S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

"In its deep underground facilities (GSC's answer to dungeons), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is scarier than F.E.A.R. itself. Poltergeists fly past. Invisible hands hurl barrels as your flashlight bobs for the next noise. At times -- Geiger counter crackling -- I wanted to turn the game off, or at least get topside and into the light. Down here, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fares better if evaluated as an FPS with RPG trappings than as a fully fledged hybrid."

"Even though it all ends kind of sudden, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still one of the best First Person Shooters I’ve played in a long time, especially if you like the post-apocalyptic atmosphere from games like Fallout. It’s beautiful, it has a nice feel and is so well built that it deserves a 9, even though the version I played only contained the finished single-player part. Multiplayer offers Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Artifact Hunt for up to 32 players."

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a game that gets better and better the further you get into it. Sure, it was always an ambitious game and it was really inevitable that what we've ended up with isn't the one originally planned, but thankfully, what we have ended up with is no way near as bad as we feared. It's rough around the edges and ironically would have benefited from more polishing time, but the balance tips in favour of the good and in spite of its shortcomings it still manages to impress."

"For some people the odd rough brokenness of Stalker will frustrate and annoy. It isn't finely polished, and it's not Hollywood; this is more like an antidote to the Americanised way of doing things. It's a warped behemoth from the Ukraine, and one of the scariest games on the PC. Stalker will remind you of all kinds of prior games, and yet it will also defy your expectations. Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain. Not everyone is going to enjoy venturing into the zone, but some of those who do will find what they've been looking for."

"In the end, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an immense treat that offers fresh and innovative gameplay experiences. If I had to level one complaint against the title, it's the fact that it's missing the little bit of extra polish that gamers have come to expect. The artificial intelligence for instance is somewhat hit and miss, and many of the RPG elements, while welcomed, didn't go far enough to offer unique paths through the game. These issues aside S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done an excellent job creating its own niche in the genre."