S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Multiplayer Preview

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Gameguru Mania News - Mar,05 2007 -

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Multiplayer Preview - preview/review
(hx) 09:32 AM CET - Mar,05 2007 - Post a comment / read (8)

AtomicGamer has their take on the multiplayer aspect of one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. Here's an excerpt: The frame rates in the multiplayer modes are not the most stable I've seen, but the game's detail options are pretty robust so you should be able to find a detail level to your liking. The minimum requirements aren't nearly as steep as some have speculated, requiring only a low-end Athlon XP or P4. Anything equal or better to a Radeon 9600 or GeForce 5700 are supported, although a somewhat steep 1GB RAM is the minimum - still, this is pretty good considering many recent games' requirements. The Recommended system is quite a bit more steep, so if you're serious about S.T.A.L.K.E.R., try and get to at least a 7000-level GeForce or ATI X1000-level video card, 3GHz+ CPU, and possible 2GB RAM.
As I've previously reported, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl has officially gone gold and will ship to stores later this month. Online retailers are listing it as having a March 20 release (GameStop, GoGamer, Amazon) The game is rated M for Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, use of alcohol), and will retail for $39.99.

last 10 comments:

xxxx

(03:35 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )

quote:
7000-level GeForce

lol, that's an interesting way of stating the card requirements.

Anyhow, as far as I'm concerned the graphic settings have nothing to do with the incredibly choppy multiplayer. I've put all my settings to low and the game still chops like hell. Close in combat is more luck than skill and you have to follow your blinking around you. Seems overall interest in MP has dwindled to like zero. All this past weekend there was literally nobody playing online. That's NOT a good sign at all, for MP at least.

Don't think I'm gonna get this until a few things are definitely fixed.
- sound sucks, almost as bad as Farcry. Not hearing critical sounds is a serious detrement to this game.
- with surround sound it's still hard as hell to hear any gunfire much less where it's coming from
- netcode and gfx inefficiences cause serious problems with MP
- camping when you finally get on a server is just pure lame. Use anomolies to flush em or add voice to the game so people can rattle off to campers to get them off server or get them moving
- more spawn protection, too much spawn camping is ruining everyones experience especially in the MP
- when buying guns, protection should extend the usual time of spawn protection. Right now you can buy a gun and get offed the instance you are out of the buy menu
- better hit indication can compensate for poor sound, something has to give here, give better indication or overhaul your sound system.

I like the game but it's pretty poor quality, even for a beta. To believe these guys have worked on it for so long I am personally quite disappointed with the beta. I can only imagine SP will be a lot better and that's truly the only reason I'm getting it, however I don't want to play and equally buggy single player game.

darknothing	(04:02 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )
thanks for the info xxxx .. how did you get involved with the beta?

devilhood

(04:55 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )

xxxx probably did the same as me, either that or he downloaded the client and plays via Hamachi servers :lol:
It was pretty easy to get into the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. BETA. You could get one from the 4 competitions that were running, or by e-mailing THQ directly for a key.
I got mine through THQ and 2 other spare keys which I have already given out to a couple of friends.
The fileplanet S.T.A.L.K.E.R. forum is currently swamped with people giving negative feedback.

xxxx	(06:34 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )
Though I know people 'on the design team', I got my invite through e-mail. I've hung up my beta testing for now. There are servers out there but I think most have abandoned the Beta since nobody plays it anymore. What's the point? kinda thing...The servers that did have people playing were coming in close to 180 ping..UK I guess. I guess everyone is waiting for the next beta...

Nosferatu	(07:49 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )
xxxx's arguments are valid. Yeah, there are some rough ends. But still, I enjoy it SO much on the lan! I feel like a kid feels doing 'tra-ta-ta' with his toy guns in the backyard with other little ones. I don't know, probably most people will find lots of negative things in the game, but I loved it. I'm already saying "thnks GSC"!

devilhood

(08:19 PM CET - Mar,05 2007 )

Actually the reason it appears many have abandoned the BETA is because Fileplanet made 99% of the keys invalid for the previous client release.

Not a great deal of people recieved properly working keys unless they got it directly from THQ or from one of the more recent compo's, and those who already had the old keys didn't think it was necessary to re-apply for new ones.
There's a topic on the GSC forum regarding this.
The whole BETA and the way everything has been arranged is really disappointing.

xxxx

(09:26 PM CET - Mar,07 2007 )

Dude, when I first started the Beta there was almost 60 people scattered online in the various servers. "Now" you're lucky if there is more than 5 people even playing it!! If they got in, their key works. I can understand 100's would typically be online but that's not or ever been the case. The last 3 nights for example, NOBODY playing.

Maybe I've had different experiences but most that get on and play think the MP sucks total ass and I can't argue with them because it's horrid online and gives a very bad impression of the game. But again talking 'online', I have no clue what the single player will be like, I can just only hope that it's decent.

Honestly, considering how long this game has been in development, seeing what it has... you really have to wonder, wtf were they doing.

devilhood

(11:12 AM CET - Mar,08 2007 )

I completely agree with what you're saying, it's like they've been hitting up with vodka the past few years and spending pay on upgrading their PC's or something :lol:
Weren't they supposed to be tweaking the A-life system and making the game seem more linear? I can see why THQ pushed back the release date so many times.
If that's true, the SP mode should be miles apart from the experience MP has to offer, so in saying that, I would like to hope they put a huge sticker on their game box saying "ONLINE GAME EXPERIENCE MAY REQUIRE SEVERE PATCHING" :D

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