| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
The ESRB Says
Blood and Gore: GamerDad saw bodies impaled and decapitated heads and all sorts of other fragmented body parts in his wake. Intense Violence: We watched enemies bleed to death after shooting them. Strong Language: Not even counting the stuff in Russian you will be assaulted with every swear-word in the book quickly enough. Use of Alcohol: good vodka is good for the soul seems to be the watchword here. Critical Portion: The road of game history is littered with games that have been long delayed or failed to live up to expectations, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl seemed destined to land on one of those piles. And while it is very true that many features have landed on the cutting room floor along the way, and the game truly doesn't live up to the hype, after a few hours in the Zone you will never know the difference. This a really solid experience that any PC shooter fan really needs to experience. The basis of the game is that you are a nameless person marked with the insignia of a 'stalker', with a mission that is the single thing you can recall. As the game unfolds, more things come back to you and more missions come your way to propel you towards one of the game's endings. You will get the feeling at times that this is a role-playing game - you have a large open world as in Oblivion in which to wander and take on a variety of missions and even align yourself with one of several factions along the way. But make no mistake - this is just a wonderfully open shooter. But there are plenty of bugs and problems as well - some quests are broken and the interface is somewhat clunky, and the entire mission structure is not very rewarding, forcing laborious backtracking for little real reward. Those are fairly minor issues compared to the compelling central game, so if you get bored with those missions just skip them and stick to the main story. It will keep you busy for many hours and provide loads of solid entertainment.  
The menu music alone should tell you that you are about to wade into a moody and atmospheric world. If you don't get the feeling there, the opening cutscene of people being blown to bits should make it very clear that this is a game for adults. And if you are exceptionally thick, by the time you kill wandering packs of mutant dogs, blow enemies literally to pieces and shoot people in the heads as they urinate you should have no question - this is not a game that you want kids to have any part of experiencing.
Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl |
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
