Way back in 2001, Russian developer GSC Game World announced they were developing a thrilling new FPS title to rival the classic examples of the genre. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost made waves of significant proportions with the footage showing off the game's advanced DirectX 9-based "X-RAY" engine and realistic physics with an imminent PC launch expected – this was 2003. Now, four years past that initial release date, and long since the game was declared vaporware, GSC is finally releasing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (now, Shadow of Chernobyl.) Unfortunately for GSC, the FPS genre has been rocked in recent years with visually stunning titles like Doom 3, F.E.A.R, Half-Life 2 and Crysis looming on the horizon. As a result the ability to impress us with pretty graphics and neato-physics has gone out the proverbial window. Gamers are no longer as impressed by graphical prowess which erodes some of the games original cache - and judging from the short time I had with the game recently, GSC has produced a title that seems slightly innovative and boring at the same time.

Fallout 2.5?
In the year 2006, the site of the world's worst nuclear-power related disaster, Chernobyl, experiences a sudden secondary nuclear explosion of unknown origin. Immediately following the event, a military exclusion Zone is established, barring anyone from accessing the area. Soon after the incident, strange anomalous energy disturbances begin to appear in and around the local environs, and the resulting radiation seems to have horribly twisted the existing life forms into creatures of a ferocious nature. The player assumes the role of an amnesia-stricken S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a mercenary scavenger that survives by infiltrating 'the Zone' to obtain artifacts and specimens for sale on the black market.

The art direction in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is probably the most impressive aspect as the game does an excellent job of portraying an environment corrupted by radiation poisoning. People walk around in slim-lined radiation suits, the landscape is dotted by twisted plant life, and the wildlife bear signs of horrible mutation.


Oblivion for a Block
At the outset, after receiving your first mission and exiting an underground bunker, you are presented with a seemingly vast and expansive environment to explore. For a moment I felt as if I was playing Oblivion, however after taking a short stroll I was stopped by a two foot high picket fence, of all things. The X-Ray engine is quite capable of creating realistic environs on a scale that approaches that of Oblivion. However, Oblivion offers up a somewhat seamless world to explore while S.T.A.L.K.E.R. delivers on pretty outdoor environments that end up being fenced off in most every direction. The end result is your ability to explore is limited to a few dozen meters in every direction which kills the immersion factor.

From my short time with the single player campaign, it appears S.T.A.L.K.E.R. features the whole line of traditional firearms that have become ever so commonplace in the FPS genre. The usual host of pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, knives and etcetera are all present and seem to work as one would expect. Banal weapons selection aside, one intriguing feature of the game is the promise that the wildlife will behave differently depending on the status of their AI, which is determined through many factors such as hunger and exhaustion. This feature wasn't demonstrated in my build but recalls immediately to mind another title 'Trespasser' - from Dreamworks Interactive – which promised a similarly exciting element yet never delivered the goods.

Finally of note is the Deus Ex-like style of NPC interaction, in that the character can choose a response to NPC questions or comments which will sway the conversation in one direction or another thus altering the NPCs perception of the player. Over time those reactions will mold how future NPC encounters play out.

Overall S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s single-player campaign seems to be just what it is; yet another FPS game to add to the ocean of titles that have come to define the genre. We'll reserve judgment until we can review final code – but at this stage we're left wishing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. had retained some of the original excitement it promised so long ago

You, Me and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Makes Three
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s multiplayer component can handle between one and thirty-two players at a time and is a bit like Counter-Strike; kills earn you money to buy new equipment that you can outfit and modify on a "buy" screen before respawning. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does offer a very fun standard deathmatch game type, and will ship with the obligatory team deathmatch as well as a mode called "Artifact Hunt", which is essentially a modified CTF game, however instead of flags - the player is required to capture artifacts from the enemy team's base.

Note: Artifacts can leave behind "warps" in space-time, which detonate like mines if intersected by pursuing enemies.

In all, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl's performance at release will depend entirely on whether or not the single-player storyline will be engrossing enough to rekindle our enthusiasm. The FPS genre desperately needs more exceptional titles and while S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s setting promises an intriguing foray into a piece of Russia's history – of which much still remains a mystery – it currently leaves this reviewer longing for a ticket home.