Reviews - FlyToTheSky

Vector of Alienation is a mod for Oblivion Lost Remake, which itself is a mod for Shadow of Chernobyl, an attempt to bring to life the original 2004 alpha version of the game. I'll do a comparison with the base game:

+ Locations - Most of the locations have been redesigned. Some, like Yantar and the Bar, are completely unrecognizable. Most of the redesigns are for the better - X-10, for example, feels like an actual laboratory, not the linear corridor we played through in Shadow of Chernobyl.

+ Story - The story hits the same beats as in SoC, but there is enough changed that it is still interesting to read through.

+ Features - Contains gameplay fetaures that were cut from SoC, such as automobiles and safehouses.

+ Balance - When the AI works, you never feel too weak or too powerful. Economy is similarly well designed where you are never too rich or too poor.

- Atmosphere - Vector of Alienation attempts to go for a dreary atmosphere of loneliness. There are only 800 stalkers in the Zone, and so most of your time is spent exploring and talking rather than shooting. This sounds interesting in theory, but execution isn't there. The exploration is boring. Doesn't come close to the atmosphere of NLC 7 or even Call of Pripyat.

- AI - Whether it's a group of soldiers engaging you single-file and backwards, or a bloodsucker spinning in circles, there are plenty of mistakes in the AI. It's not quite as bad as in other mods like Winds of Time, but don't go into this game expecting a challenge.

- Pacing - The middle half of the game (from Bar until Radar) is a slog of dialogues and fetch quests. There were only 2 quests that involved longer firefights.

- Late-game - Towards the end, Vector of Alienation gives the impression that development was rushed through. Pripyat and NPP and Generators are a breeze, unlike the tense firefights of the original.

It's not hard to see why GSC decided to can this version of Stalker and go with the redesign that was officially released. Ignoring the problems that could be fixed, the mod itself provides nowhere near the level of fun and excitement as Shadow of Chernobyl. I would only recommend this one if you're interested in taking a look at how the original 2004 version was envisioned.

Does what it says - makes the original single player campaign more interesting by adding more maps. For example, instead of the first mission always taking place on DM-1on1-Idoma, it now takes place on either DM-CBP1-AugustNoon, or DM-CBP2-Kadath, or DM-CBP2-Khrono, or DM-Leviathan, or DM-UCMP-1on1-Derelict.

A few cons:

- Bit of a pain to install (you need to change like 5 lines in your .ini file)

- Only includes maps from Base game, the two CBPs, and the four UCBPs. Would have liked more user maps. It's fine for DM and CTF, but most DDOM, BR and AS levels only have 1 or 2 alternative maps. ONS ladder isn't touched.

It is no exaggeration to say that you will spend more time reading than shooting in your playthrough.
Now that could be fine if the dialogues were written by Dostoyevsky, but they read like a fanfic.
It could also be fine if it were an immersive survival game like NLC 7 where combat is difficult and you have to scavenge for supplies, but both the combat and the economy are **** easy. At one point near the end of the game the stalkers hype a rare mutant that you need to kill, and when you engage it it dies in 6 shots (from an AK!).

I want to repeat there is very little shooting in this mod. If you take out the last half hour of the game, there is literally not a single firefight that lasts over a minute. For a 15 hour FPS game that is laughable.

I don't like freeplay mods, but I played this one because it claimed to have story quests with it. The story quests are a joke. Very boring go there kill that. Minimal story.

The freeplay element is also boring because it's all about grinding. You start out with next to nothing and need ridiculously good end game gear if you want to progress in the story quest, so you'll end up grinding the same boring endless cyclical side quests for money to buy good gear.
Escort tourists. Escort Scientists. Kill that bandit. Kill that monolith. Deliver this package. Defend this outpost.
You'll basically spend the first half of the game grinding these boring quests. Then the second half of the game is rushing through the boring story objectives.

Game difficulty is easy after you get good gear, don't know what the other reviewers are complaining about.
Ridiculous item bloat. Unlike Fallout Wastelander Edition, most of the items here are duplicates. We don't need ~10 different items for repairing your rifle.

Bottom line: if you like freeplay/grinding play this game. If not, don't.
If you didn't like NLC 7, you probably won't like this one either.

At first glance the mod seems great. The locations have been edited so that playing through them is still interesting, the atmosphere is intriguing, and the economy is good.

Then you start to shoot people, and everything falls apart. The NPC AI is absolutely braindead.
Towards the beginning of the game you get a quest to kill a group of 6 mercs. After shooting the first one only 3 returned fire. The other 2 just stood in the middle waiting to get shot.
This continues throughout the whole game, even at the end where you have to kill a monolith patrol, you shoot the leader, most of the other soldiers just keep on walking as if nothing happened.

There is also the horrible balancing. I'm not asking for OP 2.1 style where you die to two shots, but it's absolutely ridiculous to be able to destroy a helicopter with 5 shots from a deagle.

The final bossfight and story twist are retarded.