Fallout 2

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.

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.

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.