:: [ThC] Clan :: - S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky

"A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent.

Though effective, appear to be ineffective."

-- Sun Tzu --

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky

Written by Johan

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

Developer: GSC Game World

Publisher: THQ

Genre: First Person Shooter

Release Date: Q1 2008

Platform:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is stand-alone prequel to the first game that will put players into the shoes of Strelok one year before the events in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

What’s waiting for stalkers in the opened depths of the Zone? Which new challenges bear in the new territories? Why blowouts continue shaking the Zone? Why did the Zone change? How to remove its instability? Which faction will take the upper hand in the factions war? Why did Strelok end up in the death truck? What happened to Strelok prior to that? Was there any other choice to make? These and many other questions will get answered in the official prequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

A group of stalkers has for the first time reached the very heart of the Zone – Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and brings about a cataclysm on the brink of a catastrophe. An immense blowout of anomalous energy changes the Zone. There are no more reliable and relatively safe roads. The entire levels vanish in the outbursts of anomalies. Stalkers and even expeditions die or end up sealed on the lost territories. New areas, which remained unknown since the time of the Zone emergence, appear on the Zone map. The Zone continues to shake with blowouts. The Zone is unstable. The anomalous activity is at its maximum.

The protagonist is a mercenary who appeared at the edge of the opposition between stalker factions, Strelok and even the Zone itself. The main character will have to play the key role in the events, which led to creation of the Zone up to the point from which the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game begins.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky will of course introduce new locations, such as Red Forest, Limansk or Pripyat Undergrounds, once again giving players the possibility to join any faction and lead it to victory. Other additions include a new system of upgrades (and repairs) for weapons and armor, reworked HUD and PDA, an advanced A-Life simulation system, completed by a new version of the game engine (X-Ray 1.5) with DirectX 10 support and improved rendering under DirectX 9.

Let's just hope it comes out when they say it will, this time.

Game features:

Atmosphere of the Exclusion Zone
Research of new depths of the Zone – Red Forest, Limansk, Pripyat Undergrounds and more.
A-Life-driven Factions War
Possibility to play and lead any faction to victory
Advanced A-Life system
Varied behaviour of NPC stalkers in the A-Life world
Advanced spectacular storyline scenes
Improved AI of computer-controlled characters
Skirting around dynamic obstacles by NPCs
Use of grenades by NPCs
Fast Travel
Improved concept of detectors, artifacts and anomalies
New system of upgrades for weapons and armor
Weapons and armor repair
Reworked HUD and PDA
New version of the game engine - X-Ray 1.5.
DirectX 10 renderer
Improved DirectX 9 renderer - parallax bump, soft particles, depth of field, motion blur, eye adaptation effect.
Cutting-edge and detailed game graphics (normal map)
Inverse kinematics
New animation engine