and animals following a pack mentality that allows you to scare the bastards off. Much as most of the mutants are the same, they're as terrifying as ever. Bloodsuckers are horrifying beasts that will rip you apart from behind before turning invisible and running away again, while Pseudogiants are massive bullet-sponges. It's the pitched and desperate gunfights against mercenaries, bandits, and the dreaded Monolith soldiers that provide the real highlight, though, and it's a shame there aren't more.

So yes, Call of Pripyat is good. It's better, to my mind, than the other Stalker games. Ultimately, though, it's still a Stalker game: it's still got flaws, and while this fixes the first game's problems, the constant mention of “the first game” or “Shadow of Chernobyl” throughout this review should indicate that not much has changed, and the formula is beginning to grow a little stale. Only a little, though: while the total lack of a tutorial and the bewildering opening might make it hard to get into for newbies to the Zone, there's plenty here to drag old hands back.

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