The events of STALKER: Call of Pripyat unfold shortly after the end of STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. Having discovered about the open path to the Zone center, the government decides to hold a large-scale military "Fairway" operation aimed to take the CNPP under control. According to the operation's plan, the first military group is to conduct an air scouting of the territory to map out the detailed layouts of anomalous fields location.
Thereafter, making use of the maps, the main military forces are to be dispatched. Despite thorough preparations, the operation fails. Most of the avant-garde helicopters crash.
In order to collect information on reasons behind the operation failure, Ukraine's Security Service send their agent into the Zone center. From now on everything depends on the player.
Third time's a charm for this quintessential PC franchise. [Feb 2010, p.58]
If you’re willing to look past the look and feel of a shooter that’s past its heyday, what you’ll find in Pripyat is GSC’s magnum opus – an undeniable masterpiece built from years of trial and error, building and adapting new elements and ideas into the original STALKER template.
Call of Pripyat is not only a return to form for the series, but a breath of fresh air for an increasingly stale genre. Recommended for fans of the previous games and newcomers alike, this is how a real PC FPS should work.
Call of Pripyat is a return to the best S.T.A.L.K.E.R, the one which impressed us the first time with its fascinating setting. The Zone is again that scenario that chill us with its mystery and GSC shows they can listen to the fans and that they understand well what made great the series in first place. The only problem is a dangerous feeling of familiarity that goes badly with this kind of game, so we hope to see a deep evolution for the next project of the Ukrainian team, but meanwhile we'll enjoy the most polished entry of the series.
Call of Pripyat is definitely the best STALKER game yet. It's a much tighter package, but for a budget title there is still a hell of a lot to do and The Zone still seems intent on killing you or scaring you senseless.
One of the reasons why this game received a lower score is because it left too many things untold and, while I appreciate the effort to create an immersive authentic world laid to waste by a nuclear disaster, I simply can't escape the recurring feeling that something is missing in this game.
GSC’s third attempt at creating a post-apocalyptic world reinforced my belief that PR is the only thing this company does best.
