The graphics really manage to capture the feel they were going for with S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a strange, eerie world, changed by the radiation. The world design is done well, and really draws you in. At camps commonly used you’ll see empty bottles and cans, and sometimes even a crushed pack of smokes with a few butts lying around.

The guns, at least those I’ve seen so far, look very realistic. They did a great job modeling all of the weapons, and the little add-ons to the weapons such as silencers or scopes. The character models are well done, as well, while not the best in FPS gaming, they are pretty far up there.

When the detail is cranked up pretty high, there is an amazing amount of detail on the world. Grass blows in the wind, helping to give the game that “alive” feel. And the graphical distortion on the anomalies is simply amazing.

The sounds are very nice, especially when in a battle. The sounds of different enemy units communicating back and forth, along with all the gunfire and other sounds the zone produces made for a very immersive environment.

STALKER has caught a lot of slack for the graphics and sound since its release, because the game spent so long in development. People seem to forget that over those years, there was a good amount of turnover within the STALKER team, and the team who finalized the project hasn’t been there all along. All things considered, I feel they did a fine job on polishing up the game for release, despite a few minor glitches.