S.T.A.L.K.E.R, F.E.A.R, Or Fallout?

[Mikhail]

So I have scrounged up some money and am thinking about picking up a new game. I've narrowed my desires down to three games and I really need help deciding on which one to get, S.T.A.L.E.R Clear Sky, F.E.A.R 2, or Fallout 3.

I loved the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R and still find myself playing it over and over. But I think Fallout 3 will be like S.T.A.L.K.E.R except a lot better, although it will not be filled with awesome Russians running around Chernobyl. The first F.E.A.R was probably one of my favorite games, I was a huge HL fan and I felt F.E.A.R delivered the same type of experience that HL did. But I do not hink F.E.A.R 2 will last as long gameplay wise as say Fallout 3 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

So what should I spend my hard earned money on? S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky? F.E.A.R 2? Or Fallout 3?... Or extra 5.56x45 ammo for the end of the world?

 

[Dcode]

I have Clear Sky and i find it to be sub quality compared to the original. Not only because its riddled with bugs, and it is very much so. I am ignoring it because its boring.

I have not finished the game. After 6 or so hours my conclusion is that it does not create atmosphere as well as the original. In my opinion this is because they have messed up the great underground bunkers and abandoned labs. Decent ones may appear to the end but i have seen enough for me to think otherwise for the following reason: The old creepy areas have been filled with members of the factions, or gangs, and turned into bases. You can join and do boring quests with them. Such as shooting dogs or fending off other gang members. Because these areas are populated it means the eerie nature of the zone has been ruined by hundreds of scallies, wearing track suites and rain macs spoiling the atmosphere with radio and speaker chatter at lame attempts of being funny.

Bugs may have been fixed it later patches, and it needed it as some parts of the game did not work at all. But the fundamental gameplay mechanic, which is the faction wars will still exist.

As for FEAR 2, i have only played about 5 minutes of the demo. As a shooter it seemed all right, but the game is a console game with little attention paid to the needs of PC gamers. I refuse to waste any time on anything like this, even if it was free.

I have not played Fallout 3, but i intend to buy it sometime. It may be console friendly but they have released an SDK which is a good thing. My friends have been recommending this highly to me for a while. So out of the three i would take my chances and buy this.

 

[Fedorov]

Friends of mine report that F.E.A.R. 2 is total crap, he loved F.E.A.R. 1 but he says that everything that made it good, is not in F.E.A.R. 2, he says it's in the level of Quake 4 in crappyness, and the designers were on crack when they made it. I havent tried it myself but I don't plan to, My recommendation: if you really consider buying this after this message, try the demo first.

I can't say anything about Clear Sky I don't personally know anyone who has played it.

as for Fallout 3... I LOVE that game, lots of hours of gameplay, huge map(not random), originality, good sense of humor, great ambientation, music, pretty much everything is good in Fallout 3

so, I'd go with Fallout 3 hands down.

 

[Bluehawk]

Clear Sky has worse performance (even with the same settings I used for SoC or lower), more irritating gameplay (weapons are less accurate and the grenade spam is worse than ro_warsaw), a shorter main quest line and it's ending is both incredibly difficult and very unsatisfying compared to the lengthy exposition SoC dumped in your lap.

There's only one underground lab by the way, unless you count the hospital level where it seems the structure is built one storey into the earth.

 

[worluk]

I usually dont play many games, Fallout 3 was great though. There are some mods out for it, to adjust some "balance issues".

 

[DraKon2k]

Fallout 3 is pretty much the PC Game of the Year and you can be sure that for your hard earned money this is the right place to spend it, especcially if you're into that kind of scenario. There's so much you can do, so many funny quests(not one single of them is boring cept for the mini-addon) and quality is superb.

Stalker: Clear Sky I found to be pretty average, gameplay wise, while atmosphere is still very good, but if you already own the first Stalker I wouldn't buy this one.

Fear2 sure is a nice and well done game, but as I understand you really want to get something that's worthy of your money, and that is Fallout 3, both in quality and quantity terms.

 

[Zips]

Go with Fallout 3.

I love the other two titles you mentioned, but in terms of variety, hours of gameplay, and scale, nothing beats Fallout 3.

 

[Troels]

Figured I'd just chime in with another warm recommendation for Fallout 3, haven't played the two other ones though.

 

[SiC-Disaster]

STALKER Clear Sky is riddled with bugs, as said, and i regret purchasing it, even though it was on the steam sale a while back for 50% off.
FEAR 2 is pretty consolesque, and though i havent bought it, most shooters these days are pretty short. Combine it with lacking mp compared to other shooters, FEAR 2 might be very shortlived.
Fallout 3 i havent got, nor played, but at least it is known it's not full of bugs, has good quests etc. so that seems to me like the best choice out of these 3.

 

[Mikhail]

Well then Fallout 3 it is.

I'll have to pick it up on Tuesday when I finally get a day off of work to enjoy it.

 

[Mahnsikir]

Yeah Id definetly go for fallout, as much as I liked Clear Sky (even if you dont consider the bugs) the gameplay just isnt quite there, while FEAR just seems like a fairly bog standard FPS.

Just dont go into fallout3 thinking it to be an FPS , the actual realtime shooting isnt what you would generally expect first person perspective game. Though while it does its job nicely its just one part of a large, fun, different and interesting game

 

[Ralfst3r]

Definately Fallout 3. The other 2 are rather meh.

 

[Hyperion2010]

Stalker, much more fun than oblivion with guns. Besides, that way you can also buy Fallout 2 for 5 bucks, save money and have twice the fun.