Fallout 2 is lauded as one of the best, if not THE best Role-Playing Game of all time. It literally came out a year after the first one, so that should put things in perspective. Fallout 2 was made with Fallout's engine and uses a lot of its assets, and you will see a 2D game with mediocre graphics, simple sound and slow action. However, if you start playing it, you will discover why it is lauded as one of the best RPGs of all-time.
Yes, this was truly the high point in the history of Interplay, when its slogan "By Gamers for Gamers" actually meant just that. Released on September 30, 1998, it was officially developed by Black Isle Studios, which by that point had become a full-fledged design outfit.
Fallout 2 takes place a whole 80 years after the events of Fallout (2241), on the West Coast of what used to be the United States, but despite that large time gap is still very much a sequel. It's interesting to see the long-term effects of your previous incarnation's decisions, even if it's not like Mass Effect where decisions carry over from previous games.
Fallout 2's gameplay is similar to the original Fallout. It is a role-playing game with turn-based combat, where the player plays the game in the pseudo-isometric view. Fallout 2 features a much wider array of items, weapons, and armor than Fallout. Most of the items from Fallout returned but had alternate and upgraded forms. The fact that in Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout 3 the player characters are raised in an isolated community works with the plot structure, allowing the character to be as ignorant about the game world as the player would be and explaining why the map the character starts with is almost completely unexplored.
You could even do crazy role playing things like getting married or becoming a Porn Star, and much more..
It's interesting to see the long-term effects of your previous incarnation's decisions like the Super Mutants moving on from being "Humanity's next evolutionary step" to being just one more race of rejects in the post-nuclear world, and even how the NCR got to the point that it is at in Fallout: New Vegas. Gameplay is fine-tuned, allowing more immersing interactions and reactions from NPC's, the ability to fully customize your character and your party members, and pretty much just play, however the hell you wanted. You could even do crazy roleplaying things like getting married or becoming a Porn Star, and much more..
After The Vault Dweller got kicked to the curb in the first game, he went and founded his own community. A village that eventually develops a tribal culture and worships the Vault Dweller as a prophet of sorts. You play the grandson of The Vault Dweller, and of course you are dubbed The Chosen One.
Told to seek a G.E.C.K.. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), a device capable of reshaping the barren wasteland into a healthier ecosystem, the Chosen One retraces the steps of his/her grandparent to Vault 13. However, Vault 13 is not as the Vault Dweller had left it. Its populace had been culled, most of its inhabitants kidnapped. And there’s nary a G.E.C.K. to be found. The Chosen One returns empty-handed to Arroyo, to find that it has now been culled as well.
Chosen One learns Earth shattering truths about…well, just about everything. Everything you thought you knew about the Vaults, the Super Mutants, and the pre-war United States was wrong. The short version? The government was fully corrupt, many of the vaults were designed as human petri dishes, and the Enclave wants to use a modified FEV to slaughter anyone whose DNA isn’t completely pure.
However, the Chosen One put a stop to this nefarious nonsense by destroying the Enclave HQ, but not before rescuing the captives from Vault 13 and Arroyo. The two communities founded a new settlement and lived together in harmony happily ever after…ish.
So, does Fallout 2 deserve all its praise? Yes, yes it does. The story may not be as strong, but the villain is compelling. The gameplay is much stronger, the references can be really funny if you know your trivia, and not even the most recent addition of New Vegas had as much variety for the main character as this one did.
The consequences, interactions, and reactions were all fine tuned to the point that the world of Fallout 2 just came alive as you played it and let's not forget the ridiculous number of possible endings for each and every location you came across. Simply put, it's the best Fallout game ever and you really need to play it if you have not already.
by Angelo Horvath & Henry Lombardi | |