If I was a less professional and more jaded games hack I would be highly tempted to write “more of the same” in the space where a review should be and sneak out early for a beer after a job well done. The reason it would be a job well done is because that’s exactly what Clear Sky is; a standalone prequel to my all time favourite Chernobyl-em-up*, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Now, more of the same is fine assuming that “the same” is not EXACTLY “the same”. This is where Clear Sky falls down (The Clear Sky is falling, the Clear Sky is falling!) It features all the same areas as the last game and some of the characters have, seemingly, not moved at all in the intervening years.
I’ll quickly run through some of the new things that HAVE changed; firstly, the game is now all Direct X 10 and whatnot. This means that if you can get Direct X 10 (i.e. you have both Windows Vista and a Direct X 10 graphics card) you can expect to see mildly improved visuals like THE SUN’S RAYS in exchange for all of your frame rates. It is pretty, but does it really need to be soooooo slow for it? Another new addition are ‘faction wars’, according to GSC this means the shape of the world will be dynamically changed as one faction takes over control from another in epic, dynamic running battles. In a practical sense this means you’ll be given a bunch of missions that you’ll either ignore and fail, or run all the way across the map to help out with, only to get there too late and fail. The result of which has yet to really change my world, in-game or out. Other new features include a new shotgun, a new pistol or two, a new grenade proximity indicator that only informs you about grenades the microsecond before they detonate, and an obnoxious wobble of your iron sights when you side step.
The lacklustre new feature set might disappoint, but the weather more than makes up for it, and considering the summer we’ve had this year it’s nice for the weather to be a highlight for a change. The weather in Clear Sky is very much like real weather, it’s just... there. You might not really notice it until it does something dramatic, then you’re left standing and watching it in amazement. The reason you’re amazed, you’ll finally conclude, is that you’ve never seen weather like this. One particular sequence stands out, tasked with attacking a bandit base by night I moved into a position on a ridge to look over the facility. I could see quite clearly with the help of a full moon; “Great, so much for the darkness covering my approach”, I thought. In the distance I heard the far-off rumbling of thunder, so I waited. The horizon began to flash and the storm drew closer, I watched as the first drops of rain soaked the jackets of my oblivious targets. The cloud rolled over and the darkness was complete. I moved between buildings waiting for each lightning strike to illuminate my quarry and then the thunder to drown out my gunfire. It was, without question the most atmospheric gunfight I’ve ever been involved in!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R always appealed to crazed kleptomaniacs and Clear Sky continues to prey on those who covet the finest of shiny things. I spent far too long comparing weapons after a gun fight in order to pick the one that was in best condition, then hunting out a sight for it, a silencer, the flash drive that contains the details of a bolt modification to increase accuracy and some grenades for that M203 launcher I had installed on it. It’s nice that you finally feel a sense of “this is my rifle” in Clear Sky, you’ve made it yours and no pesky bandit is going to take it off you... Actually that was a lie. You ARE going to die in Clear Sky. A lot. You’ll run backwards into anomalies, get shot from miles away in the dark, stumble over a grenade that your grenade indicator didn’t tell you about until too late. You’ll fumble for the a quick bandage after a broken leg but bleed to death, you’ll walk into a patch of invisible radiation with no vodka to wash it out with, you’ll be snuck up on by a mutant that kicks you in the shins and kills you instantly and you’ll quite possibly DIE when you see how much it costs to repair your armour after a gunfight.
Clear Sky is rarely unfair though, it emphasises that life is hard in the Zone, so hard in fact, that you still can’t sleep for some reason (I’m surprised that the Zone’s inhabitants don’t need peeling off the walls after a combination of sleep deprivation and a massive intake of energy drinks). You’ll sometimes curse your own curiosity as it takes you into a place you are not quite ready for but you’ll still keep coming back because Clear Sky builds tension like no other. It’s not holding your hand along a corridor of pop-up bad guys; literally ANYTHING could happen. You’ll forgive all the deaths, you’ll forgive that you’ve seen each map before, you’ll forgive that last 2 hours of play lost because there was no autosave and you’ll forgive that your flashlight seems to be just a glow worm in a bottle against a pitch black night. You’ll forgive all this when you’re sat on a ridge watching storm clouds roll in at sunset as you affix that new ACOG sight onto your rifle and wait for your moment to attack.
*Incidentally I finally got round to playing Call of Duty 4 the other day and that also has a very good Chernobyl in it.
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