Rahk said:
How does Clear Sky compare to STALKER? Is it an improvement? I played a fair bit of STALKER, but never ended up finishing it.
In my opinion, well, but CS has got a bad reputation. It has a newer version of the same engine, meaning that graphically it has improved (SSAO, sunshafts, etc.). In terms of gameplay it was more of a hit and miss situation. Some good new elements (artifact locations, the detector, reparable weapons and armour, regular emissions) were coupled with some elements that were not implemented as successfully as everyone had hoped. The factions system works, but it can be a bit of a chore sometimes. Incidental dialogue is now in ridiculous English. You will not believe how accurate the AI is with grenades. The ending was a disappointment, but then, that goes for most games these days.
All in all though, it is still more STALKER. The overall atmosphere is the same. Though it doesn't contain any real new underground sections, it does have some very nice new above ground areas. The swamp where you start of is worth the 5 currency units alone, IMO.