Woods of Eternity: The Irradiated Past

I've mentioned it a number of times in the past, and I'm going to say it again now: I love Fallout. I consider myself a fan, even if I've never completed Tactics (I've heard that many don't consider that an "official" game, anyway) and called the Vault-Boy Fallout-Boy (which, it seems, is a hangable offense amongst true fans).

I didn't actually come across Fallout and Fallout 2 until they had been out on the market for some time. I got them in a dual-CD discount game case at Wal-Mart, and it was probably the best ten bucks I've ever spent. The games are a testament to how good sprite-based CRPGs can be. The stories are deep, the side-quests are engaging, the gameplay is fun, the graphics (even now) are quite pretty, and, most of all, the atmosphere is wholly immersive.

Having been introduced to the culture of the 30s to 60s musicales and soforth early on in life, it was easy for me to get into Fallout's retro-future style. I've always liked how, during the economic golden age that existed just after World War II, there was a lulling sense of America being a utopia. Even with the fears of the Cold War, people seemed comfortable and happy, and their culture depicts that. Fallout combines that with a post-apocalyptic theme, to make a retro-future post-utopian dystopia.

The game has a gigantic cult following, including a team working to create a fan-made expansion pack for Fallout 2 and webcomic. I can't say that I'm a part of that following, as I have a poor history with some of the guys in charge of some of the biggest forums, websites, etc. Regardless, I highly recommend the Fallout games to anyone who loves a good story, deep atmosphere, and just plain fun.

Oh, and it's deliciously violent.

Another thing that was pretty neat about Fallout were the "talking heads" of certain NPCs. I'm not exactly sure how it was done, but I assume that they were pre-rendered videos of some kind that were clipped together as you chose options, as I'm certain that real-like 3D rendering wasn't this good in '97. However it was done, these talking heads managed to lip-sync with surprising accuracy and respond to the dialog choices that were made with emotions, such as looking angry, sad, happy, etc. Yet another great feature to add to the immersion of a great game. It really helped make already-memorable characters even more so.

With Bethesda Softworks working on Fallout 3, rather than the original Interplay team, some are pretty worried that they are going to completely botch an amazing universe. Personally, I'm pretty enthusiastic about how they are doing, and I'll discuss why soon.

Fallout & Fallout 2