tl;dr – this game is awesome. And not the crappy “awesome” that has been thrown around for the past 20 years… Crisps are not awesome, they are crunchy! (holy crap, never thought i would make a dylan moran reference). The proper awesome, where something leaves you in awe. Anywho, now for the main event -

So, the third S.T.A.L.K.E.R game has been with us for a while now and ive already got 40-50 hours playtime under my belt. Been trying to write some sort of review for it but im finding it difficult. It keeps just turning into some kind of crappy walkthrough or a list of anecdotes. So i thought i would just stick with the anecdotes, the best thing about stalker games of course is the free roam and the way the world around you is dynamic. Anything can happen the weather and day/night cycle can also add alot of atmosphere to certain situations.

First of all though, im sort of doing a bit of roleplaying in this game. There some things they removed/added across the three games. Some of which i agree with, some i dont and there are also some general exploits and strategies that just make the game too easy, so ive been playing by a set of certain rules so they dont affect me as much.

• Even though there are certain strategies that work best against certain mutants, im not following them, my character likes to hang back and take enemies out from a distance. Sure i could go an knife a burer or shotgun a controller in the face but thats to easy.
• I wear a SEVA suit to always be protected from unexpected hazards. Sure, pretty much any other armour would work better in gunfights, but im cautious, ill stay back in a gun fight, always attack from a distance or try to avoid it altogether. There isnt really ever going to be many “unexpected hazards” since anomalies and such arnt random in this game (unfortunatly) but its roleplaying and all the other suits pretty much make the game easymode.
• There are better weapons than the ones i use and certain weapons work better in different situations but i always use the same equipment, a silenced pistol and my Vintar sniper. From time to time i may use an assault rifle or a shotgun if ammo is low.
• I wont loot certain things. I wont pick up alcohol, only pickup energy drinks if i am far from a safe area and still plan to visit other areas and only eat tinned food. I wont take ammo i dont need and only take weapons if they are very rare/unique.
• I will only use the basic medkits and bandages none of this other fancy crap.
• The plot says im part of the military, but i miss the reuptation and faction wars from Clear Sky. So i always help Stalkers and Freedom members out, im indifferent about Duty but hate Bandits. Not openly though, i will only take them out from a distance to make sure im not seen, if they are fighting with mutants i will help then kill them when they turn their backs. I will never fast travel with Duty or Bandits. This wasnt from the start though, after a few breif dealings with bandits i decided not to work with them again.
• I wont use nightvision (cant with the SEVA suit anyway) although i do have NV on my sniper scope, but that doesnt help when trying to navigate in the dark. Just using a crappy, short range torch in the vast open areas at night time adds alot more atmosphere than using nightvision.

So here goes…… oh yeah SPOILERS

Snag

If you’ve played the game, you may have met a certain bandit by the name of “Snag” and at least some of this probably happened to you. Snag asks you for some help collecting a stash of weapons and offers to split them equally. Turns out the split isnt so equal though, he keeps claiming some sort of personal attachment to almost everything and keeps most of the stash. Im not happy, but i keep it calm and civil. Later on i go and order a pistol from Nimble. Walking past Snag, he claims it is his and was stolen. After some stern words he dissapears.

Later, i arrive in Yanov to find him again, but he denies everything. Still keeping calm about it i go and place some weapons in my personal locker, along with some ammo and a suit freedom had given me and sleep until morning. I wake up to find my stash is gone and Snag has dissapeared from Yanov station. I ask about and find the direction he has ran off in. I make haste and find him about to be executed via gunshot to the head by a bandit. I save him and give him a medkit to heal his wounds, the bandit had obviously already done some damage. Snag is confused by my civil behaviour during the whole ordeal and offers me the location of the cache where he keeps all his stolen goods as thanks. And then, it happened, i pulled out pistol (a custom black kite, cant remember the name), raised it and killed him SHOT THE GOD DAMN THEIF RIGHT IN THE FACE. He did a backflip and landed against the wall with his head on the floor.

Controllers

You may also remember a certain tunnel, there was ALOT of psy activity and you are sent with a small group to investigate. You get ambushed by a controller on the way out. In my case, only one of the men with me survived the ordeal with me, but he wasnt in good shape. About a week later (in game) i am passing the tunnel again heading to a nearby anomalie field and i see a bandit running out, followed by controller. I take out the controller but the bandit still seems agitated by something.

I moved closer but there didnt seem to be anything else about, another bandit was in the tunnel and didnt seem to be under attack or shooting anything so i shoot bandit outside in the head and head inside to finish off the other bandit but as i climb through a broken train carridge ANOTHER controller emerges from inside it. Totally caught off guard, only wielding a pistol, a nearby hostile bandit shooting me because i killed his friend and the controller constantly throwing my aim off with his psy attacks i narrowly manage to get into cover to recover and take them both out.

Controllers seem alot more common in general in this game. Ive also been caught of guard in the middle of the night in the pouring rain. I hear a growl in some nearby bushes, not sure what caused it i try to investigae when suddenly skulls flash across my screen and i find myself stareing into the sky. A controller, hiding behind some bushes in the middle of nowhere, there is NO cover for me to get behind and its already hard enough to shoot controllers with no cover let alone when you are trying to spray-n-pray through a bush. But i manage to pull through, this was one of the few times ive had to actually buy ammo after a trip out though.

Burer Baby

You probably came across this in lab X8, a baby crying, its coming from these toilets. You open a door to find a burer staring you in the face. The first time, my reaction was “HOLY CRAP” and i jump backwards shooting my pistol (i always seem to be holding a pistol in the most inapropriate times) The door slams and is apparently locked, then suddenly im dead. The burer had picked up a massive fridge/freezer from behind me without me noticing until it smashes into the back of my head…

Nighttime shootout

A couple of stalker in Yanov need my help. Some bandits have their friend held hostage. Of course, at the first mention of killing bandits i was in so off we go to save their friend. Its pitch black and a thunderstorm is underway. I gave a torch but we are being stealthy and it wouldnt help at all at the range we were at. The bandit camp is based in a warehouse surrounded by metal containers. The only lightsources outside being the bandits torches, the dim light from a fire and the occasional lightning strike. We get into position and i take out what seems to be the main guard, standing near the gate. The camp goes dark, all the bandits torches go off. Now all we can see is the muzzle flashes and a few bandits near the dim camp fire. Everynow and then though lightning strikes.

For a few brief miliseconds the scene lights up as bright as day and in those few miliseconds is when the most damage happens. The atmosphere during this gunfight was like nothing ive experienced in another game, the closest ive been to it was in Stalker Clear Sky, traveling through the swamps late at night being followed by boars that are hiding in the reeds. But then, as we push into the camp an emission starts. The stalkers dont care, they want to get to their friend and i just cant leave them. We make one final push and reach the warehouse, i run in.

The stalker is on his knees woth a gun to his head. One shot to the bandits head and he is down. The emission is really starting to get underway now but were quite far from a safe area so i manage to loot some energy drinks form one of the bandits and run towards ventilation complex underground BUT its full of zombies. Luckly they always seem more docile at night time and i managed to get quite far in before i disturbed one and could easily pick them off with headshots from cover. I lived and all three stalkers are safely back in Yanov station.

Holy crap a pseudogiant…

… i never see these, thats why i left my Gauss Rifle in zanton today, ill run out of ammo before it dies. Wow, a snork, some flesh, some rats and a pseudodog? Perhaps they will fini- Crap… Oh, here come some Duty members, in some decent armor maybe they can de- maybe not. Good, its running off in a different direction, is that a pack of blind dogs and some ra- well, it was before the giant came along. Wait, its coming this i better quickly way turn around and ru- HOLY CRAP A CHIMERA!!

Yeah, i should have started recording this video alot earlier, Only a chimera and 2 stalkers got killed in it, rather anti-climatic after the rest of the rampage.

Maybe ill keep this updated… maybe i wont…

Need more visitors to fullfil the attention whore in me, so lets do a mini review type thing.

Trine was released on the steam store yesterday, i highly recommed you try the demo and/or buy the full game. Apparently it can be found on PSN on the PS3 aswell. For the PC you could actually buy the disk, from a shop, but everywhere seems to be alot more expensive than steam.

Anywho, to the game. First of all, i havnt finished it, didnt start playing til very late and stopped at 1am so this is just a review of how its going so far. The game itself is a 3D sidescroller, you know, 3D graphics but you can only move on a 2D plane. Theres fighting with a variety of weapon (more on that soon), basic platofrming and some physics puzzles. It also has some RPG elements, with little green bottles you pickup for experience which you can upgrade skills with, you can also find useful equipment to boost stats and find new skills in chests throughout the game.

To begin with you get to play 3 characters, one after the other.

Theif

She has two main skills to start with, the first being her Bow. As with most bows, the accuracy and power is crap unless you hold the draw until it becomes steady. The range on it isnt great, even when fully charged, but its not too difficult to aim slightly higher than your target so that it reaches them, and since its a sidescroller you cant see that far ahead of you anyway. You can upgrade to shoot up to 3 arrows at a time, so youre more likley to hit something and will do alot more damage.

The second skill is a grappling hook, it cant grab ahold of just anything though. So far it only works on wooden things, a cool feature though is that you can wedge wooden boxes into spikes in ceilings, and then use that wooden box to grapple and swing, something you may be doing quite alot as you progress.There is also a fire arrow upgrade, it can be used to light torches, since the level you find it on is VERY dark without them lit. It also does extra damage although it uses your energy

Wizard

The intro mentions fireballs, and how fireballs attract the ladies, but he cant do that, not yet atleast. Im not sure if it will be an unlockable skill in the future, the wizard has yet to learn any directly offensive skills, he is all about the physics in the game. His firsk skill is to grab hold and move almost any object that is affected by physics with magic. This is used to move boxes for climbing, move planks to span gaps, and move hanging platofrms. There are even a few instances where platofrms and boxes are hanging from a little cart like thing with wheels, you stand on the platform and move the cart accross to span gaps.

As breifly mentioned before, this is the character than can wedge objects into deadly spikes, to make them less deadly and help you pass them.  You can wedge stuff into spikes on the floor as stepping stones, spikes on walls as ledges/ladders and spikes in the ceilings as a grappling location. The ones in the ceiling have to be wooden for that to work though, which brings us to his second skill – he can create objects out of thin air.

At first its only boxes, and only one at a time. You can level the skill up to do more than one at a time and later learn how to spawn planks. These objects are made of metal and gears though, so they cant be used for grappling. If you spawn them in the air above an enemy, it will often crush them, or atleast act as an obstacle they have to climb over. Later on you will learn a new skill to create floating platforms, you can put these just about anywhere and use them as a stepping stone, upgrading allows you to grapple from them and upgrading again allows you to set them on fire and use them offensively

Knight

The knight is big, fat and has a sword and sheild. He can bash objects about and break wooden planks that cover doorways with his sword. He can also jump on wooden planks covering holes to break them and apparently (only found it out later on when looking at the achievement list) he can kill some enemies by jumping on them. You may come across ropes holding some objects up (or down), the knight can cut these, often causing something to drop and clear the way by destroying whatever was there. Of course, he can block with his sheild and attack with the sword when it comes to enemys. Thats basically his primary skill, hit stuff until it breaks. Later there will be a fire sword upgrade, which does more damage and can light torches like the theifs fire bow. He can also unlock a hammer later on, this is a much stronger weapon, can break stone walls but you cannot use the sheild with it.

Another skill that is unlocked slightly into the game is the ability to pick up and throw small objects at enemies. At first, it didnt seem very good, but you can kill enemys just by swinging large rocks around, even on the hard difficulty, you can break stone walls by throwing the fist shaped rocks aswell.

Back to the game

So, after you play all three of the characters, they have all met in the center, around some glowy thing, i think its the trine, i wasnt actually following the story that much though, just enjoying the game. Anywho, now the game really starts. All three of the characters are conjoined into one, and you can transform between each one with the 1,2 and 3 keys. So now, you can start mixing and matching skills. Play styles may vary, but basically, the theif becomes the get around character. You use her to grapple and quickly progress through the level, if you come to an obstacle, its usually the Wizards job to sort it all out by moving objects around and creating objects to pass by. Some of these tasks can still be performed by the knight or theif if you prefer though. The theif can knock down some lighter objects witht he bow or grapple onto them and use her weight to pull them down, and the knight can just bash obstacles out of the way. When you come to enemies, its usually the knights turn to shine, you may have to switch to the theif to take out archers though. You could use the wizard to drop objects on enemies, although its slow and enemies are often fast. I find myself using the theif alot, with good use of the grappling hook and physics its possible to to fling yourself accross or over obstacles and puzzles in ways i dont really think you were supposed to.

Although they are all one now, they still have there own health and magic bars. Picking up potions to refil these seem to add a little to each character though. If one dies, you have to switch to another until you reach a checkpoint where they will come back with a percentage of life, the amount depends on difficulty, seems to be half in normal and a quater in hard. If you have just passed a checkpoint and one character gets killed you can go back and use it again. Even though you still have two characters after one dies, you will often quickly find that you really needed their skills for something, each character has their place and they are all needed to get through each level.

Later there will be swiming sections, not my favourite parts, everything is blurry and dark. Each character has their own breath meter, which only goes down if they are the active character, and the swimming sections take longer than one bar of breath, so you need to switch when one gets low to carry on. Nothing really happens under there and all you can really do is swim, so it all seems a bit pointless to me. note: didnt realise at first, the knight cant swim, he plummets to the bottom where he can walk because hes soo heavy. Later on you will probably find an item for infinite breath aswell, which makes the whole thing even more pointless.

Verdict so far?

So far, this is deffinetly an enjoyable little game, i do get the feeling nostalgia could be part of it though. There are some aspects of the game that deffinetly seem like a throwback to old sidescrolling platoformers from the 80s/90s, which i like, but maybe some younger or newer gamers wouldnt enjoy so much. They even start adding holes in walls that shoot fireballs every couple of seconds not far into the game, you can kill some enemies by jumping on them and the grappling hook seems like it could be a nod towards the 2D bionic commandos. Even though it has these retro gameplay mechanics, they managed to keep it modern with pretty good visuals, a cool physics and puzzle system and the hack n slash style combat.

Anywho, thats it for now. Ill probably add more to this as i play further, i should probably try to get some more pictures aswell, to break up the text!

They lived happily ever after

Thats how it ended. Spoiler you say? Not really. Theres a little “funny” scene during the ending, but apart from that, the story wasnt really needed. Nothing else to add really, game continued to be awesome. The last level was slightly different from the rest, it suddenly becomes a race for life where you have to climb upwards as lava follows behind you. Again, another classic gameplay feature from old games, but this time the physics add another layer to the challenge. A certain enemy following you has the ability to spawn objects like the wizard, but can also spawn massive balls with spikes on them. As you climb he will spawn things in akward positions, and you have to act fast, getting caught up by one obstacle usually ends up in a chain reaction of failing and falling.

Eventually you will reach the top, where you fight a few skeletons, do a bit of extra climbing and you are home free! It was a bit anticlimactic, but not enough to bring my view on the game down at all. Now you can go back and get all the experience and secret items you missed, your characters will still have all the items and upgrades you found along the way. Going back through old levels, you may find there were slightly different ways to get past obstacles with your new upgrades, items or simply the knowledge you gained on the way through.