Fallout 2

aka: FO2, Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Moby ID: 239

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 87% (based on 45 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 377 ratings with 14 reviews)

A fantastic and detailed adventure through a post-nuke world ripe for tons of role-playing.

The Good
I consider Fallout 2, first of all, a better game than Fallout 1. My biggest reason for this was that the world is a much bigger place - not just in size or number of cities, but most every town or area was built around the idea that a role-playing game SHOULD contain more places where you're able to choose a different path. In many places, these choices can interlock, especially without you knowing or even including implications you didn't think of. This creates much more of an immersive experience, implying things are going on behind the scenes, without you knowing it.

As is my usual opinion, the game uses a skill-based characters, therefore I almost immediately love the game. This allows deeper characters, and more interesting situations that generic classes. Skills are used quite a bit in individual locations throughout the game, i.e., special places where the skill is put to story- or quest- based use, rather than having generic situations where the skill is used (combat skills, speaking skills...) One situation that I liked involved lock-picking a safe, checking your perception to notice the trap, and trap disarm to see if the bomb was disabled. Of course, you could find the combination to the safe by wiping out the raiders who have the combination...

These two points, the skill system for character growth, and original and involving situations, really make for some cool moments when playing Fallout 2. Cool in the role-playing sense and the way it makes you say out loud "That's AWESOME!"

Something else that I really appreciated about Fallout 2 was the "Mature Subject Matter". Black Isle really handled these issues well, constructing situations where characters not only had to deal with grey areas, but required the player to think about their character to proceed - is drug use really that bad if it makes life worth living again in this radiated hell-hole? If no one's hurt from it, is it okay then? If perfecting the effects of the drug required human subjects, but works out in the long run, is it still okay? A lot of areas treat adult themes with taste, depth, and most of all, originality. It's great to see such an attempt to put art into a computer game.

The Bad
One of the biggest criticisms about Fallout 2 was the bug count, which, for me, wasn't that bad. True, a lot of annoyances crept into my games, but the diligent patching by Black Isle fixed tons of reported problems (including all of mine). Due to this, I can't really berate Fallout 2 on the bug count, but your milage may vary.

Unfortunately, some areas in Fallout 2 seem to be the product of inconsistent designer meetings. Some areas are lacking in explanations and necessary details, or require a certain type of character, which your character may not be. One of the better examples of this is the Toxic Caves, a fairly necessary area to resolve the early town you visit. This area is seemingly a dungeon crawl, with tons of tough enemies and very little chance of getting through without being really really good at combat. This simply makes the region frustrating. Another spot that bugs me, to this day, is a ghost - yes, a ghost. This is a wholly unoriginal quest where you have to find the "lost item of great personal value" so the ghost can finally find eternal rest. I would tolerate this in a fantasy game, but come on - this is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic journey across a scarred America - and the designer resorts to tossing a quest like this in? Pardon my ranting. My point here is that there a few, glaring, sores on Fallout 2 that could have easily been fixed with some overall game design philosophy and directing.

The main plot, in my eyes, could have been better. It serves the purpose, quite nicely in some places, but isn't quite as original as it should be. Figuring out what is happening in the world, and what the evil guys' plot exactly IS, is a cool mystery that you discover as you progress through the game. But it could have been better, especially considering the great moments and situations your character and party get through in the game. Also, even though different paths are possible in the game, none seem to be available in the final parts of the plot.

The Bottom Line
Fallout 2, if I may make an analogy, is the girlfriend with an okay body and a really fabulous personality. She's deep (sometimes amazingly so), she's funny (sometimes hilariously so), she's a perfect companion. But, she does have a few sores that sometimes bug you. But come on - if all you're going to look at is the surface, if you want to look at just the bad stuff, you won't see the great stuff underneath, the stuff that really does make Fallout 2 a GREAT game and not a time-passer.

Windows · by George Shannon (113) · 2000

Better game mechanics than the original, but not quite as "edgy"

The Good
(This assumes you have played the original Fallout.)

Primarily, Fallout 2 fixed a lot of the annoying game mechanics found in the original Fallout. Things like...

  • NPC interaction is vastly improved; you now no longer need to use the "steal" skill to move items, and you can give specifics for equipment use and combat behavior.
  • You can push NPCs (and other in-game characters) out of the way. This is a Good Thing, especially if you have ever gotten stuck in the original because an NPC was blocking a doorway you needed to go through.
  • You can transfer more than 999 items of one type at once. This is a big deal for money, so you can spend more than 999 dollars at a time.
  • Allies in combat are highlighted in green, and neutral/non-combatants are yellow. The green was a perk (Friendly Foe) in the original Fallout, but now comes standard. Which is nice, because all those guys in leather jackets can start to look alike.

There are a ton of areas you can explore, and dozens of new items and weapons. Each area has a number of minor quests you can complete, and there are quite a few hidden areas that will only show up under certain circumstances. It is easier to play this game as a "bad guy" than it was to play the original game that way, and replayability is high because there are so many choices your character can make.

The Bad
While the game does introduce some more "adult" topics such as racism/slavery, organized crime, drug farms, and political corruption, overall the story just seems a bit more... well... goofy. Some examples:

  • Myron the super nerd NPC
  • You can become a porn star (really, don't you have anything better to do?)
  • The stereotypical "shotgun" wedding
  • Joining the mafia (kind of interesting, but not very realistic)
  • The car (a "Deus Ex Machina" item; it just means that overland travel is too slow and you have to carry too many items at once to successfully complete the game)
  • The Hubologists (a blatant mockery of Scientologists)
  • The aliens; I guess they needed "tougher" bad guys than just mutants, so they had the aliens land (plus, they just look silly)
  • There are a number of "special" random encounters that are tie-ins to various movies (the bridgekeeper, the tin woodsman), or are just plain odd (the exploding cattle)

I could go on, but you get the point.

One other thing I found annoying is that this game is really, really hard to get started with. Since your character is a "tribal", you are limited with your initial equipment and surroundings. It takes way too long to get a decent weapon, and the initial encounters (particularly the geckos/fire geckos) often left me saving and restoring more than I would have liked.

The Bottom Line
Less of a true post-apocalyptic style adventure than the original, but definitely worthwhile. If you liked the original, the improved mechanics will be a welcome change... just don't expect quite as "gritty" of an adventure.

Windows · by Mirrorshades2k (274) · 2005

Flexible role-playing in all its glory

The Good
As a sequel to one of the most perfectly crafted role-playing games in history, all Fallout 2 had to do is preserve every single element from its predecessor, give us new locations with new quests, and we would have accepted it with gratitude. However, the developers went further and expanded Fallout with utmost generosity. Fallout 2 is not just bigger: it is more colorful, more varied, and the freedom of role-playing it offers is positively staggering.

I won't discuss the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system or the series' design philosophy in detail in this review, since they are pretty much identical to the first game. I'll therefore specifically refer to things Fallout 2 does better than its predecessor in this section.

For starters, the game world is much larger. Those who say it's too large miss the whole point of world size in free-form RPGs: you go where you want to go, not because a scripted plot takes you there. There are only a few requirements you have to meet to reach the ending - everything else is entirely up to you. Which means that you can complete Fallout 2 without even having seen some of its major locations. If this is not replay value then I don't know what is. You are basically given a gigantic playground where you can do whatever you want.

The new locations are not just bigger - they are more interesting and more diverse. The "sinful" city of New Reno or the Chinatown in San Francisco are just examples of memorable locations that break the post-apocalyptic monotony of the wasteland. There are more setpieces, more unique and unusual quests, and a richer setting that includes, among others, tribal villages, haunted caves, secret bases, encounters with ghosts, aliens, etc. You never know how the next location you decide to visit will look like, or whom or what you are going to see there. And you can even use a cool retro car for easier transportation.

Larger and stylistically more heterogeneous world paired with the fantastically flexible design philosophy of Fallout results in even more choice. Role-playing in this game ranges from being a naive provincial kid respecting his traditions and choosing a spiritual path devoid of any violence to a greedy slave trader and maniacal child killer who betrays and backstabs everyone who trusts him. High intelligence will help you to get through this game's complex world without a single combat engagement, but nothing can prevent you from drugging yourself, stealing powerful energy weapons and mowing down populations of entire cities.

One of the most important improvements over the original is party management. No more stupid companions who will go fight some critters in the corner of the map while you are being demolished by tough deathclaws. You now have a combat management menu available, accessing which allows you to tell your friends exactly what you want them to do. They will attack, according to your instructions, either the toughest enemy, or the one who is currently attacking you, or any enemy of their own choice. They will finally be able to wear the armor you give them. They will use any drugs if you tell them so, or will fight until the bitter end without healing themselves even once.

The interface is still a bit wonky when dealing with your companions, but at least you gain some of the much-needed control. Also, party members are noticeably more interesting than the somewhat bleak figures of the first Fallout: there is more dialogue and much more insight into their personalities, which also leads to different reactions to your deeds and less erratic behavior.

The Bad
The problem with sequels to great games is that no matter what the sequel tries to do it cannot change too much, for fear of damaging the delicate balance of components responsible for said greatness. They can mostly only go for quantity - expanding the game world, adding characters, items, etc. Thus, even the best sequels will always be accused of either copying too much or, conversely, adding unwanted content.

In a game like Fallout 2, this is much less of a problem, since the majority of content is optional - if you don't like a certain town, just don't visit it; if you think a certain quest is ridiculous, don't take it. Still, I can see where much of the criticism leveled at the game is coming from: in an effort to add as much content as they could, the developers sometimes crossed the line between meaningful additions and random stuff they had to put in just because they liked it. The humor, for example, is mostly hit-and-miss, and can be a bit jarring with its pop culture references, somewhat disrupting the genuinely grim atmosphere the original game boasted. Also, the main plot is frankly silly, with confusing pacing and continuity problems, and a cartoony showdown in the end.

The Bottom Line
Fallout 2 is a classic case of quality sequel-producing: more content, more variety, and tweaked gameplay mechanics that make it even more exciting than its venerable predecessor. If you disregard minor problems commonly encountered in sequels, you'll be rewarded with an incredible role-playing game, a vast universe full of gaming goodness squeezed onto a single CD.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2014

Beware of Faryen! The meanest dyke in the wastes!!

The Good
Ready for another trip through the wastes? Fallout 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed rpg that spearheaded the rpg revolution almost ten years ago (damn, time does fly!). With such a pedigree to live up to, you would expect the sequel to fall somewhat short of expectations, however it manages to be just as good as the original and even surpasses it on many accounts.

Basically what you have here is a good ol' case of "more of the same"-itis, but perhaps for the first time in history taken seriously. With the basic art, engine, interface and gameplay mechanics already developed for the original, the developers used the tools at hand to expand the Fallout universe to gargantuan proportions and devoted their dev. time to populate the game with even more locations, quests, characters and features to toy around with. The story is completely original and works as a retelling of the original with different elements. You are a descendant from the original "Vault Dweller" who lived happily in the rustic village he had erected decades ago, but as luck would have it, the village is in peril and you are selected to go out and find the key for it's salvation. Along the way you'll encounter another plot that threatens the post-apocalyptic world and you'll have to face it head-on once again with whatever allies you can find in the wastes. Perhaps more inspired at times than the original, the story works wonders to immerse you in the post-nuclear world of Fallout once again, but the real star of this sequel is the world itself, with much more in the way of places to go, stuff to do and people to meet.

Roughly 5-10 times larger than the original, the new gameworld features much more varied locations, that not only include the same junkyards and ghost towns of the original but also newly developed civilized outposts like NCR and Vault City, plus equally urbane (but not so much "civilized") locations like the sinful New Reno. The people you meet this time around quite frankly struck me as much more interesting folks than in the original, giving me the sense that the developers had a much looser leash as to what they could and couldn't put in the game. Variety is the word of the day, and each location plays host to a particular group of people with distinct problems and issues. You can encounter for instance, a group of Vault Dwellers so accustomed to living underground that they built their own underground city, an elitist community that aims to be the guiding force in the wastes, a San Francisco overrun by the descendants of the crew of a Chinese submarine (which turn the an entire sequence of the game into an "Enter the Dragon"-like quest), fanatical zealots, aliens and even good mutants that coexist peacefully with their human counterparts in a seemingly peaceful city (but why does everyone talk in hushed tones...?hmmm?). The world of Fallout 2 is not only larger, but much more interesting to explore than the original, with much more imagination and detail poured into it so as to make it a much more interesting gameplay experience for one to get lost into. Now, some people complained that the new quests and situations just went too far when it came to stretching the believability of the game universe, with the most prominent example quoted being the seemingly "heaten" "ghost quest" where you come face to face with a deceased spirit. I have a lot of things I would like to say to the shitbrains that like to pick on small details like this as a way to dismiss the game, but I'd rather just write that I loved this kind of stuff as they added a lot of variety to the game and kept you exploring every nook and cranny of the gameworld to see if you could unearth another mini-Twilight Zone episode, or another ghost story, or gangster drama, or genetic experiment or whatever. And besides the post-apocalyptic wastes of Fallout are no less post-apocalyptic because of their existence. So quit it already, will ya?

As for game mechanics and features the game increases the possibilities for evil characters to do their stuff and has plenty of exclusive quests and subplots to tackle should you decide to be a bad mofo instead of the saviour of the wastes. The sequel also makes a few swift changes in what concerns it's horribly developed party management features, allowing you to select each member's basic strategy, equipment and drug/healthpack usage. Trading with them is also much less of a hassle, but when you find the car you won't be needing to share so much of the loot with them as you go. What's that? Oh, didn't I mention that? Now you have a vintage 50's car available to use (fueled by handy atomic cells) that makes your treks along the wastes much speedier and doubles as a safebox to store stuff in. Now THAT is what I call a cool addition.

And speaking of cool additions Fallout 2 is the first game that introduced sex as a major game feature. Yes, this was also in the original, but now it's MUCH more developed. For starters your gender opens up loads of possibilities and paths exclusive to each one. Make no mistake girls: Fallout 2 takes place in the misogynistic wastes of the future, so this isn't an "equal opportunity" place, where females are often mistreated, discriminated and abused. On the other hand females can seduce their way through places you just can't get through as a man, prostitute themselves for some extra cash, become pornstars, and other assorted extras that use sex as another fully functional gameplay feature. As advertised you can get married and pimp your spouse for cash (What other game you know that lets you do THAT??), get divorced, etc. and even homosexuality is thrown into the mix (the girl-girl shotgun marriage has some of the funniest dialogue ever!). Some "holier-than-thou" types out there seem to think the use of such features under such a misogynistic context is nothing but pure immaturity, yet I love the fact that Fallout 2 is the only game to date that has allowed me to play as an evil, fast-talking, slutty lesbian! And you can chalk that up to whatever adolescent fantasy you want to, but if that isn't roleplaying then I don't know what roleplaying is! (besides you can always play the game as a straight, goody-two-shoes, SWM if you want to, or you can play it as a dumb-as-a-doorknob character with everyone properly reacting to your stats as such ["You are our saviour? May the gods help us!!" :D], or etc. etc. etc. Such is Fallout 2's genius).

The Bad
The original release is reeeeeeal buggy, almost Ultima IX-class buggy, but subsequent patches make the game adequately playable (if still slightly buggy). Furthermore, the AI and gameplay system while improved is still prone to some fuckups (allies still do retarded stuff and god help you whenever Marcus takes out his mini-gun or a rocket launcher).

Besides that there's the issue that the game uses exactly the same engine, art, music and sfx than the original (with additions of course) which is something somewhat... hmm.... tiring? Anyway, there also seems to be a few forced situations and loose ends when you try to assemble the full continuity in the game's many sidequests and plotlines. I haven't a major problem with this as I understand it's a major issue to create a cohesive plot in a major gameworld like this and have it properly respond to every situation taking into account if you are male/female, good/bad, smart/stupid, etc... (and Fallout 2's achievement is astounding). However, some of our more anal retentive counterparts seem to be making an issue out of it. So what the heck, right?

The Bottom Line
Take the "bottom line" of any Fallout 1 review and to that add it more of the same. But not just "more", better, more imaginative and interesting. Another masterpiece of deep yet enjoyable mature gaming with the most successful use of sex and gender as an game feature.

Required gaming for people with brains.

Windows · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

GREAT RPG; blood, guts, more guts and blood and even RPGing!!!

The Good
(1) Unlike most RPGs you get to roleplay with a variety of educated replies. If you pick the right ones, you get more information. And, if you screw up, too bad. You don't get to ask the other questions for the most part. I always hate in the RPGs where you tick off a person and then ask them another question and they act like you're their friend.

Even better, if you have a high intelligence or good speech skills, you're rewarded with more dialogue options.

(2) great graphics; great noises; all the weapons and noises of dying people, if that's your thing, are fairly believable. You can even click BLOODY MESS as a perk to see some really gruesome visuals.

(3) you can have more allies; you can outfit them with better armor and weapons; all have different personalities which means they may or may not be good in combat; may leave you if you tick them off;

(4) opponents are tougher; you get away with less mistakes; positioning is much more important;

(5) the storyline is multilayered; the game lasts about three times as long as the original fallout; much more to do;

(6) as it is longer, you effect more of the world at the end of the story;

(7) new and better weapons to penetrate power armor; a problem in the first FALLOUT;

(8) less linear; there is a time limit of sorts but only for about 10% of the game; thereafter, you can meander all you like w/o running out of time;

(9) more perks and such to make yourself toughter; look for THE SLAYER!;

(10) less bugs; be sure to go their website and get the PATCH update if not included;

(11) get to use a car in this game to drive around and move quickly;

(12) usual opponents from FALLOUT are turned on their head; the enemy isn't always the enemy;

(13) chance to meet more women in the game if that's your thing;

(14) much tougher wandering encounters; happens more often, too;

(15) bandits are much tougher; watch it!

(16) the game rewards you if you choose to go down the dark path or the path of light

The Bad
(1) You need a lot of time to play this game; like 50 hrs I would say or more;

(2) If you're big on logic or environmental issues, there are too many monsters and no creatures to prey on except a small number of humans. I walk around fighting things left and right and then find some safe peddler out in the middle of nowhere. Geesh.

If you can overlook that though, not a big deal.

(3) It's a 2D game for those who can stand it. I played this before 3D was really big.

The Bottom Line
Worth finding and playing.

Windows · by StorytellerShannon (14) · 2009

Just like Fallout 1, but... bigger.

The Good
After posting a review of Fallout 1 here on MobyGames that sounded something like a lovesick eleven year old girl talking about her favorite American Idol star - purely because everything that could be said about the game had already been said but I still had a passionate urge to say something anyway - I thought I'd try posting a review of Fallout 2 that would be somewhat more explanatory as to WHY the Fallout series is such an unquestionable must-have for every PC gamers collection.

Unfortunately, Zovni has beaten me to it again, with such a comprehensively gargantuan review, that all he's left me to do is mumble like a freshly dipped Super Mutant and say "Guhhh, game good! Like he said, game good!". =)

To paraphrase Zovni's review, the best possible thing I could say about Fallout 2 is that it is exactly like Fallout 1, but much bigger. And being that Fallout 1 is the best RPG, and arguably the best computer game, ever created by man, I can't think of a more shining compliment to give Fallout 2.

The Bad
Ironically, that same statement stands for the one bad thing about the Fallout series - the bugs. Fallout 2 had several game glitches, much like its predecessor, but more of them. But no matter how many times one of my henchmen blows off my head with a poorly aimed chaingun burst, or my game crashes and my save file becomes corrupt because I just happened to co-incidentally place exactly 13 rounds of 10mm AP ammo in the third locker from the left while carrying a sledgehammer and facing east, I still just can't bring myself to think or say anything bad about Fallout 2. No matter how many times I may feel like throwing my PC out the window due to some small programming glitch, the intense playability of this timeless RPG always lures me back.

The Bottom Line
At the risk of sounding repetitive or plaguaristic, Zovni has already said it best - look at any bottom line from a review of Fallout 1 and you've got your answer here. If you played and enjoyed Fallout 1, then you should be hitting the Buy/Trade button to the left there instead of reading this bottom line. If you haven't played Fallout 1, then in the name of all things good and holy, GO AND PLAY IT!! And if you've played Fallout 1 but didn't enjoy it, then please seek your local mental health professional immediately. =)

Windows · by Vaelor (400) · 2004

In a word: disappointing.

The Good
Sorry, to be the one to bear the bad news, but a lot of people seemingly ignore some glaringly obvious faults in Fallout 2 that deserve more than just casual attention. But I’ll get to that later. First, the positive sides to Fallout 2:

  • Same engine as the original . Good thing since it was a good engine, but I wish it hadn’t taken them another 3 years (when Brotherhood of Steel came out) to move it to 16-bits. The dithering and lack of colour depth are more obvious in this game than the first, probably due to the more diverse landscapes.
  • Massively larger game world than in Fallout, with about 5 times as many places to visit and 10 times as many things to do in each place. This is the major reason people like Fallout 2 more than the original (you can probably see this in the other reviews), however it is most likely the reason for one of Fallout 2’s major downfalls (more about this later).
  • Speaking of which, the landscape is far more diverse in Fallout 2 than it is in Fallout. Here you have both Fallout’s vaults, caves and primitive cities (although I miss the Necropolis) and Fallout 2’s landmarks, such as a post-nuclear Vegas-esque New Reno, a relatively new city (San-Francisco rebuilt), the futuristic Vault City, the Ghost Farm – in short, much more to explore and be impressed by.
  • The music is in the same vein as in Fallout; that is, it’s very good – but there’s not much of it. More on that later.
  • Many, many obscure allusions to obscure books and films and such – more so than in Fallout, so there’s more to laugh about (my personal favorites are the “Dragon-Lo Pan” and the robot in the canyon).
  • Still, despite its flaws, the game is fun to play and can keep you glued for hours. Just don’t expect the kind of satisfaction from it you got from Fallout.



The Bad
Unfortunately, Fallout 2 has a great deal more problems than its predecessor. There are obvious problems in this game, and I attribute most of them to the fact that Brian Fargo is sorely missing from the game team.

  • I’ll start with the bugs. Other have said this before, both about Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. I’ve been lucky enough to play these games 2 or 3 years after they came out (and so patched to the latest version), but still experienced dozens of bugs – minor and major alike – with my UK version of the game. First of all the game is ridiculously prone to crashes and hangs. I had to restart it anywhere from 2 to 10 times per session. It is particularly annoying in the middle of a successful combat where I rarely save. A far worse problem was not being able to save during the final combat with Horrigan – whenever I tried to load, the game gave me a “Save Game Corrupt” message or some-such.
  • Seems the team still hasn’t shaken off the tendency to build on “go there, get me this, do that” missions – why is it that none of the characters in the Fallout world are capable of doing things on their own? What’s the deal with Eric not being able to go fix his electricity problem, or the guys from Vault City not being able to take care of their raider/ghost problem? Or, for that matter, the NCR taking care of the squatters on their own? How come everyone is so damn incompetent in the future?
  • The dialogue in Fallout 2 varies widely in its consistency, it’s validity and most importantly, its level. It’s most obvious when some of the dialogue options link to other sections of the dialogue tree in a way that’s just not correct (somewhat evident in the dialogue with Marcus but more obvious elsewhere). This also means that in some cases (for example, talking to the vice president) you can say something like “I’m going to kill you”, then get away with it because you’re linked to an earlier section of the tree which allows you to exit the conversation without combat. Worse still, some of the dialogues are actually poorly written (can’t think of an example off the top of my head, but there are too many out there).
  • Some of the side-quests in this game are a result of very poor design decisions. One of them is the ghost a fellow reviewer mentioned; another is the “intelligent scorpion” you can’t really do anything with other than piss off. There are also the aliens scattered about the game (along with the Wanamingos that are ridiculously powerful), the bizarre business with Melchior (what’s up with “summoning up” Deathclaws? This is supposed to be a <u>futuristic</u> game), and dozens of other assignments that are less than inspired. (Get me this, get me that – get me 10 Cat’s Paws magazines?!)
  • Last but not least, there are some extremely lame design faults in this game; the worst one being the Enclave doctor at the end. He’s been working on his modification of the FEV for what, thirty years now? And all it takes to change his mind is one mutie and an entire minute of thought? And even if we ignore that, what’s up with all of the Enclave (including their non-armoured president and vice-president) being immune to the FEV, particularly when the president tells you they have not been inoculated as of yet (another design mistake of biblical proportions, might as well tell you “go release the virus”?)
  • The end part is one of the worst I’ve ever encountered in a game. First off, there’s no way to avoid fighting your way past Horrigan; no matter what you do, you’re going to need a ridiculous amount to hit points and stimpacks to get past him (just ask Tony Van). Despite a Sex Appeal perk and high (over 70%, can’t remember exactly) speech skill, I still couldn’t convince the Enclave guards to join up with me, and because of my character’s relative ineptitude in combat, I couldn’t handle the guards and therefore had no way to get the president’s access card. In short, there was no way to get past Horrigan. I had to, for the first time in my life, use a character editor to finish a game. Classic design problem.
  • Minor issues: While the music in Fallout 2 is very good, there’s very little of it. In fact, a vast majority of the game is played with no background music (which becomes very annoying during long dialogue sequences).



The Bottom Line
A game with much promise, much potential - and unfortunately, many problems.

Windows · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2002

Unlike most sequels, truly better than the original - although with continuity and maturity problems

The Good
Many of the best things from the original were kept and improved upon: Although there was a main plot, you really did feel that you were travelling and exploring a complete world. You had real, meaningful choices in character design and development, both mechanically and in roleplaying - and your actions toward NPCs had realistic lasting effects - without an artificial "alignment" system. Virtually any character development path was entirely playable, even to the extent that a reasonably clever player could complete the whole game with a pure diplomat player, barring bad luck on random encounters. The worst mistake of the original - the hard gametime limit - was avoided cleanly.

The Bad
The larger map and longer gameplay did expose the biggest weakness of the Fallout team - their sophomoric (and arguably misogynistic) mentality. While much was made of the fact that your character could actually get married in the game, in fact the only marriage available was a shotgun marriage to a useless wimp, and all the roleplaying choices related to the spouse after that emphasized a really grotesque parody of the worst and most misogynistic teenage male ideas about it. The clever melding of memes and imagery from the Cold War 50s that characterized the first game was exposed as a happy chance, as the sequel broke continuity in various ways (especially in computer technology) and threw in some trendy antiauthoritarian government-conspiracy themes. The original story seemed to be set in the future as imagined during the Cold War, and worked very well. The sequel's backstory is a pastiche of 1998-era X-files influences, random gaming memes, sophomoric humor, and shreds of the original, that really doesn't hold together unless you forget the original entirely.

The Bottom Line
Purely from a gameplay standpoint, it was an excellent game, better than the original and a lot of fun. From the standpoint of storytelling and worldbuilding, it was clumsy, sophomoric, and terribly disappointing. If you have the chance, play both Fallout and Fallout2 in proper order. They are landmarks in real roleplaying on a computer, and very fun to play. In particular, if the shoddy worldbuilding and sophomoric culture and character portrayals of Fallout2 overshadow the fine gameplay for you, you might find the mix in the original game more to your taste.

Windows · by weregamer (155) · 2004

There's a difference between bigger and better

The Good

First of all, it's still Fallout. Everything that was great about the first one is present in the sequel as well, from the brilliant SPECIAL system to the overall feel of exploring a gritty, dirty and cruel world without any hope of it getting better anytime soon. And it's all just as great as it used to be, even with some minor tweaks of the interface (like the very useful "take all" button when searching containers).

There are already very comprehensive reviews stating why is it so good here on MobyGames (Zovni's, Unicorn Lynx's), so I won't go any further into that. Let me just say that I do love the first Fallout and large parts of Fallout 2. But there are flaws in the sequel, oh yes, and quite a lot of them.



The Bad

It's much larger than Fallout. That sounds like a good thing, given Fallout was one of the best games ever and so on. But there's a problem with that, an unheard of problem with a video game - it is simply TOO large.

So large, actually, that toward the end of the game, whenever anyone mentioned one of the locations I've already visited, it took quite a lot of effort to remember which one it was. Probably because so many locations had to be designed, they no longer have the delicately crafted feel they had in F1 and are, therefore, much less memorable (and, of course, some of the locations of F2 are simply bigger versions of F1 locations). As a consequence, the whole 'what happened next' sequence after the endgame (just like in F1) is very, very long and informs about cities and people I didn't really care about in the first place. Exploring the world toward the end of the game became a very tedious experience, because every location is more or less the same and the ending is nowhere in sight.

Interestingly, even the least interesting parts of Fallout were blown up to much larger scale. Remember the first fight in Fallout, with the rats? Not that much fun, was it? Well in Fallout 2, there's a whole 'Temple of Trials', teeming with such exciting foes as large ants and small scorpions, and when you finally finish it, you reach the lovely town of Klamath where you get to enter the sewer system and fight three times more rats than in the whole of Fallout! Hooray!

Contributing to this is the fact that the SPECIAL system remained virtually unchanged. That also sounds like a good thing, because the system was ingenious, but it was designed for Fallout and Fallout was designed for this system. At the end of F1, your character was typically somewhere around level 21 (this is a rough guess, I can't remember the exact number and it's not important) and he/she was an unstoppable powerhouse. In F2, your character reaches level 21 towards the second third of the game and is a (slightly weaker) unstoppable powerhouse. And the enemies are not much stronger than in F1, can't be, really, if you want the game to be more or less realistic, because there are no more supermutants, just humans in good armor. The result? All the battles in the later parts of the game are extremely easy and the final boss' stats are sky-high (and not realistic at all, I should say).

There is another huge issue with F2 and that is humor. Of course there were moments in the first Fallout that were funny, but it never distracted from the atmosphere. With F2, someone decided to throw in as many jokes and pop-culture references the designers could think of - which went way over their heads in the special encounters -, and what's much worse, the humor became much more stupid, including scatological humor (blow up the toilet and see the whole town covered in feces! how hilarious!) and incredible amounts of sex jokes (including the infamous 'become a pornography actor / actress' scene and the 'shotgun wedding', available in gay, lesbian and heterosexual flavors). One of the nice things about F1 was its maturity and how it presented sex as something that happens now and then between people. Fallout 2 treats sex as a teenage boy desperate to get laid. A major disappointment. And there's also Myron, a character who was apparently supposed to be the source of comic relief and the designers spent quite a lot of time on him, but a) he sucks in combat and b) he is not funny, so there's absolutely no reason to have him in your party. Talk about wasted effort.

Talking of NPC party members - yes, the game engine was vastly improved there (simply because it was by far the weakest point of F1), but they are all still next to useless and it is possible, better, even, to play entirely without them. They are only good to carry items and who needs that many items, anyway?

There are also issues with the story elements - supermutants of F1 were cheesy, but acceptable. In F2, you have, among other things, the 'aliens', who are obviously inspired by the Giger monster and probably came from outer space (what the heck? I know this is sci-fi, but not that kind of sci-fi!). And the whole story arc, revealed only at the very end, is simply idiotic, with a twist explaining the secret purpose of the 'vaults', which I really, really hate, because it is exceedingly stupid, it corrupts even the story of the first Fallout and... let's just pretend we never heard of it, shall we?

There are also some smaller issues, like insane save/load times on the computers of that time (that was also bad in Fallout, but more locations in F2 meant that on my P166, the load times toward the end were somewhere around 90 seconds and no quicksave / quickload) - not a problem anymore thanks to more powerful PCs; bugs galore (I never finished the game in my first try, because at the final location, it kept crashing to desktop every five minutes and with the already mentioned load times... you get the idea) and some balance issues (my character was an unarmed expert, killing even the toughest opponents in one hit, but when fighting the final boss, she could hardly bruise him, so I had to resort to the non-combat way of dealing with him).



The Bottom Line

Many people love Fallout 2, because it is gigantic and allows them to do much more than Fallout did, while still retaining everything that made the original one of the finest games ever crafted. I've had a lot of fun with Fallout 2, but I suppose it pales when compared to the times Fallout 2 annoyed me and bored me with its sheer size. It is not a bad game, but it is just a teenage, less smart brother of a mature genius.

Windows · by plumifrons (95) · 2007

Mad Maxx beyond beyond Thunderdome.

The Good
This game is a brilliant sequel to the original Fallout, which I might add, revitalized the RPG gaming industry. Fantastically detailed with excellent mechanics and an engrossing and complex plot, Fallout 2 is a wonderful game that just keeps getting better as you play it. Unlike many RPG's out there it is possible in Fallout 2 to be either Good or Evil as the game has plot paths to allow either type of character to succeed. This gives the game an extra level of complexity that most other games lack, because there are often 2-3 (sometimes even 4-5) ways of accomplishing any plot goal, versus the typical RPG solution of "you will do things the way we think is correct or you will die." The game world is really well developed and plunges you into a post-apocalyptic nightmare world of mutants, gangsters, slavers and outlaws, where anything goes. And the ending... let's just say it is one of the more satisfying endings I've encountered in a computer RPG.

The Bad
Although it is petty considering the overall scope and level of internal development in this game, some of the subplots and some of the gameworld history, esp. later in the game were not as well developed as other, earlier plots. Basically some of the plot aspects in the last quarter of the game failed to go anywhere or add much to the game.

The Bottom Line
A post-apocalyptic amorality tale brilliantly executed with a touch of ironic wit and an opportunity to kill many many things!

Windows · by Joseph Bell (31) · 2000

More of the same, thank God!!

The Good
Fallout 2 picks up generations after the intial game ended. Vault dwellers have left their confines and are either assimilated into the new urban structure or live as tribes. Your character, a tribesperson, is given a similar quest to his/her ancestor's, to boldy go- seek out new life, new civilizations, and hopefully turn a profit.

Fallout 2 doesn't make any graphical leaps from F1, but gameplay is more refined. Tweaking of teammates has now made them more reliable and better armed and armored. Unarmed combat is now a viable choice, too.

The story is grander than the original game, involving more areas and more character interaction. Once again, your decisions and actions have wide reaching effects.



The Bad
It would have been nice to see some tweaking of the engine. Also, while Fallout has always referenced pop culture, this game did it a little too much. Other than that, this was an excellent game.

The Bottom Line
A gritty, immersive rpg set in the wastelands of post-WWIII America.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2005

A Worthy Sequel!

The Good
Just like Fallout; everything! And this one is bigger; has more quests, weapons, perks, npcs... Maybe the best thing about Fallout 2 is the better control on the npcs. You can give them tactics, better weapons and most importantly; armors. This time, they have more quotes and sometimes they talk to each other. Get Marcus and Myron and you'll understand what i am talking about! Their comments are hilarious!

The Bad
Just like Fallout; bugs...And some people might find the less darker world of Fallout 2 a bit annoying. Bigger cities, organizations, people walking around with better gear compared to Fallout; this all create an illusion of world of Fallout is getting better. Actually, it is not (according to Fallout Bible at least). Also, there are some easter eggs and in game material that can bother some people because they don't fit in. It's not a big problem for me but still, it is a problem.

The Bottom Line
Fallout 2 may not be as good as Fallout in some ways but it has definitely more replay value. Don't miss this one!

Windows · by mulayim (27) · 2006

An excellent game, 8.5 out of 10

The Good
Fallout 2 is quite immersive. You are wandering through a post-Apocalyptic world and you feel it -- bedding is usually ragged, furniture broken down. You start out with a spear and you're damn glad to have the spear. Money's tight. Slavery is a constant problem. There are isolated communities that seem Edenic on the outside but have problems under the surface.

The first 4/5 of the game also never breaks mimesis, no small thing. The npcs seem like the kind of guys who would be npcs in this mileau and they react to you appropriately. The writing is a step up from the first Fallout -- I have some problems with the ending but they did try to develop the story in a logical way.

The combat system is superb, the best turn-based system for rpgs that I know.

The best system I know of for creating character, with a point-allocation plan that allows for all sorts of variations. Unlike most rpgs, you can successfully play this game all sorts of ways (although you probably need melee or unarmed combat, as one of your starting - out skills).

Generally good voice-acting.



The Bad
Half-point off for a maze near the conclusion. Mazes almost never work in games unless there's some kind of "trick" to them. No trick here, it's just irritating to solve. (Actually one of the only two times I cheated.)

Half-point off for various limitations of the engine and color palette. Occasionally important things on the screen are hard to see -- the other time I cheated, I discovered an important object was lying near-hidden on the ground beside me. Also, occasionally it was hard to find doors, etc. in the isometric view provided.

Half-point off for ridiculous in-jokes (which I don't like as a rule) and general snarkiness near the end. The final boss, thankfully, isn't exactly the head bad guy, but the head bad guy is rather dumb and predictable and based on a political situation that no one's going to remember in ten years -- assuming anyone's still playing this game in ten years.

The Bottom Line
A long, immersive rpg that will keep you playing. One of the best games of it's kind, actually.

Windows · by juniorallen (6) · 2004

One of the best cRPGs ever created

The Good
There are hundreds of good sides of the game. I really do not know where to start counting. The atmosphere is the best you can find in any game even today. The world is rich and big enough if not huge. There are numerous NPCs and many many side quests, with a good main story, which does not limit you in anyway. Many different kinds of weapons, items, a perfect character system...

The Bad
The worst problem of the game is bugs The game is the most buggy game you can ever play even after the patch.

The Bottom Line
The game is one of the milestones of true cRPG genre. It is a must have for anyone considering himself a RPG player.

Windows · by Zolansilverspear (449) · 2006

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Alsy, Ryan DiGiorgi, chirinea, Jeanne, Mr Creosote, Juan Argañaraz, Plok, Marko Poutiainen, ti00rki, Apogee IV, Foxhack, Emmanuel de Chezelles, Longwalker, Tomas Pettersson, gukker, Patrick Bregger, Crawly, Wizo, Tim Janssen, lights out party, vedder.