S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Single-Player Preview

It's not often that constantly delayed games live up to the hype that builds over years of waiting, but S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl certainly has the potential. The dreariness of a burnt out, post-apocalyptic environment; the necessity to loot the bodies of friends in order to survive; and the realization that a handful of bullets and a protein bar are worth more than any amount of money are feelings I haven't experienced since playing Fallout. After spending a significant amount of time with the single player beta of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I can tell you that the Zone is a very fun place to be. The Zone is the area where you begin your journey as the "marked one," signified by a tattoo on your arm. Under the service of a merchant, after your body is found amid several not-so-alive ones, you're asked to use your skills as a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to benefit your savior, a trader dealing more in information than any material goods. If you help him, he'll feel obligated to provide you with information on the last known mission you were on before you fell victim to amnesia. With no real alternative, I accepted his generous proposal, resigning myself to playing errand boy. My assignment: retrieve a pen drive from an operative whose location is currently unknown. I got my first real idea of just how massive S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s world is after I stepped out of the trader's underground shelter and into the middle of a dilapidated camp of gun-toting survivors. The overcast skies rumbled with thunder and stretched into the distance as far as I could see. Shoddy roadways leading out of the campsite spread out in different directions, sometimes ending abruptly as stark wilderness devoured them. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s world is huge, and I spent a great deal of my time just running around exploring and doing side quests. A bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of the land before me, I whipped out my PDA to decide where I should go first. I'd been assigned to speak with one of the higher-ups in the camp, "Wolf," to learn more about the location of the man who has the pen drive, so I opened my quest log to get information on where I should start looking. Quests in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are laid out clearly and distinctly: each segment of a quest is bullet-pointed for your convenience, allowing you to look ahead and see what you'll need to do for the length of an entire quest, not just the current part. By clicking a tiny radar button next your current objective's bullet point, the map will zoom in on where you need to be to accomplish your current goal. After locating my contact on the map, I crossed the dreary campsite, listening to men talk around campfires. I stopped to chat with a few of them, learning a bit about the encampment and the world beyond it. Each NPC has a trade option, and by clicking it, a trade window detailing both your inventory and the NPC's pops up. Unfortunately, I didn't have any items to barter with, so I closed the window and continued on my way to meet with Wolf. I learned from Wolf that Nimble, the man holding on to my benefactor's data drive, had been captured and taken to the gutted remains of a village. He gave me a pistol with a few rounds and told me to a group of Wolf's men preparing to storm the village remains and deal with the bandits that had taken up residence there--the same group holding Nimble and, more importantly, that bloody pen drive. I left the camp--first whipping out my handy PDA and determining the fastest route to take--and crossed wide open fields lush with vegetation, as well as the scattered remains of vehicles and structures. Wild dogs and boars roamed the land; many allowed me to pass unchallenged, but a few were so mad that I had no choice but to put them down after I was charged and attacked. One was able to really sink his teeth in me, and I began to bleed. To treat bleeding in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you have to apply a bandage, and alas, I didn't have one yet. Fortunately, I found a wounded soldier as I hobbled onward to meet with Wolf's men. Here's where S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s reputation system comes into play. The fallen soldier asked me to search the area for a med kit he'd thrown by accident when he was attacked (he was too hurt to find it himself). Once retrieved, he asked that I bring it to him and heal him. I, of course, had two choices: do as he asked, or use the med kit for myself, since I had already lost almost half my life and was still bleeding profusely. Despite his compelling moral arguments, my shoulder angel lost the battle that day. Not only did I opt to use the health pack on myself, but I killed the wounded soldier and looted his body, finding bandages and more bullets. Score! I have to admit something, though -- I've always felt guilty about killing in video games. In games such as Metal Gear Solid 2, I always used tranquilizers instead of bullets on my enemies, even though they were the worst of terrorists. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. presented me with a real "live or die" scenario, and I spent a good deal of time weighing my options, but in the end, it came down to his life or mine, and by golly, I really needed to get my hands on that accursed pen drive. Refreshed in body if not mind and soul, I finally arrive and group with Wolf's entourage, where I'm presented with another choice: I can go in alone--I am a professional S.T.A.L.K.E.R., after all--or I can bring them with me. I'm not exactly comfortable flying solo, as I've already been seriously wounded once; better for these guys to provide assistance--and draw enemy fire. We go in together. My companions, apparently, decided that sneaking missions are overrated; they ran toward the decrepit village, shouting and firing at the first sign of the bandits. As bullets hailed the earth around me, I shot toward a nearby vehicle, holding down the sprint key for an extra burst of speed. Lowering my belly to the ground, accomplished by holding two unique crouch keys, I flanked the structure and entered a building through a gaping hole in a crumbling wall. Therein, I found a bandit preoccupied with one of my groupies. My friend died a horrible death, and I could have helped him, but I was busy creeping up behind my prey. Sheathing my gun and withdrawing a knife, I swung down hard with the right mouse button, a more powerful blow when that particular weapon is equipped, and stabbed him hard in the face. He slumped to the ground, I looted his body (med kit and bandages) and crawled onward to my fallen ally. Relieving him of his burdens, I moved onward. After several more intense minutes of stalking, looting, and stabbing with a good bit of shooting thrown in, the battle was over. The AI presented a worthy fight, leaving only one of my comrades alive. A comrade holding a shotgun. I really needed that shotgun. Turn the page for the conclusion of my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. adventure. _PAGE_BREAK_ Unfortunately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. doesn't allow any polite ways to acquire weapons that I could find, so.... Seconds later, I had a more capable weapon, and I searched the area for Nimble. I found him huddled near a campfire and all too eager to relinquish the pen drive. Before he left to make his way back to the encampment, he too had a mission for me: find a protective jacket and bring it to him. It was located somewhere north of the village, deep in the bowels of a tunnel. I opened my PDA, found the tunnel, made my way there, and sat down to do a bit of planning. While there were no human foes near this tunnel, there were quite a few packs of dogs and boars, which in their own way, proved far more dangerous than humans. I knew from past experience that the roaming animals in this game could easily hand me my head, so I decided to stay where I was for a while longer and study their patterns. Too bad I couldn't find any; their AI behavior seemed far too realistic to allow for such typical video game routines of moving to one area, then another, then back again. Suddenly, the dogs began barking and running over a hill to my left. A boar had been spotted, and it too was running in the same direction, though away from the dogs! A lucky breakdown in animal communication had occurred, so I headed as far to my right as I could to a zig-zagging line of trees that made their way down the road to the tunnel. I crawled slowly, constantly watching my left side to make sure the dogs and boars didn't return. I climbed to my feet and sprinted occasionally, diving back down to the ground as I heard barking increase. This sequence was fun to play, as I wasn't some super character that could simply shoot all of the animals before sauntering into the tunnel to retrieve my prize; I had to work for it, and work I did. At last I entered the tunnel and ran quickly to the back. There I found the protective jacket, increasing my protection against bullets, but lowering my resistance to the massive amounts of radiation in the area. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., it is important to properly and safely equip your character. While many items provide admirable boosts to health, armor, and bullet resistance, many present lower protection against radiation as a tradeoff. If radiation poisoning occurs, it can be treated via methods such as expensive treatment or chugging vodka. I made my way back to the camp and went to meet up with Nibbles. He wanted the jacket, obviously, so I... decided to quick save. First, I gave him the jacket and was pleased when he presented me with more quests to undertake. More quests means more rewards, after all. But then I quick loaded. I decided to kill him by shooting him in the head, thereby keeping the jacket for my own greedy self. This was not the wisest course of action, as a patrolman outside the building heard the gun shot and brought the wrath of the Zone on me. I quick loaded again and stabbed Nibbles in the face before proceeding to drag his body down to the building's basement where it could rot. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is turning me into quite the heartless bastard. My conscience feeling less and less encumbered with every soulless move I made, I decided to keep my promise to the merchant (one good deed erases a bad one, or so I tell myself) and give him his precious pen drive. Once it was in his greedy little hands, he told me what I wanted to know: the location of the man I was going to kill before my unfortunate bout of amnesia. Unfortunately, according to my PDA map, this man sat smack in the middle of a military base. Wonderful. I began to make my way there, thirsty for revenge, though of course with the whole amnesia thing happening, I wasn't exactly sure why. Much to my chagrin, a barbed wire fence stretched seemingly from one side of the map to the other, and the only way across to the area I needed to reach was a open-arched area beneath a set of train tracks--heavily guarded by men with guns, bigger guns than I currently possessed. I once again made use of quick save. The first thing I did was crawl on top of the stone archway that supported the railroad. I zoomed in and decided to snipe with my pistol (I've been playing too much Halo, apparently) just to see how many I could take out. The shot went astray, the soldier looked up at where the shot had come from, spotted me, and ran for cover behind one of the many vehicles the men had arranged beneath the archway. They were all under cover now, having heard the shot, and I was left with the only option of crawling down the hill and picking them off one by one, which was nigh impossible since I'd given away my position. Quick load saved the day. I made my way down the hill and approached a patrolling soldier. He turned and gruffly asked what a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. could want around these parts. I'm allowed to pass through, he said, if I'm willing to plunk down 500 bucks. I acquiesced and began to walk through, but before I began, he told me I only have a limited amount of time to cross through the area; once time's up, not even the money I willingly paid will save me. I proceeded to slink through, snatching up a few bandages and other miscellaneous items I found along the way. Oddly, none of the guards mentioned my thievery, and I had just made my way through the area when one of the men announced that my time was up, time to get moving again. My pursuit of the game's main storyline ended for a while at that point. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s world is so vast that, having reached the other wide of the barbed wire fence, I had what felt like an entirely new world to explore. It began to rain at that point, which was an immersive effect; the weather system seems dynamic, as weather patterns seemed to fluctuate, though sunlight never really shines down on the infirm denizens of the Zone. I ran across hollowed out buildings with secrets to reveal, fought some grotesque mutants in a barn--no doubt the result of the extreme radiation levels in the area--and eventually, when I had the time, became to scope out the military complex and formulate a plan to reach my target. While I have yet to delve into S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s multiplayer modes, the hours I've spent exploring, looting, and questing in the single player game have been very fun and involving. The world is so huge, its ecology so dynamic and expansive, that you will often times be more caught up just looking around than you will furthering the story. For those of you interested in stalking with and against your friends, I'll be back next week with hands-on impressions of the game's multiplayer modes. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl recently went gold and is due for release on March 20, 2007.