Fallout 2 (PC) Review

Fallout 2 uses the engine of its predecessor and plays largely the same. Therefore, the following retrospective review will mostly focus on the game’s tone, plot, and, generally, the differences between the sequel and the original... which, apart from being aplenty, manage to make this the weirdest Fallout in existence, even for a franchise that always fused lots of - dark - humour with a tale of nuclear post-apocalypse. In many ways, this is a bigger and badder version of Fallout, that, unlike Bethesda’s titles, shows that a nuclear wasteland is as hostile as a place can be. There are bloodthirsty raiders, drugs, prostitution, slavery, child abuse, and murder, not to mention the thousands of dangerous, mutated abominations, as well as the (even more dangerous) factions who are in war with each other. What makes this special, however, is that you can actually take part in all that yourself.

Once again, you can be the knight in shining - power - armour, evil incarnate... as well as everything in between. The amount of freedom in here is simply insane, with the main character being able to do anything, from giving a helping hand to those in need, to becoming an actual pornstar... giving those in need a reason to use their “helping” hand (heh, comedy). Who are you exactly? Well, this time around the protagonist happens to be an ancestor of the previous hero, the so-called ‘Vault Dweller.’ This tribal is known as the Chosen One and is tasked with finding the legendary Garden of Eden Creation Kit, or ‘G.E.C.K,’ which is capable of creating a comfortable suburbia with the push of a button (results may vary).

In true Fallout fashion, this will soon lead the player to the main dish: the power struggle between the big players of the wasteland. Now, the storyline is great and adds to the franchise’s lore, but it’s also less... sci-fi than what came before. It focuses more on the socio-political aspect of the nuclear apocalypse; how humans build new societies and belief systems - and that’s fine and all, but it all happens at the expense of the more imaginative concepts of the franchise. In other words, the wasteland of Fallout 2 feels a bit too, for a lack of a better world, similar to the real world, despite the existence of super mutants, and laser rifles.

To be honest, the biggest difference between this and the original is its tone. Yes, this can be shockingly dark at times, but, strangely enough, it’s also Fallout at its most ridiculous, with lots of out-of-place humour, as well as tons of Easter Eggs and pop culture references, inspired by *deep breath* Star Wars, Star Trek, Austin Powers, the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, Dilbert comic strips, Final Fantasy VII, The Goonies, Jerry Maguire (Show Me The Mummy!!!), Monty Python, Ron Jeremy(?!), and then some. This simply won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, as it lacks the more balanced atmosphere and focused direction of the first game, which is a shame, because the darkest Fallout in existence lies beneath all that comedy. The writing has also lost part of its quality, with most conversations with NPCs having a made-by-fans taste. Even the “main,” voiced dialogue sequences tend to be more funny than serious, despite them being the best of the bunch, both in terms of writing and voice-acting.

Probably because of the incredibly short time it took to make this (along with some problems with the production company), Fallout 2 constantly looks as it is torn between being the best RPG of its generation, and one of the most unbalanced pieces of software ever made, both in terms of thematic consistency, as well as the very way it plays. Make no mistake, despite the previously mentioned flaws in the story department, it’s the actual gameplay where the radioactive faeces hit the fan. On one hand this adds tons of stuff to do: new weapons, new consumables, new junk (no kidding), new enemies, and lots of new areas. Expanding is different than improving, though, and this doesn’t really deal with the many rough edges of its predecessor.

Some quality-of-life changes have been made, but being able to push a companion aside, or having a slightly better inventory system cannot be considered big changes - not to mention that this adds new flaws. Remember how unpredictable and unbalanced Fallout could be? Well, this is even worse. For starters, while it’s still possible to play a weakling that relies in Charisma rather than Strength, such characters will make players feel as if they accidentally selected the highest difficulty setting - and it’s not like combat-ready ones are that much better, especially since the encounter RNG is simply a sadistic beast that frequently throws you in situations that are almost impossible to survive.

It’s important to note that many of these flaws exist in the original too, but this is a much longer, tougher, and larger-than-life adventure, making these problems stand out even more, because it’s ok to occasionally miss a shot while fighting against a handful of pistol-wielding raiders, but it’s less ok when the same happens and you are facing a whole battalion of power-armoured Enclave soldiers that can turn you into red mush in the first hit. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, this remains an enormous pile of bugs, even after the latest official patches.

…But the main problem, at least for the one writing this, remains the shift in tone. This is basically a game that feels as if it was developed by a different set of people, but with the same exact toolset. It’s Fallout… and yet it isn’t. Once again, like with the review of the original, the perfect comparison would be the finale. The road to Fallout’s Master was tense, and the confrontation with him would evoke a variety of emotions. The road towards the big bad of Fallout 2 is surprisingly funny, and when players finally get the chance to talk to him, they will realise that this is a battle against a much simpler character, a battle which can mainly be won with bullets, not words.