S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Announced

4Aces

SoC was Great for being a hobby driven development (GSC employees on their own time), with flaws, but eventually most got patched.: 4 / 5

CS was so bad (broken AI that was never fixed) they fired most of the management (including the Project Lead), and the fact that they just added one sad map to the SoC maps means I gave it a 1.5 / 5

CoP was better than CS but with still lacked the atmosphere that they promised to return to the series after the CS fiasco. This is coupled with the fact that there are only three large maps. The first is fully detailed (compared to SoC standards), the second only half-done, and the third is just pathetic considering we already had a much larger Pripyat map in SoC with about 10X the explorable area (most of the buildings could be entered). Combined the CoP maps only give about 1/3 the explorable area that we had in SoC. As well they took away our ability to properly join a faction (or stay neutral), had some terrible gameplay decisions (e.g. enemies could shoot at you if they were outside the base but you could not return fire since you were inside), and a totally broken economy (being rich in two hours of play is contrary to the Stalker style as set out in SoC) and can be used to buy end-level gear from Nimble at the first base, results in me giving CoP a 3 / 5 even though it has better graphics.

So while the series is getting closer to their roots, the complete lack of the features that made SoC so wonderful, and the apparent inability of the GSC management to understand what those features are, makes me very skeptical of Stalker 2. This will definitely be one to keep an eye on, and possibly rent, but only after I get at least a 4 / 5 from X-Play.

Most probably do not know that the two geniuses behind the atmosphere in SoC, quit GSC just before SoC launched. They started their own company in the Ukraine (where GSC is as well), called 4A (no relation). Their first game was Metro 2033 which scored 5 / 5 for atmosphere (by most reviewers) but significantly lower for gameplay.

So unless GSC is finally going to realize that atmosphere is not just ambient music/sounds (which is the only thing in CoP that could be considered atmospheric), then this series is destined to be just another generic shooter with (some) good graphics, but little else.

I am also hopeful that the upcoming Metro: Last Light (due out in 2012) will correct the purely linear gameplay and add some of the other aspects that made SoC so good (artifacts, more than one brief anomaly, sneaking, sniping, trading, factions). After all, they are both based on the book "Roadside Picnic", and after doing some research when Metro 2033 was first released, it does not appear that either has licensed the rights to the book. That means they both have a right to 'interpret' all the concepts in the book, with neither being able to claim the other has trespassed on their domain. If they do correct some of these issues, then we might just have a new contender for our interest.

P.S. I gave Metro 2033 a 3 / 5. They advertised many aspects that were not in the game (e.g. ammo being plentiful and the forced interactions with objects was only in the tutorial and then at the very end) and the gameplay was too linear killing re-playability (except for a bored few). While atmospheric, it did not capitalize on that or offer any stealth which would have enhanced the thrilling sense of danger and the supposed need to conserve ammo. Glad I played, but not enough to do so again. Will look to the reviews of the next one though.

Cheers, 4Aces