Fallout 2

I don't know why so many people rave about this game, it is objectively worse than the first one. The premises are boring and uninspired (a savage from a village), the main quest makes little sense, the starter areas are ugly, boring, full of empty areas and containers, and useless NPCs. The quests feel very superficial and uninspired. The game is poorly balance and shoehorns you into combat builds (not to mention it's ackward trying to roleplay a Science buff coming from a savage village...). Sure it adds QOL features, but is still riddled with bugs and broken triggers. A pale copy of the first game. Been slogging through this for a good 15 hours and just don't have the energy to continue. If your game doesn't capture the player within the first 10 hours, it's a bad game.

Fallout 2 is a buggy and dated game, but it does have personality (unlike fallout 1). Combat is still obtuse and simultaneously overly simple, but is much smoother looking then fallout 1 (UI is still terrible tho). The dialog can be fun at times but the writing in general is filled with dated pop culture references and is rather shallow, but has some quirkiness to it. The main reason to play fallout 2 is to mess around with the world, plant explosives in peoples pants, murd- befriend children, harass two headed cows, etc. That being said, Fallout 3, 4, New Vegas are just better games with better writing, have more to mess with, and more depth to the combat. I would get it on sale if you curious, if not then don’t bother.

The game doesn't work on Macs, it doesn't work under Wine or GPTK, unless you edit a lot of INI files. Which just got broken so it doesn't work anymore. NOT RECOMMENDED.

Unplayable and unacceptable

Since there are plenty of reviewers with... obfuscated views and I've had enough of the crashes after using a stimpak in combat, here's what to genuinely expect if you've played NV and 3 and decided to try 2: Expect unbelievably annoying crashes, terrible action translation (you will not know when you are stealing, when you are taking rads, or when you are about to do something that will get a major character to attack you), and infuriating followers that will burst 6 shotgun shells into a 26 hp dog and block you in every time you enter the building which requires you to manually push them out of the way. Expect to love this game if you are a 35 y.o. geek and the mere mention of a property gets you salivating. You will love the "references" (a loose definition since I mean the most popular line/s or just literally a character/object from the property). There's Star Trek, Monty Python, Princess Bride, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Aliens, Terminator 2, Wizard of Oz, Risky Business, Wall Street, Scarface, the Godfather, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1984, Gunsmoke, Magic the Gathering, and Rocky, but I got tired of making a list of all of them while playing. They showed a clear lack of restraint which is a shame because... Expect a fleshed-out world and provoking concepts in the wastes. An early example is that after having many random encounters running into slavers walking around selling their slaves you will run into a slaver's guild. Likely the next place you'll go will be Vault City which is the technotopia of the wastes where advanced medicine, proper nourishment, clean water, protective walls, and laser towers adorn the only safe town in the wastes and one of the few ways to gain residency is to become an "indentured servant" they're cleverly called. The exchange of liberty for safety is a timeless conundrum that would be best without being capped off with a meta 420 water chips joke about the first game. Expect it to be good and frustrating.