What with the Nuclear War and all, the world pretty much sucks. From the tension with the militant mutants, to the giant radscorpions, things blow. But perhaps you, a lowly novitiate to the Brotherhood of Steel can make things better for the survivors of the Fallout.
This game marks the return for gamers to the world of the beloved Fallout Setting. Like Fallout Tactics, this title is more an offshoot in the universe than a true RPG sequel to a series many consider to be the best on the PC ever. Controversies aside, the question remained as to whether a 3rd person action version of Fallout could truly capture the essence of the Fallout setting.
This game bears an uncanny resemblance to Interplay's Baldur's gate: Dark Alliance, which should come as no surprise as it was done intentionally. From the jumping to the water effects, this game plays like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. The use of the right trigger for locking onto targets, as well as using the little white and black buttons to scroll through your choice of 3 weapons was a nice touch. The left trigger uses potions which you will find yourself doing almost constantly throughout this game. The oddest experience I have was being at the end of the game before learning how to use a melee weapon special attack. Perhaps I should have tried the included tutorial for this one. You can essentially choose to use either Melee weapons like clubs and hammers, or you can make use of conventional, electronic and explosives related weapons. I found myself using melee weapons on the monsters and pistols on the end bosses.
An addition gameplay not needs to be made for the leveling up and skills/abilities in this game. Every time you gain a level with your character (you have a choice of a female, a mutant and a big tough guy) you are given the ability to add points to your character, points which do everything from give your character more life, to allowing a canine friend to follow you around in your travels.
Graphically this game is nearly identical to the original Baldur's Gate title for the Ps2 in that the models are somewhat dated looking. The game still features the use of nice water effects and some cool use of neon colors like when your character is irradiated. The lighting in the game is somewhat of an issue as in some areas I was forced to up the gamma in the game to see where I was going. The levels themselves are alright, but mostly identical in nature. There were some cool areas with lasers and fields that made for nice effects as well.
The sounds in this game are actually very well-done. Any game which features music from Slipknot and Skinlab and Killswitch Engage is all right with me. Many of the good songs are saved for the periodic end boss battles found in this game. The voice acting in this game is all fairly well-done, featuring a long list of rather funny and obscene things for both you to say and to be told by other NPCs. As to the weapons, the sounds are fairly standard but tend to work, especially with the turbo laser and plasma weapons.
This game features a solid 2 player cooperative feature which will make for many hours of fun gaming. There are even puzzles scattered throughout the game which can only be solved in multiplayer games. Outside of co-op play, there is no internet connectivity in this game.
The extras in this game aren't really seen until you first beat the game. These include a Skinlab music video featuring game footage and stills of the characters in the game among other things.
I beat this game in around 13 hours, but I essentially killed everything in this game and completed all of the side quests included in it. While not the longest game, the 3 chapters included in this game were diverse enough to keep me interested up to the very last boss in the game. Simply put, if you liked Baldur's gate: Dark Alliance then this game should be on your shelf beside it. Just think Baldur's Gate with guns and you have this game pegged. The inclusion of the trademark Fallout setting twisted humor and vulgarity also kept me entertained.
While far from perfect and sporting a graphical engine that is looking old, this was a fun game and worthy of playing from start to finish.
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