Neue Rezensionen von phobos2077

TL;DR: if classic STALKER and Diablo had a baby, it would be Tunguska. If you were a fan of these two, chances are you will like this game.

Here are my observations after beating the main story of the game (no DLC's).


>>> Good:

- Classic STALKER atmosphere is beautifully captured in this game. The world feels alive thanks to great sound design, weather/day cycle and graphics.

- The game has classic Diablo-like inventory system. Which is sometimes annoying (see below) but enhances the experience with nice little icons and good feeling you get when micro-managing your inventory for space/weight vs utility.

- On screenshots the graphics didn't look very impressive but when you actually play it feels great. There's a good mix of static and dynamic lighting that very much captures the visual style of classic STALKER. All assets look good and nothing seems too much out of place.

- Stealth actually works in this game, you can sneak up and strangle enemies Agent 47-style.

- Ammo economy is good. Ammo is scarce, you have to think about using different calibers but it's not that scarce so you can still do the occasional spray&pray. And there is ammo crafting system which is good enough. My only gripe with it is the fact that you need the same ingredients to craft the same amount of ammo regardless of ammo types, which is kinda crazy. So it feels wasteful to craft 9mm for example when you can save that gunpowder for 7.62mm.


>>> Not-so-good:

- The game takes place in 90's Russia but is made by someone who's probably never been to Russia. All location and era-specific lore/assets/characters seem off and just based on other games, online info and stereotypes. It's a subtle thing that western players likely won't notice, but you can tell the difference if you're from ex-USSR and compare it with original STALKER.

- The main story isn't very good. The premise at the start is refreshing - you're a western reporter who goes to this strange place for stories. It's not overused in prior games. But I expected some more interesting developments, unexpected reveals and detective-like elements to the story. The ending was very anti-climactic. The source of the anomalies are never revealed and the story at the end takes a more personal turn. You're basically gathering info for a personal story as a journalist rather than revealing some grand secrets of the Zone to the world. It's not a bad story, but not a very compelling one either.

- Game economy balance is bad on Normal difficulty. Which is typical for games with these mechanics I guess, but for a modern indie game I think we have higher standards now. We have a few decades of gaming to learn from at this point. Basically at certain point you have enough money to buy a few items that actually worth buying (recipes for serums with permanent effects, inventory extensions, weapon attachments) and then you have no more reason to make money. Several mechanics are tied to player need to make money: crafting/selling serums and food (you don't really need that much for your own use and you can find finished serums in containers and corpses), delivering serum orders, doing other missions, looting bodies for weapons to combine on workbench and then sell. But once you have no more reason to raise money, all these mechanics fall apart - there's no motivation to do most of that, apart from doing missions just for fun or reputation increase.

- Inventory is way too cluttered for this Diablo-like inventory system. Most serum components have several tiers of "quality". However, considering the economy situation there's no reason for the player to strive for higher quality serums/foods since you have more than enough with just regular items. Instead, this tier system creates unnecessary tedium when managing inventory, which is like 30-40% of your gameplay time. Getting rid of those tiers would help to make the game more enjoyable. This type of old-school inventory mechanic doesn't scale well with too many item types. Of note also are seeds you get from harvesting plants. They are completely useless outside of farming mechanic which you won't really do in the base game (there's more than enough food from loot to justify wasting time going all the way back to Church to check up on those plants), and with this tier system, they really clutter your inventory. As a new player you don't know if you will need these seeds later so you won't sell them, but keeping them is a hassle that's not justified in the end since they end up having no use in the main game.

- The game implies you should use melee weapons to get more quality components from monsters but in my experience I haven't seen much difference compared to just using guns for the kill shot.

- Shooting mechanics aren't that great. They are not bad by any means, but with how the camera works it often feels clunky. Sometimes in the heat of battle I don't know if I'm aiming at the enemy or just above or below him. Due to relative ammo scarcity this can be an issue sometimes when you waste a lot of ammo shooting at the ground or wall.

- Monster respawns are too aggressive. In contrast to classic STALKER, Zone feels overcrowded. It quickly loses that feeling of danger when you have long periods of quiet but you're never sure when you'll see an enemy. Here you're often surrounded by monsters. The worst thing about this is monster often spawn in like 20 meters from you, and aggro immediately. It is very immersion breaking and frustrating.

- Tied to above 2 points: monsters are bullet sponges. Shotguns don't feel powerful enough, as most weapons. Probably this was done for balance reasons, but for a real-time top-down shooter like this it doesn't feel good to shoot enemies. Maybe if there was a more advanced damage and death system for enemies (like with more gore, dismemberment or something) it would feel better, idk.

- I really hated a certain swamp location (Lake Cheko) because of monster spawns and how much the story requires you to go back and navigate the maze-like geometry. It kinda requires you to use stealth because monsters are too numerous and you will run out of ammo quickly.


>>> Verdict:

Overall I really recommend this game to any fans of STALKER or classic Fallout series. It feels very nostalgic to play it - it's almost like time machine, brings you back to the "good old days" of gaming with classic atmosphere and game mechanics. You can easily lose track of time playing this little gem.

It's better than HLL in almost every way. The only downside is few people play it.

Beautiful, cool physics, everything destructible, lots of content, fun challenge, must buy.

This game is unique. Even if it didn't achieve what many people wanted (no VR game of this quality and budget followed), I still think it will remain a significant milestone in VR history in long-term. Maybe not in the next 3-4 years, but at some point we will see many more VR games of this quality and will remember who were the pioneers.

Voice chat (VOIP) is broken for many people for years (based on numerous threads everywhere), yet developers seem to ignore this issue persistently. Considering I only play tactical shooters, there's hardly any tactics possible w/o being able to hear others and others to hear me, w/o audio breaking up constantly.

Otherwise the game's weapon sounds and shooting mechanics are top notch, more satisfying than Contractors. There are enough players online mostly for 1 decently filled server for each game mode. But sadly, it seems development is completely lacking any technical bug fixes, only focused on more content, which is good, but you can't enjoy all this content with severe bugs.

Since new 0.9 version the game just got a lot more satisfying:

- Up to 16 players.
- Good optimization, runs smooth as butter.
- Graphics somehow became more clear.
- MUCH better UI and lobby.
- I think TTK is lower now, closer to CS and very satisfying in PVP (not sure about this though, I mostly played PVE before).

In it's current state this game feels like a perfect implementation of CS in VR, but with added PVE modes. I think it's a pretty good deal.

Has some technical/balance issues at the moment, but overall this is one of my top VR games on the same level with TWDSS and Alyx. Highly recommended to everyone who liked Stalker or Fallout games and owns a VR.

(игра не пройдена до конца, обновлю отзыв позже)

TL;DR: Игра очень кайфовая для ценителей классический Fallout-ов. Затягивает не на шутку. Но есть серьёзные недоработки.

В сравнении с ATOM RPG:
- Прямое продолжение ATOM RPG с возможностью импортировать персонажа (но с этим есть проблемки, см. ниже).
- Игра как-бы скипает начальные этапы развития персонажа, т.к. даже если создавать с нуля то сразу 15 уровень.
- Детализация окружений и общая красота картинки существенно подросли.
- Вместо свободного перемещания по глобальной карте в любую сторону как в Wasteland 2 - передвижение по заданным путям между близко-расположенными районами города. Расстояния маленькие, поэтому без машины.
- Контента существенно меньше (что логично для сюжетного дополнения).
- Есть доработки RPG систем и геймплея (об этом ниже).

Если оценивать игру как текущую этап в развитии серии ATOM RPG. Достоинства:
- Отличная графика и атмосфера, музыка и звуки - позволяют погрузиться в мир с головой.
- RPG система которая сознательно избегает чрезмерной сложности механик, чем грешат большинство "олдскульных" RPG. Игра не переутомляет лишней вознёй с циферками, которые бы ни на что не влияли.
- Если играть за небоевого персонажа, то игра по сути превращается в красивую адвенчуру с исследованием мира и диалогами. Диалогов очень много, для кого-то это будет плюс.
- Достаточно часто квесты (как основные так и второстепенные) имеют несколько исходов. Есть ощущение выбора. Иногда игра неплохо так погружает в серую зону морали.
- Арсенал "стволов" достаточно широк, но не слишком. Доставляет ценителям оружия.

Недостатки:
- Баланс сложности в начале игры очень странный. Если импортировать персонажа, то его уровень из прошлой игры сохраняется. Это значит что можно начать не с 15 ур. под который вроде как балансили, а например с 30го. Значит что для билдов которые обходятся навыками (Общение), можно на старте вкачать 300 и проходить игру позёвывая без челленжа как квест. А если билд требует нормальной снаряги (оружие, которое ещё надо достать, скрафтить) - придется попотеть первое время.
- Система крафта к сожалению существенно не исправлена с первой игры. Недостаточно крафтовых предметов высокого уровня, несвоевременный доступ к чертежам и ингредиентам. В Трудограде проблема усугубляется тем что 90% крафтовых предметов по силе полезны как раз на самом старте игры, а тут мы перепрыгиваем через него сразу на 15 уровень. Т.е. крафт сводится к беготне по локациям в поисках веревок, досок, железа и т.п. с целью скрафтить сразу топовый предмет в линейке т.к. все промежуточные стадии бесполезны. Заряды для самопала бесполезны - нет слабых противников на которых их можно использовать. Разработчики попытались исправить проблему доступности схем добавив открытие чертежей по росту навыка Ремесло (а чертежи в книгах убрали вовсе), но и тут мимо - для открытия топовых чертежей нужно вложить 300 (!!!) очков в Ремесло, при этом топовое крафтовое оружие в разы уступает обычному, а "эксперимент" никуда не делся. Игра толкает к тому чтобы "подсмотреть" чертежи и с ремеслом 60-100 крафтить все предметы в игре.
- Диалоги с второстепенными персонажами слишком многословны и однообразны. Игра пытается иронизировать над собой (шутками про одинаковые вопросы всем прохожим), но это не помогает. Диалоги слишком "литературные" и переполнены очень специфическим юмором. Тут вероятно вкусовщина, но хотелось бы в следующих играх серии видеть чуть более серьёзный мир и правдоподобные диалоги. Не предлагаю отказываться от элементов бульварной фантастики и юмора (это уже будет не АТОМ), но мне кажется градус серьёзности можно немного повысить. А ключевые квестовые диалоги сократить (сделать менее литературными), т.к. далеко не всем нравится читать километры текста. ИМХО, они уместны для книг или когда персонаж рассказывает какую-то историю. Но не в каждом первом диалоге...
- Игра провоцирует заниматься save-scum-ом. Например в том же крафте цена неудачи порой высока (потерять ценный предмет), нужно вложить очень много очков в Ремесло или взять соответствующий перк, но гораздо проще сохраниться перед крафтом и перезагружать до успешной попытки. Такие же ощущения вызывают бои. Часто против твоего микро-отряда из 2-3 человек бросают отряды с двух-трёх-кратным численным превосходством и серьёзным оружием, которое может убить за один ход. Умрёшь либо ты либо напарник (а восполнить потерю, в отличии от игр типа UFO, нельзя). Можно отдавать команды напарникам (непрямое управление), это часто спасает. Но возможность прямого управления в бою была бы весьма кстати.
- Дерево умений для напарников точно такое же как для ГГ, притом что множество умений для них не применимы.. игра таким образом расставила ловушки - потратить драгоценные очки на умение которое не работает. ИМХО, под напарников нужно либо заблокировать дерево умений вовсе либо сделать отдельное дерево (как в первой игры было с Джульбарсом, например).

Updated review to positive again, thankfully the game is finally updated.

PROs:
- Good shooting and weapon handling mechanics
- Lots of AI enemies
- Finally a real level-based FPS, not another stuped arena game!
- Lots of weapon attachments and full freedom of using them
- Real, clear 3D scopes!
- Decent graphics for an arcade shooter.

CONs:
- Bugged out character models scale and IK (but first person model can finally be disabled!)
- Not a lot of story levels (about 4-5Hrs?)
- Progression systems are good but here it's often better to ignore it and take weapons found on the levels and just keep them as they're good

Impressions:
Game feels really good, like a breath of fresh air with intense combat and weapons that look, sound and handle great. Enemies are numerious and it's fun to shoot them. This makes you ignore all the bad sides and just enjoy the process.

Best combat flight sim experience I've ever had. The way the game works in VR is just amazing.

If you're fan of combat flight sims or just curious about them and you have VR - it's an absolute must buy. I was initially afraid the game would be too hard for me as I've never mastered other sims like IL-2 or DCS. But this game is very easy to get started with, yet hard to master. It's a somewhat simplified sim in terms of various systems (e.g. no engine overheat, limited flight system info presented compared to real sims), but the flight model is good enough. So it's somewhere between an arcady flight game and a hard-core flight sim. The perfect sweet spot I would say.