Wasteland 2 Director's Cut Digital Classic Edition

The atmosphere in the game is excellent. Chatter and threats coming from the radio are unique and well voice acted. The setting feels fresh, but also familiar. The characters are occasionally both personable, and hardened as befits the setting. But often, the non player characters are one dimensional. Complaining and quest giving seem to be the major past times of npc in Wasteland. It made the game take on a very ... mmo vibe. Given that largely every encounter devolves into a violent set piece against a barren wasteland, I have to wonder that there wasn't a car chase (perhaps that is later). But I want to state ahead of time that no matter what difficulty you choose to play at your squad members and the civilians are going to die. Which seems appropriate for the setting, but too often feels random and uncontrolled, not even as elegant as a rogue likes brutality. The UI will not help you. It will count off AP for movement, but not items (which may have different AP cost). It will list percentages that are too high, or too low, and only the shotgun will work consistently. The enemies are lack luster, and being hit with a dot and going unconscious ensures characters death, as the use of the unskilled pain killers is glitchy - there were occasions where my typewriter log dictated 10 uses of a painkiller on a downed character before the character died without the painkillers being used - and the economy is designed to punish you for purchasing anything besides Trauma kits, ammunition, and rad suits. There doesn't feel like a way to explore the game through developing anything but your take on Mad Max.

This is very much in the style of Fallout 1 & 2. Gameplay seemed quite well balanced to me. I had no quests that were impossible to complete if approached in the right way. Also I had no bugs or glitches with quests. I did have a couple of minor Graphical bugs but nothing game breaking. The tutorial tips however could have been much better. Half way through the game I was finding I could do things that I was not aware of earlier on because none of the tips mentioned it. I have always liked the Turn Based RPG style game and this definitely scratched the itch. I got a good 70 hours plus of enjoyment out of this game.

Another solid reason to buy outside of the game's own merits is that it makes you far better appreciate and understand as much as half of W3. If you're considering or have already started playing Wasteland 3 then 2 is a must whereas Wasteland 1 is eminently skippable with plenty of content in both games to fill you in enough on what happened to help you appreciate the related content to that. For Wasteland 2, this is a game that takes maybe an older generation of gamer to appreciate when things were less streamlined and hand-held, where a lot more exploration AND unknowns were more expected in games and players also had freedom to completely screw things up. The in-game world and space compared to W3 is bigger and this is really a game for those who experienced other games like Jagged Alliance 2 as well as Arcanum, Planescape and the original Fallout series. It's made in that mold. For younger players this may seem slower and more dated, especially the combat. Ultimately the choices, setting, atmosphere etc are all in-line with a "spirutual sequel" feel to the original Fallout series and what Fallout Van Buren was likely going to be. This is the closest we're ever getting to that outside of Fallout New Vegas itself. Very worth playing for me finally more than a half decade since getting the game :)

Open world illusion, linear as your grandpa's prune-filled poop. World design does not match with story narrative, multiple characters will talk about people and places that don't exist as they should, logically, or simply don't exist at all. Wasteland 2 becomes a slog back and forth, playing 'find the plot point', or it's a 'play along with a wiki guide' game. Don't bother.

Yes I know Wasteland 1 inspired Fallout 1 but this is a Kickstarted project 26 YEARS later that's clearly banking on the popularity of the Fallout franchise. And after decades of Fallouts, Metros and STALKERs, going back to pure Rangers v Raiders feels a bit empty – not bad, just basal, primitive. Roleplaying is a letdown. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of narrative choices and alternative mission paths but they're all aimed at YOU, the player. Opportunities for CHARACTER expression are really limited, not helped by having an entire squad of player-generated characters. Gameplay is based on XCOM but isn't as good (e.g. the cover system's a bit wonky). Really it plays on par with Shadowrun Dragonfall but without the aesthetic or writing or characters that make that game great. I just don't see what this brings to the table which hasn't already been done better. If I want the combat, I'll play XCOM. If I want narrative and roleplaying, I'll play Shadowrun Dragonfall or Planescape Torment. If I just want that Mad Max feel, I'll play Fallout.