This game took a swerve from FO1 and FO2. Feargus Urquehart and his crew reached their absolute pinnacle with FO2 , and as the FO3 franchise went through numerous codenames and buyouts (Van Buren anyone?),,, a gap was filled with the "tactical" version of the FO universe. The graphics were sumptuous for the period...rich and rounded and brutally bathed in buckets of blood and gore. The missions are level structured, so youre constantly challenged but only in the later missions are you sometimes overwhelmed. treading the blasted wastelands solo isnt an option in "tactics", you will build a crew around you from a selection of volunteers who swell the ranks in a nationwide recruitment campaign by the B.o.S. Sneaky snipers, brutish thugs, boffin medics and dedicated "aliens" will all rally to the cause, and your team selection is where the "Tactics" of the game`s name come in. The missions are always interesting, and may require a couple of run throughs ending in your own bloody demise before you work out the correct way of completing it. But this never gets repetitive and is always intriguing. Throw in an array of different vehicles to pile the crew into, and boost the abilities of your crew to fire successfully whilst in the vehicle, and there are a few hairy-cary moments where you`ll be rattling around the deserts and towns being chased by a horde of Deathclaws or mutants, The humour was a lot less than F1 and F2, but there are plenty of twists and turns to negate that. All in all, a more serious and "dedicated" experience than the previous incarnations, but if you were hooked by the whole Fallout genre, an essential addition nonetheless. I wouldnt recommend this as a first Foray into the joys of Pip Boy - perks-and traits, but if youre already "feeling" it...then this is a must have extension to your experience. F1 and F2 were laugh out loud funny-serious, Tactics is where you go to frown, think, and obliterate...then smile grimly when you complete a mission.
The greatest computer game of all time. Now that`s rather a rash statement eh? And who the hell am I to say such a thing? Well, i`m Joe Average, I am old enough to have played the best from the very beginnings ... I owned a computer store back in 1982, and Ive played every console and every variant computer there is. Fallout 2 is where it was all heading towards, and where it all ended... for that type of game in that phase of history. The coders and programmers of Black ISle / Interplay honed their expertise on other such greats as Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, and latterly, the original Neverwinter Nights. FO2 was their private jokes, their wicked humour, their adult freedom. It was the embodiment of their razor wit and stunning storytelling. If you want a game you can jump into and complete within a week, then FO2 isnt your game. It`ll take thought and dedication to just even get out of the starter area...but the rewards if you do so are like stumbling across a winning lottery ticket. It has a few bugs, like the disappearing car and the neverending trunk, but despite its dated graphics and quirky behaviour, it has a thousand times worth of replayability to find a new joke, a new scenario, a new laugh out loud sequence. Want to be a boxer? go for it... Want to be a porn star? then Lube up ... Want to be a mindless thug who cant talk? or a Boffin with a brain like Marvin? (who`s Marvin? you`ll see!) You can be who you like, how you like, any way you like... You can slash, you can hack, you can snipe, you can explode, you can nuke, you can blast... There simply isnt another game like this ever made...and I dont expect there will ever be another like it. I just have one last question for you.... Why are you still reading this? you should now be downloading it and immersing yourself in post-apocalypse America... wandering the wastelands gambling in New reno, taking a rather dubious "scrub" in the Bath house, or visiting the cats paw to live out your basest fantasies. Go...now... go play! It just doesnt get any better!
