Technically speaking ...
The engine that drives Fallout2 is the same as its predecessor, isometric view in two dimensions, hexagonal game world and objects rendered in bitmap, yet the graphics are particularly accurate and detailed, making them pleasant to see, as well as the animations of all characters and creatures that we will meet on our journey.
The installation can be carried out in different sizes, from the minimum (2MB) to the complete one (about 700MB), with obvious differences in performance and loading times, I personally find the 270MB one that offers a good compromise of performance the best. disk space occupied, especially if you have a good cd player (not that difficult these days) which may even be faster than the full installation.
The interface has remained the same, intuitive, functional and complete from every point of view, especially now that a special button has been added to move the NPCs a few steps (obviously this will be possible in a neutral situation, during a situation of combat does not work obvious), thus avoiding, as often happened in the first Fallout, to find the passage blocked and get stuck in some alley, building and more.
Improvements have also been added in the inventory management, first of all the objects will be presented to us from the last that we acquired to the first, thus making it faster to access the objects used more frequently, even during the purchase and sale phases has been added the ability to select quantities more quickly, expanding the number of coins that can be transferred during a transition, thus avoiding having to pay for example $ 7000 and find us selecting $ 999, then another 999 until the requested sum is reached.
Finally it will finally be possible when we open a desk drawer or rummage in a wardrobe, a corpse etc. take possession of all the content thanks to a special button, without picking them up one by one as we were forced to do in Fallout.
Despite these welcome additions, however, the problem of objects remains, and even worse containers, hidden behind walls or in the most unthinkable places that will be difficult to notice in some cases, a problem that is however partially remedied thanks to the use of a circle of transparency. , of which, however, I would have preferred to have the possibility to adjust the size from the options menu, but with a little patience and attention the problem turns into a slight annoyance that will disappear completely when you begin to immerse yourself in the game world.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the technical aspect, one cannot help but also talk about what is perhaps the only real drawback of the game, namely the bugs.
Fallout2 is, indeed it was at its release, one of the most, grant me the term, "buggy" games of all time, so much so that it could not be completed, due to its continuous crashes and its defects in the resolution of the various quests. However, everything has been solved with the patches, and now the game is very stable and almost completely free from bugs, calculating the vastness of the game world and the impressive number of quests, their different methods of resolution, the intertwining of some quests related to many more, it was expected that the game would hit the shelves with a few bugs too many.
As for the sound, once again we find an excellent dubbing as regards the dialogues and sound effects in general, the music instead catchy initially becomes boring and anonymous after a while, but after all when you play an 'rpg usually it removes any external distraction, including music, to completely immerse yourself in the game world, so the problem does not arise (at least put on a nice CD that you have at home which is even better).
The system requirements these days are easily surpassed by any machine out there now, amounting to a P1 with 16MB RAM and compatible video card ...
[*** Incomplete data: game card or image number missing ***] [*** data incomplete: game card or image number missing ***]
How do you look like?
Fallout2 inherits from its predecessor the character creation system, which provides for the choice of the physical, mental and character attributes of our character, his skills in the various disciplines, his natural talents and those acquired by gaining experience and therefore levels during the game.
We can therefore create our virtual alter ego in our image and likeness, or give life to the image of what we always wanted to be in reality but which we have never had the opportunity, the choice is up to us, and there are so many variations to choose from. For more details, read the Fallout 1 review if you haven't done so yet.
However, I reiterate the same fundamental concept at the base of this system of creation, every single aspect will then have repercussions in the game, starting from the possibility and effectiveness in using objects, in being able to interact with them, in being able to repair them, analyze them, passing for the fights, the mastery in the use of the explosives thus arriving at the dialogues, the deceptions and the subterfuges.
Each character, depending on the combination of his attributes, characteristics and abilities, will be able to succeed in the same task in a totally different way. Although the system remains almost identical to the first chapter, there have been some improvements to the system, new talents selectable as the levels pass and others modified, the skills can now increase up to a greater percentage than before, but the number has been changed of skill points that must be spent to increase them.
[*** Incomplete data: game card or image number missing ***] [*** data incomplete: game card or image number missing ***]
I really don't care...
The word that reigns supreme when playing in Fallout is freedom. We are not bound by anything or anyone in our actions, we may want to kill every living thing in our way without those boring text messages that we are used to encounter in other games "you killed a key character in the game, you need to reload".
Oh no, in Fallout there is no such thing ... the main quest can also be ended with the total extermination of all living beings if you want.
If other RPGs are asked to select an alignment (chaotic evil, neutral, legal good etc) in Fallout similar to Planescape Torment your alignment is formed through your way of acting and behaving. that you are aligned precisely because there is no one that can fully classify your actions!), without limiting yourself to a predefined alignment, here we really go into the smallest details and the most articulated details, such as a chaotic villain who he kills a woman's husband and son after agreeing to help her save them, but instead of killing her too, she simply prefers to return after the murder to have a good laugh behind her watching her tear apart in pain.
In Fallout2, however, compared to the previous chapter, the same quests are never one-way, that is, they can be solved in many different ways as in the predecessor, but there is always room for a sudden change, we are not bound by a certain choice, For example, we could decide to give our help in looking for some information on behalf of someone, without it that someone will be forced to resort to violence to resolve a specific issue. Now suppose you find that information, go back to that person and you would expect the game to automatically decide to give the good news ... oh no, you can always say that you have not found the aforementioned information, or reveal false information and provoke the attack.
Often the quests that will be given to us will provide for actions that will prove harmful to someone else, but once we have accepted to work for someone, we will still be able to change faction thanks to continuous turnarounds, blackmails, deceptions, always obviously that our character has the possibility to do so, to which we then add our karma and our reputation which must be negative in case we want to undertake or complete quests in an evil and positive way for those on the side of legality.
It was then added the possibility of receiving extra "titles" depending on our actions, for example we can become boxing champions by winning a special tournament, or become porn stars by revealing ourselves after an audition, gigolos after having intercourse. with a high number of women etc. and they too will contribute to changing some dialogues, opening new possibilities or precluding others (respectable people will not want to have anything to do with a porn actor, vice versa "easy girls" will be attracted to a boxing champion etc).
The dialogues in this sequel have been further enhanced by adding variables such as stalking some NPCs (again depending on your skills), giving them orders, noticing if they are lying to you etc. opening up once again other possibilities for dialogue! In short, the implications that can be obtained from a dialogue in Fallout2 are nothing short of multiple, greatly increasing the feeling of completeness of the dialogues that hovered in the first chapter, undoubtedly the strength together with the character creation process (which then they are closely related) of Fallout.
The NPCs must be analyzed, understood and it is necessary to behave accordingly, even a character with high enough characteristics to provide advantages during the dialogues, they can still end up provoking the wrath of the interlocutor if they do not pay attention to what they say, it will be necessary to distinguish between people who are easily offended, those fearful who need to be reassured to extract information more easily, in short, you really need a lot of attention in the dialogues.
You will never have to memorize the only correct combination of the dialogues "1,2,1,3" as it happened for example to Baldurs Gate, this time they will always be different depending on the situation. And always keep in mind that they always remember how you behaved towards them, if you have previously threatened someone, and you will need them later, they may decide not to help you, ask you for more or in any case make more or less welcome comments on of you...
[*** Incomplete data: game card or image number missing ***] [*** data incomplete: game card or image number missing ***]
Anyone else want some?
Even the combat system has remained unchanged compared to its predecessor, although as in all other fields some small improvements have been made, starting with the new weapons and all the arsenal of destruction at our disposal, the adjustments in the skills concerning the use of firearms (in the calculation of the% to hit and the damage inflicted and the cost in action points) but above all in the management of our travel companions.
Yes, because in Fallout 2 as well as in the first chapter we will be able to meet NPCs who can be convinced to join our cause. This time, however, we will be able to fully customize them, making them wear armor and weapons (depending on their abilities) and changing their behavior in battle, finally making it possible to finish a firefight even against powerful opponents without having to risk reloading at each fight because ours companions were easily torn apart by a blast of machine guns being without armor vulnerable as twigs, while we did not suffer any damage as they were equipped with power armor ...
It should also be noted how some fights could start following random encounters, much more varied and interesting than in Fallout, during our movements from one city to another (which take place through a stylized map of California in which we simply have to click on our destination), and to be noted as an absolute novelty in this sequel, it is possible to find during the game a car to travel quickly throughout the map and carry a large amount of luggage without being limited by the maximum transportable weight.
Honorable mention must then be given to how the game world itself is influenced by our actions (I took a special screenshot that is self-explanatory), and by how the game ending is "broken up" into many different endings, almost a report of our achievements, obtained in each city, both positive (in case we had decided to help the city solve its problems) and negative (in case we decided to further aggravate their precarious conditions and set them towards catastrophe), in short, not we will impersonate the declared hero who acts according to script, but a hero in disguise who acts regardless of the repercussions that his actions, unbeknownst to him or not, will have on the rest of the world ...
Summing up then, we find a game not technically avant-garde but pleasant to watch, deep without equal, intricate plot, black and cutting humor, never out of place, tactical fights, infinite possibilities of character creation and resolution of the quests that will allow you to replay it over and over again, not counting its actual size, at least twice the size of the entire Fallout!
Fallout2 is a masterpiece and worthy successor to one of the best rpgs that have ever seen the light, if you haven't done it yet enjoy it waiting for Lionheart (which should use the same method of character creation but in a fantasy setting for those who do not like environments post atomic, which I personally began to love thanks to the two Fallouts), unfortunately I am sorry to remember that the game is in English, it has only been translated into French and German (if now the Spanish market is worth little in those days it was worth less than zero unfortunately), so if you do not chew the English language I am the first to advise you to give up, you would lose a lot of the game since its focus is precisely the dialogues, the subtle jokes, in short, an excellent knowledge of English is required to be able to appreciate it to the fullest, but if you don't have language problems there are no valid excuses not to buy Fallout2 (and its predecessor if you haven't bought it yet!).
Claudio "Pendragon" Piacentini
[*** Incomplete data: game card or image number missing ***] [*** data incomplete: game card or image number missing ***]
Anyone else want some?
Homepage: Fallout
Sviluppatore: Black Isle
Publisher: Interplay
Special site: Project TIF 2 Spanish Translation Fallout 2
Fallout2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
The struggling for survival
Here we are talking about another masterpiece as far as computer rpg is concerned, Fallout2.
Often when you play the sequel to a game, especially if it had marked the history of its genre as Fallout, we complain that it is too similar to its predecessor, does not add any major novelties and is the usual twisted soup ... but is it necessarily a defect ?? I mean, when you are faced with titles like Fallout2, however, what arises spontaneously is how much a dish that we considered exquisite can have changed since the last time, and if perhaps cooked with a better "sauce" it cannot be even better than how much we remembered ...
It is with this certainty that I am preparing to illustrate the countless merits and definitive affirmation of the Fallout saga in the world of computer role-playing games.
The opening video once again takes your breath away, showing the raw and gratuitous violence that we will face in the after-bomb world, and the desperation of people who find themselves unable to react to the harshness of living conditions.
This time you will be called to step into the shoes of the descendant of the one who saved the world in the first chapter, who is said to have traveled north and then founded a quiet village called Arroyo where he died. Unfortunately, over time the land began to dry up, the food resources of the village began to run low, and your task is to set out in search of the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), which is said to be able to make it flourish again. a desert in a luxuriant oasis, but of course you will first have to show yourself up to the situation, passing tests that will also act indirectly as a tutorial to become familiar with the intuitive control system (for those who have not yet played the first chapter).
