Fallout 2

"Nuclear waste, mutants, plasma rifles. No this is not a doom clone, but an excellent RPG in a post nuclear war scenario"

What would you do when you are told by your tribe elder that you are the chosen one, the one that will bring your village back to life with the Garden Of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) because you are the descendent of the one who created this village? This is the setting of one of the best PC rpgs to hit the PC.

You are the chosen one. Your task, as mentioned earlier, it to retrieve the GECK, and during your journey in this post nuclear war era (set in California, about 80 years after the first game), you will meet mutants, ghouls (not your typical fantasy game type of ghouls), and of course, humans. Set in a world very much unlike typical rpgs, who tend to be set in worlds of fantasy (with elves, dwarfs, magic, etc), this setting provides a refreshing change for those who are sick to seeing elves all day. While your initial aim was to retrieve the GECK, eventually you will find yourself caught in the web of a larger menace.

Gameplay : Combat is played out in turn based mode, while movement is in real time. Each of your characters gets a certain amount of action points (APs), which are used to access your inventory, attack with a melee weapon, fire a gun, etc. Note that you CANNOT control your your party members, they pretty much act by themselves. While they will generally attack with what they are equipped, sometimes the AI can be frustrating, blocking your shots or rushing to a battle using melee when the opponents are all holding plasma guns. Speaking of guns, you can actually make a targeted shot at certain parts of your opponents bodies (such as the head, groin, etc.) which will cripple your opponent in the appropriate way. Another aspect is the game's skill and perk system. You assign a number of skill points to your abilities when you level up, and every 3 (or 4) levels you will receive a perk, an additional ability which can enhance any of your current abilities, such as your aiming, your damage, your merchant skills or even your bedding skills. Now this game is rated ''MATURE'', and with good reason, since blood, gore and foul language is pretty much a part of this game, though it serves to stimulate how violent and dangerous this world is. There are also many towns and cities which you can visit across the wasteland. Much of the movement around town is point and click, and after you exit the town, you are brought to a world map where there will be random encounters with monsters, thugs, or even some secret encounters!The inventory system for your character is generally ok, though a little troublesome since you can't view all your items at once. However, the equipping your companions is far more troublesome, since you can only order them to equip the ''best'' equipment or unequip everything. However, you can interact with your party members, and talk to them, making them feel more alive, rather then just being a bunch of stats.
However, unfortunately, the first release of the game was riddled with bugs. There were crashes, graphical glitches, quests that cannot be completed, etc. Thankfully, most of those are fixed now.

Graphics : Nothing that great here. It looks pretty much like the original, while it may be disappointing not to have somewhat better graphics, it suits the game well enough.

Music/sound : Music is not that great in this game. you don't really hear a lot of it, and it isn't that great in the first place. Sound effects, however, are ok. Gun shots, plasma shots, screams ,etc are pretty ok. The voices of certain characters (not all major characters have voices) are well done though.

Story : The story, while well done, is rather disappointing in that it is quite similar to the first game's story. Players who have played the first game may be left rather unsatisfied with the story. Much of the main plot is similar, i.e. save village, then finds something which threatens the world.

Replayability : This game can be played in many ways, as you can create different kinds of characters in the character creation screen, whether be it a thief, a smooth talker, or an aggressive attacker. The numerous skills (many of which are non-combat) ensure that you can have many hours of enjoyment experimenting with different character designs. Plus the many different perks and traits will add on to the replayability of this game. There are even secret perks that can be obtained through various methods in the game! Plus since the game is open ended, with many side quests, you can have a lot of fun trying out different characters (good or evil) and different side quests, most of which have multiple ways to complete them.

Overall, this game is well done. A definite ''must buy'' for any fans of rpgs.

GAMEPLAY : 8 (Due to bugs)
GRAPHICS : 7
SOUND/MUSIC : 6
STORY : 7
REPLAY : 10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/01, Updated 04/02/01