STALKER: Call of Pripyat Review

Conclusions

Compacting these problem yet further is the age-old translation problem that's been around since the very first game was released in 2007 and, although Call of Pripyat is oodles better with the dialogue than the earlier games, there are still massive issues with the writing. What voice acting there is gruff and terse to the point of beardy stereotypes, while characters are wont to fluctuate between highly educated and helpful to stand-offish and rude mid-conversation and without warning.

Granted, that latter point has absolutely no consequence in the game, and stopping to chat to the folks you come across is mostly useless, but it’s a noticeable flaw when bandits jump from saying, “Why, yes, Stalker, I can help” to, “Get out my face, it’s survival of the fittest here, man!” at the drop of a hat.

One place where STALKER: Call of Pripyat definitely excels is in the graphics department, with fancy DirectX 11 tessellation, huge view distances and a gorgeous lighting system that really delivers in wow-factor.

Pushing the game up to the maximum settings can require some hefty hardware obviously, but it’s worth the effort if you can because the technical prowess of the game is one thing that’s impossible to fault. As a guideline, we had all settings on full at a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 and the game never dipped below 35fps with the aid of an 3GHz Intel Q6850, 2.75GB of accessible RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 5970 - hardly a slow rig.


The actual presentation of Call of Pripyat isn’t quite able to match the fidelity though – as we said earlier, it’s all browns and greys, and identical NPCs with samey dialogue. However, if you max out the graphics then it’ll still be the most beautiful array of browns and greys you’ve seen in a long time. That’s especially true when you venture into the subterranean areas and have to find your way through the creepy sewers infested with invisible tentacle monsters – a terrifying trademark of the series.

It’s these moments when you’re forced into situations that you’d rather not be in that Call of Pripyat manages to claw back ground from it’s shopping list of faults. No sane person really wants to head into one of the twisted, unmapped, pitch-black underground caves filled with roaming fire anomalies and scary monsters, but Call of Pripyat often takes the choice away from you in circumstances that are impossible to predict. An emission warning will go out when you least expect it, your gun will jam in the middle of a fight or you’ll fall into a canyon as you desperately search for bandages and suddenly you're desperately trying to survive through the next minute.

It’s at times like that that the entire game changes, and you find yourself not getting annoyed at the constant need for energy drinks, but thrilled at the trouble you’ve landed in and now have to escape from. Suddenly every bullet and bandage is precious and you’re actually sweating in front of your PC with the tension (not a good look if your PC is in the bit-tech offices).


Moments like that are plentiful in Call of Pripyat, and come as a benefit of the more unpredictable and randomised world and the fact that there’s a proper ecosystem governing The Zone. Herds of mutants and roving bandits can be seen duking it out, looting or fleeing emissions and the way this hints at an actually living world does a lot to compensate for Call of Pripyat’s numerous niggles and basic, shallow multiplayer.

STALKER: Call of Pripyat has a lot of problems, many of which are shared with earlier games in the series, and which will seriously impact on how enjoyable the game is for you. For all it’s faults though, Call of Pripyat is still easily the best STALKER game yet, and improves on every previous iteration in terms of quality and scope.

It may not be a game we can simply recommend to all readers, but if you liked the previous games or don’t mind putting up with frustrating design oversights in order to get at the strangely compelling (and just downright strange) fiction, then Call of Pripyat is a game that really delivers.

Score Guide