S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
 

Anyone playing the NA version of Clear Sky? I was just wondering what the general opinion was so far. I noticed it was on sale at a local store near me, but I held off picking it up because of the mixed reviews I've heard so far.

Well, it's hard to judge it. Quite buggy w/o patches (possibly even more than SoC). Once patched it's all the old "good" STALKER - superman opponents (now throwing granades at you, or rather always on top of your head), immersive but somehow pointless.

Some changes are welcome addition (imo) - like much harder artifact hunting, repairing/upgrading, or faction wars (even if there's very little point to them). But all the faults from the first game are here again (and few new ones - like mentioned grenade implementation).

All in all, if you liked SoC - you will probably like CS (just don't expect SoC done right), if you didn't - avoid.

Shame about the STALKER games. I can't think of any better example of games that could have been potential classics only to be hindered by shoddy programming.

Yea, but they are still better than the rest - which says a lot how consoles (and not only them) lowered the bar of quality and complexity.

Compared to for example just released GTA: Africa (erm.. Far Crap 2) STALKER CS is a shining gem.

I didn't get very far, but was definitely disappointed with the polish level. Put it into the 'no time now, get back after first of year' pile.