Reviewed by Barry Little - May 21, 2007

ESRB Rating: M (Mature 17+)

“Take these. They’ll help.”

The expiration date on the bottle of aspirin was almost a year old, and there were only four of the white tablets inside. It didn’t matter. He just wanted the pain throbbing inside his head that made it feel as if were slowly being squeezed between a vise, to stop. That, and those strange dreams. He could remember the dreams as if he had just awakened. Only he couldn’t remember the last time he slept. Or what he was doing on that Death Truck when one of Sidorovich’s men found him among its cargo of corpses. He couldn’t even remember his name. He slowly turned the aspirin bottle up to his lips and gulped down all of them, followed by the shot glass of vodka Sidorovich gave him.

“Look,” Sidorovich began. “I don’t know who this Strelok guy is, and frankly I could give two shits why you want him dead. That’s between you and him. You do some things for me—and a small favor—and we’ll see what we can do to help you find out about this Strelok—and who you really are.”

The vodka was more effective than the aspirin. Unfortunately, vodka was worth more than gold, since the radiation in the Zone made the water unusable. Sidorovich may have been a fairly generous man; perhaps one of the most generous traders in the Zone—but not generous to a fault. In the Zone everything had its price—in more ways than one.

“So what do you say, Marked One? We got a deal?”

Marked One…It was as good a name as any, considering that he couldn’t remember his.

“Deal,” the Marked One said. “What do you need me to do?”

In 1986 the world was stunned by the largest nuclear accident in history—Chernobyl. Twenty years later, history incredibly repeats itself. Only this time, it may be more than just an “accident.” An unknown force is causing the Zone around Chernobyl to extend its deadly radioactive embrace. Reports are leaking out of dangerous anomalies, horrific mutations, and bizarre artifacts with amazing scientific potential. Is the Zone a new frontier with incredible discoveries waiting to be found and sold to the highest bidder—or a Man-made Hell that could mean the Beginning of The End? In S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, it’s up to you to find out…

Created by Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a Sci-Fi/Horror/Survival First-Person Shooter with RPG (Role-playing Game) elements. The year is 2012, after a second Chernobyl incident. The Zone is a no-man’s land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which has become a battleground between the government and its scientists who is trying to understand it; the military, who is trying to contain it—and a group of individuals that are part treasure-hunter and part-mercenary known as Stalkers—who are trying to secure the Zone’s scientific secrets for profit. You assume the role of a man found in the wreckage of a “Death Truck,” used to remove the dead near the center of the Zone, and are brought to a Trader named Sidorovich at a Stalker camp. It turns out that you have no recollection of who you are. The only two links to your identity, is a strange message on the PDA in your possession when you were discovered: Kill the Strelok. The other is the word S.T.A.L.K.E.R. tattooed on your forearm, which earns you the nickname Marked One—a name you’ll come to be known by, to allies and enemies alike as you progress through the game.

Sidorovich’s camp in the Cordon section of the Zone is the starting point for new and rookie Stalkers. It’s here where you will learn the basic gameplay mechanics of the game—movement, talking with NPCs, weapons, trading and using your Inventory Screen and PDA. You’ll also be introduced to enemies—human and mutant—that you will most frequently encounter in S.T.A.L.K.E.R, as well as the Zone’s unique environmental hazards.

Your education into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. begins with a tutorial mission for Sidorovich to rescue a Stalker carrying a flash drive with important data, who has been captured by bandits. From there, you can take secondary jobs from Sidorovich and a veteran Stalker named Wolf. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you receive payment for jobs completed in cash, goods (weapons and gear), or artifacts whose “market value” can be used as currency. Or you can jump into the main “quest” of the game where you perform a series of increasingly dangerous missions that will make it safer for Sidorovich and all the other Traders and Stalkers to commercially exploit the Zone, while tracking down Strelok and finding your identity.

Throughout the primary mission, you will have the opportunity to take a number of  profitable side jobs from other Traders, Stalkers, and the two main rival factions, if you choose. The ability to make choices and have those choices dramatically impact your experience within the game, is where S.T.A.L.K.E.R. skillfully and seamless blurs the line between a conventional First-person Shooter and Role-playing Game.

Like Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, NPCs and creatures in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have their own routines independent of the player. Weather changes and time passes (albeit at a much more realistic and less accelerated pace than in Oblivion). As you travel back and forth through the Zone, you’ll rarely see the same thing twice. Mutants migrate, hunt and kill other mutants—or humans that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s not unusual to see a mutant drag a kill to a secluded spot behind bushes or wreckage for a nice, quiet “lunch.” You’ll encounter other Stalkers who are out exploring, relaxing with other Stalkers around makeshift campfires or engaged in firefights with bandits and soldiers. Squads of soldiers patrol the roads leading to key areas of the Zone and target mutants or Stalkers on sight. Return to a Stalker camp that you helped defend from Bandits two days ago, and you may find that the Bandits now control the camp—or that the camp has become a slaughterhouse and has new tenants—an army of mutants.

Your actions towards non-hostile NPCs determine their disposition towards you. Not only will a non-hostile NPCs refuse to talk or trade with you if you approach them with a weapon drawn, but unless you holster the weapon, they are likely to draw theirs and kill you in what they perceive to be a justifiable action of self-defense. Stay on the good side with friendlies, and it will help you when gathering information or trading. Get trigger-happy or antagonize people, and you may as well hang a bulls-eye around your neck. The choice is yours. But be advised that the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an extremely tough and unforgiving one. You might be able to survive by taking the “me against the world” approach—but the odds in this game are highly against it. What makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R. a refreshingly good gaming experience, is that the game encourages you to learn ways to balance diplomacy with firepower. When to stick your neck out and “get involved” for someone else’s benefit (and yours)—and when to hang back and mind your own business. And when to take the indirect approach that can conserve your ammo and preserve your life, rather than the suicide approach against odds you can’t win, that will get you killed.

You can tackle all of the secondary jobs first before taking on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s primary missions that make up the game’s plot. Or you can skip the secondary jobs entirely. Or you can choose some or all of the secondary jobs to perform while tacking the primary missions (which, if planned properly from the onset can cut down on some of the running back and forth in the game). Again, the choice is yours. But

unlike Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does not sit around patiently waiting for you to get to certain matters at your own leisure. On side-missions, a time limit is imposed (usually a day) where you not only must successfully complete the objective of the mission, but collect the reward for it. Failing to do either means failing the job and losing the bounty for it. And you do not get a second chance to try again. Fortunately, the only in-game penalty for failing these side missions is that you lose out on whatever reward you might have received for completing it.

The Zone is a big, dangerous place and the only way to get around in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is to hoof it. If you want to keep the Marked One alive long enough to uncover the Zone’s secrets and his true identity, then knowing your limitations, the environment, your enemies and your gear is crucial. Fortunately, GSC has made it easy for you to do all of this in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. without bogging either you or the action in the game down with awkward interfaces and unnecessary micro-management. First, the Marked One is not the DOOM³ Space Marine. Weight limits the amount of gear and items you can carry. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. there is a 50 Kilo limit imposed upon you. The more you carry, the slower you move and the quicker you get fatigued when running (yes, unlike most shooters, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you will get exhausted if you try to run continuously, and will need to stop and catch your breath before continuing). Exceed the weight limit and you won’t be able to move at all, unless you drop enough of your inventory to reduce your weight. Equipping larger, heavier weapons will also reduce your mobility accordingly. One thing that you’ll need to do occasionally in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that you won’t find in any other shooter, is eat. A Fork and Spoon icon on your Heads-up Display will appear when it’s time for you to chow-down. You can buy food through the normal trading channels, or loot it from the bodies of dead NPCs. Granted, Bread Loaves, Canned Army Rations, Diet Sausages and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-brand Energy Drinks may not offer much in the way of variety, but it beats starving to death.

It’s safe to say that the Marked One will get more than just a few superficial scratches and cuts in the Zone. Color-coded icons for Wounds (Blood Drop icon) and Radiation (Radioactive Warning Symbol icon) will appear on your Heads-up Display when you are bitten, shot, or exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. Green is minor, yellow is average and red is critical. When bitten or wounded by gunfire, bleeding can be stopped by applying Bandages. At the game’s lower difficulty level, minor bites and wounds will stop if you remain inactive long enough. Otherwise, they can become more severe and even life-threatening if ignored too long.

When bandages won’t do, you’ll need a Medkit. The more common, general-purpose one is in an orange box, and is the least expensive. The Army Medkit in the blue box treats more severe physical injuries with blood coagulants, antibiotics, immunization stimulators and painkillers. As a result, it costs more than the general-purpose orange kit. The yellow Scientific Medkit has all the features of the Army kit with additional treatments for radiation poisoning. Naturally, it is the most expensive of the three. As you progress through S.T.A.L.K.E.R., in addition to finding each type of kit on the bodies of Stalkers, bandits, soldiers and scientists, they can be found in hidden caches or storage lockers in the appropriate facilities, you can either buy or trade for them from the usual sources.

Since you will not have the benefit of a Scientist Medkit or the better anti-radiation protective gear until you get at least halfway through the game, you’ll need Anti-radiation Drugs or good old-fashioned Cossack’s Vodka to reduce the effects of radiation exposure. While Vodka is a lot cheaper than Anti-Rads, goes down a lot smoother, and gives you a nice buzz, multiple bottles of Vodka weigh more than multiple Anti-Rad kits. Vodka also temporarily impairs your balance and aim when consumed. As a BRnR Public Service Announcement, I'd like to remind you that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is just a game. In the real world, it’s probably not a good idea to get plastered on Vodka while exposing yourself to lethal doses of radiation…

In addition to walking, jumping and running, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. allows you to lean left or right around obstacles to shoot from cover. This is more logical and realistic than other shooters which require you to side-step from behind cover, making it easier for enemies to spot you, while presenting them with a larger target. While leaning allows you to be less noticeable while exposing as little of yourself to enemy fire as possible, keep in mind that it doesn’t make you invisible or prevent you from getting shot. It does lower the odds a bit in your favor in of seeing the Game Over screen after getting yourself capped.

There are also two levels of crouching. The first is more of a lowered combat stance than a crouch where you can move at a decent pace with your weapon at the ready.  The second is a "sitting crouch" that reduces your profile and allows more accurate aiming, particularly through a scope or down the sights. You automatically cradle your weapon when running, and won't be able to fire it until you stop. This makes sense, as you aren't likely to do anything more than waste ammo while trying to run and shoot at the same time.

The Stance Indicator in the lower left-hand corner of the screen will always show you what position you are in, and whether you are walking or running, and is flanked by Noise and Visibility Indicators that show just how alert enemies are to your presence. While S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn't exactly Thief 3: Deadly Shadows or Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell when it comes to stealth, you'll find yourself in situations where it's better to go in quietly using darkness and shadows for cover with a silenced weapon, than through the front door with guns blazing. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also encourages the use of stealth by giving you the ability to drag bodies out of  sight (yes, enemies in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will notice  bodies lying around and react accordingly). You also have the usual indicators for Ammo, Player and Armor Health, and Firing Mode in the lower right-hand corner, and the obligatory Minimap in the upper left, which provides you with navigation points to your objectives, and Friend-or-Foe information. A Dynamic Crosshair that can also display distance-to-target information (toggled from the Main Menu), is at the center of the screen. It disappears when you’re aiming down a weapon’s sights.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s Inventory Screen is where you manage and select all of your gear, items, and where you trade. Four of the six panels are divided into storage slots (the larger the item, the more slots it takes up). The three across the top are for your primary and secondary weapons, and your belt, where you can equip up to five artifacts. The fourth panel on the left is for all the rest of your items and any unselected weapons and gear. The center panel provides a more complete description of a selected item, including its stats and condition if it is a weapon. The sixth panel on the right shows the Marked One, any clothing or armor he is wearing, with status bars of his Health (red bar), Armor (blue bar) and Radiation Sickness (yellow bar). Directly below is your cash on-hand in Rubles, and your Resistance Parameter stats showing the amount of resistance you have against specific physical threats, based on the level of protection provided by the gear you’re currently wearing. You can boost those parameters by purchasing suits that provide better protection, and equipping certain artifacts that you’ll find in the Zone, on your belt.

Managing your inventory is as simple as left-clicking to use, right-clicking to bring out a context-sensitive menu to perform specific actions on the item, or dragging and dropping. One thing that I really like is the ability to upgrade certain weapons with scopes, silencers and grenade launchers simply by dragging the upgrade to the weapon and dropping it in place.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s PDA provides a vital link to information you’ll need to complete your objectives and survive the Zone’s many perils. Your PDA is divided into six tabs. Tasks show all active, completed and failed missions and allow you to select navigation waypoints to your objectives (which are uploaded to the Minimap) Map gives you a GPS view of the Zone. Diary keeps a log of entries made by the Marked One on his reflections and impressions of people and events in the Zone as you progress through the game. It’s also where information from other PDAs found on the bodies of NPCs, is stored. Reviewing this information reveals the location of caches throughout the Zone that you can use to stash your own goods, as well as those that have items you’ll find useful. Other information uploaded may be keypad codes to unlock doors to storage vaults, or important individuals to contact. The Diary also keeps a record of all the conversations you have with the game’s NPCs, which can really be helpful since the heavily accented English can sometimes be difficult to understand. Contacts gives you the stats on the characters you’ve interacted with—their faction, rank, reputation and attitude towards you. I found it quicker, easier  and safer to view individuals from a distance from the cover, through the Binoculars (hostiles are surrounded by red brackets when viewed). Of course, those who love to live dangerously can always try the more direct approach: if they don’t try to shoot at you on sight, they’re friendly. If they do, they aren’t!

If you want to see how you rate among the Zone's top 20 Stalkers, click the PDA’s Ranking tab. Your current number of successfully completed missions, artifacts located, and enemies neutralized are tallied into the score that represents your ranking. Statistics is where you can get a more detailed view of your current, personal achievements and standings with your fellow Stalkers in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. single-player campaign. Detailed information on factions, creatures, anomalies and so on, is available in the PDA’s Encyclopedia, and is updated regularly as you progress through the game. Finally, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does not pause when you access either the Inventory Screen or your PDA, so it goes without saying that you need to be careful where and when you access either one.

The most frequently encountered environmental threat in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., is the Anomaly—strange byproducts of the second Chernobyl reactor meltdown. Your PDA has a built in detector that will beep at an increasing rate as you get closer to one. Each anomaly has its own unique appearance. The best general description I can give, is that they appear as “localized energy ripples or time-space distortions.” Some anomalies are stationary in nature, others are transient—meaning you may not encounter it in the exact same place as you did when you first saw it. Some of them are visible, and some are almost invisible—especially in the dark.

Anomalies are typically found outdoors in open fields, and alongside or in the middle of roads—though it’s not uncommon to find them inside demolished buildings or other structures. Throughout the game, you’ll occasionally witness careless humans and mutants alike walk right into an Anomaly and meet with a rather spectacular and messy death. While the effect of you stumbling into an Anomaly isn’t likely to be as visually “impressive,” at the very least it will certainly hurt like hell. For the most part though, you’ll simply die.

The best way to deal with an Anomaly is to avoid it. But how do you avoid something that you can’t always see?

Elementary, my Dear Watson—Bolts.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. provides you with an unlimited number of garden-variety bolts. If you ever need to disarm quickly before chatting it up with a neutral or friendly that has already drawn his weapon on you, press the <Number 6> key and take out a bolt! It’s a great ice-breaker and may save you the embarrassment of getting your ass shot off. Better yet, tossing a bolt into an Anomaly or an area where you suspect where one is, will “trigger” it so you can see it.

Pretty doggone handy, those bolts.

There is an upside to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s Anomalies. They produce artifacts that possess unique properties that can boost your stats. The Stone Blood artifact, for example, is produced by the “Whirligig Anomaly.” It can boost your health by 200% while increasing your weakness to bullets, teeth and claw attacks from mutants, and blunt trauma by 10% each. Rarer artifacts are capable of even more dramatic effects on your stats—and, they are also worth a lot of money. You can equip up to five artifacts on your belt to take advantage of their effects. Artifacts can be found just about anywhere in the Zone. Other Stalkers will offer them for trade. The more valuable ones are offered as payment for performing a successful job. Finding them on your own requires above-average effort—and exploring. Some of them are dangerously close to the anomaly that produced them—particularly the ones that can suck you into them. Not all anomalies in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. produce artifacts. They’re just dangerous. As a rule of thumb, if you see anything in the environment that looks unsafe, chances are, it is.

You should also be on the lookout for areas that have high levels of radiation. The area of the Zone known as Garbage is one such place— a massive graveyard of derelict civilian and military vehicles, heavy construction machinery, and waste dumps from the Chernobyl reactor. Your PDA will alert you to radiation hazards by making a sound like a Geiger counter, with the appropriate warning icon in your Heads-up display that was mentioned earlier. As the radiation reaches dangerous levels, where you begin to develop radiation poisoning ,your screen will start to fade and develop “static.” Needless to so say, prolonged exposure is lethal.

For the most part, you can take alternate paths around areas with high levels of radiation. Or you can quickly run through them (assuming the zone of radiation is small enough), and take some Anti-Rads or Vodka afterwards. Unfortunately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will place you in a number of situations where you must be able to function and survive in areas with potentially lethal levels of radiation. In situations like these, investing in the right protective gear is a must.

At the beginning of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., all you have is a heavy leather windbreaker, jeans, combat boots and a backpack for your gear—none of which allows you to survive the Zone’s more dangerous conditions for long. The Zone’s Traders will offer a larger selection of more advanced protective gear as you progress through S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. Factions may offer one of their higher-end suits as a reward for successfully completing a mission for them.

Some are special suits that are designed to resist high levels of radiation, but offer poor protection from combat-related damage and attacks from mutants. Some are specialized for military applications that offer only a modicum of environmental protection. Most are compromises between saving you from hot lead, and saving you from being charcoal-broiled by radiation.

For example, the standard Stalker Suit is comprised of a light bulletproof vest and rubberized fabric reinforced with Kevlar plates, and can only adequately protect you from light gunfire. The more expensive  P2Z-9md Universal Protection Suit offers good balance between anomaly and bullet protection, while the Berill-5M Armored Suit is designed for military assault operation in areas with high levels of radiation. Its weakness is a low level of protection from anomalies. The SSP-99 offers affordable protection against high levels of radiation and hazardous chemicals, but you may as well be in your birthday suit when the bullets start to fly. The SEVA Suit excels at both high radiation protection while being able to take a lot of combat damage. As you may have guessed, it does have one major drawback—cost. At 60,000 rubles, you won’t see too many freelance Stalkers sporting these in the Zone. Unlike weapons, ammo, food and first aid, protective suits and armor are the one thing you can’t take from a fallen ally or enemy.

Years of constant exposure to the radiation in the Zone has caused horrible mutations in a number of domestic and wild animals. Blind Dogs are the most common mutated animal threats. Both the brown and albino variants are basically large, sightless pit bulls with festering sores from radiation on their bodies. Although they cannot see, mutation has heightened their ability to track and locate by smell and sound, as well as an uncanny ability to sense and avoid anomalies and radiation. When alone, they will flee if fired upon. However in groups, they are ferocious and cunning pack hunters capable of bringing down and mauling to death creatures twice their size and strength—including careless Stalkers, no matter how well-armed they are.

Unlike their other mutant canine counterparts, the Pseudo Dog isn’t blind. In fact it has the same radiation-induced glowing pupils as the Wild Boar, which adds to its rather demonic appearance, day or night. The Pseudo Dog has a larger, stockier build than the Blind Dog, with dark, bristle-like fur and exposed patches of tough scaly skin with radiation burns. Dangerously fast, and agile with a maw filled with rows of  razor-sharp teeth permanently curled into a frozen, inhuman grin, this Mutt from Hell should not be taken lightly when it’s alone, and definitely not in packs.

One look at common farm pigs who have also been affected by the Zone’s radiation, and you’ll see why Stalkers have nicknamed them Fleshes for good reason. This huge, horribly disfigured and bloated beast normally feeds on grass or plants, and usually avoid contact with humans or other creatures. In the absence of their regular diet, however, they have been known to attack and dine on other things—Like the careless Stalker that either underestimates the speed and strength of the Flesh, or allows one of more of them to get the drop on him while he’s out in the bushes blissfully taking a leak.

Wild Boars have mutated to nearly twice their normal size. They are distinguished by their unnatural silver pupils that seem glow even in the daytime. Their hooves have evolved into sharp claws. Most of the fur on their bodies is gone, replaced by incredibly tough, scaly skin. These lumbering brutes are deceptively faster than they look. Able to withstand high levels of radiation as easily as multiple gunshot wounds from all but the most powerful weapons, Boars can easily break half the bones in a man’s body with one blow from its massive cranium, and knock him flat on his back, then stomp and maul him to death.

Most mutants were that were once human are rarely encountered outdoors. You'll mostly find them skulking about in abandoned laboratories, tunnels and underground complexes—anywhere that's dark and claustrophobic, where you have little room to retreat or evade melee attacks. The one exception to this is the Snark—a humanoid mutant that may once have once been a member of the military that first accompanied scientists into the center of the Zone. These gas-mask wearing cannibalistic freaks with their filed teeth and fingernails run around on all fours and growl like wolves. Fast and agile, the Snark has a powerful leaping attack that can easily tear through all but the toughest environmental or battle suit. Snarks work in packs and are highly skilled at overpowering their prey. You're most likely to encounter them inside abandoned laboratories, tunnels and swampy areas hanging out with their favorite people—Zombies.

Technically speaking, the Zombie is not a mutant, but a former Stalker, Bandit or soldier whose brain has been “altered” by powerful, unknown emissions coming from the Lake Yantar region, which is also preventing further Stalker and Trader penetration into the Zone (assisting scientists in locating and destroying the source of these emissions is part of your primary mission later on in the game). In spite of their agonizingly twisted facial expressions, drooling, erratic movements, and slow, stumbling gait, the threat that a Zombie poses should not be taken lightly. I found out the hard way that whatever is responsible for microwaving their grey-matter and turn them into candidates for a George A. Romero horror flick, hasn’t affected their aim or ability to use a gun. They are also tougher to kill than they were in their former human state. The only thing that puts a Zombie down for the count once and for all, is a well-placed bullet between the eyes.

There are other mutants you’ll encounter that are mere grotesque shells of their former human selves. Some of them can crush you with a single blow, paralyze you with telepathic attacks, or make themselves invisible before moving in to suck the life out of you. An armored suit with night vision and a powerful close-range weapon are your best friends in dealing with them.