S.T.A.L.K.E.R. made my eyes bleed
By blog on Apr. 23, 2009.
As I mentioned earlier, I bought Far Cry 2. I was really in the mood for an FPS (First Person Shooter)and I knew my system was up to this game. Whilst the game installed I flipped through the game manual and looked at the map. I love games with maps, I got the collector’s edition of Mines of Moria in part because of the cloth map, which still lives in my desk drawer.
So. Game is installed! I eagerly clicked on the desktop short cut… blackscreen! Desktop! Flicker, flicker, flicker… |-| I rebooted and tried again, and every time I get a different issue, but so far I have never been able to get into the game to a point where I can actually play… :## I can watch two of the first three load screens, and then occasionally a little bit of the intro, and that’s it. I can’t effing believe it. >:XX
So after trying for a few days to fix it, I was so angry I didn’t care about it. I remembered another game that I had wanted to play, but when it was released it was so buggy I couldn’t play it. Well I downloaded it from Steam again, and now I have been playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for the past few days.
It has satisfied my desire for a good shooter, and something a little free-range in game play. Heh, I think I just coined a new gaming term. 
)I have been wandering the wasteland of this game for the past few days and I have to say, it plays well. It rewards good skill in the player, and has a pretty eerie feel overall.
I have one issue. Visual effects… At first, the head-bobbing was so bad I felt nauseous after barely a minute. So I promptly downloaded the Oblivion Lost mod and viola! No head-bobbing! But, there is still certain visual issues. If your character requires sleep, the visuals get very fuzzy and sickening, but the main issue I have is with a certain type of foe. It uses a psionic attack which grabs the visuals from a distance, draws the screen very quickly down to focus on the monster, and then flings it back as if your character has just been grabbed by the collar, moved to be an inch away from the monster’s face, and then flung back one hundred meters to invariably hit a wall. Can you imagine what this looks like on my screen? And when this isn’t happening, the mere presence of this creature in the area makes the visuals so hazy as to somewhat like you’ve just downed ten pints in ten minutes.
Apart from all that, I am having fun with the game. )
Category: Technology