Fear57
Fear57 joined
Came for new games, stayed for awesome members and projects.
Reviews
If ever there was a mod, that has been universally hated for absolutely no reason, then Complete 2009/2012 for S.o.C. is your mod. When released this breathed fresh life into the Zone and made the game more fun than ever. True it was not an overhaul like Lost Alpha or Anomaly, but it was more of joyful tweaks.
One of my favorite features was the faction section. Yes, you could join any faction that you desired. Want to explore the Red Forest and NPP undisturbed? Join Monolith! Now while there were no wars, you could still explore camps a bit better.
Another nice addition was teleportation. At the time S.o.C. was a big game, and laziness set in a few times for travel distances. This made it simple, from one exit point to the other. The features were small, but noticeable throughout the mod.
FPS Informer called this mod "Vanilla 2.0" and that's a very good way to look at it. Not really a mod, but more of a New Game + Mode with some new textures and features with the great addition of freeplay added at the end, the Zone is yours to explore forever.
This is everything that I thought Lost Alpha was going to be. Don't get me wrong, L.A. is a wonderful mod, but the levels were much too large, much too difficult and you died constantly. In Anomaly, the Zone is full of foliage (just like the 1979 film) but it's not over saturated with it so it's nice to explore. The levels are not empty like they were in L.A., you never know what's going to pop out at you.
Anomaly ads a lovely faction joining perk, and it doesn't force you to do anything. You can do missions, or you can explore the Zone. It starts you out with a fighting chance too, unlike L.A. that gave you poor weapons (and the enemies were bullet sponges) In Anomaly the realism is not too real, but it's not casual either, it feels just right for a game.
Anomaly is worth a download and it's fun to explore around in as well. Remember Fallout radio? Well now you have Zone radio! Also added is radio chatter so you'll know what's happening in the Zone. There is no mini-map, but the levels have not been expanded which is a good thing because you'll need to move fast sometimes.
Like almost all mods for Stalker, a lot of love and care went into this. The only thing preventing me from ranking this higher is the rare freeze crash, then again, not everything is ironed out yet. If you want a terrific fan service story, freedom to join factions and a bit of difficulty that is fairly balanced, then you'll be right at home with Anomaly.
