I enjoyed but didn't love Shadow of Chernobyl since it had a lot that was ahead of its time, but some strange design decisions seriously held it back. Clear Sky manages to fix a couple of the game's problems (i.e. Shotguns are actually useful from time to time) while exacerbating others and making it just not worth finishing. Got through the Agroprom Underground and my patience was just spent.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest issue with Clear Sky is that clearly rushed development time. The team made some solid graphical upgrades this time around, but reused so much of SOC's world that this may as well be a DLC that had the rest of SOC strapped to it, making a massive portion of the experience the exact same game save for a few minor changes.
Some of the additions also skirt around certain problems instead of correct them. The faction's system for example, which is clearly intended to be the major aspect that sets it apart, is intended to give more reasoning to do side content. Adding a faction war system to barebones quests, however, doesn't fix the problem that they're barebones quests.
On top of all this is a story that, while interesting in concept, isn't executed all that well. Fleshing out Strelok's backstory and explaining his situation in SOC is a great idea in theory, but when told from the perspective of another Stalker who spends the whole time retracing his steps ironically feels like a massive retread.
The best thing I can say about Clear Sky is that there's a clear attempt to try and make something different and perhaps stronger than SOC. The addition of fast travel and improvement of inventory management are clear signs that the team wanted to improve where the first game suffered. With unnecessarily little time to do so though, Clear Sky fails dramatically at its goal and is just an objectively worse version of the previous entry in most aspects.
I'll still be trying Call of Pripyat since many have said it's the strongest of the three, but I can't see myself coming back to finish this game. If I wanted more SOC, I'd play more SOC.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest issue with Clear Sky is that clearly rushed development time. The team made some solid graphical upgrades this time around, but reused so much of SOC's world that this may as well be a DLC that had the rest of SOC strapped to it, making a massive portion of the experience the exact same game save for a few minor changes.
Some of the additions also skirt around certain problems instead of correct them. The faction's system for example, which is clearly intended to be the major aspect that sets it apart, is intended to give more reasoning to do side content. Adding a faction war system to barebones quests, however, doesn't fix the problem that they're barebones quests.
On top of all this is a story that, while interesting in concept, isn't executed all that well. Fleshing out Strelok's backstory and explaining his situation in SOC is a great idea in theory, but when told from the perspective of another Stalker who spends the whole time retracing his steps ironically feels like a massive retread.
The best thing I can say about Clear Sky is that there's a clear attempt to try and make something different and perhaps stronger than SOC. The addition of fast travel and improvement of inventory management are clear signs that the team wanted to improve where the first game suffered. With unnecessarily little time to do so though, Clear Sky fails dramatically at its goal and is just an objectively worse version of the previous entry in most aspects.
I'll still be trying Call of Pripyat since many have said it's the strongest of the three, but I can't see myself coming back to finish this game. If I wanted more SOC, I'd play more SOC.
2 Comments
Yeah I heard a lot of the late game becomes very linear and annoying. Glad I dodged it then
Dieg0x
2 months ago