Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

Ich habe die Fallout-Serie auf dem PC sehr gemocht, nie würde ich es wagen, meine Sammlung zu verkaufen. Daher freute es mich sehr, dass jetzt auch Xbox-Nutzer in den Genuss dieser außergewöhnlichen Se-rie kommen. Zwar birgt der Action-Vertreter nicht den Rollenspiel-An-teil seiner Vorbilder, versprüht aber durch witzige Missionen, abwechslungsreiche Waffen und die coolen Dialoge einen ganz eigenständigen Charme.

So... yeah. I wasn't really impressed with Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. It's kind of simplistic, you know; it's a brawler-slash-shooter where you just kind of sit there and trade hits with the other guy, since it's not easy to dodge incoming attacks. While I was playing it, just now, I developed this little mental checklist of things it could do better, that other games have done, and was thinking about how I'd improve it.

As I said at the start of this review, I made this list of mistakes over the course of eight hours of playtime that felt like an hour, so Brotherhood of Steel is by no means a failure. It's just got some weird quirks to it that I can't understand, since this other game over here that's a lot like it doesn't have the same issues. Brotherhood of Steel is fun enough, but with just a few tweaks and refinements to the gameplay, this would've been a truly great game.

Based on Black Isle Studios' 1997 PC game set in a postapocalyptic milieu that can only have been ripped from the tortured brain of the most feverish Cold War paranoiac is this role-playing/action/adventure crossover. Using Snowblind's Baldur?s Gate: Dark Alliance engine as a template, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel has you skulking around smoldering city ruins, contending with genetically mutated ghouls (and really big mice), and conversing with cripples, prostitutes, and two-headed cattle while searching for members of the Brotherhood of Steel, self-appointed guardians of the wastelands.

What if? What if the world you live in suddenly underwent a nuclear holocaust? In a few days time thousands of cities are wiped out, and half of the world population is exterminated. The ones that do survive start mutating or turn into rotting ghouls. Impossible you say? Play Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and see for yourself!

In a world once filled with glory and hope, lies the sickening truth of the future. Atomic war, always believed to be preventable, has finally been leashed upon the world. All that remains of the once glamorous cities and landscape of yesterday’s Earth is a twisting labyrinth of deserts and radiation. In the shadows of death lies the small groups of humans who survived the conflict. Turning to violence to survive, these groups roam freely upon the wasteland that is Earth. Scavenging the scorched ruins of megacities for useful equipment, these people must rely on natural instinct to survive. Communities of people who were sealed underground in fallout shelters have now emerged and set out to re-populate the vast new world. While these humans must face the challenges of dealing with each other, they must also adapt to a new world full of mutants, rogue computers, and caravan raiders. This is reality. This is the wasteland.

As 2003 wound to a close, Interplay axed its Black Isle division due to financial difficulties. Presumably, this puts an end to Fallout 3, a PC title that had been in development and was to follow up the popular Fallout and Fallout 2 that had come out in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Keeping their focus on the console market, Interplay is instead continuing to come out with Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, an action title with some RPG elements that was developed by Interplay and takes place in the Fallout universe. What then takes place is a classic hackfest that's set in a post-apocalyptic world. While it won't make you think too much, it's got enough action for a Saturday afternoon.

As 2003 wound to a close, Interplay axed its Black Isle division due to financial difficulties. Presumably, this puts an end to Fallout 3, a PC title that had been in development and was to follow up the popular Fallout and Fallout 2 that had come out in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Keeping their focus on the console market, Interplay is instead continuing to come out with Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, an action title with some RPG elements that was developed by Interplay and takes place in the Fallout universe. What then takes place is a classic hackfest that's set in a post-apocalyptic world. While it won't make you think too much, it's got enough action for a Saturday afternoon.

The latest title in the Fallout universe, while a definite departure from the previous games in the series, provides a nostalgic feeling of being in an all too well known world yet is presented in an entirely new and rather drastically different fashion. While it does still hold RPG elements, the gameplay isn’t half as open ended as the previous instalments and really is a lot more of a shooter than anything else. Having said that, different isn’t necessarily bad, but isn’t necessarily good either.

It's basically a simple, mildly entertaining, and somewhat uneven quasi-futuristic dungeon crawl for one or two players. Ask just about anyone that's tried it, and they'll tell you that Fallout is one of the best games they've ever played. Interplay's 1997 computer role-playing game featured truly open-ended gameplay but without compromising the quality of its excellent storyline. It also featured a memorable cast of characters, a unique premise, enjoyable turn-based combat, and lots of replay value. In particular, Fallout's quirky postapocalyptic setting--which is kind of like The Road Warrior with a self-conscious dash of Leave It to Beaver--left a lasting impression on many players.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel isn't a great game, but it can still be entertaining to play. The action is repetitive and straightforward, but the game features a lot of cool weapons and tons of stuff to hack or shoot at, plus it's got some of the charm that helped make Fallout a genuine classic. Brotherhood of Steel is no substitute for a true Fallout sequel, but it doesn't aim to be one. So, if you're looking for a hack-and-slash game that you can unwind with, but you're a bit weary of how they all take place in fantasy-themed settings, then Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel should do you good.

Un peu moins profond que Baldur's Gate : Dark Alliance, Fallout : Brotherhood Of Steel n'en est pas moins un bon hack and slash qui a pour lui un intéressant background apocalyptique. Ca nous changera de l'heroic fantasy, tiens !

It might not be Fallout3, but if you're a Fallout fan then you will enjoy this title enough to look past the shallow action and checkpoint gameplay. Fallout: BHOS will appeal to any who likes violent hack em' up games, and I'm sure they will enjoy the harsh language, beer and hookers too. After all it's only a game, good shootin'.

When it was released on the PC back in 1998, Fallout offered up a great blend of futuristic storyline and Dungeons and Dragons inspired gameplay set in a rich RPG universe. The series went on to gain critical acclaim and set the mood for the release of the Baldur’s Gate series and it’s subsequent sequels and emulators. Now, Fallout is finally hitting consoles in the same vein as the Baldur’s Gate series with Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. The gameplay is pretty much pulled straight from the Dark Alliance games, warts and all. The action RPG elements have been largely untouched, as have the repetitive missions and situations. However, the rich and deep Fallout universe is all here. For fans of the series, the game should provide a fun, if brief experience.

The United Nations failed in 2052 as the planet's natural resources dried up, causing many smaller nations to go financially bankrupt and fail. Europe and the Middle East were cast into a long, drawn-out war over the few remaining productive oil fields. As war moved its way through the rest of the world, in the winter of 2066 China attacked Alaska over what were most likely the last drops of oil in the world. The U.S. responded with force, but it would be ten years before the conflict would end. In a desperate maneuver, both superpowers invaded neighboring countries in an effort to bolster their dwindling resources. The U.S. annexation of Canada was concluded by 2076. Canadian timber provided fuel for U.S. military needs, and Alaska was reclaimed by early 2077.

The United Nations failed in 2052 as the planet's natural resources dried up, causing many smaller nations to go financially bankrupt and fail. Europe and the Middle East were cast into a long, drawn-out war over the few remaining productive oil fields. As war moved its way through the rest of the world, in the winter of 2066 China attacked Alaska over what were most likely the last drops of oil in the world. The U.S. responded with force, but it would be ten years before the conflict would end. In a desperate maneuver, both superpowers invaded neighboring countries in an effort to bolster their dwindling resources. The U.S. annexation of Canada was concluded by 2076. Canadian timber provided fuel for U.S. military needs, and Alaska was reclaimed by early 2077.

Overall, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel suffers from basic timing issues. After rolling through other games like D&D Heroes, the whole genre feels stale. With the current glut of this type of game in the likes of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and Champions of Norrath, there is nothing that sets apart Brotherhood of Steel to give it an advantage over the competition. The fact that the game is only about sixhours long doesn’t help, either. Fallout: BoS is but a sheep in a large flock. It looks, smells, and acts just like the rest. Perhaps BoS would have fared better had it not been released when many other similar games were also being released. It does, apart from the lack of options and jumping puzzles, have solid gameplay, decent graphics, and excellent sound, but the lack of originality and poor story keeps it from being really worth anything more than a casual rental.

Wasteland, a PC role-playing game released in 1987, remains one of the best RPGs ever made. Ten years later, its post-apocalyptic setting served as the basis for another PC classic, Fallout. Members of the games' considerable cult followings have constructed no shortage of tribute websites, and were even suckered in by a recent rumor that Wasteland would be ported to the Game Boy Advance (which is actually a brilliant idea).

Black Isle's Fallout RPG is a bona fide classic, and the post-apocalyptic game world used for that game series is one that's sorely missed by plenty of gamers. While some of them would prefer another straight up RPG set in that world, most will be content with Brotherhood of Steel, a co-operative beat ‘em up action RPG that bears more than a passing resemblance to fan favorite Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

Interplay, a venerable game company in slightly less financial trouble than the state of California, recently killed its Black Isle Studios division. This painful act presumably puts a permanent end to the development of Fallout 3, the next entry in the cult PC role-playing franchise that was launched in 1997 -- and from which Brotherhood of Steel was derived.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel suffers from some basic timing issues and dumb AI. The enemies just keep coming one after another and you keep mowing them down. There is really nothing that sets Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel apart from the rest of the games that are out like it. As a matter of fact there are better games out there. I think they could use a lot less profane language and crudeness and better game play and smarter AI. Rental only! Maybe!

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel suffers from some basic timing issues and dumb AI. The enemies just keep coming one after another and you keep mowing them down. There is really nothing that sets Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel apart from the rest of the games that are out like it. As a matter of fact there are better games out there. I think they could use a lot less profane language and crudeness and better game play and smarter AI. Rental only! Maybe!

Det är synd och skam att Interplay våldför sig så på Fallout. Och det är synd och skam att Black Isle Studios, som gett oss så många fantastiska rollspel, tvingas lägga ned. Någonstans i spelet springer min karaktär förbi en Fallout-plansch som satts upp som en rolig vink till alla som spelat de riktiga Fallout-spelen. Jag blir inte glad när jag ser planschen. Bara ledsen för att den inte borde få existera här. Jag stänger av Brotherhood of Steel och skapar mig en ny karaktär i det första Fallout i stället.

Brotherhood Of Steel is to Fallout what Dark Alliance is to Baldur's Gate - or at least that appeared to be Interplay's intention when it commissioned a "gritty and darkly humorous" (their words not ours...) third-person action-adventure take on its successful PC-derived RPG series from the late 90s. While DA and its recently released sequel are largely entertaining action-adventure approximations with a smattering of RPG, BOS (as it shall be referred to from now on) isn't far off being a travesty for those who enjoyed the post apocalyptic series a few years back.

Brotherhood Of Steel is to Fallout what Dark Alliance is to Baldur's Gate - or at least that appeared to be Interplay's intention when it commissioned a "gritty and darkly humorous" (their words not ours...) third-person action-adventure take on its successful PC-derived RPG series from the late 90s. While DA and its recently released sequel are largely entertaining action-adventure approximations with a smattering of RPG, BOS (as it shall be referred to from now on) isn't far off being a travesty for those who enjoyed the post apocalyptic series a few years back.