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 fuses lots of (mostly dark) humour with something that basically deals with 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 Fallout 2 special, however, is that you can actually take part in all of these yourself.

Once again, you can be the knight in shining - power - armour, or 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). Wait, though. Who exactly are you?

The plot follows a tribal known as the 'Chosen One' (a descendant of the original Vault Dweller) on his or her search to find the legendary '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 - the most interesting part of it all, as well as a great example of the difference between Fallout 2 and the original game.

While the storyline is great, and adds to the franchise's lore, it's less... sci-fi from Fallout. The sequel focuses more on the socio-political aspect of the nuclear apocalypse, and that's fine and all, but this means that this happens at the expense of the more imaginative concept of the first instalment. In other words, the wasteland of Fallout 2 has a striking similarity with the real world, despite the existence of super mutants, and laser rifles.

On a more positive side, this is the most complex in the way it handles its political factions, and how these interact with each other, and especially the way you interact with them, as your actions actually send ripples across the world, changing it. On the other hand, however, there's too much emphasis in solving local (and unimpressive) problems in the vast majority of quests, rather than doing things that feel connected with the main story (although they mostly do).

The biggest difference between this and the original, though, is its tone. Yes, this can be shockingly dark at times, but, strangely enough, it's also the most ridiculous one, with lots of out-of-place humour, Easter Eggs, and pop culture references inspired by *deep breath* King Arthur, 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 anyone's cup of tea, as it lacks the more balanced atmosphere and focused direction of the first game, which is a shame, as the darkest Fallout in existence actually lies beneath all the comedy. The writing has also lost part of its quality, with the vast majority of conversations with NPCs having a made-by-fans taste - apart from the "main" dialogue sequences, that is, which are insanely good, and have, once again, excellent voice-acting.

Generally, and maybe, because of the incredibly short time it took to make this (along with some problems with the production company), Fallout 2 constantly looks as its torn between being the best RPG of its generation, and one of the most unbalanced pieces of software ever made. Now, despite the previously mentioned flaws in the story department, it's the actual gameplay where the radioactive faeces hit the fan...

Fallout 2 adds tons of stuff to do: new weapons, new consumables, new junk (no kidding), new enemies, and lot's 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 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 exists 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 mutants, but it's less... ok when the same happens and you are facing a whole battalion of power-armoured Enclave soldiers. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, this remains an enormous pile of bugs, even after the latest official patches.