Comments on: Stalker’s Sky Darkens

By: Mori

Mori — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:11:03 +0000

People keep talking about them having added terrible atmosphere ruining jokes and such, but you guys do know the original was full of those too? They just didn’t have the time to translate the sound files. So rather than being awful jokes hinging on bad russian puns, they sounded like grim campfire conversations.

The bandits all talk like chavs, they call eachother lads (patsani) and end half their sentences with the russian equivalent of innit.

The mercs primarly talk about how badass they are, what they’re going to spend all their money on once they leave the zone.

Freedom are a bunch of stoners who tell jokes about weed and how square Duty guys are.

That said, I’ll be looking forward to the inevitable russian language mod someone will release.

By: cullnean

cullnean — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:49:15 +0000

see he tips up and gives a good reason as to why critism may be leveled at a game with out saying its terrible…..i think

By: John Walker

John Walker — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:45:54 +0000

I hate that Stalker game! 95%

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:34:03 +0000

Walker hasn’t played the game yet. I imagine his opinion has been completely tainted by now.

By: cullnean

cullnean — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:57:45 +0000

sorry but when it comes to reviews the score is the least important thing to me, the words and ideas/views of the reviewer are what matters to me.

and i just happen to trust the rps team.

(this thread needs more walker)

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:51:31 +0000

Mogs: So you don’t want people to review MP portions of games?

By: AbyssUK

AbyssUK — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:50:10 +0000

It sounds just like me and my mates down the pub arguing why Halo is/isn’t rubbish. We may be friends but we have very different views.
I see no harm in this.. in fact I’d go as far as saying it must aid the process especially in massive games with multiple paths.. reviewers collaborating a little will find more of the game. I personally for example really like the ‘team’ reviews that RPS do! [Note do more already] they really get into the +/-’s of the games, and sounds more like me and the guys down the pub.

By: Mogs

Mogs — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:46:52 +0000

Well there’s one way to see for sure

//waves hand

You will write your reviews independently of any influence from other journalists

By: Alec Meer

Alec Meer — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:33:15 +0000

Would it though? Are you really sure such discussion, whether before or after writing the review, could really influence our individual experiences of playing the game? Whatever we did or didn’t discuss, we each played the game on our own, on our own PCs, with our own thoughts and reactions in our own brains. Any amount of chat isn’t going to influence that – unless we were weak-minded, which we’re not. Stupid, illiterate, incoherent maybe, but not weak-minded – we’ve had bitter fallings-out about games (and our reviews of games) in the past.

And honestly- none of these publications would be offering us reviews if we were homogenising critical opinion, whether by accident or design, in the way you suggest.

By: Mogs

Mogs — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:15:17 +0000

I mean no offense! I’m not suggesting your reviews are invalid or that you’re weakminded lol. It simply helps us to interpret them correctly knowing that you’ve come together and discussed the game prior to reviewing it. As you’re all obviously friends, there’s bound to be a certain amount of influencing of opinions going on if you come together to decide what you think about the game (you’ll probably argue that that isn’t what you’re doing, but with respect, it will be to an extent).

That doesn’t mean you’re weakminded, but it’s important that we know the context in which your reviews are made because (as opposed to me commenting here), people will actually use your reviews to decide whether the game is worth their hard earned cash or not. Obviously you understand this and I don’t want to patronise, but there’s definitely a certain level of responsibility. It’s not as simple as “Well me & my mates all agreed that this was good & this was crap” for you lot. Speaking for myself, your reviews would certainly be more helpful to me if I knew that you’d played the game, thought about it on your own, written your review and THEN discussed it with everyone else.

By: Alec Meer

Alec Meer — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:46:10 +0000

The Hivemind thing’s a gag, y’know… There’s an inference of weak-mindedness to such a claim that’s a little offensive.

As is Stalker fans devising assorted reasons why our reviews can’t be trusted, looking for an excuse to invalidate our opinions. The hardcore are going to appreciate CS, as I’ve said. On my part, it ruins what I loved about Stalker. That people are behaving as though I’m not entitled to say that is just MGS4-gate all over again.

By: Jim Rossignol

Jim Rossignol — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:37:47 +0000

Actually we didn’t bother playing or forming an opinion this time, we just used a dartboard for the score and rearranged the words in our old Boiling Point reviews.