Fallout

"You + Post-Nuclear World = Massive RPG"

At the start, you can choose a character, or play as a custom character. Behold the start of a brilliant RPG.

The basic storyline involves playing as a unnamed hero/heroine who is forced to leave the protective Vault 13 in order to find a water chip for your Vault's survival. Once you leave your Vault, the game opens up. You can choose the most obvious route through the game or you can vary your route some after knowing where and when to go. Visit a farming village, a trading post, a ruined Los Angeles, or even the city of the dead. The actual story is somewhat short, lasting a couple days at best. But what this games shines at is the replay value. As mentioned earlier, you can play as three default characters, or create your own. The options are nearly endless when you create your own. Make a complete bad-ass melee character, a pacifist, a player that rivals Lucifer for pure evilness, anything you want. Your actions show who you are, and the game reflects that fact nearly flawlessly.

The combat system is original, though it does take some time to get used to. You'll find yourself consulting the help (F1) quite often at first, but gradually get used to it. However, once you do get into the system, it's a blast to play with, literally. The targeting system and the weapons are unique and are fun to use. You want to cripple your victim? Aim for the legs. You want to blind them? Aim for the eyes. Want to torch them? Equip a flamethrower and watch the death animation. Want to read something funny? Inflict a critical to the groin, then read the comments in the bottom left corner. Fun, very fun.

Unfortunately, the graphics and sound can use quite a bit of work. For starters, the music is quite bland. It's awfully repetitive, and you'll soon turn the speakers off if it weren't for the NPC voices (listen to Loxely for a good laugh). The sound effects are quite nice for combat, involving gun shots, slashes, stabs, yells of pain, etc. Too bad it's nearly nonexistent outside of combat. The graphics are not much better. Save for the specific locales you can visit, the graphics don't vary much. The character models are overused, but at least the NPC portraits look very original and nice.

In all, this game is worth a buy. I picked this (and Fallout 2) up at Wal-Mart for $10. Get it ASAP, because you'll enjoy this game, guaranteed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/02, Updated 09/19/02