Conclusion--A Better Shooter Due To Upgrade System for Weapons
Stalker Clear Sky is Stalker v1.5 with the principle of the game changed a bit. The main tasks are fighting and exploring the Zone. The improvements are good, though. The local experts enable fast traveling between the camps. The anomalies are more deadly and the upgrade system for weapons and armor lifts the game up to a higher shooter level. The war between the coalitions brings in a strategic element, although you just have to keep eliminating the enemies to control the most important bases.
The voice output is very good, the translations sound professional, and the background noise is truly scary. The artificial intelligence of the enemies is well engineered — only rarely can you surprise renegades, stopping them for a short while. Usually the marksman seek shelter and if you try to go around them, the enemy will walk with you in the same direction. Enemy soldiers and Stalkers guard their camps at night and observe their surroundings with binoculars, making sneaking up almost impossible. Difficulty is even high at the beginner level — soldiers shoot very precisely, and without shelter, the bullets lower your life bar very quickly.
Performance Comparison: With the GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon HD 3870, you should switch to dynamic illumination (DirectX 9), as both graphics chips are too weak for DirectX 10 and maximum graphics quality. If you want to use DirectX 10 illumination, the GeForce 9800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512, GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4850 are good for resolutions up to 1680x1050 pixels. When running at higher resolutions, you should step down to dynamic illumination (DirectX 9). If you want to play at 1920x1200 with DirectX 10 illumination, you will need a Radeon HD 4870 or GeForce GTX 280.
With current 3D cards, it is best to select maximum or high graphics quality and use the full range of view. The largest fine-tuning potential comes from switching to illumination mode from extended dynamic illumination of objects to (DirectX 10) to dynamic illumination (DirectX 9). You should avoid static illumination and low graphics quality, as you gain little and the graphics are too shoddy.
One ugly development is that Stalker behaves a bit like Crysis in that, with DirectX 9, everything runs smoothly, but with DirectX 10, even the fast cards reach their limits at high resolutions. If you want to run at more than 1280x1024 pixels, don’t even think about activating anti-aliasing. The HD 3870 and 9600 GT are actually the second generation of DirectX 10 graphics cards, and already perform too poorly to display all the effects. The first DX10 generation Radeon 2000 and the old GeForce 8000-series cards will certainly have even more problems with the new illumination modes. What this shows is that the promised performance boost from optimized DirectX 10 drivers didn’t become a reality. If you want to see the sun rays with HDR in full high-def resolution and with DirectX 10, you need a high-end card like the HD 4870 or GTX 280. The old DX10 graphics chips were overextended with high resolutions and light effects, even before the gaming market switched to Windows Vista, thus proving the old maxim: never buy graphics performance for the future.
- 1 / 4
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Page 7 is not available... It gives an error, as if the page doesn't exist.
Aside from the numerous pages that don't work, was a 24-page analysis of STALKER, a fairly mediocre shooter, really necessary? Is a 24-page analysis of any game necessary? Sigh anything to please devs and grab ad dollars -_-
Now crysis is obsolete =p
hmm ... I loled when I saw the graphics error in the water tests. the camo-net disappeared everywhere it obscured water in all modes other than static. but you get a nice looking water effect :-)
I was wondering if I can get this game to run on reasonable terms on a HD4670 or HD3850. Based on the HD3870 results, it looks like it would be playable ...
Page 7 is not available... It gives an error, as if the page doesn't exist.
Not sure what you're seeing (or not, in this case), but everything is working over here. Any more detail?
Sigh anything to please devs and grab ad dollars -_-
Dude, the GSC can't even afford to hire a dozen half-decent developers, let alone pay for ads.
I had 'page not found' errors too, but they seem fixed now
No page errors here.
Nice article, I liked the quality comparisons a lot
I like the article ive been playing this on a 4870 for about a week now and absolutly love it!
Aside from the numerous pages that don't work, was a 24-page analysis of STALKER, a fairly mediocre shooter, really necessary? Is a 24-page analysis of any game necessary? Sigh anything to please devs and grab ad dollars -_-
A fairly mediocre shooter? Youre obviously an idiot.
The real question here is what was the point of the first 9 pages? Is this a review on a graphics analysis article? C'mon on, Tom's, get it together.
Other than the first 9 pages, nice article. Very in-depth.
No 4870x2 in that roundup? What about some CF/SLI numbers?
Well, i found it a decent review. I liked how they categorized the cards and presented the game. This review might not ring you bells but it is not too bad.
Not that I'm going to buy this game atm. Its too hilarious to see the stock market now. Oh, well
It posted as a bad link... as if i got a link (for example 1 year ago, and now doesn't work)... But it's fine now... never mind
Good review... 24 pages is a lot, u covered a lot of angles... including the graphics cards.
The game is definitely an improvement on the first one - on paper at least.
The problem is the huge amount of game crashes. I played the game for about 8 hours, progressing all the way to The Garbage level when my crashes started. I was forced to install the latest patch, but that meant I had to start all over again. Although I this time got twice as far, the game still crashes - although now instead of rebooting the PC, it is caught by a built-in bug tracker.
I am really dissapointed now, cause after one of these crashes, my game is now stuck at the Yantar level - where I'm supposed to meet up with a character, but when you get to the character, he is completely inactive. I've moved backwards and forwards in levels, but I cannot get this dude to react to my presence.
I suspect I will probably have to restart the game, but I think I am going to abandon - at least untill a newer patch, and then hope the new patch will recognize my current saves.
Advice: Make regular custom saves - not just quicksaves...
More like is STALKER ready? From what I've heard it's not. Numerous bugs and crashes, but then again the first game was like that so would you expect anything less?
Patch 1.5.05 is out. The game never crashed or glitched for me and I've gone from start to finish, joined in on 3 different faction wars and explored the crap out of every area. I also finished crysis warhead and that CTDed twice from the start to the end.
I dont know if Im convinced on getting this STALKER...I was hugely disappointed with the first one (especially since sooo many people said it was a great game)...
For me, its the exact opposite of crysis...I didnt get crysis for the longest time because soo many people said it wasnt worth it, but once I took a chance on it, I loved it...now I got warhead which so far has be amazing...
Warhead is short and shallow. Not a bad game but anyway. If you're talking about Stalker:SOC then you would do well to look at the modding community which really made the game the memorable experience it is to many. (Notably the oblivion lost mod)
I've played and finished both crysis games. They are in no way comparable to the atmospheric freedom that the stalker games have. You just can't compare them. Change the point of view to multiplayer and things might be different. Otherwise I you comment comes across as poorly thought out and shallow.
Very nice review indeed. I missed the 4870X2 and 9800GX2 though, but it was a nice review indeed.
I liked the "Performance Comparison" at the end the most. That's the most usefull piece of info you guys can give the reader: easy to digest pointers and info for overall game experience. Two thumbs up for that =)
Esop!