Stalker: Call of Pripyat is the third and closing episode of the first STALKER iteration. Published in 2009, it is looking a bit dated now. The graphics are ill defined and blocky but there are still aspects of the game that are due credit. The weather effects are amazing. From the near constant rain to the lighting at night all work to enhance the sense that this is a real living world. It is still impressive to see that carry on around you. Bodies continue to lie on the ground where you shot them throughout the game. You will pass firefights close by you between various factions of man vs beast. It is immersive in that sense., but the graphics no longer hold up in the general sense.

Amongst the irritants of super accurate AI enemies,, the most irritating thing is that there is no fast travel to places you have been. Consequently you will be doing a lot of walking and there's an element of back and forth across the three areas if you want to do the side missions. All very tedious.

That aside, the story is a better one than Clear Sky and ties up the series nicely. Weapons and ammo are plentiful and there isn't really any need to pay for upgrades to comfortably complete the mission and in fact grenades are the most useful weapon against all enemies. There isn't much variety in enemy class and there isn't really one that is overly powerful.

It's a good length game, you should get about 15-25 hours out of it depending on the time you plunge into side quests. None of which seem particularly worthwhile to the main story. At this length it's decent and somewhat captivating, any longer and the dated nature and style of the game would have started to grate on me. Whilst better than Clear Sky, the series has lost it's zing on me by this third game and times have moved on.

Regularly on sale for under $5 it's worth a look, but stick to the main quest line. Beyond that there are now far better ways to spend your time and money.

Stalker: Call of Pripyat is the third and closing episode of the first STALKER iteration. Published in 2009, it is looking a bit dated now. The graphics are ill defined and blocky but there are still aspects of the game that are due credit. The weather effects are amazing. From the near constant rain to the lighting at night all work to enhance the sense that this is a real living world. It is still impressive to see that carry on around you. Bodies continue to lie on the ground where you shot them throughout the game. You will pass firefights close by you between various factions of man vs beast. It is immersive in that sense., but the graphics no longer hold up in the general sense. Amongst the irritants of super accurate AI enemies,, the most irritating thing is that there is no fast travel to places you have been. Consequently you will be doing a lot of walking and there's an element of back and forth across the three areas if you want to do the side missions. All very tedious. That aside, the story is a better one than Clear Sky and ties up the series nicely. Weapons and ammo are plentiful and there isn't really any need to pay for upgrades to comfortably complete the mission and in fact grenades are the most useful weapon against all enemies. There isn't much variety in enemy class and there isn't really one that is overly powerful. It's a good length game, you should get about 15-25 hours out of it depending on the time you plunge into side quests. None of which seem particularly worthwhile to the main story. At this length it's decent and somewhat captivating, any longer and the dated nature and style of the game would have started to grate on me. Whilst better than Clear Sky, the series has lost it's zing on me by this third game and times have moved on. Regularly on sale for under $5 it's worth a look, but stick to the main quest line. Beyond that there are now far better ways to spend your time and money.