S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

The Good
The bleak beauty of The Zone beckons to me so I return. This is the third installment of the series and the least buggy. I'd say most importantly the tone and eerie feel of The Zone is there and I like what they have done with Artifacts (not too easy to find as in the first one and not impossibly hard as in CS).

Upgrades/repairs are a good idea, too, and that's where most of your money will be going. There are a couple of new monsters that are really tough but overall there seems to be less combat and the ending wasn't really hard as in the first Stalker.

That said, I like how there are more interesting subplots and there is an epilogue for most of the supporting cast. So, way better than CS and in some ways better than SOC (but SOC still has the best overall story and pacing and more intensive gunfights).

CHARACTERS: B minus (not just based on some crappy dialogue); ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION: A plus; STORY/PLOT POINTING: B; OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.

The Bad
They could have done more with the story and characters. Good enough but not great or superlative.

The Bottom Line
Fans of the STALKER franchise should definitely pick this one up.