If you haven't heard of it (and you might not - it never got massive press coverage like Halo or such) check out the sites. The dev site is best for those who dislike flash - the publisher's version is entirely flash. It's an awesome PC game that's been in development forever (6 years) and it's a FPS-RPG hybrid set in Chernobyl in 2012 after events in 2006/2008 cause a second Chernobyl disaster that expands the exclusion zone and set anomalies and mutants roaming about. As well as prompting people to venture into the zone for valuable artifacts produced by anomalies. These people come to be known as "Stalkers".
So you get to play one - one who conveniently survives a nasty crash but loses his memory.
Gameplay wise I've thus found it to be pretty awesome. It's a very realistic game. You cannot run and gun unless you have serious equipment. And even then it's not bright. Your armor/suit/jacket degrees over time from damage, becoming less and less useful. Eventually being destroyed. Weapons likewise decay to uselessness, jamming more and more often as they accumulate wear and tear. It doesn't take much to kill you, and if hit, you will start bleeding and need bandages or a medkit to stop it if it's serious. Minor bleeding clears up on it's own. Food and drink is required to survive and heals small amounts of health. Vodka and anti-rad pills will decrease any radiation one picks up in the zone (which slowly eats away at your health).
The AI is smart. The enemies feel very real. I once decided to see how the stalkers in the starter town would stand up to me. I was having a shootout with two (after killing two to start my rampage) by leaning around a house, right? 'nother one comes around the house, up behind me and mows me down. Clever...
Boars have smacked me and sent me flying. Pseudodogs, the mutant wolves of the zone are incredibly fast and I had a hard time shooting the one that attacked me - couldn't hit him. He'd hit and run off and circle back...
Your stuff weighs you down and you can become tired. If you're too weighed down you cannot sprint (which is bad), and running will quickly tire you. Get too tired and you cannot move at all until you recover.
NPCs have different dispositions to you depending on your actions. Help them, they like you. Draw a weapon on a neutral and he draws his. Hostiles are liable to shoot you no matter what. They do their own things too. Go out, look for stuff, come back, sleep, etc. At the newbie camp there's a bunch who sit around a fire and play guitar, talk, and tell jokes in Russian.
You free-roam across large, large levels. It's kinda like Oblivion - except with guns and mutants and no levels and skills. And the world isn't as seamless. But still awesome.
So has played it? Now wants to play it? Thinks it's not so cool as I make it out to be?
