STALKER mp beta: 9 high-res screens + impressions

The other day I got a beta key for STALKERs latest build. I thought I' d share!

I reckon the game still game looks good for an engine that was meant to be released with Half-life 2 3 years ago! And whats more it runs quick as well. Maxed everything - it averages around 40fps quite often staying at 60fps. Only when you come across those ' fire-barrels' does it get a little choppy. But I think thats an optimisation issue (or lack of it) myself..

There' s so much atmosphere its unreal - small things like audible wind blowing dust around and moving grass, bird noises and lens flares during the day, the sun coming in and out from behind the clouds, moving cloud shadows etc...the lightning effect during storms is particularly awesome!

Theres very subtle distance blur and HDR too which just works. The overall style is very realistic, gritty, repressed...but when the sun comes out, it actually feels warm!

The sound plays a big part in creating the atmosphere of course. Gun sounds and ricochets are cool. The guns are accurate, but with a realistic variance to where the bullet lands.

Only negatives are that you do notice slight pop up with the grass occasionally, but no more than with Oblivion. The gfx do look flat sometimes when the lighting effects aren' t in play (the screens were taken mostly during the day or when lightining struck!). And theres a ' full HDR' option in the user.ltx file which looks kinda cool if a bit overbright at times, but slows my machine down to a crawl! [:' (]

Anyway, enough of me ranting in awe of STALKER. Here' re the screens!
Spec: Core2Duo6400@2.4GHz, 2Gb DDR2-800 RAM, ATI X1900XTX 512Mb.

Wow it looks cool. When is the game released?
Btw, was it fun? You seem to only mention graphics and your PC' s performance...

Heh, my bad. Yea I reckon the full game is going to be great fun. That' s just imo though, just for the immense atmosphere, wandering the huge map full of half-mutated nasties, military and other stalkers going about their daily routine (heh, like mutated dogs go for their weekly shop or something..), overarching story etc.

It' s fairly comparable to Oblivion in gameplay, only difference being they' ve preferred to stay on the side of realism and not have a character upgrade/class system. You' re just an average guy lost in this messed up dystopia (with a destiny, heh). But you still get a huge number of weapons, objects, food, rare items to use/trade with, and lots of NPCs and characters to interact, team up or fight with.

Theres also an element of interest to see what style a Ukranian developer goes for. I' ve played a lot of Japanese, US, UK, German and even a lot of French developed games. So a fresh background will add a little variety to the mix.


Obviously this is the mp beta so I can' t comment on how balanced the sp will be, but just from the attention to detail I' ve seen so far I can tell it' s gonna be one game I' ll be sucked into for ages.

Game' s out March 23 in Europe, and 22nd March in the US as far as I know. Been waiting too long already! If STALKER can eventually come out, it gives us renewed hope for Duke Nukem Forever!

I downloaded it too but havent got a key .. I cant say i m too impressed with the graphics ...

Meh, the textures aren' t shiny and so it' s not " next-gen"

Hehe, you mean you wanted it to look as shiny as Perfect Dark Zero??

I downloaded it too but havent got a key .. I cant say i m too impressed with the graphics ...

Yea I mean it' s no Crysis or Gears of War, but the engine was almost finished back in 2001! The dx9 effects were added in later. Plus, theres so much detail! I think I prefer the darker style in this to the colourful palette of Oblivion. Both have their appeals though.

Besides it' s all about the atmosphere, story and gameplay.

I remember you saying you were keeping an eye on it ages ago Nitro, not so interested now?

This game looks really promising.

I think it looks gorgeous personally. No one thing in particular, but all the elements of a great looking game are there.

The beta' s limited to two maps which are within fairly closed spaces, so I couldn' t show any of the huge countryside vistas that stretch for miles to the horizon that will be in the game as well.

Although you wont catch me gawping when there are mutated dogs after me in the middle of a storm and I' ve got ten bullets left!


So far my connection' s been a bit shit (it always has been for mp games, Im using a 3g mobile card). Still I get the impression the SP will be the main attraction, while the MP is kinda just there for longevity' s sake. It may have been my ping of 200, but the MP' s standard deathmatch, teamDM, and capture the flag (' artifact' ) affairs aren' t quite as addictive as say Counter-Strike or GRAW. The guns are cool though.

I just looked at some of the screens u posted and they do look good .. Must be my crappy 7600GS ...

Well I did mess around with the user.ltx file a little, to turn on a bloom effect that makes everything a bit brighter.

I can' t remember what else I changed in there - sun shadow details and gloss factor I think.. (although like Nitro I can' t see any gloss!)


Oh btw here are IGN and 1UPs impressions:
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/767/767063p1.aspx
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3157487