PlayStation 2

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

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!

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.

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 !

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.

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!

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.