Stalker...

[Bob the Insane]

Translation: I have far too much disposable income.

My wife was far less polite about it...

Self build, $2900... not all that bad considering what I got and how much Alienware and such would charge for it...

On a side note, what are your thoughts on the RPG aspect of it? That was really the big selling point when I was looking at it... Heard they've dropped quite a bit of that part and made it more of a pure FPS with some "RPG aspects". Seeing how I can't play it myself... got any input?

Think Shooter with RPG aspects and pretty big levels.. Do NOT think Oblivion-esk RPG with guns...

The RPG aspects come into the that fact that you can choose what to do and how to do it... You can pick and choose your missions depending on whom you talk to. The RPG aspects are limited to talking to people to gather information and get missions for cash and more information... It is a bit tricky to start with but gets more interesting once you get your hands on some decent weapons... I can't emphasis the tactical shooter aspects enough... This will neither appeal to hardcore RPG folks nor the Unreal Tournment crowd... If you liked Ghost Recon and you liked Fallout's setting this should appeal...

There are some FedEx missions and some Kill the Person or Clear the camp missions. The reviews are correct in the core missions show more imagination... There is no repair this, or work out the puzzel for that tasks though. I guess that is the single RPG element most notably missing... No puzzles or the "question everyone to investigate" missions. Most if not all missions end in fire fights..

The fire fights are good though, even if they seem incrediblly one sided (and not your side) until you get some decent equipment...

The combination of "non-scripted" AI and scripted missions is funny as things can get messed up sometimes. In the above example with Save Carl, I eventually killed off the soldiers, found his body and got my info... Apparantly I really should have talked to him before heading into the tunnels (the first time i saved him) as he had maps of the tunnels and map of the guards in the army camp I ended up in... Shows the variety possible though that I got through without this....