Rated 3/5

PC, £34.99. Age 16+

After five years of hype and delay, this long-awaited dystopian epic needed to deliver something special, but it falls short. You play a mysterious bounty hunter wandering the wastelands surrounding an alternate-reality Chernobyl. This desolate, superbly detailed world proves the game’s greatest asset, full of ominous ambient noises, warring factions and grisly mutant horrors.

However, this is a true case of style over substance. The game aspires to be more than a sci-fi shooter, but lacks the sheer freedom of, say, last year’s hit fantasy adventure, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. STALKER is too grim, its pleasures are too sparse, and the combat is too difficult. Somewhere here lurks a fascinating and thoughtful game, but STALKER is so unrewarding that it’s too difficult to find.