S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Review
Unquestionably the best game in the series with large open levels and plenty of exploration rewards. More user friendly without sacrificing the core elements of the series.
The new areas also have quite a number of detailed buildings and even more underground sections including caves, tunnels, basements many with secret stashes or dangers to uncover. I recall briefly looking for a hidden stash near a pipe; I turned around and noticed a huge crevasse below my feet. Peering inwards I saw a moving fire anomaly coming from below further sparking my interest. I then decided to abandon my stash hunt and investigate the hazardous world below. It’s these types of moments that seem to occur much more than the previous games. This is partly due to the buildings having more dimension than you might see from first glance, whether above, below or inside. It’s also clear a lot of work was put in designing some unique buildings that are waiting to be entered. There is some reusing of buildings during the Pripyat section, but many of those aren’t enterable and serve more as a visual background. The great thing about the open landscape is that it’s going to offer more surprises on replay.
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This cave holds more dangers than this flying fireball anomaly
On the story front, your journey into the Zone is as the secret agent, Major Degtyarev, posing as a Stalker in order to find out why some military helicopters have crashed. Each helicopter is marked on your map and you can investigate them at your own leisure. Visiting each fills in the story gaps but the story presentation is not going to impress. As the game continues getting to these helicopters becomes a little more difficult. It might be the presence of a mine field, mutants or radiation that makes things challenging. You can quickly complete these main quests or leave them until you have exhausted your interest in the rest of the Zone. I visited most locations in the Zone and was rewarded with a suitable in-game achievement (among others), but there were still more quests to be done. Make no mistake the rest of the Zone is very dangerous and much more interesting than the major story quests. These dangers come from the landscape and the changing population of mutants.
There are quite a good number of mutants, the Bloodsuckers return in fierce numbers and will encircle you. Mutant rats will frequent the underground areas and hunt in numbers. Zombies will stagger about waiting for a bullet or even just sit down in the middle of nowhere. Some new mutants enter the fray requiring different tactics alongside the standard mercenary types that roam the lands. I recall waiting a few hours game time for one new mutant to appear in the dark of night as a storm closed in around me. In the first two major areas most Stalkers are neutral towards you unless you act aggressively. You can certainly help the wounded Stalkers and gain their support so that they will later defend you and help you travel to locations. Pripyat is even more hostile, just about everything wants to kill you in the abandoned city and there aren’t free roaming neutral Stalkers like the other areas.
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The iconic Bloodsucker returns, this time living up to his namesake
Stalkers will roam about in groups and you are allowed to converse and trade with the leader of each group while not in combat. They may offer some new insights, quest help or even quick travel to a nearby location. You can even catch a free ride should they be headed in your direction. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long before you see answers to questions being repeated by different Stalkers, but at least it offers more interaction with your Zone buddies. New dialogue options open up as you start or finish different main quests. You can’t actually join a faction this time and there are no faction wars but you can still do quests for each faction. For some this may be a step backwards but it fits with the story and ensures you aren’t restricted or hunted down because of your allegiances.
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Feb 4, 2010 12:22:27 (Feb 4, 2010 12:22)
