So, over Thanksgiving I played through S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a decent game which plays rather like what would happen if you took a lousier version of Deus Ex and set it in the Fallout universe. Unfortunately, this means that you have large open areas with little to drive you particularly. Some people call these types of games "sandbox", but as there are only 4 types of quests in the game this is a slightly suspect labeling. Your four quest types are: (1) kill thing, (2) kill camp of things, (3) fetch thing, (4) defend place. Of course, there is also the obligitory "go place" quest which is necessary for the plot to proceed, but that is neither here nor there. The game itself has a steep learning curve mainly due to the fact that it is a first person shooter that actually puts you in a reasonable situation at the start of the game: most people in the universe are better armed and armored than you and they come in groups. This makes the standard FPS strategy of running in and shooting everything while soaking piles of bullets something of a non-starter. This is further compounded by the fact that you begin the game with weapons that can handle the loser enemies (bandits), but will essentially bounce off of real threats (military soldiers). I said the game was Deus Ex like, and it is to a limited extent. Unfortunately, this pedigree mainly shows in two areas: "realistic" weapon accuracy and limited inventory space. The former is exactly like the original Deus Ex, complete with crosshairs that narrow when you stand still or crouch. The latter is accomplished by setting a maximum carry capacity (50kg + 10kg at a slower movement rate) that is small enough that you spend most of the game limited to two (maybe three) weapons and the ammo for them plus a supply of healing items. The game provides very little in the way of character improvement, though. The improvements available mainly consist of better weapons, better armor, and cybernetic implants radioactive artifacts. Overall, the game was OK and I did go ahead and get all of the available endings (though apparently there are more if you bother to play through it multiple times). The key to playing the game is to get out of the starting area early so that you can get decent equipment otherwise you will be repeatedly dying to 2~3 bullets from machine gun weilding soldiers.

Oh, and as long as we are on the topic of Deus Ex, apparently there is going to be another sequel

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