The story of Stalker: Clear Sky brings the players one year prior to the events of the original STALKER game in 2011. 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 blow-out 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. Changes of the Zone map known to stalkers shake the fragile balance of forces in the Zone. Among the groupings, there flare up hostilities for the new territories, artefact fields and spheres of influence.
There are no more old enemies or friends - now everyone is for himself. The Factions War has started between the groupings.
Clear Sky chiefly succeeds because it transforms grim fantasy into a startlingly real-world experience. [Oct 2008, p.108]
Clear Sky may not be as action-orientated, polished and visually stunning as Crysis or other “Hollywood-Shooters”, but it definitely has got its very own charm, that it’s easy to fall for. In short: Who liked the original Chernobyl Lost, will love Clear Sky!
This is a truly dark game that has a compelling and mysterious story. You will be on the edge of your seat as the mystery gradually unfolds. The game breaking bugs of the initial release, and the need to mod the game, severely affect the rating of what would otherwise be a very good game.
Though its release is marred by a number of bugs, Clear Skies is ultimately a worthy addition to your library. Casual gamers will find it harder to enjoy than those who are more hardcore, but there is still fun to be had in the hollowed-out, desolate locales of the Zone for those with the patience and a penchant for challenging gameplay.
As easy to misunderstand as it is to break, it again turns the best and worse of PC gaming into something extraordinary. [Oct 2008, p.94]
Clear Sky has a lot of potential - as does the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise - and is a worthwhile game to add to your collection because of its fair price but until the insane amount of gremlins is addressed in a patch it will always be a failure in the eyes of the fans.
But Clear Sky takes everything that I loved about Chernobyl—the mature storyline, the nerve-wracking underground laboratories and the rewarding combat—and muddies them with a litany of bugs and bad design to the point that it overwhelms its more redeeming qualities.
