S.T.A.L.K.E.R. dated

[BobtheCkroach]

This will be the first of the "upcoming" titles in the poll a few threads back to actually hit the shelves, 6 days before Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars debuts.

http://www.man-made-hell.com/

There's a countdown on the site that's currently 66 days, 3 hours and 52 minutes.

That makes the street date for Stalker March 22.

Here's hoping and hoping and hoping that it sticks. I really really need a new FPS to play.

Clicking anywhere below the countdown will link you to a site with screens, videos and more.

[MassacreAL]

great

[Xeno]

:eek: still looking forward

[BlackWolf]

Is this S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game gonna be 64 bit only ?
i think they talked about that some time ago dunno what they decided tho

[BobtheCkroach]

I got myself a beta key and I'm downloading the beta now. I hope to be able to play this and find out what it's like very soon.

[MassacreAL]

I got myself a beta key and I'm downloading the beta now. I hope to be able to play this and find out what it's like very soon.

wow, now thats interesting. dont forget to inform us about your impressions and post some screens from "real" game, willl ya? :D

[BobtheCkroach]

wow, now thats interesting. dont forget to inform us about your impressions and post some screens from "real" game, willl ya? :D

Of course.

[BobtheCkroach]

First impression: in a time of increasingly crazy demo sizes, a 445 meg demo is rather refreshing. It is only the MP demo, though.

[EXEcution]

First impression: in a time of increasingly crazy demo sizes, a 445 meg demo is rather refreshing. It is only the MP demo, though.
Not true, the new TMNT demo is only 246MB's. :D

[BobtheCkroach]

Not true, the new TMNT demo is only 246MB's. :D

:D I saw that and was honestly considering downloading that.

[BobtheCkroach]

Well, so far I can tell you that it has really pretty menu screens. I tried to connect to a game, but - go figure - it doesn't work across a 14.4 phone modem :P

I'll be bringing my computer into work tomorrow to give it a better test.

A good article: http://pc.ign.com/articles/767/767063p1.html

[BobtheCkroach]

Another good one: http://megagames.com/news/html/pc/stalker-developerdiary.shtml


Giving it a bit more play-testing, we decided to expand the combat with another element of realism – the function of materials piercing. Thus, concrete walls will become your safe protection against bullets, while thin woodboards and metal – hardly. The function of piercing urged us towards the following thought – various ammo types: for pistols, rifles, and submachine-guns we provided standard and armor-piercing bullets, while rifles obtained pellets, jack-metal and dart bullets.

I've heard of different ammos types, but i'm not sure i've ever played a game where you could actually shoot through things like wood!

[EXEcution]

Another good one: http://megagames.com/news/html/pc/stalker-developerdiary.shtml



I've heard of different ammos types, but i'm not sure i've ever played a game where you could actually shoot through things like wood!

It's a major part of Counter Strike. Being able to shoot through certain crates and walls so it's not unique to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[BobtheCkroach]

It's a major part of Counter Strike. Being able to shoot through certain crates and walls so it's not unique to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

ah, ok. haven't done a ton of cs, however the MP style of this game doesn't sound totally unlike cs, either.

[BobtheCkroach]

So, I have screenies @ home, I'll have to get them tonight.

The short of it is, it feels a lot like CS, except that you aren't necessarily on teams - it's regular DM or TDM or the weird CTF mode.

In any case, you'll purchase weapons/ammo/armor before you spawn.

It's a gorgeous game. Looks fairly similar to HL2's Source Engine, perhaps a bit more refined.

Environmental effects like rain are spectacular looking.

The one twist that the game throws is that you're still in the world of STALKER and there are weird "natural" traps that you can find - for instance, a "lightning bomb" (for lack of a better word). You can always see them if you're looking, as the visual warps around it, but they're easy to miss if you're careless, or to back up on during a firefight.

The maps seemed a bit large for DM,and as a result, I really didn't see people that often.

I honestly didn't care for it that much, though I still have high hopes for the Single Player itself.

However,

a) I don't like CS either

and

b) It's one of those games where in order to pick up a gun, you have to drop a gun. I HATE that. I don't mind some realism in a game, but that's one of those things that I think detracts from teh game.