Ukraine has been known for its production of nuclear disasters, Soviet-era equipment and disappointing budget games. However, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is by no means disappointing.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an unusual game which blends features of a role-playing game, a first-person shooter and a survival-horror game. Based off of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novella, Roadside Picnic, the plot revolves around the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, only the year is 2011 and at some point in the past, it's not clear when, something happened causing animals to mutate, monstrous creatures to appear and various other unpleasant things to occur causing a second fallout in the area.

The player starts the game with amnesia in an underground bunker and is known as "the marked one" after the tattoo reading "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." on his forearm. The main character can help other scavengers, find out who he or she is, or just run around and do whatever they want.

The game totes a unique inventory system for a shooter, a very large amount of Soviet and Western weapons, an engaging storyline and that one thing most games strive for, but hardly ever achieve: good AI. The game, especially on the higher difficulty settings, is very impressive. Enemies will cover each other, run for cover or flee if they think they are loosing a fight.

With that said, the AI is also based around the games factions and groups to help determine how they interact with you and each other. The game boasts fairly realistic bullet physics — bullets will ricochet off of concrete and drop from the air after a distance. Your gun also will degrade after excessive use, causing it to jam at inconvenient times.

Players must deal with all of these things while completing quests and avoiding deadly traps called "anomalies," which also produce rare artifacts that are the source of the player's income.

This game does have its flaws, however. A broken quest system makes some quests impossible to finish or appear again shortly after completion. There is also that same somewhat unfinished feeling present in most budget games, but this can be easily overlooked as the rest of the game is stunning and most of these problems, hopefully, will be remedied by future patches.

The graphics aren't exactly next generation, but the lighting and weather effects can be very impressive, particularly on the higher settings. That said, your old Windows 98 will not run this visually impressive game.

The story is extremely nonlinear and the game features multiple endings depending on how the game was played which makes replay value very high. This game is a must-buy for anyone who enjoys a unique FPS or RPG and actually has a decent enough computer to run it.

Francis Trujillo just finished his sophomore year at Academy for Technology and the Classics. Contact him at fx-trujillo@hotmail.com.