S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Updated Impressions - Missions, Gunfights, and Monsters

Put yourself in the site of a nuclear reactor meltdown, and then make the site a war zone, where weapons are scarce and bullets are scarcer. Add in mutant monsters and deadly pockets of residual radiation. Now toss in a small army of other human soldiers and scavengers looking to grab the most valuable items from the area before you can, and then give them more guns than you have. Hopefully, you're in this mess because you're playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, the upcoming PC game from developer GSC GameWorld and publisher THQ. We recently had a chance to take an updated look at the single-player game in action, and we saw a handful of aboveground missions as well as some underground gameplay.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you'll play as a scavenger in search of highly valuable relics known as "artefacts" in "the Zone," a huge, irradiated area 15 kilometers by 30 kilometers in size that just happens to include the remains of the Chernobyl reactor. (Yes, that Chernobyl--the site of the 1986 nuclear meltdown.) In the single-player game, you'll be able to explore this huge area, but you'll find many dangers, and you may wish to ally yourself with others you come across. By joining up with other scavengers, you'll increase your chances of winning, but you may also antagonize rival scavenger groups (who may be at odds with one another), which means not only will you have to worry about blundering into a heavy radiation area that can poison you, but you'll also have to deal with tough first-person-shooter firefights.

We had a chance to observe one of these battles in action, and it resembled the kind of gunfight you might see in a tactical team-based shooter. In this battle, which took place on the edge of a deserted factory, we were allied with another scavenger on a rescue mission to pick up a missing comrade, but we found ourselves under fire from enemies who had scouted out positions among the oil tanks, abandoned buildings, and brush. Interestingly, the battle was preceded by an extremely brief flyby view of the entire area, which gave us a general idea of the layout, cover, and enemy positions, though we were informed that this feature may or may not make it into the game.

Developer GSC GameWorld is doing its best to make the game's enemies pose a real challenge. Your enemies will stake out the best patches of cover and take potshots at you, which is why having a sniper scope on your rifle will evidently go a long way toward increasing your survival rate in the Ukraine. In this battle, we had teammates that provided covering fire while we went in for the kills, and as we saw, neither your enemies nor your teammates will live forever once the bullets start flying. Since you'll be fighting your way through an abandoned ruin, you won't exactly be able to stop by the local shopping mall to resupply, which is why you may find yourself looting the corpses of both your enemies and your fallen comrades in search of more ammo, first aid supplies, and new weapons. You'll have only a certain amount of inventory space, and you're also limited by your character's strength and carrying weight, so you'll need to choose your loot wisely.

Surprisingly, even with all the radiation and gunfire, the Zone will often be a picturesque place, thanks to the game's impressive dynamic lighting and realistic time-of-day effects and weather modeling. Both the indoor and outdoor areas we've seen make extensive use of soft shadows, which serve an actual gameplay purpose by indicating nearby enemies around corners, similar to last year's excellent (and comparably titled) shooter F.E.A.R. The deserted, grassy plains of Chernobyl take on an almost serene quality due to the use of light-bloom effects on the horizon and the sunlight shimmering over waving grass. The Zone might have been a nice place to visit if it weren't for all those other guys with machine guns and the constant threat of radiation poisoning, not to mention those bloodsucking mutant monsters.

We caught up with our old friend the blood drinker--the misshapen humanoid monster with a mess of tentacles for a mouth that you've seen in so many S.T.A.L.K.E.R. screenshots--as we explored an underground bunker area, which was poorly lit and crawling with enemy scavengers armed to the teeth. With the dim light provided from whirling Klaxons and the occasional lamp, we made our way through the darkness in a sequence that was reminiscent of the dark areas in Doom 3 (but with much higher visibility). We fought our way past prowling scavengers by trying to keep in the shadows and by sneaking up on them, though as we saw, enemies may break into a run, summon help, and make life much tougher for you. The blood drinker proved an especially tough opponent, ambushing us in a tunnel with barely any light and lunging wildly and irregularly out of the darkness. This scene suggests to us that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. may have quite a few challenging battles, thanks to the cunning artificial intelligence at work in enemies, the complex area layouts, and the creative use of lighting.

Though the game has been long in coming, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s development is progressing, and it's looking very much like a game that will provide, at the very least, plenty of exciting gunplay, though considering the game's unusual setting, its faction system with rival scavengers, and the gameplay around radioactive "anomalies," it should hopefully have much more to offer. With more polish and continued careful development, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will hopefully deliver on its promise of fast-paced action, open-ended exploration, highly varied missions, and even a few scares. The game is scheduled for release early next year.