Fallout

The Good
The second half of 1990's saw many great role-playing games, but three of them have the special status of franchise-starters and reformers in the genre: Diablo, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout. The first succeeded because of simplification; the second thanks to intense study of traditional material. Fallout, on the other hand, relies pretty much on one template only: Interplay's own groundbreaking Wasteland, of which it is a clear spiritual follower. It is therefore even more remarkable that this game managed to gain considerable popularity even in mainstream cycles despite being both non-traditional and hardcore at the same time. It adapted the revolutionary spirit of Wasteland to contemporary sensibilities, and the results are singularly impressive, to say the least.

Like its predecessor, Fallout opts for a flexible approach to role-playing. Character creation system leads you through a thicket of main attributes, skills, and perks, but these are not bound by classes, races, or any other comparable category. Darklands was certainly even more realistic in its depth and complexity while trying to avoid as many genre conventions as possible. But it is the genius of Fallout that makes it simple to play, yet hard to master; it never sacrifices pure fun and instant playability for its sophisticated system.

The most notable breakthrough of this system - and a further important step towards a more inclusive understanding of role-playing - is its greater openness to actions that do not necessarily pertain to combat. For years, role-playing games have been mostly about getting better at killing enemies. Social interaction was added to some games, but nowhere does it become such an integral part of the gameplay as in Fallout. According to this game, "role-playing" means that you make choices and form your behavior according to your own views, or at least according to what you have in mind at that particular moment. Fallout lets you decide everywhere, in any situation. You can kill every person you see in the game. Much more importantly: you can complete the entire game without killing a single creature. I don't think there was ever another RPG that let you do that.

Character development thus gains a whole new meaning: indeed, you are developing a real character rather than just somebody who can kill monsters faster. It's not only about getting the best weapon: it's also about surviving in a situation where you don't have that weapon - or, rather, where you decide you want to complete the game without ever using that weapon. It's about making your character what you want them to be. Feel like bullying people and solve problems with brute force? Fine, then create a physically strong idiot and hope no enemy is too tough for him. More inclined towards diplomacy? Make your character a cunning fellow who can talk his way out of every situation, but don't cry if he gets bitten by sewer rats. Be a doctor or a hacker, or don't be anything in particular - just be yourself, go with the flow.

In case you are inclined towards more traditional RPG activities, fear not: Fallout delivers plenty of that as well. There are quests and sub quests to tackle, dangerous dungeons to traverse, and all sorts of creatures to vanquish. There are diverse weapon specializations, items to collect, and many opportunities to fight and pillage to your heart's content. The game's turn-based combat system works exceptionally well in spite of a few shortcomings, and is very in-depth, including features such as differentiated body part damage; calculations of distance, attributes of combatants and weapon ratings allowing to express every action in percentages of success; action points that determine the amount of actions per turn, leading to vast tactical possibilities, and so on.

Of course, the system alone wouldn't be enough to provide hours upon hours of gourmet RPG fun - you also need a world to which this system could be properly applied. I think this is where Fallout truly triumphs over Darklands: it has realism in common, abstract categories (be violent, be kind, be sneaky, etc.), but it marries this realism to a perfectly satisfying game world, with unique locations, characters and situations rather than just copies of the same town and clones of the same pilgrims and wandering monks. In other words, it achieves perfect balance between player-created and scripted content, between free-form playing and attachment to existing material.

In fact, the world of Fallout is a real beauty, and I'm positive that was a big factor in its rise to popularity: you can be easily immersed into the game without even beginning to understand the extent of its system's complexity. Just start playing and feel the game's intense atmosphere. And Fallout does not use cheap means in order to impress: it achieves the effect by paying a lot of attention to visual detail, creating an instantly recognizable, memorable stylistic environment.

Wasteland stood out with its unusual (for video games of the time) preference for a post-apocalyptic setting when most RPGs were medieval fantasies. But technology wasn't powerful enough then to really bring out that difference in a tangible, sensual way. Fallout, on the other hand, is a piece of moody art almost as much as it is a great role-playing game. Behind mutants, obscene cultists, and Nuka-Cola hide serious speculations about the future, manifested in the game's artistic amalgamation of World War II themes, nostalgic American culture of the 1950's, and cold, bleak high-tech elements. Fallout sets its unique tone right away with one of the best introduction sequences I've seen in a video game.

The Bad
No game is perfect. The original release of Fallout was quite buggy, with some broken quests and erratic NPC behavior problems. Later patches corrected many of the issues, but a completely smooth experience is not guaranteed. In particular, your companions display weird logical thinking more often than not, and their AI is questionable at best. They would regularly damage you in combat and do idiotic things such as using rocket launchers in cramped quarters etc. They are also not particularly talkative or significant for plot-related situations.

I don't quite see why they had to take away the player's control over those companions. It would be understandable in a game with fast-paced, real-time combat like Ultima VII, but turn-based battles call for micro-management, and Fallout only allows it for the protagonist. This leads to further lack of attachment to the rest of your party, compelling you to dismiss your crew and fight solo - which, under the conditions of slow, tactical combat, is not always particularly thrilling.

The Bottom Line
Fallout is a game that will survive, not matter how many others are forgotten. It will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of mediocrity and oblivion, to tell us and show us how to make a great RPG. This game should be put on a pedestal and taught to developers in special schools.

The Good
It looks great, it sounds great, it plays great, and it doesn't have character classes. As far as I am concerned, computer games need not (and quite possibly can not) advance beyond the level of excellence this game offers. All things considered, this is one of the most involved (involving? whatever...) computer RPG/adventure games ever, as it actually enables the player to play any kind of character he wants. I mean, real people don't go around with "I'm a Mage, please stab me" tattooed on their foreheads (I hope), and they still manage to do their own stuff and whatnot and you know what I mean.

[Added later:] One thing I forgot to mention when originally writing this review is the excellent presentation. Right from the loading screen through the magnificent intro sequence to the [REMOVED] end (oops, almost slipped a spoiler) you get sucked into the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout. It's also very re-playable, as I found out when I recently purchased Fallout 2 and it came with the original. Depending on the PC you create and how you actually play the game, you're always finding out new stuff. (The truth apparently is out there.)

The Bad
This game is buggy. Bugs all over the shop. Ugly ones, to boot. Also, once your PC is strong enough, you can do stuff that screw some of the responses up, although I guess that really counts as a bug, too.

[Added later] All right, I now have a more recent version, and some of the more annoying bugs seem to have vanished, but you still sometimes have to try some things several times in slightly different ways to trigger the correct reactions. Of course, if I hadn't played Fallout before, I wouldn't have noticed the problems.

The Bottom Line
If you liked Baldur's Gate, you'll love this game (you never even have to change the CD). It has one of the best plots, settings, and overall feels I've ever come across in a computer game, and it's not too easy, either.

Get it.

[Added later] Hey, you don't actually have to like Baldur's Gate to love Fallout!

The Good
Fallout brings a refreshing change to a dying genre. Yes, I will probably get many a scoff at this remark but personally, the thought of gathering yet another group of adventurers and going down yet another dungeon and killing, sorry- hacking 'monsters' apart is just getting a little yawn old. That said, Fallout brings sawn-off shotguns, leather jackets, mutant cows and NPC dogs together in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max world. The combat feels intuitive in that the game doesn't stop, or switch perspective. The dialogue is witty and written with a style not seen in previous RPG's, giving a wider freedom of choice to let your personality work its way into the narrative. The people you'll interact with will make you laugh and inspire you to fulfil your obligations as a messiah. The game also works in some fantastic cutscenes which do not intrude or take you away from the game.

The Bad
Unfortunately, Fallout suffers from long load times and frustrating bugs. A time limited first-half of the game can get damn frustrating and you'll need to do a lot of saving/reloading because, let's face it, you probably SHOULDN'T have shot that guy in the back of the head with a desert eagle...

The Bottom Line
If you're sick of dragons, treasure chests and constant misuse of the words 'thee' and 'thou' Fallout is for you.

The Good
I am generally not very fond of CRPGs, or RPGs in general for that matter. I have always held the firm, conservative belief that RPGs should be limited to fantasy (AD&D) and CRPG to hack'n'slash (Eye of the Beholder 2). I know it's lame, but that's the way I always thought. That is, before I played Fallout.

To tell the truth, I never knew of this game (well, maybe by name) before a friend of mine urged me to play it late in the year 2000, about three years after it came out. I was definitely not disappointed. Fallout is an extremely unique game that has much going for it, with good reason:

• Fallout's game engine is, basically, very advanced. Utilizing a decent SVGA resolution along with some clever palette optimization techniques the game is able to draw an extremely detailed playfield. While not absolutely visually astounding, the engine does the job very well and puts out a fairly smooth framerate without sacrificing quality. Good thing.
• The atmosphere in this game is superb. It is difficult to say which supports which, the story or the atmosphere, but the two work in tandem to create one of the most realistic and frightening experiences I've ever had the pleasure to play. I recall one of the reviewers complaining about the lack of colour in the game (something along the lines of "nature will survive") - that's fair enough, but I believe that the uncolourful graphics in Fallout corrolate much better with its plot, and one also has to consider that the world you move about in Fallout is referred to as The Wilderness. The graphic artists did an excellent job of conveying an appropriate image of the outside world, as I would have imagined it had Fallout been a book. The dreary, for lack of a better word, visual design in Fallout contributes to the atmosphere tremendously. The lack of many visual stimuli actually contributes to the game.
• Aside from the outside world, the visual design in Fallout is incredible. The effort that went into the various structural types (desert village, vault, city, sewer etc.) is evident every step of the way. Everything looks exactly as it should - shattered cities bombed back into the stoneage; the high-tech, metallic look of the vaults; the claustrophobic, eerie Necropolis; the old, decaying Cathedral. This point cannot be overemphasized, as the contribution of proper visual design to the overall atmosphere in a game is simply something that cannot be described in words.
• The storyline in this game is worthy of a decent novel. While it won't earn its author a literary prize, it is definitely worth noting that depsite the seemingly banal nature of the story (post-nuclear world, mutants roaming about), the execution of the story in the game is - despite being partially linear - extremely rewarding.
• The three primary characters are well-rounded, plus the ability to generate your own character provide for a varied gameplay - where in one you run around beating people into a bloody pulp, in the other you must rely on charisma and quick fingers to get what you need. The amound of personality traits and special abilities is seemingly limitless, and the radically diverse nature of the various perks is truely genius (my personal being Bloody Mess - it's funny as hell). The effect each and every one of your character qualities will have be detrimental to the process of the game.
• Fallout is one of those games, one of a select few, whose introduction sequence leaves me with a feeling of DAMN!!!. It has one of the most memorable intros I've seen in my whole life - funny at first, profound and amazingly touching later. I will easily place Fallout's introduction sequence right up there with the likes of Dune 2, Reunion, The 7th Guest and Star Control 2. Trust me; coming from me, that means a lot.
• Where it actually features it, Fallout enjoys excellent background music. Unfortunately these tracks are fairly scarce, usually limited to an eerie tune playing in the background; however, as already said - whenever there is music in Fallout, it is definitely worth hearing.
• The ending sequence (though not the ending itself) in Fallout is absolutely magnificent, giving you an account of what you have done and what the ramifications are. The ability to play the game as either a good or evil person also makes it a lot more interesting.
• Fallout is littered with injokes (did you know the Brahmin sometimes utter "Moo, I say"?) that add a lot of flavour to the game; for example, if your character is lucky, you just might run into a crashed alien ships during your travels, where you will find (a) an alien weapon (literally, a Death Ray), and (b) make note of this: a picture of Elvis!

And in summation, I will only say this: Fallout is one hell of a game.

The Bad
Despite its greatness, Fallout is not without its flaws.

To begin with, it is basically a very difficult game, at least in the beginning. You'll have to be extremely careful not to run into too many fights at first, simply because you might not make it out alive. This changes over time, but the Super Mutants towards the end of the game will still give you a major run for your money.

More importantly, the interface in Fallout is not very intuitive; it makes a lot of sense basically, but the learning curve is extremely steep. I had my brother (who finished the game before I even got around to playing it) to give me a kickstart (in the ass), but it still took a good few hours to get used to it. Occasionally, due to loads or whatnot, I still make stupid mistakes using it, that quite frankly should not occur. I wouldn't call the interface cumbersome, but there's definitely room for improvement.

The NPCs are spectacularly... useless. Ian will do all the work for you at first, or should I say, you're as good as dead without him. Towards the middle of the game, however, he becomes a bloody neusance (constantly shooting you in the back etc.) and not much help, and in about two thirds of the game the only justification to keeping him around is as a human baggage (or cannon fodder). The NPC AI in Fallout is extremely handicapped, and it is quite unfortunate.

Another major drawback is that some of the parts in Fallout are very trial-and-error based, for example: The Glow. It took me three tries to get the damn thing right, and I still didn't go as deep as possible into the complex. The military base also took some work, as you will have to find a way to move about the troops without making too much rockus (five Super Mutant Guards with SMGs are not to be trifled with, even when fully armored and with the best weapons). Getting the damn Powered Armor working also took quite a while. This is unfortunate, because it puts an unnecessary and unwarranted blemish on what could've otherwise been nearly flawless gameplay.

Last but not lesat, your nemesis, The Master, is not a very good character IMO. To begin with, it looks like it was taken directly out of Phantasmagoria 2 - it even sounds the same. Second, it's damn near invincible (I couldn't kill it no matter how hard I try; I hear other people managed though). I also gave it about 30 tries and still couldn't convince the bloody thing that I was right. I had to blow up the entire cathedral, which was an incredibly bothersome ordeal. This basically makes the actual ending of the game very unsatisfying, at least for me. I feel the same way towards how the designers chose to end the game (won't spoil it for those who haven't played it yet though).

The Bottom Line
A spectacular game that gave me a new taste for CRPG. Depsite some flaws, it is an overall extraordinary experience that I recommend to any computer game lover.

The Good
Let's look back to the year 1997. I was in college, and a year earlier me and my bud Paul started up an underground magazine called "Nerdgasm." I wrote reviews and managed a column called "The Whiny Movie-goer." The magazine spread around the campus and got a cult following. One morning I woke up with Paul standing over me, holding the box for Fallout. He told me I had to review it. When he told me it was an RPG, I said 'No.' I wasn't too big on RPGs. He literally began poking me with a stick, and two days later I finally gave in to his stick poking and installed the game. Long story short: I fell in love with the game, and it won Game of the Year in our mag. The next year Fallout 2 would win, although as a gag I said that it tied with Fallout 1. It would become a running joke all the way until the magazines death that at each Game of the Year ceremony, I attempt to shoehorn in Fallout as game of the year again or say its the "real" game of the year but I was stick poked into picking a game actually from that year.

12 years later, and the game is still the greatest RPG ever, and already a nominee for Game of the Year 2009, right up with "Prototype."

Lets say that during the height of the cold war crisis, the nuclear bombs actually fell. Lets say that the Chinese attacked America. Lets say that the future is a post apocalyptic hellhole where raiders and slavers menace poor civilians and mutants wait outside peoples homes expecting a nice meal of human flesh. That's the idea behind Fallout. The story itself has you taking upon the role of a Vault dweller from Vault 13. The Vaults are numerous underground Fallout shelters that were made to protect humanity from the bombs. Vault 13 hasn't opened since the war, and generations have bred there, all living and dying in the vault. Yet recently Vault 13 has a little problem... The machine that gives you water is busted, and there's no way to replace it without getting another one from another vault. Vault 13 is opened for the first time in thousands of years, and you walk out into the frightening world of The Wasteland. As you quest for a spare waterchip, you will encounter many strange denizens, mutants, and learn that the world outside the Vault ain't exactly heaven. The games second act takes a dark yet brilliant turn, but my reviews are certified spoiler free. The story is great, and the world is immersive and unique, exploring it is a treat and hunting down the many unique denizens proves rewarding, especially when you run into HAROLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :B I really like Harold. He's the funniest game character ever. Although his level of hilarity isn't as epic as it is in Fallout 2, he's still the funniest mutant ever to not menace society. He's also one of the few mutants you WONT want to shoot. On the topic of humour, Fallout has a great sense of humour. The sense of humour in Fallout is brilliantly dark, sadistic, and perverted, yet even those who usually cringe at jokes about death, disease, mutation, sex, and sex with diseased undead mutants are likely to laugh at something in Fallout. The games 50's "Duck and Cover" style aesthetics and charm really help lighten the horror of the post apocalypse. The massive contrasts are surprisingly balanced. The opening cutscenes alone set both tones and get you in the mood for something scary and something funny.

The combat system is great, and has been unmatched in the realm of CRPG games. The game is turn based, but rather than just repeating the process of "Select move, select monster, watch what move does, reselect move again, select monster again, watch what move does" every friggen' time you fight something. Instead, Fallout requires you to pay more attention and rely on your wits. When you enter combat, whether you're fighting one monster alone or a group of baddies with some squad mates, you will enter a grid based combat scenario and are given "Action Points." How many action points you have is based on the games S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute system. Each item and move costs action points. If you have a few extra action points to spare, you can target a specific body part of your foe, which can really help the outcome of battle. Action points will run down during your turn, and will restore when it is your turn again. Bad guys and team mates use the same system, so the game never feels unbalanced, although naturally beefier enemies will have their own unique attributes and of course all the foes/team mates in the game will have different skill sets based on their race/faction.

On the topic of factions, Fallout has the freedom of choosing who you ally with or don't. Who will you ally with? The vicious raiders that murder and steal? How about the ever mysterious Brotherhood of Steel, a group of modern knights bent on keeping the peace and preserving our technology and history. Many other factions await, and regardless of their moral beliefs, you can make the choice to join their ranks. The game has a karma system, which takes into account your good and evil actions. You are given a great amount of freedom, and whether you will save the world, burn it greater, or leave no impact at all through neutrality, its all up to you.

Fallout has a relative difficulty curve, but once you get the swing of things, the games intuitive interface will become second nature. Some parts can be frustrating, but you will be compelled to overcome your weaknesses and build your strengths. The SPECIAL attribute system and a system of "Perks" and a large skill tree all offer an expansive character building system.

The graphics may not "Wow" in 2009, but when I'm looking at older games, I always look at the graphics from the eyes of someone living in the year it was released, and rate it based on that. I remember the games looks in 1997, and they looked great. The sprites are large and pixelation free, and the various gruesome death animations, characters and "talking heads" looked great. The sound is great too, sound effects all match up, and the eerie atmospheric score puts you in the mood. The game has great production values. The only complaint I had then that I still have now, is that I wish there were more full vocals and talking head graphics.

The game is so engrossing and fun, its hard to put down at all, if ever. Everything is great.

The Bad
Uhm... Uhh.... Poor compatability on modern computers?

Well, that's not an actual problem with the game, just for modern computers...

Uhm.. Radioactive scorpions are scary? No, that's not a complaint either since they're supposed to be scary....

Ooh! Ooh! I know! Harold is the funniest character ever! Wait.. no, that's another praise...

Uhh...... You know what? This game is perfect. The only true negative is that it ends. :'(

The Bottom Line
I still love this game, I love Fallout 2, and although it can't compare with the first two games euphoric feeling, Fallout 3 is a great successor to the series. Fallout Tactics is a great spin off as well. I may review Fo3 on here, but my review of Fallout 2 wouldn't be any different than this review. It would get 5 perfect stars. This is the greatest RPG of all time, if not the greatest game of all time. If you like RPGs, buy this. If you like strategy games, buy this. If you don't like RPGs, buy this. If you don't like strategy games, buy this. It has something for everyone, and if you haven't played it you are missing out. The complete collection - save for Fallout 3 (Although it can be bought from here as well) - is available DRM free on Steam for only 20 bucks for the whole set. It's also available on GameTap and Good Old Games. If you have it, or even if you don't and are missing your discs, buy this incredible game.

The Good
A post-nuclear role-playing game!!! Well this is is almost perfect in my opinion. it's oozes style! First of all the story is original! with some of the best ending I have ever seen. The atmosphere in this game is extraordinary. also the graphics while outdated (VERY outdated) are still pleasant to the eye. CGI movies are just GREAT (even for today standards). But the main thing that makes this game fantastic is the gameplay- the gameplay is pure drug! i couldn't stop playing until i finished it! you have multiple endings (depends on your actions) - you can play a good guy and a bad guy(and it will change your KARMA). Interface is very easy to use. Good tactical combat system. Great black humor!!! The soundtrack is highly ambient and spooky. lots of conversations to do. and there's lots of gore(for all of the gore fans- you can do very messy things to human bodies!) and there aren't any goblins or orcs. it's definitely one of the most detailed CRPG yet.

The Bad
well not much but... Interaction with NPCs is a bit disappointing. low resolution (640X480). and tons of bugs! you must download the patch before playing!

The Bottom Line
Highly recommended CLASSIC. if you enjoy RPGs just get it. Buy it, kill for it, just get it.

The Good
Nearly everything about this game was perfect. The story, while at times disjointed, fitted into the excellence of the piece. Relief was another recurring theme. Turn-based combat, plain old pixels, and other "low-end" deals allowed for a polishing of surfaces as opposed to experimentation. Really, this was not a throwback, it was a restoration. I'm not to hyped-up on the polygon buzz when high resolution bitmaps appear (although Halflife would change my mind: excellent polygon usage).

Interesting was the (suspiciously) Wasteland-like text-visual fusion present. I suspect that I may be in an outstanding category, but I honestly believed that Fallout was more text-based than graphic. Even though the little green text box was that, little, it still listed, with detail that would rival any bureaucrat's, it is mighty. I liked that, duh, otherwise I wouldn't rave about it.

Lest I forget, the non-linear plot was great. I have hated almost every RPG, except for the likes of Darkland and the more recent Baldur's Gate.

The best aspect, though, which was missing in Fallout 2, was the atmosphere. Fallout managed to appeal to almost all my post-nuclear fantasy, like a dark, gritty, diabolical spagetti-western. I really think I missed out on the cold war, considering my nascent state during its final years; at least mutally assured destruction is exciting, right (I had to see Dr. Strangelove twice before I realized that it was funny, not a thriller)? Anyway, the Post-Apocalyptic Romantic story appealed to me, and it was spooky, too: the evocative music sounds, the graphics look, and the story was, like a nuclear wasteland should: cold, harsh, new, and anciet; the post-Shiva dance. There were cowboys and crooks, caravans, civilization-perserving survivalists, roving mutants, and, best of all, a world-destroying cult. And, not to forget, the sadly misguided antagonsist (hell, I felt sympathy, after my disgust). The Glow sequence epitomized this granduer. The glow is the game's high point: it was the place of revelation, for there one learns of the flash and demise.

The Bad
There was little that detracted from this game. The game seems to be somewhat on the "short" side, even though it has a near minimum of 20 hour play time. The map as a whole is small: despite the details, there are few locations when compared to the standard cart RPG. Also, although the game allows for player decision in almost everything, this usually favors the "good-guy" outcome; a player can choose the "bad" options, but the changes to the story are cosmetic, at least until the Final Judgment sequence after completion. The lack of background animations left a dry feeling sometimes, although this is very difficult to accomplish. Fallout's cousin, Baldur's Gate, while not doing a great job with background animation, pleased me in that the water actually moved, unlike Fallout's photographic feel.

The Bottom Line
This is one of the greatest ever, from any genre. Don't doubt it would keep anyone up late (but not as bad as, say, civilization or its latest incarnation Alpha Centauri). It is a truely well-done, restorative game that brings back the best of the old school RPG. Not only is it mechanically ideal, but perfectly presented.

The Good
It's the end of the world as we know it and I for one have always wondered about life after World War 3. So, finally, Interplay has given us a chance to explore that world and, of course, become the last, best hope for humanity. And having played Fallout, I can hardly think it could have been done better.

At the moment the opening movie begins to play, Fallout is all about atmosphere. The 1950's/future tech/post-apocalypse styling of the game is well thought out and well implemented with the great graphics and sound. Elements such as wasted cars, burned-out buildings, and the cute 1950's-kitsch "Pip-Boy" character who appears throughout your option screens all bring Fallout a solid sense of its own flavor. And, of course, there are the bits of dark humour thrown in for good measure. Upon entering the game world one feels that this is something which hasn't been experienced before in a computer RPG. In my experience with RPG's, only Planescape: Torment has so engulfed me in its world.

Another of the key points in favor of the game is combat. The wastelands are tough and you must defend yourself or eat radiated dust. If there was one word I would use to describe Fallout's combat it would be "Visceral". The guns sound great, particularly the crack-clink of the assault rifle, and the animations are very well done, making the action almost cinematic. Not to mention the fact that the weapons themselves pack serious punch. From advanced destruction like combat shotguns and plasma weapons to old school stuff like brass knuckles and desert eagle pistols, Fallout has a heavy duty arsenal.

Beyond just the look and feel of the combat, there is the challenging tactical gameplay available. Management of action points between shots and movement is an art essential to victory, as are the choice of weapons, armor, and even what enhancing drugs you take. And while in classic RPG's, you have virtually unlimited usage of your Sword Of Much Head-Busting, most of the useful weapons in Fallout are limited by ammunition. Keep good track of your ammo because, while that minigun may mow down most enemies, it won't last long if you use it for hunting down cave rats. The combat is a game within itself (and, in fact, an expanded version of it will be a game in itself fairly soon in the upcoming "Fallout Tactics").

Most RPG's place a prime importance upon character development and Fallout does as well. Developing my skills in different fields kept me constantly looking for ways to gain experience to bring up my abilities. And of further interest are your reputation, which changes how people will react to you, and "perks", extra-special abilities which are bestowed every 3 or 4 Skill Levels.

There's also the constant management of your inventory to do, of course. I mean, you can only carry 250lbs or so. So you can't carry everything you find. Just mostly everything.

The "music" in Fallout is really more like ambient sound effects combined with various drumbeats or sitar-pluckings that wander into the background. It mimicks the barrenness of the wastes themselves, stirring in the sparks of surviving humanity, which is really the essence of the Fallout story. The only real traditional music is in the opening sequence, in which a crackly old 40's ballad sets an eerie contrast to the devastation.

All in all, with the above mentioned facets as well as the good storyline and good puzzles, Fallout rules.

The Bad
Aaaaaaagh! Bugs! Giant, radiated ones. Geez. You think they could have QA'd this a bit more, but I guess not. Bugs run rampant throughout the program and range from silly to frustrating. I have had problems with unplayable saved games (don't wait very long between saves, friends), untimely game crashes, and a couple other bugs that oughtn't to have been in a complete game. One I haven't encountered, but have heard much about, is the multiplying Ian effect. This is when your party-member Ian is suddenly multiplied several times or more and the duplicates won't go until you kill them.

Then there is AI. The AI is fine for most of the time. But then it can get just plain stupid. I don't mind if the enemy gets stupid on occasion. But I simply won't have my own party-member shooting me in the back of the head with an uzi. It just shouldn't happen. Further, the NPC's of your party seem to have no sense of self-preservation. I don't know how many times I've had to reload the game because Dogmeat bravely jumped at a minigun-wielding super-mutant and got turned to kibbles n' bits. Grrrrrrr. But maybe the worst NPC fault is when they follow you into a tight place and then you can't turn around because they block your way. That really ought to have been fixed. It should be noted that most of these AI bugs were fixed for the equally excellent Fallout 2.

The Bottom Line
All bugs aside, Fallout is one of the best RPG experiences you will ever have.

The Good
Fallout is indeed a huge game. With its big world it enables player to feel just like the main characters. The game also has many quests which aren't essential but definitely are worth completing. Nice music makes it even better however I can't say that the sound is that good. It is nice but without the game it couldn't stand among hits like Final Fantasy. There are thousands of lines of text which rarely appears to be boring as player's interaction with the characters is rather big. Well to say the truth you can do everything you want, even destroy the whole place if you manage to do that. The NPCs act different if you are a 2,5m tough guy or a 50kg intelligent young woman so you can play this game more than once and you may discover different quests and new npcs/enemies/weapons etc.

The Bad
The player is free to do everything and so you can finish the game in few hours if you know where to go and what to do. You can have a "mercenary" who will help you in your quest, however it its difficult to communicate with him, order him to act in a particular way and use specified weapons. Fallout also has a time limit. It is rather big but doesn't change the fact that player is limited and has to do the two main quests in specified limit of time.

The Bottom Line
For RPG maniacs it is definitely a must. Great atmosphere, logical quests and good interaction with other characters. It does have several disadvantages but we have to notice that the game was released in 1997 and that explains rather poor graphics and sound.

The Good
Zovni's review of this game, "Vault-Tec Approved", was probably the most brilliantly written, dead-on accurate, comprehensive review I could imagine being written for what is essentially the Grandfather of Post-Apocalyptic RPG's. As much as I feel that Fallout is without doubt one of the crowning jewels in my computer game collection, I don't know that I could possibly say anything about this masterpiece of gaming that he hasn't already covered. How many ways can one say "priceless"? I can say with certainty that if the bombs fell and the world was thrown into post-apocolyptic anarchy and only a handful of working copies of this game survived, I would beg, bargain, barter, con, steal, or kill to ensure that one of them was mine.

The Bad
As much as this review is likely to be awarded a 1 on the MobyGames scale of 1 to 5, I just can't say anything that hasn't been said. Granted, yes, the game had some bugs - like all games do - but I honestly couldn't say that the worst of them would make me want to play Fallout even five minutes less.

The Bottom Line
I post this review for one sole reason: To throw my vote in, to raise my hand for, to emphatically stand behind, as so many have before me, Interplay's Fallout as the all time #1 Absolute Must Have Computer Game of All Time. Stop reading this page right now - click the Buy/Trade link on the left there and get your hands on this game!! If you don't, you might as well put your PC up for sale on eBay, because without a copy of Fallout installed, your computer is nothing. =)

The Good
Fallout is routinely considered one of the finest RPGs ever produced, and has garnered a rabid cult following since its release in late 1997. It should come as no surprise, then, that there are a great many good qualities to detail.

The world of Fallout is a beautifully-done satire of 1950s-era fears of nuclear holocaust. It is a bleak, harsh vision of what the people of that time thought that the future would be like, and what would happen when the bombs fell and ruined civilization. As such, the style of the game is heavily influenced by 1950s art and architecture. Computers are massive terminals running on tape and vacuum tubes. Cars have the distinct look of 1950s models. Magazine ads, public service announcements, and so on all have the distinct '50s-Americana flavor. Yet, there is a healthy dose of dark humor and irony running through the setting, not the least of which being that the player, obviously playing the game well after the 1950s, can smile at an extrapolation of the legitimate fears of a generation.

Perhaps the key characteristic of Fallout, though, is that, unlike a large number of RPGs, it remembers that the “R” and “P” stand for role-playing. To that end, Fallout provides ample opportunity for the player to not only create a role for himself/herself in the game world, but to make meaningful choices in the context of that world. The SPECIAL system -- a fortunate byproduct of the loss of the GURPS license due to Steven Jackson Games' issues with the game's violent content – stands as one of the most versatile and useful character creation systems ever devised. Players assign points to each of the seven core abilities (such as Strength, Intelligence, etc.), which affect how the character interacts with the world in accordance with standard RPG conventions. The scores also affect different skills (such as Lockpick, Doctor, and so on), three of which the player can choose to “tag,” or specialize in. The player also has the ability to choose two “traits,” special characteristics that bestow some advantage upon the character with a trade-off. For example, “Fast Shot” allows the character to attack more quickly, but at the expense of being unable to make targeted shots. The character creation system, then, allows the player to truly create a character suited to their style of play, whether that be “quick, glib sniper” or “big brawler with the IQ of a four-year-old.”

Of course, several RPGs allow for intricate character creation, then fail to actually make any of that hard work on the part of the player significant in any way. Fortunately, Fallout does not suffer from such a problem, as not only the style of character but also the player's actions in the world affect the way that NPCs react to him. Did you off the leader of one wasteland town? Then the criminal element in the next town over will have heard of you and wish to employ your services. Is your character so stupid that he can barely form coherent sentences? The sheriff that was so eager to ask for your help in bringing that criminal element to justice will no longer even speak with you. Do you get some sort of perverse enjoyment out of bashing orphaned children in the groin with a sledgehammer? The town will turn on you and try to drive your twisted self out of town. There are myriad instances of being able to play the game and complete it in many different ways. Pretty much any type of character can complete the game in its own way, providing a different play experience each time.

The combat system is, in this reviewer's opinion, one of the finest ever crafted in any RPG, period. The decision to go with a purely turn-based system in the days when games such as Diablo were all the rage was, quite frankly, a great decision. Combat feels more strategic and unfolds at a slower pace (but this is not a bad thing; quite the contrary, in fact). Combat takes place on a hex-grid on the game map. Every combatant has a number of Action Points with which to perform actions during his or her turn. Every action has an AP cost, and once the character's AP are depleted, their turn is over. Moving, for example, costs one AP per hex moved, while firing a Desert Eagle pistol costs five AP for a single shot. Perks (special abilities gained through raising experience levels) can modify these AP costs. Furthermore, characters can make “targeted shots” for one AP more, choosing to try to attack an opponent's head, legs, and even groin (who didn't at least smile in juvenile glee the first time they realized that you could target an opponent's groin?). These attacks have a lower likelihood of connecting, but with a payoff: higher potential for critical damage or injury, such as blindness or crippled limbs. The system feels very tactical, and builds off of the abilities of the character and the player's decisions instead of proficiency in twitch gaming.

The Bad
Despite its numerous good qualities, however, Fallout does have its blemishes. By far the most irritating thing about Fallout is the way NPC party members are handled. The system for managing NPC companions -- or rather the lack thereof -- is extremely poor. The player can only instruct companions in very basic ways, such as “draw your best weapon in the next fight” or “stay close to me.” Though party members can technically carry equipment, they must be bartered with in order for the player to actually get the item back. (Well, you could always steal the item back from them, but if you get caught they will turn on you and try to kill you.) The NPCs themselves are pretty much useless, especially in the latter half of the game when the player has good enough equipment to take out an army. They do not grow in power, and they will often do stupid things such as shoot the PC more often than the enemy or block movement by obliviously standing in a doorway for five minutes. They effectively become little more than cannon fodder for randomly-encountered squads of super mutants. (Most of these problems with companions were remedied in Fallout 2, however.)

The only other negative of which to speak is the “unfinished” nature of the game. There are numerous quests that are either broken or unimplemented, though characters in-game will still mention them or even give them to you. This is, again, especially problematic in the later stages of the game. Additionally, some of the elements of the game that were included are glitchy or do not work as they are supposed to.

These problems, however, are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and do not seriously detract from the overall experience.

A note: Fallout can be very finicky on newer machines running Windows XP or Vista. Any problems encountered are usually pretty easy to remedy, but are still annoying nonetheless.

The Bottom Line
Atmosphere, gameplay, and above all else, freedom to play however you want. There are a scant few games that can readily claim that they have all of these things in abundance, but Fallout is part of that echelon of games. Despite its relatively minor flaws, Fallout delivers a unique role-playing experience that truly justifies its status as a classic and cult favorite.

The Good
Years after it's release Fallout is a name that still commands respect among rpg gamers and gaming enthusiasts alike and with good reason. After Diablo broke everyone's pre-conceptions by providing a FUN rpg-like experience based around a tile-based isometric gameworld, Interplay took the hint and developed a game that capitalized on the new graphic trend but enhanced the roleplaying side of things instead of being a medieval-themed whack-a-mole.

Thinking back a little it was quite a gamble for Interplay, but to their credit they did stack the deck to their advantage: Fallout was the first title to come out of their newly-formed rpg division, and as such paid homage to one of the company's greatest hits: the classic Wasteland (in fact the game is pretty much an unofficial remake). Interplay was NOT going to let this one fail on them and from the moment it came out it became evident the care and quality in design poured on it.

As with most legendary games everything has already been said about them, so I can be brief and just summarize why it rocks so. For starters this was the first rpg in a while that really took to heart the "role" in roleplaying, and as such allowed you to pretty much do whatever you wanted. This philosophy first became evident when you started your game through the character generation page and you realized that there were no classes... that's right, no predefined molds to get stuck into. Instead S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (as the character system got named) allowed you to shuffle a predefined level of attributes that molded the basic high and lows of your character and then you distributed your assorted points in the real heart of the beast: the skill system.

Summing up every possible action under a specific skill (small arms for gunfire, science for hacking and stuff like that, etc.) the developers crafted a solid gameplay system under which mostly every possible action was available. Yes, skill systems are not new, but Fallout's system managed to hit the spot on just about everything, by leaving out ambiguous, yet always present rpg skills like "leadership" or "octopramancy" (??) and simply focusing on correctly modeling a small list of solid, down-to-earth ones, that became the foundation for the solid gameplay. Gameplay which develops like a good-ol'-fashioned adventure game which relied on these skills to provide different paths and solutions to the problems at hand as well as provide different ways for you to interact with the gameworld. It's easy to see where the whole thing takes you: want to charm your way to the bad guy's lair by seducing the guard? You'd better have the right dialogue skills, which allow you to select more options when talking, and be the right person for the job (yes, Fallout is amongst the first games that I knew of that made actual distinctions in gameplay for male and female characters). Want to hack the security system so as to toast him with no effort? That's what those science points are for. Your character has no brains and needs to resort to violence? Go for it! As your character develops you construct him/her into whatever character suits your playing style and the addition of starting traits and the chance to select unique perks when leveling up allows you to add different, rule-bending capabilities to your character that keep things interesting as you can always add a nice twist to your character by say... adding bonus moves to your action pool, or making you a night-creature that gains bonuses when the sun goes down but penalizes you during daytime...

The system is flexible enough to provide lots of different responses to most quests, but that wouldn't be much of an achievement if you didn't have a proper gameworld that allowed you to try those different paths. This is the other key to Fallout's success: a wonderfully crafted gameworld filled with scripted events, complex locations and diverse set-pieces that is just as flexible as the skill system itself. Flexibility that even extends to moral grounds and which allows you step away from being the standard "paladin of justice" character and be a bit more naughty.... you know doing everyday things like raping & pillaging, betraying friends for money, blackmailing, extorting and generally being the bad boy/girl of your dreams. All actions that have consequences in your immediate gameworld (party members that may desert you, underworld doors that might open to you, etc.) as well as the larger plotline that looms around you (in fact, a kickass addition to the endgame is that you get a rundown of how you affected each location with your actions. How cool is that?).

Yes the game does nudge you into the "good" direction, and ultimately the plot revolves around you being the saviour of the world, but there's ample room for you to do naughty things in the ambiguously moral, dog-eat-dog society of the wastes, where decent farmers might be ready to stab you in the back at any time, and criminal overlords might provide the only measure of trust you can find... provided you play their game... A feat made possible by the grim, yet darkly humorous tone that runs through the entire game and which coats the whole experience in a satirically enjoyable mood that includes references to practically every post-apocalyptic movie ever made, and that permeates every aspect of the game, even the damage description texts! ("Dog receives XX amount of critical damage and spectacularly flies into the air exploding into tiny chunks of meat as it goes. Dog would have loved to see that, but unfortunately it was already dead".... :)))

This takes me to another key feature and which involves the incredibly detailed production design that went into the game. From the exceptionally moody intro sequence that places you into the apocalyptic mood faster than you can say "Nuke" to the distinct art direction that based it's look around 50's cold-war nuclear scares (seen Terminator 3? Remember the nuke shelter John and co. go into at the end? That's what I'm talking about) Ie. Valve-radios, vintage cars, friendly yet somehow disturbing PSA's that were also used to describe the many features in the game (with the uber-cool Pip Boy!![or Vault-Boy or whatever you want to call him] which also appears in the excellent manual). The graphics, composed of pre-rendered sprites and tiles give the entire game a distinct look that is always strictly in tune with the dark-toned mood of the game, and the exceptional music composed by Mark Morgan constructs a soundscape like no other with eery cues and tribal sounds. As in every decent rpg the story is a primordial element, and while boiling down to the usual "go kill gonzo" still manages to remain interesting and thrilling through the entire game, with the constant threat of a mutant armada looming around you just as in the original Wasteland (although they were robots back then) and with the added responsibility of saving a secluded society of Vault-dwellers that appealed personally to me as it made the game even more like one of my favorite comic book series: "Danske" by Wood/Villagran, which also dealt with an unwilling character going out into the unknown wastes of a post-apocalyptic world in search of the key to save her vault-dwelling friends and relatives. Said comic however did NOT have what has to be the BEST. ENDING. EVER. Shocking, emotional, and completely coherent with the game and subject, Fallout's gritty ending is another reason why it's so fondly remembered.

Oh, and lest I forget, Fallout's grim post-apocalyptic world is no exception to that rule-of-thumb in rpgs that dictate that sometimes there are no peaceful resolutions to conflict: and so it has it's own comprehensive combat system that was so good (save for some odd quirks, see "the bad") that it got it's own game (Fallout: Tactics). Basically what you have here is a full-fledged turn-based tactical combat system which is ruled by the aforementioned skill system (to determine accuracy, damage, etc.) and incorporates into that a stellar combat interface that includes shitloads of weapons with different firing modes, ammunition types and even supports called shots that allow you to blind a target or cripple them with a well placed bullet (be careful though: the same goes for you and your friends... and there are no magic resurrection temples in this game). Range and lighting take a major part in your stats and weapon customization allows you to enhance your weapons for extra damage or added features taking the depth of the combat mode even further. It's hard to believe that at the same time this was happening on a PC near you console gamers were drooling for the ATB system in FF7.... sheeesh....

The Bad
Graphically the game can get a bit monotone after a while, as there is only so much desert junktowns you can stomach. Besides that, there are some.... uh..."interesting" design choices which would have worked out if it weren't for some ill fated AI problems and interface issues. What I'm talking about here basically is party management and interaction.

The decision was made to make party members independent NPCs that just followed your character around, and while you can instruct them to keep a certain amount of distance from you, you have no way of controlling what weapons or armor they use or what the hell they do in combat. Now, this could have worked, unfortunately the shitty AI causes your allies to drop shotguns and start throwing flares at your enemies, run face first into an enemy wielding a mini-gun, throw grenades at an enemy that's locked in hand-to-hand combat with you and other assorted fuckups that will make you wonder if they are worth the extra firepower and inventory space (specially once you figure that the only way to share items with them is to use the same bartering interface you use with the rest of the world (??)). Their path-finding is also horrendous and more often than not, your buddies can make you get stuck in a corner whenever you are indoors, as they follow you and clutter around you, leaving you no room to maneuver. Not to mention that they are decidedly shallow, cardboard cut-outs characters that have less appeal than most npcs you encounter in the game.

There are also some stupid fuckups with the skill system's dice rolls that make sense system-wise, but are completely out of touch with basic physics laws and could have been resolved with some common sense. For instance, can anyone explain me how is it that a critical failure with a burst weapon causes someone to hit characters that are BEHIND his line of sight?? Believe me, there are no safe areas whenever anyone pulls out a burst weapon...

Finally, I felt it was a huge mistake to add a time limit to what's essentially a game about exploring the rich gameworld that surrounds you. Yes, the limit is removed in the later versions in the sense that it no longer forces a "game over" on you. But it still affects the game in many sucky ways (ie. the location endings).

The Bottom Line
To summarize Fallout in a few lines is a pretty bogus idea, but I guess I can try and say that it's a landmark achievement in the world of CRPGs and mature videogaming alike, not to mention the best post-apocalyptic game ever (except for it's sequel). If you are one of the poor fools that still hasn't played it do yourself a favor and pick up a copy ASAP, it's required gaming for anyone who considers himself a serious gamer and it's one of the coolest experiences you can have in front of a computer. Best enjoyed with a side order of Iguanas-on-a-stick and plenty of Nuka-Cola.

The Good
In the early 90’s PCRPGS were not so hot. Sure there was the occasional Ultima, or Might and Magic, but the market was still lacking. Enter Fallout, from Black Isle, a different type of CRPG. And one than would usher in a new era of fantastic CRPGS.

In Fallout, your are a inhabitant of Vault 13. The world above is dead, and those lucky enough to be saved, have not seen the surface for a long time. You are sent above to find a water chip, little do you know that this simple quest will change your life, and that of all the surface dwellers forever.

Topside a few scattered groups of people have banded together and have built up a primitive new world. Akin to “Mad Max” and the Phillip K. Dick novel, “The Penultimate Truth”. On your quest to save your Vault, you will meet hundreds of shady characters, and many will offer to join your cause, it is up to you who if anyone to trust. You will also uncover a city of mutants, they were once human but no more thanks to the nuclear wastes, that they have made home.

The plot is well written and full of mystery. From the awesome opening, till you achieve one of the multiple endings Fallout, will keep you glued to your monitor, as you explore a dystopian society that is more than it seems. Several factions have appeared in the new world and it is up to you to join or ignore them.

In Fallout you make your character. From basics like Male/Female, to stats, and cool perks. Perks include, being extra lucky, to the funny and bizarre spontaneous combustion. You can accumulate a party, or not, it is entirely up to you, as are the factions join one and gain the perks of being a member or be a loner. Or even betray your own Vault. This can all be overwhelming at first, but after an hour or so, you will wish all RPGS were this open-ended. This also lends to high replay value.

Skills include which weapons you are proficient with. You have many choices here, swords, guns, hand to hand, blunt, etc. Gun combat is probably the most satisfying. But once more it is up to you. There are skills you must “use” as well, from medic to increased defense. There are passive skills as well.

The combat can either be set to turn based, or real time. Turn based is somewhat easier, but the basics remain the same. You have action points or AP. Doing things in battle consume these points, from attacking, running, reloading, etc. In battle you will face mutants, humans, etc, all with a certain weakness.

You explore towns made of scrap, ruined Vaults, a Necropolis, and that is just scratching the surface. The setting makes Fallout one of the most unique RPGS out there, and give the game much personality. Rivaled perhaps only by Planescape: Torment, ShadowRun, and Arcanum.

The graphics are good for the time, and while a little dated today, they are still passable. The areas are well detailed and have a certain charm. The character graphics are nice and well detailed, such as when you equip a new type of armor or weapon. Lighting effects help convey dark areas, or the brightness of the wastelands.

The sound effects are nice. But the music and the voice acting steal the show in Fallout. The music is often just audible in the background, and never pretentious. The VO’S are all top notch.

The Bad
Getting Fallout to run on newer machines is a chore. Why can't there be an easier way?

Why couldn’t there have been full voice acting?

If you stray to far early on, you will be sorry.

The Bottom Line
Fallout helped get Black Isle off the ground, and remains as one of their best games. If you were not old enough to play the “Wastelands” CRPG, Fallout, is a good alternate. I cannot wait till Fallout 3!

The Good
If all RPGs were like this one, there would be peace on earth (because everyone would be home playing). The character development is amazingly detailed -- skill-based, not class-based. You can play a heavy-handed bruiser, a light-footed thief, or a slick con-man. Heck, you can play a heavy-handed thief, a slick bruiser, or a light-footed con-man... you choose.

Graphics are amazingly detailed, especially for such small figures (whichever weapon/armor you're using actually shows up on your character). The sound effects are quite realistic and perfectly timed to in-game events, and the background music is hauntingly subtle.

And playability. Oh, my.

Gameplay is almost completely non-linear, though the tougher quests do tend to show up later on. You can play as a "good guy" or "bad guy", and the world will change based on the choices you make. In fact, it's impossible to finish ALL the quests, since completing one may remove another from the game. You can play this one through several times, and have a different experience each time. The endgame sequence will change, too, depending on which quests you've completed within the game.

The Bad
Biggest complaint seems to be buggy code, though the 1.1 patch seems to have fixed a lot of these minor annoyances. I find it annoying that NPCs who join you can't wear armor or gain levels -- practically ensuring that they'll get shredded by a gatling laser cannon later on in the game. And while on the topic of NPC management, you have to use your "Steal" skill to transfer items back and forth between your NPCs... which gets old if they refuse to stand still. BUT, sometimes they do stand still... in a doorway... that you want to go through... and you have to wait... until they move... which is a pain.

The final scene from the game is horribly sad... almost brings a tear to the eye.

The Bottom Line
This game is available in a bundle with Fallout 2 for about US$10. If you own a computer, there should be NO reason that you do not purchase this game and play it until your spouse threatens to do hurtful things to you if you don't give it a break.

The Good
Yes, that's right. Orcs are now ultra-technological mutants. It seems that Interplay got bored of the classic recipe for RPG's, the fantasy world, filled with all kinds of elves, orcs, ogres, goblins, giant snakes etc... Interplay created a SF world, similar to the one in Mad Max. I usually hate SF/Mecha stuff, but Fallout was the only SF game I liked. Why? I will tell you here: First: This is the most interesting world I've ever seen in any game. The first reason would be that the planet on which the action takes place is Earth. Yes, our beloved planet. But it's something wrong with it. WE have destroyed part of it's surface during the 3'rd World War with nuclear weapons. Sounds kinda weird, but believe me the atmosphere present in this game is simply AWESOME.

The graphics and sound/music makes you believe that you are really alive in that world and you're not a simple player.

During the game, you can interact with most of the objects on the map, most of them being used for one of the available quests.

Also, each NPC in the game has something to tell you, and that makes the game even more realistic. You won't run near an NPC without seeing a message on top of his head.

The game uses for the intro sequence a classic song "The Ink Spots-Maybe", which, in my opinion, makes the FO1 intro one of the best i've ever seen. The intro itself is divided into 2 parts. One presents the world, and the other one presents the reason for the destruction of the world.

In order to start the game you must first create your character. You can use one of the 3 pre-defined characters, or you can create your own, choosing the name, perks, skills etc.

The available skills for you are more than enough, and that applies to perks too. You will never get bored while level upping your character, and you can finish the game using other skills everytime. That way, you will never get bored. The character's attributes are the classical Strenght, Dexterity, Perception etc...

The world you play in is quite big, and for travelling you will use system similar to the one present in Baldur's Gate.

Each town in the game is different from all others, and in a town you can recieve missions/buy stuff/sleep etc... The missions available for you are quite numerous so fun is guaranteed.

I also liked the weapons, variating from pistols, to rocket launchers.

One of the good things in this game would be the "healing system". Apart from all other RPG's now, you have some more ways to die. If your health falls below 0, you die. If you get radiated more than normal, you die. If you get sick because of chem. using, you die. And more.

The game is divided in 2 parts. What I liked about this aspect was that in the first part, when you are "under time pressure" you quickly explore the world, and after you finish the first part, you are under no pressure, so you can complete the quests you found during P1.

I liked the idea of saving your people from damnation but it's kinda used too much and ... well... it offers you a deja-vu sensation :)

There are some characters in the game that use voice, borrowed from famous actors. The voices sound perfectly! Simply put, the characters even seem to be real!

The Bad
It's hard to find something bad in this game. Maybe the tons of bugs... but most of them are now fixed with the new patches.

The Bottom Line
Humans destroyed the world and now mutants think they can make the new world a better place by transforming humans into other stinky mutants?! What the hell! Take 'em out now!

The Good
I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil your Fallout experience, but I will give you an example.

Imagine a band of musicians. Each one of them is a virtuoso in playing his instrument, but they compose their songs in such a way so as to show their individual mastery of their instruments. The result may be good, but something is missing!

What is missing is the soul of the music...this unique element that will forever engrave the songs in your heart and render them unforgettable.

Now this unforgettable effect can be achieved even by mediocre musicians...the feeling is there...it’s in their blood!

My point is that Fallout has this unique feeling. The soul of this game is in its atmosphere. And the wonderful thing about it is that the graphics, sound and other individual elements of the game are not mediocre. The designers and programmers have done a very good job in every aspect of this masterpiece.

And who said that Fallout does not have magic! It has the real magic...the kind that instantly transports you from your room to the nightmare of the wastelands, from the very beginning, when you try to decide the specifics of your persona.

I have never seen such detailed character creation. This original system of attributing points and skills will help you develop a hawk-eyed sniper or even a gorilla-like brute...and every choice here will have varying repercussions later in the game.

To be able to enjoy this game to the maximum try to develop a balanced character and remember that some attributes will make life easier at the beginning of the game, but others will help you advance later in the scenario.

Furthermore, try to talk to everyone before you decide to go on a shooting spree and remember to choose your weapons wisely because sometimes ammo is scarce.

A final word of advice...if you have a girlfriend / boyfriend be ready to forget about her for a few days, lest she follows you to this hopeless radioactive place full of unknown dangers to help you tackle the task of altering the future of the wastelands.

The Bad
Well...is there something that I did not like?

I don't think so!

I am not saying that this game is perfect, rather that the weak elements of the game (if any) are overshadowed by the good ones.

To be quite frank...you will probably be so captivated by Fallout that you will not notice the negative aspects in this game!

The Bottom Line
This is a cult game.

It also has a lot of cult followers.

But let us not waste more words...

The prophecy states that the time of your initiation is at hand...

After all...if you are reading this review you are destined to become one of us...in just a little while...

The Good
Replayable, decent plot with sense of urgency, good setting, focus on role-playing, deep but uncomplicated statistic system, entertaining despite serious flaws.

The Bad
Riddled with bugs (even after a patch), half-finished feel with many incomplete areas and storylines, drastically imbalanced (towards "Easy"), many useless paths of statistic development.

The Bottom Line
Way back in 1999, I played a little game called Fallout 2. It was a blast- one of the best RPGs I've ever played. The kind of game where the first thing you want to do after finishing is go back to the start and do it all again. I played through it two or three times, until I felt I had seen all it had to offer, then made a mental note to track down the original someday. "Someday" was a long time coming. You know how it is- you get busy and things get put off. It was 2007- Fallout's tenth anniversary- before I finally got around to snagging a copy off eBay. In the meantime Fallout had been idolized, emulated, enthused about, and raised to the level of RPG classic. It is a frequent- nay, expected- presence on various "Best of All Time" lists.

Now I've played it, and... I'm surprised at how mediocre it is.

I'm sure anyone reading this will know the plot, but just in case, it goes something like this: Pretty much the entire world has been turned into an irradiated wasteland after a full-scale nuclear war. A handful of human settlements survive- most in huge underground cities called "Vaults", sealed off completely from the outside world. You were born and have been living in one such vault, Vault 13. For all of your life, the vault has been a peaceful and reasonably happy home, but now something has gone terribly wrong. The circuit board that controls the vault's water recycler is broken. They can't fix it, don't have a spare, and will run out of water in five months. The only option is to send someone out into the wasteland to track down another vault and find a new chip. Guess who drew the short straw?

Fallout is a great game in a lot of ways. The setting is well-executed- gritty, dirty, and anarchic, just like you'd expect a post-nuclear world would be. Even in later areas, the professional fighters carry knives and spears frequently, because there just aren't enough guns in the world to go around. That's brilliant. Much more significantly, the focus on dialogue and diplomacy over combat must have been revolutionary in it's time. Just like the sequel, I played it twice consecutively, and might eventually go at it a third time.

On the other hand, though, I'm often surprised at how thin it's spread. In fact, I'd say it has the worst coding and nuts-and-bolts design of any game I've ever played and liked. Subplots peter out or stop entirely. NPCs mention things that don't exist in-game, or don't exist as described (Killian is especially bad with this). Scripts misfire, breaking quests. Important NPCs vanish due to weird bugs. Quests that are referred to- in at least two cases, even appearing on the quest list- don't exist or don't seem to be completable. Cities are full of empty buildings and generic NPCs. Several areas are blatantly half-finished. If this game were released today, even with the RPG market in the state it is today, it would be lambasted by critics, derided on the internet, and flop mightily on the shelves- frankly, it's "beta in a box".

There are much deeper issues, too. Although in many ways the best-executed part of the game, the overarching plot is drastically overrated. The water-chip quest is really just a McGuffin to motivate you on from town to town, resolving the troubles of the populace along the way. The plot that develops later is just plain old you vs. the bad guys, with a hint of mad-scientist. With slight modifications, I've seen it before. Numerous times. The ending IS ingenious, but it can't obscure the mundanity preceding.

The stat system is a huge flaw. I won't knock the developers for that, because I don't think it's their fault. Fallout was originally supposed to use an electronic adaptation of Steve Jackson Games' pen-and-paper GURPS system. Somewhere along the way, though- by accounts I've heard, rather close to release- Interplay and SJG had a falling-out, and instead the developers cooked up a homebrew system called SPECIAL.

SPECIAL is pretty simple- at game start, you choose cosmetic details- age, name, sex- then distribute 35 points among seven statistics that each have a range of 1-10. These statistic values determine characteristics such as hit points and carry weight, and the starting values of your skills. Skills are on a percentile scale, each calculated from one or two statistics using a different formula. You choose three "Tag Skills"- things you do especially well. Lastly, you choose up to two traits. Traits confer powerful extra benefits, but are typically double-edged. Gifted, for example, gives you 7 bonus statistic points but your skills will be less developed. Finesse gives you less damage on standard attacks but more on critical hits, and so on.

Once the game starts, you increase your abilities by gaining experience levels. At each new level, you get more hit points and more skill points. Skill points are spent to increase your skills- one skill point for one percentage point in a given skill. You can go above 100%, but you get diminishing returns. To your Tag Skills you get a 20% bonus at start, and they also increase twice as fast- one skill point equals two percentage points in the skill. Also, every third level you get a bonus ability called a perk, some of which are very powerful.

All pretty good- simple to understand yet with an appealing complexity. The problem is, it's radically imbalanced. Without giving stuff away, once you know the game you can draw up a quick list of "must have" tags, stat values, and traits, and use that to coast through 90% of the game with any other reasonable values you wish. Many skills are useless- Big Guns pales next to Energy Weapons. First Aid is useless due to the abundance of stimpaks. Doctor is useful only when you get hit with a crippling critical, which hasn't happened to me yet. Outdoorsman is a joke. Traps only show up in one area. Sneak is nearly useless next to fast-talking and an occasional disguise.

Monty Hall also makes his presence known- after getting finished with the third town, you have more money than you know what to do with, and after completing a certain major side-quest, you'll never need cash again.

Yet bizarrely, I still love it. That's not some half-baked internet equivocation- It really is the most enjoyable game I've played all year. (Except for a Fallout 2 replay, heh.) I'm at a loss for explanations. I guess the elusive "fun factor" really is hard to define.

I will defend Fallout as worth playing, but I'm unconvinced it deserves the title "classic". If you ask me, the sequel- often derided as inferior- is actually a much better game. It's more solid, more developed, better written, and significantly less half-baked. As I write this Fallout 3 is in development, from a different studio known for a much different design philosophy. The fanboys, as fanboys are want to do, are prophesying doom- a lousy game that disgraces the Fallout name. Maybe they're right. Maybe not. We'll find out when the game comes out. But after hearing the entire gaming community enthuse, and then seeing what they're enthusing about firsthand, Fallout is frankly almost a disgrace to it's own name. The emperor is... well, no, not REALLY stark naked, but dressed like Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The Good
The joy of a role playing game is that you (the player) gets to take on the persona of your character. Very few computer rpg's understand this, but Fallout gets this completely right. Your character in Fallout is more that a stack of numbers, he or she is an everyday person with some skills and some deficiencies. The environment is a post-apocalyptic but maintains a sense of wonder. The characters are developed, you'll meet good people in evil towns, sympathetic monsters, and monstrous humans. You will see man's inhumanity to man and hope in a hopeless situation. Best of all, your character develops as he or she struggles to survive, from everyday person to hero, anti-hero, or villian.

The Bad
The time constraints placed on the quest adds a sense of urgency but doesn't allow for that much exploration early on. A patch does correct this. More character models would have been appropriate for the player character or maybe a body type that changes according to character stats. Turn based combat might not work for some.

The Bottom Line
Hmmm... me against three mutants. Do I shoot two of them or go for a head shot against the big one? Good thing I brought the minigun.

The Good
As a psuedo sequel to Wasteland, it had all the trappings of a great game. Deep plot, complex characters and the ending gave you an idea of the true consequenses of your actions. The main quest was decent, but did not force it down your throat, allowing you to enjoy all the little nuisances of the story including all the side quests.

The Bad
That said, I was a little letdown on how easy the ending was. You became too powerful for the game by the end. But this is a minor quibble on an otherwise great game.

The Bottom Line
Think Damnation Alley the movie, but not as cheesy and missing George Prepard.

The Good
I enjoyed every aspect of this game. From it's graphics and user interface to the skill system and stroyline! The storyline is superb, after tiring of numerous fanatasy RPG's, with little innovation and less stroy, I distanced myself from the genre. On a whim I bought Fallout, because it looked different from other RPG's, my feelings were correct Fallout WAS different! With the same detail to character development in old RPG's as well as the fresh skill system and it's post apocalyptic storyline this game made me fall in love with RPG's all over again!

The story starts out simple, but as you progress, the game weaves a beautifully complex tapestry, which figures your character in the middle. I can't express enough how great a game this is. Go out and buy it now!

The Bad
What didn't I like that's hard to say, my complaints if any are trivial and mostly asthetic. I would have liked more detail in the game, the view left me feeling distanced from the character. Another minor complaint was the complete lack of any color, yes there was a nuclear holocaust, but nature's resilant! I would have like to have seen occasional tufts of green grass and maybe some flowers, a green tree here and there. The endless shades of brown and grey got depressing after awhile. Otherwise nothing else is wrong with the game.

The Bottom Line
A classic, the game that saved PC RPG's and brought a breath of fresh air to the genre. A must have, any respectable gamer will have this on his shelf, if not on his HARD-DRIVE!

The Good
This game, Fallout, being one of the better RPG's ever. I have played this one for weeks, not because I got stuck, but because I wanted to go through all possible choices. The game isn't as easy as it seems. The 20 hours of gameplay can be lengthened heaps if you stay away from hint sheets and the likes. And only then -- without external help, will you really appreciate this game. The sphere, the actions, the way combat has been enhanced and ranged weapons are handled realistically. The graphics are functional, and the gore is well-worked out. Especially with the trait 'bloody mess'.

This, in many ways, beats the hell out of Baldur's Gate. Not on the graphical or audio sides. But on indepth and pulling the player in. The story is good, it's far above avarage and some of the twists can actually surprise you.

The Bad
The only thing I don't like about this game is the fact that it's buggy as hell. The version they shipped crashed 50% of the times before the game was done loading. But, with the patches you can get at the Interplay site, these bugs can be eliminated.

The Bottom Line
This game seems to have laid the basis for TSR's Alternity roleplaying game -- The Sci-Fi paper&pencil RPG, in which thesame (sublime) skill system is implemented. Just play this game -- It's way awesome. Trust me.

The Good
Where should i start? The SPECIAL system, the retro-futuristic and post apocalyptic setting, scenario, dialogs, sounds, graphics, easter eggs and puns... This one is truly a classic! It is pretty easy to learn to play for a crpg and has a clean interface. Also, if you are sick of fantasy based crpgs and ww2 shooters this game will be a treat for you.

The Bad
Bugs... What can i say? Even roses have thorns, right? Still, unpatched version(even the patched version) has some really, really annoying bugs. Infinitive Ians bug and crashes are the worst. Speaking of Ian, npcs of this game are kind of shallow; we can't have enough info about them, we can't really form a bond with them(well, except Dogmeat; everybody loves him). And they usually shoot Vault Dweller more than they shoot enemies. Do not give them burst weapons!

The Bottom Line
A must have! You can actually feel the love developers put in this project while playing. If you want a game where your intelligence score means more than more mana points, play this game. Then play it again and again and again...