Lost Alpha is a new episode of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series made by dezowave group for free!
5/10 - Agree (60) Disagree (10)
Consider this more of a first impressions.
The Good:
- New areas triple the size of the game world, old areas reworked extensively enough that they feel new as well.
- Some decent looking graphics changes
The Bad:
- Zero optimization. The updated graphics don't even come close to justifying the performance drop.
- The AI is blind, deaf, and dumb, but can put you down in one shot if they land a lucky random headshot.
- New inventory mechanic where you have to put "clips" of ammo on your belt from the pool in your inventory. This is completely useless inventory micromanagement that adds literally nothing but clunkiness to the game. If this was originally meant to be put in SHoC, then I applaud GSC's good sense to remove it.
The Ugly:
- It seems they forgot to do anything with the weapons, aside from re-implementing ones removed from original SHoC. They look just as dated and sound just as flat and wimpy as ever
- The SVD has either a misaligned scope, or is less accurate than a smooth bore musket, either reason is unacceptable
Second, probably last impressions (1.30013 patch):
The installer gives you the option to reset your settings to default. DONT ******* DO IT. For some incredibly brilliant reason, they removed an option in the menu that glitched the sound when turned on, EXCEPT THEY FORGOT TO HAVE IT DISABLED BY DEFAULT. Every sound associated with player movement/behavior, such as foot steps and breathing effects, is disabled due to this which completely breaks the immersion.
Still dealing with that nonsense, I reached the level changer to The Garbage and was immediately turned back with the message (paraphrased) "ROAD CLOSED BECAUSE LAND SLIDES LOL". **** you, devs. Honestly. I immediately deleted this mummer's farce from my harddrive.