Fallout

I remember when this came out. Dark humor and bleak. Absolutely classic. The one that started it all. Yes, the interface is janky. Yes, the graphics are old as h@ll. Yes, its old school. The storyline is the BOMB. Life is tough enough in the wasteland, raiders, mutant animals, dehydration, starvation, ghouls, radiation, etc. Now ready for the bad news? The level of work that went into this game is astounding. Great characters, great enemies, great quests. The background music is great in its bleakness. The world building and lore in this game are exceptional, particularly for the time-period. Combat is unforgiving, but this is part of Fallout's (FO) charm. You can get the criticals on the bad guys and they can crit you as well. Make sure you save. The inventory/purchasing system is a pain. It was improved a bit in Fallout 2. That being said, most things weigh something, so when you prep for a quest, you have to think and decide what you want to bring. Mostly in the area of what weapons and ammo to bring. From melee weapons, and conventional firearms to the hi-tech small arms, the variety is pretty good. Armor is ok as well. The power armor (T-51b) is of course the bomb. The dark humor is awesome. Loved the Soylent Green reference. The effects of certain weapons killing their targets is hilarious as well, in a dark sort of way of course. Once you get past the first bit of this game things pick up and it draws you in. So be patient. The best is yet to come. As the game approaches the end it just gets better and better. The main antagonist is of course the Master, and his background story and end goals are well done. So, in conclusion, this game is old and may not be for everyone, but once you finish it, you (probably) cannot deny that it was a great story and a good ride. Thanks GOG for keeping this one in stock!

Fallout offers a good old RPG experience. Okay, compared to the sequel, there's a lot less ... of anything, I guess, and not much variety or use of the RPG elements. There are a lot of perks, traits or skills that you never use because there are few occasions in the game where you really need them. So it seems like there are few builds you can really do (and forget the predefined classes), unless you want a really weird challenge (like having less than 4 in intelligence...you'll have trouble speaking at all). The downside is it is in a buggy and unfinished state. It really annoyed me that you can't really get a good ending for each settlement, because there are unfinished/not implemented quests in the game that you need to get the best ending. And I'm kind of a completionist. Not to mention all the bugs in the game: quests don't start properly, quests aren't crossed out, when they're finished, my inventory icon turns black and I can't click on it, etc etc. I could go on and on if I wanted to. There are even some exploits that could be considered cheating (getting unlimited XP or caps), but of course I didn't use them. But luckily there are fan-made patches for these problema. I already used a High Defnition patch to be able to play on a modern PC with high resolution, but there are also fan-made patches like Fallout Fixt that fix most of the complaints I had with the game. Too bad I only discovered this when I was halfway through and didn't want to start over. I just played with this patch for a while after finishing the game once and it was great. Companions can be pushed to get out of the way, aren't limited to weapons, can also wear armor, it has a better interface, various bugs have been fixed, ... Therefore I give a cautious recommendation to play this game, but not without this patch. Unless you're a purist, but then you know what you're getting yourself into.

Not only the best Fallout game, but a milestone for the rpg genre and a timeless classic. From todays perspective the gameplay may feel a little basic and clunky, but that does little to hurt the story and atmosphere. It is the shortest game in the series, but I prefer quality over quantity.

Loved the setting and enjoyed this game much more than the second one. The pacing is great and it's so fun to discover what's going on in the Fallout universe for the first time. The characters are interesting and there's a lot of freedom on how to approach quests. The combat feels rather dated, but it's still enjoyable as there's almost no grinding involved.

Prior to Fallout, I'd never played any WRPG very far, much less to completion, unless you'd count Drakkhen. Truthfully, I'd always found them very intimidating: they're so open, and combat is so different from what you'd see in JRPGs. Fallout is definitely a challenge, but it doesn't seem so insurmountable to an outsider. You can do almost anything you want, but most choices are valid options, so you have true freedom. I had a great time exploring the wastelands left behind by the nuclear apocalypse, and discovering hidden little areas was always exciting; The Glow is particularly haunting. I was worried about the more tactical combat, and by how there's such a strong emphasis on guns with limited ammunition, but running out of ammo or money never once became a concern of mine. Oh, and the guns... I have stereo quality speakers for my PC, so your mileage may vary, but some of those guns fire with such a bang that I felt like the subwoofer was kicking me in the chest every time I shot something; SO satisfying. It's far from perfect, though, and that's mostly in the story. You do have a lot of options, but in terms of story, they're not terribly deep. Save a village, or skip it to devote your time to saving your own people? Well, since you don't know how the latter is going to pan out, maybe it's a good idea to get on the village's good side; it's not really much of a choice. Sometimes, characters would shoot me in the head for seemingly no reason, and if you accidentally attack an ally, because the targeting system can be kinda bad sometimes, you have an enemy for LIFE. The interface is extremely unfriendly, too, but once you learn how it works, it's pretty easy to get used to. I still managed to finish the game without knowing you could unload guns for extra ammo, though. I'd recommend this game to most anyone, because despite its flaws, it's an absolute blast to play, and an experience you'll remember for a lifetime.