Fallout

"War, war never changes"

Fallout was the second part of the Wasteland series. It was released a long time after the first title, Wasteland, which was a Macintosh RPG ala 1980s.

Fallout made a great leap from Wasteland. I've never played Wasteland myself, but at least the graphics seem to be better..

So, without further ado, onward to the review:

Gameplay 9/10

Fallout is played half real-time, half turn-based. The turn-based mode is used during combat, and at least during big battles it gets a bit on the nerve. Cleaning entire cities, while fun, can take hours. Otherwise the gameplay is excellent, and the game requires just a 60 MhZ Pentium to run.

Sounds 10/10

The sounds in this game are excellent. It features many famous people as voice actors, including one of my idols, Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver and Stargate SG-1) as the Mayor of Junktown. I personally like the game music also, being one of the best I've heard, right after Fallout 2. Other from speech and music, it's just gunblasts and wind, but still sounds nice enough to me.

Graphics 8/10

The game was published in 1997, so don't expect too much of the graphics. The game runs at 640x480 resolution, but looks surprisingly good. The graphics can seem gruesome, as you can blow half of a person's chest off with a large caliber handgun, and the death is very detailed. The violence level can be turned down, though.

Atmosphere 10/10

The events take place after a nuclear war, so you'll encounter endless deserts, ruined cities, radiated mutant people and animals. Fallout has one of the best game atmospheres, but it is quite a dark and sometimes even disturbing world. It is indeed worth the M rating it got.

Replay value 10+/10

The replay value is excellent. Almost every time you play, you find something new. You can play as different types of characters, a smart diplomat, a gun-toting thug, or a poor dumb loser. This adds a lot to the replay value. And also, as there's many ways you can finish the side- and main quests, you can play the game completely differently. Also, you can be evil, or good, either helping the criminals, or police/military.

Overall 9/10

Fallout is a great game. It's a must for eveyone who enjoys role-playing games. It isn't the same as the numerous medieval fantasy RPGs, it's something totally different. Fallout isn't just a game, it's an experience. I highly recommend buying the game, you can get it along with Fallout 2 for $10 as a Dual Jewel pack.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/03, Updated 02/03/03