Retro Rehash - Stalker: Welcome to the Zone

You know what I really love about the Zone? It isn't its radioactive death traps, bandits, weapons, artifacts or chilly Russian air. It's not the wonderment of watching an emission tear the sky asunder or a mutant cut down an inch from your face. It's the lawlessness, the feeling of being the composite master of one's destiny. Now, I know what you're thinking, RPG's have been around for years, MMO's let you live a virtual life online etc etc. To the first I say, find me a setting more bleak and frankly downright interesting than the Zone. Your brain is straining tangibly at the thought. As for the second, why the hell would I want such an experience as wandering the desolate Chernobyl wasteland ruined by a bunch of strangers? A couple of friends maybe, but I'll be damned if any snot nosed thirteen year old is going to interrupt me wiping out a bloodsucker den to tell me to "go fuck myself." You want that, get back on your Xbox.

Kill it, kill it now!

Now, where was I? Ah yes, the Zone. Having recently completed S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat I am currently chocker full of admiration for the designers at GSC Game World. I don't get drawn into games lightly, and this has got to count as a full blown addiction. I'm practically ambushing Monolith fighters in my sleep, which helps explain the state of my bedroom somewhat. Maybe the Zone indulges my own antisocial attitudes, allowing me to wander to the march of my own drum but there's something fundamentally entertaining about the notion. The world feels real, much helped by the game engine's ability to maintain up to 1000 npc players in an unscripted environment. They are, in effect, living their own lives and following their own missions. So, do you help the group of Stalkers under fire from bandits or just walk on by? Is it in your interest, do you care for your standing with any given faction? It's just feels good knowing you're not walking some preset path through the game. It's very liberating.

There is of course a primary story line in both games, but they always felt a little flimsy to me, especially in Call of Pripyat. I basically did the story missions once I'd exhausted the side quests in an area, for to be honest I had very little interest in why the helicopters had crashed or with what the military was doing poking around the Zone. If anything, I'd say that the main plot was a simple vehicle meant to give you some direction but still let you do your own thing. In this regard, it is easy to understand the underwhelming narrative, it was never meant to be the central part of either game anyway. It would have been nice if they'd both been a little tighter, but I wouldn't sacrifice the Zone's uniqueness in pursuit of it.

WARNING! May be hazardous or give you super powers!

 
While playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R you will quickly come to learn that artifacts are pretty handy to have in a bind. They can make you into demi-gods, be traded for a fist full of cash, or irradiate you in my case. Took me a few minutes to figure that one out. Suffice as to say, I'd wind up dead in the Zone faster than a Bandit making friends with the smart end of my shotgun, in reality. Anyway, getting back on point, artifacts exist to create a genuine interest in the Zone rather than it just being a hide out for criminals and a point of interest to scientists. Much like during the gold rush, they act as the prize in this Western style backwater drawing in every type of individual you can imagine. Corrupt military, mercenaries, Stalkers, scientists and idealists. Who wouldn't want a chunk of rock that can help you resist bullets, run faster or in rare cases, regenerate. When I got that particular item, I sold it. So not everyone I guess.

I have to admit that while in Shadow of Chernobyl I was artifact mad, in Call of Pripyat I was far less so primarily due to the increased difficulty of acquiring and equipping them. When I needed a quick influx of money I'd brave the wilds and come back with a few choice pieces, but found that overall, I could do just fine without them. I even snubbed the vast majority of quests were retrieving a specific artifact was required, but that's just how I roll. I made a small fortune in equipment; why diversify?

Meet the wildlife, please do not feed the animals.

The thing that both games have in common is their eerie, lifeless quality. Heading back to base as night sets in, the hollow eyes of buildings staring you down while around you, the natives are waking up. And I have to say, they ain't friendly. From rabid mutant dogs, to psychic Controllers, the Zone is arguably more awake in the early morn than any other. It's also a lot more dangerous and outright scary. There's nothing like pumping your way across the swamps, reeds high above your head, and then, boo! Out of nowhere pops a mutant ready to munch on your brain, fast food style. It gets to the point where you have some pretty frayed nerves and a jumpy trigger finger to boot. At one point, in the middle of a night time gun battle I unloaded half a clip into an enemy silhouette, only to find it to be a well.  That's right, a hole in the ground filled with water. Paranoia can get the better of anyone out here.
                                                                                         
                                                                                                           

"I found him this way, honest!"

Speaking of trigger fingers, remember how earlier I was extolling the magical lawlessness of the Zone? Well, no Wild West is complete without it's selection of weapons. From AK's to automatic shotguns and under slung grenade launchers to rail guns, the order of firepower is very impressive. Personally, in both outings, I preferred a trusty AK-74 with a scope for long range work. It wasn't the best gun in the game by far, but it just felt Stalkerish. The kind of weapon that would be in abundance in a place like the Zone. It saved my life on hundreds of occasions, and may have been complicit in a few of my shadier dealings. There's a reason I nicknamed my weapon Old Dependable, and a small part of it has nothing to do with my mental health.

I could ramble on for several more pages about S.T.A.L.K.E.R, invariably boring you to death with every minute detail of my play through, but that would be an injustice. I'd be taking up valuable time which you could be using to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R, buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R or just think about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. So, I shall let you go now, to do whatever you like. It might even not be S.T.A.L.K.E.R related, but I doubt it.