I decided I'll turn this review around and make it into a "play log": I'll keep updating this review, along with my rating, as I progress in the game (without giving away anything, of course - don't worry, I don't like spoilers either.)

Feb 6 1:30AM: Just received the game tonight and I'm only into it for an hour or so but I can say it has all the ingredients to become the best of all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games... very nice graphics (except trees, their crown/leaves look like cartoons from a distance, something just isn't right about them - maybe they didn't expect someone max out all details in the game?)
As a huge fan of the series I started Call of Pripyat on Veteran - maybe it was a mistake, firefights are brutal at this level, enemies are like aimbots they shoot to kill and they are deadly, even with few bullets fired. With my military service behind me I'd say it's pretty realistic (hit registration) - of course I like it being realistic. :)
There's one exception though which I did not like in earlier S.T.A.L.K.E.R. episodes either and unfortunately it's still present: I don't recall either my early AMM (or AK-63D aka AKM) or regular AMMSz (AK-63E aka AKMS) to produce such a huge recoil especially not in the hands of a supposed professional Special Forces soldier taking aim, sent to an undercover mission deep into unknown territory (can't really imagine him as a thin-framed guy. :))
The map is HUUUUUUUGE which is truly awesome... it will certainly keep me entertained until Metro 2033 arrives. ;)
TBC

This game runs smoother and faster with higher settings than either Clear Sky or SOC on my system (a modest AMDX2 2Ghz w/8800 GTS and 2GB ram), no bugs whatsoever, they really have optimized the engine, improved the already great graphics and seem to have ironed out all the bugs.

All the Stalker games are pretty much the same, which is to say AWESOME...open world, total freedom, independent living world..sometimes i'll just climb to a high vantage point to snipe at far-away wild dogs or just watch a distant gun battle...but the heart of the game is the realistic, savage firefights and the atmosphere that makes you feel as if you're really there in the zone, alone most of the time, in the chilling rain or the hair-raising black of night, perhaps low on ammo or food, your only small sense of comfort coming from the bond you feel with your only true friend, the cold steel of your assault rifle.

But dont take my word for it, here is a direct quote from the Gamespot Review:
"Like its predecessors, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is all about stretches of chilling stillness and thick dread, punctuated by the tense thrills of menacing mutants and the rush of discovery. If you've played either of the first two games of the series, you know that The Zone is a harsh mistress, and exploring it requires patience, thoughtful planning, and plenty of ammo. But it's also erupting with rewards as long as you know where to look. This shooter/role-playing hybrid oozes ambience by the bucketful, whether you're traversing marshes or skulking through dark crevasses, and the dread that accumulates makes encounters with all sorts of grotesque freaks feel all the more suspenseful."

And from the IGN review:
"The original Shadow of Chernobyl was an incredible game in many ways, offering players an opportunity to explore an exceptionally realized, radiation-blasted setting seeded with horror and entertainment. Yet it was also lacking in a few areas, one being polish, and another being a solid character progression infrastructure. With Call of Pripyat, GSC Game World delivers its most stable and playable version of the Zone yet. Though it's not quite as surprising as the original, it's still a standout game that deserves to be given a chance by anyone that reads this. There aren't many titles able to offer up such an affecting atmosphere mixed with enjoyable mechanics, and even if some bits of the game remain uneven, it's an experience that will stick with you long after it's over."

This review is to counter the 1 star review from some guy complaining about shipping

I played many hours of the first Stalker game, not so many of the second, and I'm pleased to report that this third game in the series is the best of all. I dearly loved Shadow of Chernobyl in spite of a somewhat linear design, and I would have been happy with more of the same. But Call of Pripyat consists of only three very huge areas, each of which can be explored without loading screens. Granted, the areas are so vast, that to begin with, there is a bit of minor hitching as the engine loads assets, but this hitching disappears over a couple of minutes.

This game seems a bit easier than the first two, which is a good thing for me. Clear Sky in particular was sort of confusing, I thought. There are many missions to do in CoP, and this time, I'm having a much easier time following what's going on. The engine is a bit dated now, but the important thing is that it's very polished, and runs very nice on my Q6600 w/ 9800GT and 6 gigs ram at 1920 x 1200 Direct X 9 setting with most options set fairly high, and draw distance maxxed.

For me, the most notable thing about this series has always been the atmosphere of dread that permeates the world, and that atmosphere is back in spades here. I literally shivered walking into my first nighttime thunderstorm with my meager flashlight showing the way. It was a delicious shiver. The atmosphere is simply unmatched. In fact, the first thing I did when starting the game for the first time is simply go exploring. There is much to explore, and I had an extreme amount of fun for 2 solid hours just doing that while not taking any missions.

When I finally decided to get into the meat of the game, I was pleased to find a wide variety of missions, during which you can still explore to your heart's content. I've also had many leap-out-of-my-seat in fear moments, where I was scared so bad I thought about quitting. Well, if you can't tell, I really love this game. It is exactly the kind of game I've always wanted to play.

I ordered the game on Monday through Amazon and received on Wednesday (10 Feb 10). My first 2.5 hr session was completely bug free, and compared to both previous STALKER games, these are the aspects I really like:

1. Font and graphics are "softer" but crisper - e.g., more Mac-ish than PC-ish.
2. If I have to reload from a previous save, it takes much less time (although,I recently upgraded my DVD R/W drive).
3. The game motion if more fluid, kinetically.
4. Having loved Fallout3, I really dig the open environment; while the map is huge, I do hope that individual action locations are more involved than in Clear Sky.
5. The screens for equipment and mission info are also more current in style and look.
6. Artifacts are easier to come by than CS, but less so the SOC; potential artifact sites are identifed on the map, so obtaining them is more straight forward - if you have the better detectors.
7. Fire fights are more intense than previous versions too.

All in all, it appears to be a FAR MORE polished product than the first two games, and once I go through in Stalker mode, it will be fun to play in the most difficult mode. What a great genre - when will Metro 2033 be translated to English!!!

I've loved the STALKER games since the moment I first encountered SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL a few years back. CLEAR SKY was impressive once they patched it, and in many ways better than S.O.C. I hoped that CALL OF PRIPYAT would follow that trend and be the best STALKER game of the series. I'm happy to say that it is. The best elements of the original are still in tact, but they've polished out some of the glitches and bumps that took away from the first two. What's left is a very smooth FPS that feels deep, rich, and rewarding to play. With Direct X11, the game is impressive to look at as well, and isn't the resource hog that CLEAR SKY was. Visually this game is a 8/10 and better than many other games in the same genre.

The storyline is simple, and not quite as compelling as the first game. But I don't really play the STALKER games for the story as much as I play them for the combat, atmosphere, and environments. These are games you can really spend time exploring, and it's highly rewarding to do just that. Finding the perfect artifact or an amazing stash is awesome. The game is harsh, hard (if you play it on Master), and at times frightening. All of those elements provide a gaming experience that is immersive and which sticks with you after the fact. (The last hour of the first STALKER game goes down in my memory as one of the best final game sequences I've ever played in 20+ years of gaming).

Improvements:

1) Much better inventory system that is cleaner and easier to navigate. It's a lot easier to see what you have, what it is, and what you can use it for. Mousing over guns will highlight their corresponding ammo and vice-versa. This makes it simple to understand what ammo to purchase at traders and what to sell.

2) Mutant AI is much improved. Dogs, Snorks, Bloodsuckers, etc., will not just charge straight at you anymore. They will circle you and attack from behind, maul you from the side, and generally make you very frustrated at first. Tactics are much more important now, and using protection from cover is pretty much a must. Bloodsuckers are very tough because their invisibility is now nearly constant. They've also added in a very freaky ability for them to actually grab you and of course suck some of your blood. The first time that happened it totally freaked me out!

3) Weapon and equipment modifications are as awesome as ever. Guns really do feel unique, and a fully modified riffle is significantly better than the vanilla version. Finding a nice shooter is rewarding on so many levels. One of the best things about the game is slowly accumulating some good pieces of equipment and being able to engage tougher enemies, and tougher environments.

4) The maps are larger and more varied that before with plenty of new places to explore (along with many classics as well!). Map markers are a bit clearer, so navigating around is that much easier. I do wish they'd allow you to drop your own map marker, but that's a small complaint.

5) Side missions are as interesting and varied as ever. Many are much more complex than 'bring x to y" FEDEX missions. There are some really interesting asides to explore that allow earlier access to premium equipment and supplies. I especially liked the 'disappearing stalkers' mission you get early in the game.

6) There is a massive community of fans of the STALKER games who have released some really great mods for the game. It's worth noting this because many of the MODS are so good that they make playing the game the 2nd time a totally new experience. I'd highly recommend getting a few (I get those that let me run for a longer period of time since fast travel isn't perfect, as well as those that let me sell more types of weapons to the traders) and trying them out.

A few complaints:

No game is perfect, and there are a few things that just don't feel quire right in C.O.P.

1) STALKERS referring to each other as 'bro'? A Russian Special Forces Commando who says 'fughgedaboutit'? Some of the dialogue is just silly. Some of the English translations are rather odd as well.

2) Fast travel isn't set up that well. You have to go to a guide and have them take you places. It would have been much easier to just use the big map and click where you want to go. Someone will probably provide that in a MOD though.

3) Stashes are HARD to find. They used to be marked with some text that would at least make it slightly easier to locate them. Now they're just green map markers that don't tell you jack. I've only been able to find about half of those marked on my map. Seriously it shouldn't be this hard or frustrating to find a stash. The worst is when you spend a bunch of time to find one and all it contains is a bandage or something equally common.

Final thoughts:

I love the STALKER games because they hands down have some of THE BEST environments and set pieces in the FPS genre. Their blend of action and silence is fantastic. Strolling around THE ZONE is a chilling experience and the photo realism of many of the locations is impressive. I did a bit of reading on Chernobyl after playing the first STALKER game and was blown away by how the pictures of the ZONE look just like the game. STALKER games are eerie, intense, frightening, rewarding, and above all very entertaining. I highly recommend them all.

I'm no writer of flowering reviews, but let me say that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat carries on the masterpiece where Shadow of Chernobyl left off. The game simply absorbs me into the stormy, creeping world that is The Zone. The designers have mastered the art of atmosphere to the degree that I often have to stop and take breaks because my hands are shaking so much.

I run this game on Windows 7 64-bit and it hasn't crashed once. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This is one Awsome game have played and modded it since it came out, has a few bugs but the patches fix most of them has many mods for the game. one of the best things the Dev's did was to give the tools to the public so the Game could be expanded way beyond it original ver. Wished more game developers had that forsite. It is and emersive fps/rpg game with a lot of game play.

this was by far the best in the serries. The only thing I didn't like, was that the game was so much shorter than the 1st two.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat

I've been playing this game for the past 4 to 5 days now and have pretty much made up my mind as to how much I like it.

BTW, I have both the first two S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. games preceding this one and am a fan of this series.

I was pleased to see the mood developed in the first two games continued . . . dark, foreboding and troubling. The combat is much the same, mainly centered around mid-range assault rifle type exchanges. However, I found that in this game the Zone seemed a much less dangerous place, perhaps since one of the first missions available made me friends throughout the rest of the game with the bandits, so bandits were not constantly attacking me like in the two previous episodes. I liked it better when bandits were always my enemy.

The weapon management is much more extensive now, with more extensive modifications possible for all weapons and armour. Very fun moding your stuff.

It is as easy to hate the bandits and Monolith factions as it was the last two games so there is a sense of accomplishment in wasting those NPC's.

I was not pleased with the way the story line and progression to different levels were handled which I found to be a big negative. I am an adherent to the AVGN (Angry Video Game Nerd's) axiom that a gamer should be left to kill the bad guys and not have arbitrary items places in their way to do just that, finish the game.

But the makers of this game seem to find a delight in placing the player in those type of situations.

For example, right now I am in Pripyat. I have done the mission to the bookstore. The commander of the troops has no more missions to suggest to figure out why the helicopters crashed and I sure can't find anything in all the map of Pripryat to help. I have been to every building up and down every floor I can get to . . . twice . . . and I cannot find any document or tools or anyone to tell me what or where to go to find out what I need to know . . . that is, what kind of weapon the Monolith faction used to shoot down the helicopters. I have absolutely no hint as to what to do next.

The things I can do possibly is to keep running around Pripryat hoping I'll run into an NPC which can give me a hint. Or I can travel back to the previous map and hope something develops there. But other than that, I have no idea . . . and probably will not be able to finish the game until someone writes a walk-through telling what the frack I need to do.

The biggest frustration is that I KNOW that there is a document in the Kindergarten in Pripryat that will tell me what I need to know. I learned on a forum that the commander gives a mission in which a door to the Kindergarten is blown in giving access to the interior.

Now how the Frack was the player supposed to know that. There are other examples of how the game script is developed that is just frustrating for no reason. For example, the player must give a certain PDA to the Duty commander so as to earn their trust so that a Monolith group can be accepted into Duty. I ask you . . . how the Frack is the player suppose to know that a PDA, one of about 10 in the game BTW, is suppose to be given to a Duty commander. Well, they can't be expected to know that, that is what the deal is. It is just downright meaningless frustration thrown in the path of the player.

One other example of frustration a player must deal with is the transport system or how to get around the maps, which are incidentally rather puny compared to say Fallout 3 which has over 150 different locations as compared to probably 25 locations in COP. Well, there are guides who will charge you a fee to fast travel to another location. What the Frack is the reason for the fee? Why not just fast travel like in Fallout3. Do the makers of this game think it is fun to run around all over the map (by the way you can't run all the time because you will get exhausted) looking for artefacts. So running or walking as the case may be to the same anomaly you've been to 10 times before to see if there are any new artefacts so ya can sell them to get money to fast travel is the Russian idea of fun?

It is this kind of stupidity by game makers that turn what could really be a 5 star game and make it less . . . in this case I give 3 stars which really P's me off 'cause it could have been so much better and they blew it.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy playing this game and will play it many more times. And I think you will enjoy it too. But the same game play problems that hampered the last two in this series of games still persist . . . namely ambiguity and pointless frustration.

On the bright side the publishers have seemed to have gotten rid of all the bugs that plagued FC.