When S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was first announced oh so many years ago, I remember seeing the first screen and being blown away by its graphics and texture detail. Although the graphical details are now slightly outdated; what isn’t outdated is the open world gameplay and freedom of choice, and in this area, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. excels greatly. From its alternate reality setting and realistic gun mechanics to its trading system and action horror formula, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is radioactive rareness.

You play as a character that everybody refers to as the “marked one,” a helpless soldier who is saved from a wild car wreck and taken to a trader who gives you tasks to possibly help find out who you are. And right from the get-go, you are thrust into the best part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. — it’s environment. Here you will encounter bizarre mutations and radioactive anomalies and show you just how insignificant you are. You see, this isn’t your typical run 'n gun first-person shooter. You are not a one-man army. You are only a small part of a living world, and as easily as you can make friends, you can make enemies as well. There are truces to make and break with a handful of different factions that roam the Zone. But be wary of who you join, because joining one will instantly make enemies of another. I definitely learned this the hard way by helping one group of people and then just so happened to cross a couple guys from another. Well I threw some grenades and took care of business not thinking anything of it. A couple of minutes later I see about 15 heavily equipped soldiers from the opposing faction raining down on my boys back at camp. Needless to say, they wiped out the entire camp and I had to reload my game and play more carefully.

This little example also goes to show how well scripted the artificial intelligence really is. The humans are by far the smartest as they flank, cover, sneak, and track you while the alternate mutated animal kingdom hunts in packs but can also become frightened by you if they feel they are no match. They all have a set list of needs and will carry out these processes by themselves, much like Oblivion’s “radiant AI.”

But if the games AI just doesn’t quite cut it you can jump online and play against some of your friends in some traditional frag-fests. There are deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag modes, but one thing is common throughout each — you are going to die…a lot. But it does deliver that same snicker everytime you cap your friends, it just doesn’t redefine anything.

The game will take roughly 12 hours to complete with some parts getting really sticky and might take you a bit longer, but all in all it’s a fulfilling length with some wonderfully moody locations and the sheer attention to detail is staggering. It might not have the highest polygon count or texture resolution, but the object placement and details like cigarette butts lying around is incredible to say the least.

With all the praise and adoration given to this game, it comes with some pretty bad bugs as well. THQ has released one patch already fixing a whopping 66 bugs! And make sure you install it before you start the game because it renders your previous saves useless. But it’s easy to look past these bugs with such a rare type of game, or at least endure them until a couple of patches are released. All in all, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a breath of fresh air and will hopefully serve as a success story for other developers to take more chances.

Gameplay: 8.5
Unique settings, complemented with unique AI and gameplay.

Graphics: 7.0
A little dated now, but gets the job done well.

Sound: 8.5
Very accurate weapon and brush effects; music is ominous and foreboding.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Concept: 8.0
Playing multiple characters to solve puzzles keeps the game enticing and offers a good amount of variation.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch & Capture the Flag. Nothing that breaks the mold here.

Overall: 8.8
From its alternate reality setting and realistic gun mechanics to its trading system and action horror formula, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is radioactive rareness.