Weapons

Every weapon is categorized by accuracy, handling, damage, and rate of fire. Each feature influences the handling of the weapon, and the way you have to use it to be as efficient as possible. In the first missions you have to destroy the enemy with just a pistol and eventually an old AK-47, making the first steps in the game to be quite frustrating for a newbie. If you play the game without any patch installed, the balance of the game is very fluctuate (from very easy missions, where you can eliminate a whole garrison, to hard missions where you will use the quickload button more frequently than the shooting button), making the gameplay more and more frustrating. The enemy has an extreme precise aiming ability, while you always have to look for the headshot. In every FPS game, the physics of the bullets are very important. The game was thought from the beginning to be as realistic as possible from this point of view. So the bullet trajectory is influenced by natural factors such as speed and direction of wind and distance. Used with common FPS games, you will encounter difficulties even in shooting an enemy from a very short range. From the second half of the game the enemy begins to be more and more powerful by using more precise weapons and wearing big armors. I found myself several times in difficult situations where I was forced to reload the game more than 20 times, just because I was unable to cross a room full of soldiers. You will always have the feeling that you shoot the enemy with matchsticks.

Cycle of life

Besides the huge environment, the game increases its complexity by introducing a full life cycle. Every NPC and virtual animal in the game is ruled by a life cycle governed by feeding, sleep, combat, and task. Especially the monsters' behavior is ruled by the need to feed. While you wander the woods, you can be attacked by a dozen of hungry animals, while sometimes in the same region, the animals will just flee from you. Time seems to influence everybody in the game. The day-night cycle will change different aspects of the game. You can see in the night groups of NPC's standing around a fire and playing the guitar, or just lying down. At daylight, the NPC's are far more active. Your own character is governed by all the game's life cycle. Besides health and stamina you have to control also your hunger. As the hunger increases you have to eat from your provisions. Otherwise your health will decrease after a while. Unfortunately sleep will not affect your character. On a way to a quest you can meet members of different factions that are fighting. You can decide if you want to interfere or not. This is a very good aspect, giving you the feeling of freedom in your actions.

Inventory

The inventory is very well implemented, but needs a continuously management due to its limitations. Like in a real RPG, you can trade or sell any object from your inventory. I admit that I didn't bought too many objects from the traders, due to the big prices and the lack of diversity. Every secondary quest completed gives you a new useful item. But if you follow only the main quests, then it's necessary to trade items with the NPC's in order to acquire better weapons and bigger armors. The usage of the inventory is simple, almost every action being controlled with a simple or double-click.

PDA

The PDA, a tool already common in some games, makes its presence in the Stalker's pocket. It can show you the active missions, the completed and the missed missions. It can be used also as an encyclopedia for all the new mutants, artifacts, and factions.

The PDA includes also a map where every active objective will be highlighted, and where you can sign every ammo deposit found.