Hey buddies, sorry its been a while.  I moved house and job recently and I'm even still waiting to get my link to the rest of the wide worldly web set up. :(  I've been lurking every so often though from the computers at work.

Thought I'd come back with a present, might not be what you wanted, so feel free to return it and get a refund...wait, no your stuck with what I've got you.  Its a bit late but couldn't see any other impressions/reviews for STALKER Clear Sky here, and you already know how much I rated the first one.  So here's mine - be warned its lengthy, I'm making up for lost ground!

I've played a few hours of STALKER Clear Sky so far and needless to say I think its brilliant.  The game is a prequel to the first iteration by Ukrainian developers GSC Game World, set in 2012, this time putting you in the shoes of a different 'stalker' - russian mercenaries focused on making money from the post-apocalyptic zone around the now defunct and decidedly radioactive Chernobyl power plant.  Moreso than it is in the real and present world due to a fictional second more mysterious catastrophe that gave rise to mutant creatures and pockets of anomalous physical activity.

Clear Sky are a bunch of scientists focused on figuring the whole mess out, in order to stop the paranormal emissions that come from the old plant, which turn eveything upside down, funny colours and pretty much destroy all life.  They believe they're getting more frequent and will eventually end in a much bigger catastrophe.  You land in their midst by freaky chance and start working for them for your own interests which become apparent as the story unfolds.

So far I'm enjoying Clear Sky as much if not more than Shadow of Chernobyl for lots of reasons.  The first game had a unique style, was very atmospheric and captured a gritty feel you might get from russian films like Nightwatch.  It wasn't afraid to make life realistically difficult for you, needing you to manage your resources and personal safety as you might if you really were a lone merc in the middle of a dangerous place.  The area was vast and saturated with detail, and the story although simple built up to a conclusive finish.  Admittedly there were more than a few bugs and the interface wasn't as user friendly as it could've been - it wasn't a drop in a play type of game, you had to give it time.

This game is much the same, but improvements this time round are a much better sense of the world around you - such as distinct factions that you can fall in and out with, wider districts within the zone with more character, some populated and some uncharted with secrets hidden away within.  Many areas in the game are identical to the first game understandably, but a lot of new areas feature heavily.  The story is your basic clueless hero does missions for others to find out more about himself, but at least you're not the typical bald-headed space-marine.

Clear Sky also features a new weapons upgrade system which feeds into the physics engine to improve your performance out in the wilderness.  You need money, information, contacts and parts to get the best stuff, and I like the way you can choose to do that and confront the russian army head on or sneak around with a knife or basic pistol taking out men with headshots one at a time like John Rambo.  Theres more opprtunity to do that in this game and it makes you feel more like a STALKER, or at least like the way I think a STALKER would feel. :P  The firefights are fun though once you've figured out the slightly cumbersome crouching system, and you can surprise the enemy by hiding, flanking and popping out next to them, while your mates attack from the front.  Its an effective strategy.

The game still has its drawbacks.  Game performance on my rig isn't always enjoyable, seeming to vary widely from being smooth to verging on a slideshow.  I'm running my old C2D 2.4Ghz CPU, X1900XTX gfx card and 2Gb RAM from 2 years ago which ran STALKER:SOC fine.  I'm not sure how newer tech would fare, but it would certainly be enough to put many people off the game from the start as thats where it felt the most like a powerpoint presentation than a game.  I'm exaggerating but I would recommend something newer to run this on.

Another niggle is that I had to remap the controls initially so that they made sense to me - the layout starts off more like a flight sim having to use keys you never even use when you're typing, but its easy enough to remap them closer to your left hand's reach.

Visually the game is stunning in my opinion.  Although everything looks dirty, it looks realistic.  The new day/night cycle and sun/shadow effects have been carried out fantastically.  From Nitro's video of the leaked demo a few months ago, the dx10 effects are even better.  Of course my screens would only show you the dx9 state of play, and I had to turn a few effects like draw distance down.

The sound is good.  I like the background music while you're strolling around, and I know the firefight music will split opinion - the majority probably thinking they're suddenly in the lobby sequence in the matrix wanting to bullet-time dive and shoot due to the jarring change, which I agree is just inappropriate behaviour in the middle of a radioactive wasteland.  The sound effects are atmospheric and the guns provide a nice punch.

To put it simply, I think this game is a somewhat rough but superior version of what Fallout 3 sounds like it'll end up.  Ok its very rough around the edges, and its not for the impatient, but for those willing to get past that, there's a lot of depth to discover, and its an enjoyable and unique experience.  It reminds me of old-school games that you could get your teeth stuck into with no sign of it wanting to hold your hand and tell you a story.  You're a mercenary ffs, so act like one.

I'm going to add a few screens from my game later when I get my internets up and running soon.  In the meantime, here's a video review - IGN Video Review STALKER:CS