Call of Pripyat Complete is the third entry in the Complete mod series, which is a set of modifications created by professional artists dedicated to enhancing the production quality of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series. The Complete mod series emphasize on improving the original graphics, sound, and atmosphere of each game while preserving the core game elements. Built upon the success of Stalker Complete 2009, which was downloaded by one in every five S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl players, this entry in the Complete mod series is the cumulative culmination of the series’ achievements in aesthetically updating the game without changing the original story or gameplay. Designed to meet the desires of new players and veterans alike, Call of Pripyat Complete unleashes the full potential of the latest, climactic chapter in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R and the Complete mod series.
Complete mods have always rode on the reputation of being "just bug-fixers" or "just visual overhauls", even if the truth is completely (not a pun) opposite. The various tweaks, or should I say nerfs, only tend to make the games far easier than the vanilla games. Meanwhile the various visual changes were total hit or miss, sometimes ruining parts of the game's atmosphere or great original style completely.
At this point all Complete -mods are unforgivably obsolete, being based on ancient alpha- or beta-versions of OTHER mods. CoP Complete is not an exception, and to be honest it's so far the weakest show of the trilogy as well. The problem with CoP's Complete-mod might've been the game itself: it was "too perfect", there wasn't much anything to "fix" anymore! GSC did their homework and play-testing this time around, and it shows. Only the visual quality appeared to be "downgraded" a notch from the first 2 games, maybe to improve performance when using the notably larger and more open maps.
So what does CoP Complete offer? Not much: textures from very old versions of the Absolute Nature & AtmosFear mods, a bunch of trademark difficulty-lowering elements (money looting, cheat menu, damage reductions...), that's it. The mod appears to add some ALL NEW BUGS and significant performance drop (which was to be expected). The mod lacks optimization and balancing, especially when already in vanilla-game your character was seriously overpowered and swimming in cash all the time.
So is Complete the "messiah mod" people make it to be? No, it's not.
Is it the worst thing ever spawned on the face of earth? Not that either. It simply lacks point, a reason to exist.
For veteran players it offers nothing new or challenging to justify a second playthrough. There's far better looking & optimized graphical mods out there available for STALKERs, and the few serious left-over annoyances you still need to patch up with other mods.
I'd recommend the "Starter Pack" over the Co