S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat - Early Impressions

The Stalker games are very near and dear to my PC gaming heart. Along with Crysis these games were the reason i built a gaming PC. If you never heard of Stalker: Call of Pripyat or Clear Skies or Shadow of Chernobyl its fine. These games are niche and not really popular outside of PC gaming. I have beaten both Stalkers (Clear Skies then Chernobyl) so i had to get the third game. Stalker : Call of Pripyat is an open world first person shooter developed by GSC Game World and published by Viva Media , LLC. The game originally released back on February 2, 2010.

As far as my graphical settings go they are the following: full dynamic lighting (turned-on), duality settings (maximum), resolution (1280x768). I basically turned everything on max. Stalker games run best with Radeon cards so i felt comfortable. The game runs good on my 4870, quad core, 6 gig ram set-up. The title screen of Stalker: Call of Pripyat shows New Game, Load Game, Multiplayer, Options, Credits and Exit to Windows.For the record Stalker games have always been famous for bugs, glitches and performance issues. Early in my playthrough i already experienced some weird NPC glitches.

Just like all Stalker games before it Call of Pripyat starts off with a voiced narrative cutscene detailing the events of past Stalker games leading up to Pripyat. Major Degtyarev is the main protagonist this time around. He was sent to investigate a helicopter crash site in the zone. The story of all Stalker games revolves around the "Brain Scorcher" and a man called Strelok who managed to go inside that area of the zone which can blow your head up literally. The zone is a very dangerous place as is. There are mutants, radiation and killers all over the place. Stalkers make there living finding rare artifacts in the zone that they sell for alote of money. The zone is a place where a catostrophic nuclear accident happened. Its ground-zero sort to speak.

If i had to give you an overview of Stalker: Call of Pripyat so far i would tell you its an open world FPS game with alote of reading and interacting with NPCs. The world has a true day and night cycle.Stalker is a sandbox game with main missions, side missions and a ever evolving world where weather can easily kill you. You can loot practically everything. NPCs always have something to say wether its giving you a job or selling you items. The atmosphere is extremely thick in Stalker: Call of Pripyat. From the land, visuals and sound design the zone seems to always take up its own identity.

Aside from the glitches so far the game is good. Yes its brutally unforgiving like past game (difficulty). Using bandages and stim packs can keep you alive. The missions early into the game has you helping Stalkers on a huge stranded oil tanker. One particular mission has you attacking a group of bandits on a big rusty deserted ship near the oil tanker. The shooting feels weird in this game just like the others. The mutants ranged from dogs and small monster lookin things. I must point out how great the lighting is in this game. The entire game looks really good considering its a sandbox.

But at night the game takes on another atmosphere.The guns i have are mostly stolen from dead bandits or Stalkers. I have a Shotgun, SMG, Assault Rifle, Grenades, Pistol and a bunch of other supplies that i looted. You have to keep track of how much you carry or else you will be slowed down. So far Stalker: Call of Pripyat is living up to Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Skies. I'm very early into this twenty plus hour game so i have alote yet to experience. Expect a full review in the future, thanks for reading.

http://gamer-blog.com/sanctum-review/

Alpha Protocol - Early Impressions

Alpha Protocol been collecting dust (internet dust) in my Steam library for a while now. Finally after putting some time into its story campaign i have an idea about what Alpha Protocol is. Obsidian Entertainment are the developers and SEGA the publishers to this action adventure espionage game. Alpha Protocol released back on June 1, 2010 on the PC, PLaystation 3 and Xbox 360.

To say Alpha Protocol is just an action adventure game doesn't really tell the story. There are RPG gameplay elements dealing with XP and character progression trees. I'll get into that later but first the formalities. For the record i am playing Alpha Protocol on Steam (PC). The only real modification i did as far as graphics go was raise the resolution to 1280x1024 (4:3). At the beginning of the game you pretty much choose what type of character you want Mike to be. Mike is the protagonist btw.

Agent History: Soldier, Field Agent, Tech Specialist, Freelancer and Recruit. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses and depends on your play style. You can approach gameplay in a variety of ways like stealth, CQC, hacking or whatever. Each class also has its history and small story behind it. Skills: Skills cost AP points. You get AP points when you level up. You do start the game with a few points to use. Some Skills include Stealth, Pistols, Sub machine guns, shotguns, Martial Arts, Toughness, Technical and Sabatage. Each Skill has its own upgrade tree.

After selecting your class and skills you are finally shown a cinematic cutscene of an airplane getting blown up by a locked-on missile. After the scene you see Mike waking up in an isolated room confused. Much of the gameplay early on has you learning a basic tutorial as you try and escape the mysterious building you are trapped in. You learn about health packs, lock-picking, hacking,disarming terminals, Line of sight and cover play a big part in the combat in Alpha Protocol. You also learn how to aim, shoot and throw grenades. The stealth in Alpha Protocol is good. You can sneak up on guards and use CQC (close quarters combat). You get in-game help via your PDA. Collectibles include character dossiers.

After getting through the tutorial you realize it was just a training orientation designed to see if you fit a secret agencies standards. There is alote of dialog and conversation elements in this game. Its similar to Mass Effect in that regard. When you answer a question a particular way NPCs will remember that and treat you accordingly. The voice acting and sound is good so far. The music gave me an espionage vibe. The gameplay is layered and has diversity. The animations are stiff but the character's faces up close do look decent. After the orientation you can select Mike's looks. You can alter his face, head, beard, eyes, eyewear and hats. I'm still very early into the game. I am currently in Arabia tracking down a company called Halbech Tech.

So far so good for Alpha Protocol. I paid only 5 bucks for it which seems like a deal since the game isn't that bad. Expect a full review of Alpha Protocol in the future. Thanks for reading. Dead Nation Review