MOTY Year in Review 2012 Quarter 01 feature - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Wow 2012 you were certainly a feature packed year. Every mod that flew the flag of release this year expanded our horizons, crushed expectations and fulfilled fantasies. In order to make the battlefield for the 2012 Mod of the Year awards even we have compacted a whole year into 4 different articles to make it easier for you at home to cast your votes. Here is the first article ranging from January right up until the end of March for twenty dozen.

The meaning of misery as defined by the dictionary "The state of suffering and want as a result of physical circumstances or extreme poverty" reflects what MISERY is and continues to push into. Living in the zone around Pripyat would be an unusual lifestyle to begin with and this fantastic overhaul modification changes a variety of things to make that life much more complicated. As a result the extreme nature of the mod makes you strangely hyper aware of your surroundings, the NPC's and the player you control.

In a nutshell it thrusts a player into a world you have little control over, it is scary how different the mod ends up being. This could very well be the king of all Stalker mods.

Cry of Fear can be best described in one word, immersive. From the first time you boot up the mod right through to completion the entire world closes in around you and holds you tight. You will take on the role of Simon, a young teen who wakes up in a dark alleyway with only questions. He has no idea of the events leading up to this point or why the world around him is slowly filling with horrible monsters. Simon needs to fight the darkness (and what lies within) with the intention of uncovering the mysteries and surviving to see another day.

CoF also boasts some of the best engine implementations for GoldSRC since Paranoia. So expect to be shocked at just how different and polished this mod actually is.

MERP (or Middle Earth Role Play for all the cool kids) is a total conversion modification of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Players are given the freedom to explore Middle-earth in a fully open-ended environment like you've never seen before. Play races like Elves, Men, Hobbits and Dwarves and take part in the War of the Ring. It has been an interesting year for MERP with the looming threat of a Cease and Desist from Warner Brothers for the "hopeful" release of the Skyrim version we can only hope that in light of the current events that MERP continues strong on oblivion.