Without spoiling to much of the game you are cast in the role of a stalker, who finds himself slap bang in the middle of the tainted land. You have no idea why, and with even less idea of what you purpose in life could be. The initial phase of the game has you coming to grips with some of the game concepts, however there is very little instruction and a lot of discovery required. Initially you are tasked with some quests to complete in the immediate starting zone. What strikes you first about the game is how big these areas are and how scary they can be.

You set forth not knowing much and armed only with a pistol and an empty back pack. In short order you discover that the pistol is not particularly accurate and has very little stopping power. The game mechanics are such is that considerable amount of effort has been made to make the weapons as realistic as possible; you even need to take into account the fall of the bullets over distance.

Weapons use different types of ammunition and you will be ever juggling the contents of your pack to ensure that you have stocks for you current weapon. You can only arm your self with two weapons at one time, a side arm and rifle/sub-machine gun - the weapon of last resort being a knife.

You can find weapon addons such as silencers, scopes and grenade launchers to add to the potency and utility of your gun. The more you use a particular weapon the more it will jam from wear. Part of the game play is the constant searching of bodies foe more ammunition and weapons to replace your stocks.

Realistically your pack is restricted by weight and size. There is only so much room and so much weight you can carry, the latter being the biggest restriction. Carry too much and you will tire more easily and not run as far, and if you overburden yourself severely enough you will not be able to move at all. A couple of weapons, some ammo, food and medicals will pretty much get you to this limit. Luckily there are storage lockers strewn about the zones that you can place your surplus kit in for later use.

Inside a zone there is very little restriction on where you can go. Unlike other FPS games there is no set path to travel - it's up to you how you get to your quest and how you complete it.

Zones can contain a whole city or small farms and villages. Most buildings are accessible and with quite a few underground areas to explore as well. The environment is in the mode of "Soviet Drab". There is heaps of detail and clutter that hints at the catastrophe that has befallen the area. It is beautifully crafted and you have a real sense of foreboding and decay.

The environment rather than just being a backdrop is a living environment. Humans (a term we use loosely) and the animals (even more loosely) are not fixed in place: they each go about their lives, such as it is. Clear an area of military personnel and if you pass that way again you may find that the bandits have moved in. Packs of creatures roam the lands in search of food. Generally, you are the preferred food source. Mix in environmental factors such as wind and rain the game seems to be alive, while at the same time full of dread and foreboding.

This is a world affected by nuclear fallout - how much it is affected is up for you to discover and explore. Rabid dogs and deformed quadrupeds seem almost normal at later stages in the game. The enemies you encounter are cunning and know when to run, to sneak and to flank you.

This is one of the great features in the game with combat being less Rambo and more tactical in nature, cover and position being just as important as surprise and firepower. Shoot at a bunch of bandits and try and scoot back out of trouble - expect them to follow you and hunt you down. Get the upper hand and they will run and hide themselves.

Radiation; not only does it make your Geiger Counter click when you get close to a hot spot, it is also does some unusual things to the wildlife and the fabric of the environment. As you would expect there are the mutant animals and humans, but also there are these anomalies that appear as shimmering tornadoes of energy. Get too close and you risk radiation poisoning. Get even closer and you will sucked in, tossed up in the air and ripped apart.

It will leave you stunned when you see your first dog pack wander into one of these and dog parts rain down on your head. One memorable moment for us was our first encounter with a mutant that attacks your very brain. Suddenly our microphone was filled with a pulsing white noise and the graphics on screen tunnelled to this beast that was fast tearing our mind apart. It was hard to target with your gun as our vision was blurred. As the pulse quickened, the screech was worse... thank god for the fragmentation grenade

The land also contains artifacts that can be traded for items, or they can be added to your equipment to give you additional bonuses. This is great little feature and makes exploration, rather than just questing, an integral part of the gameplay.

Controlling your character is easy with all the usual crouch and sprint functions. When you run you get tired and when you get injured you start to breath harder and move slowly. Run and you are spotted more quickly, walk and you get in close without drawing attention from other surrounding enemies.

The only reservation we have with this game is that the initial zones may put off a lot of players. They are small and a bit sparse. It's quite a big challenge to move to the next zone and the initial weapons and armour make some of the first encounters pretty hard. The "charge in and shoot 'em all" type play style needs to be quickly abandoned, otherwise you will find yourself dead very quickly.