Whenever ones sees the "5 years in development" moniker in correlation to video games, the first thing that comes to mind is Daikatana; the ill-fated and oft-delayed John Romero title. For those who have forgotten, Daikatana was supposed to be revolutionary, and if it had been released somewhere in the multi-year span of its development, it just might have been. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also bears a long and sometimes convoluted development history; however, it avoids Daikatana fate with a pretty strong showing. In fact, although the gameplay is difficult at times, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. proves to be a fun first-person shooter/RPG hybrid.

The single player experience, which is the crux of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, starts off with a short cutscene, immersing players into the Zone's rather hectic and unforgiving environment. You play a man with no name, no identity, and no equipment. Brought out of the center of the Chernobyl exclusion Zone on an appropriately named "Death Truck," the only evidence of your identity lies in a data pad and a tattoo. On the data pad is an order to kill a man named Strelok, and the tattoo on your arm signifies that you are a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in the wastes of the Zone. From here, you are introduced to a man simply named Trader; who will be the main source of missions, money, and work for the first quarter of the game.

Although you are able to pick up missions from many of the NPCs in the game, they tend to be incredibly repetitive versions of the same throughout the experience; go kill the stalker/trader/soldier, find the artifact, find the animal part, and so on. In this respect, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. falls short on the RPG side of its goal. It makes up for it, however, with the main plot line, which branches off in many different directions depending on what you do, what you don't do, and what people you kill, be it purposeful for a mission or accidental. The game boasts a possible seven endings based upon your actions throughout the game, which effectively adds a ton of replayability.

The game's artificial intelligence is incredibly intuitive in the way it approaches a given situation. It is wise to save often, as death comes swiftly with enemies flanking and ambushing with shotguns. It is always difficult when fighting multiple targets, as they will often use their numbers to their advantage. Many times, while watching a single enemy, another will suddenly attack from the side, making it clear that although you thought you had the upper hand, it was actually the other way around. This confusion and strategy on the part of the AI makes for some challenging firefights throughout the course of the game.

The presentation of the environment in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a sight to be seen. In one scene, winds start picking up as the skies darken; only to be brightened with a brilliant flash of lightning and a thunderclap, signaling the beginning of a rain storm. Some places, however, leave something to be desired, with the most notable issues having to do with the leaves on trees and some of the terrain graphics. One of the worst performance hits in the game occurs when you increase the grass density, leaving those with lower-end systems stuck with limited amounts of grass in distance. The trees actually look excellent at long range, but the problem with their leaves becomes strongly evident once you get in close, as the dense-leaved trees will start to look sparse and bare due to the limited detail. Thankfully, you are often too busy running from place to place or dodging bullets to really take notice of the lower-quality outdoor textures. The character models, on the other hand, are very well done and highly detailed, as are all indoor areas and buildings. The underground scenes, in particular, put you in a more survival-horror themed experience with very little to no lighting, which is a nice change of pace.

Following suit with the graphics, the sound is realistic, clear, and crisp, giving an incredibly harsh, immersive edge to the overall action taking place. Gunshots ring loudly, echoing throughout the vast wastes of the Zone. The various critters make realistic barking, squealing, and whimpering sounds when they spot you or get wounded. In the underground, you will hear all manner of sounds that you would expect in a sewer, from the creaking of pipes, to the footfalls of the various people and creatures there, to the angry howls of unknown monsters. There is very little music in the game, and what music they did put in is very soft and more ambient than anything else. The voice acting is actually the highlight of the audio experience, with NPC's speaking to each other in fluent Russian, or speaking to the player in a heavily accented (but easily understandable and believable), English. The audio alone is enough to pull you completely into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but when combined with the solid graphical presentation, you really do feel, at times, that you are in the Zone, fighting for your life.

The multiplayer is indistinguishable in comparison to other multiplayer FPS games, doing little to set itself apart. It seems that it was added more as an afterthought rather than as a strong multiplayer component. There is no multiplayer co-op featured, which could have made the story mode of the game much more engrossing. Beyond that, you have your typical deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, both featuring nothing that you haven't already seen before. The last mode is called capture the artifact, which is comparable to a game of capture the flag. The only difference is that you're carrying around an artifact instead of a flag. And much like deathmatch, capture the flag can only keep you busy for so long before the experience ultimately becomes tedious.

On the other hand, the multiplayer does have a few minor things going for it. First, players do not have access to all weapons immediately, so you have to earn your way by killing, assisting in kills, and dealing damage to opponents, in order to gain access to better weapons. Secondly, the game uses a "market" option for acquiring your weaponry, which is similar to the concept of purchasing guns in a game like Counter-Strike. You have limited funds that can be increased depending on your success or failure in the game, as well as by looting enemy corpses for items to sell in the buy zones. Even still, the core of the multiplayer is significantly lackluster, and these features do little to help it from feeling outdated and tacked-on.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ultimately provides what was promised; immersive gameplay with a solid story and open-ended feel. Unfortunately, its long development time has taken its toll on the game, resulting in some dated graphic effects, performance issues on low-end systems, and forgettable multiplayer. Still, even with these issues, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. remains a recommendable title for any first-person shooter fan looking for a solid single player experience.