Fallout 2

This is the best Fallout game. While the first one was great and New Vegas was amazing in its storytelling, no other game ever achieved this level of good gameplay, good story, good character-building and freedom of choice, depth and immersion. Forget Bethesda. If you like post-apocalyptic games, if you like RPGs and great story, this is the game for you.

This is just the best Fallout game. The humor, the story, the scenario. Everything is perfect. And if not, than just add a mod or two.

One of those real classic gems which doesn't get old. I was 9-10 when my brother was playing this and I was watching amazed behind him. I loved the atmosphere and music (I had no idea what was going on because English isn't my first language) and this isometric view of locations. Now I'm 35 and still play it. I recommend installing also Killap's Restoration Project - it doesn't change the game but just adds kids, locations, quests and some things which were cut from the game. Anyway one of my favourite cRPG of all time.

Finally got around to playing Fallout 2, having had it in my library for ages. Immediately started a second playthrough after finishing the first. It's funny, violent, clever, challenging, bleak yet hopeful, just a fantastic game. Wish I had have played it years ago!

This is a nostalgic piece of gaming history for me. As such, I may be more forgiving in my critique. In order to avoid that, let me break it down into the simplest elements I can. First, the bad. This game is old. Old school, old graphics, old mechanics, old story telling... but, all of these things together still make a masterpiece today. It's old school. It's post apocalyptic, but it was one of the first franchises to really nail that post apocalyptic feel without making the story stale or repetitive. It's not just zombies after a nuke goes off. It's life, society and survival of the fittest (after the nukes go off). It is old graphics, but the style is unique to fallout and was so fitting to the subject matter that it gave the whole thing a bleak and atmospheric feel that helped to immerse you into the story. Old mechanics were unavoidable in the day because of the limitations of the hardware. The hex based turn based system was easy to abuse once you get far enough into the game, but there was always a "leveller" just around the corner. An encounter that really took thought and skill to get through, either with violence or skills or dialogue. Finally the old story telling. Now this is a thing that I wish games of today would learn again, because it's almost a lost skill. This story takes hours to open up, is always there in the background even when you're off on a tangent and is such a satisfying, well told narrative that it pulls every other element together into one post apocalyptic whole. In conclusion, yes this game has aged and will be hard for newcomers to get into with all of the old school stuff to contend with, but I urge you to persevere, because the experience will be unique and memorable. A classic in every sense of the word.