STALKER: Clear Sky - Careless stalk costs lives in a radioactive revisionist prequel

Somewhere, in the murky gap between what we want and what we actually get, there’s a sense that games which simply allow us to explore aren’t turning up frequently enough. The original Chernobyl-based shooter from Ukrainian developers GSC Gameworld disappointed some gamers by drawing us inexorably into its weird storyline and then not encouraging (or allowing) us to delve into its intricate world of dereliction. That, and a number of other issues, should get addressed in Clear Sky, which is a prequel set in that same mutant-ridden exclusion zone in the depths of the Ukraine. Once again you take on the mantle of a stalker looking for riches and adventure, but this time you get to be rather more selfish with the story.

In Clear Sky’s more open world there will be much more of a focus on allowing players to make their own way in the zone. The various factions which made an appearance in the original game will be better defined and will now have their own storylines, missions and AI interactions. Each faction will now have a definite HQ, with their own mission-dispensing commanders and helpful traders. You’ll be working alongside the agents these factions have sent out into the zone, or coming into conflict with them.

While there was only a small selection of faction-based decisions we were able to make in the original Stalker game, Clear Sky will be all about deciding who you want help out, and who you want to kill. Decisions about who to shoot and who to talk to will take place dynamically out in the radioactive wilderness. Ultimately, GSC tell us, you’ll be able to lead a single faction to victory.

The new game is also incrementally improving the original technology, with the new DirectX 10 lighting making a huge difference to the look of the world. Those ‘watery sheen’ effects mean that it’s even more dank and murky than ever before, making for far more detailed atmospheric horror amid the crumbling Soviet landscape. The real question, though, is not about GSC’s visual talents, but whether the much-discussed A-Life artificial intelligence systems, which control interactions in the world once scripted events have been triggered, will really allow gamers to attain a sense of place and exploration. There has been a feeling that, despite GSC’s claims, the living world systems it developed essentially took a back seat to the linear storyline that was so awkwardly delivered via NPCs and PDA messages. Allowing the game, and the gamer, to just get on with living in the zone could mean discovering more about what players actually want from the experimental end of FPS games