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Fallout 2

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Fallout 2
Developer(s)Black Isle Studios
Publisher(s)Interplay Productions[a]
Producer(s)
Designer(s)
  • Feargus Urquhart
  • Matthew J. Norton
Programmer(s)Jesse Reynolds
Artist(s)
  • Gary Platner
  • Tramell Ray Isaac
Writer(s)Mark O'Green
Composer(s)Mark Morgan
Rick Jackson
SeriesFallout
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows
  • October 29, 1998[1]
  • Mac OS X
  • August 23, 2002[2]
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Gameis a 1998role-playing video gamedeveloped byBlack Isle Studiosand published byInterplay Productions.It is a sequel toFallout(1997), featuring similar graphics andgame mechanics.The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events ofFalloutand 164 years after the atomic war which reduced the vast majority of the world to a nuclear wasteland.[4]The player assumes the role ofThe Chosen One,the grandchild of the first game's protagonist, and undertakes a quest to save their small village on theWest Coast of the United States.[5]

Fallout 2was well received by critics, who praised its gameplay and storyline, and considered it a worthy successor to the originalFallout.Its bugs and limited updates to the formula of the first game attracted criticism. In 2008, it was followed by a sequel,Fallout 3,developed byBethesda Game Studios.[6]

Gameplay[edit]

An example of dialogue between characters inFallout 2

Fallout 2is a role-playing video game. Theplayer characteris free to move until they enter into combat. Combat gives a number ofaction pointsto move, fire, check their equipment, reload and the like.

When a player uses up all of their action points, they end their turn and enemies start theirs. If the player survives unharmed, they have their action points restored. Injuries and poisons can reduce the number of action points available both in a single turn and semi-permanently, until combat ends and the player can be treated.

Combat and completion of jobs or quests reward the player withexperience pointswith which they can level up their characters and apply beneficial perks to become more suited to the dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

General gameplay consists of traveling and interacting with local inhabitants and organizations to complete goals and aid or inhibit the NPCs. The player's actions dictate what future story or gameplay opportunities are available. Mature themes such as alcohol consumption, drug usage, and sex are present.

Organized crime, prostitution, and slavery are major elements of the setting. Character creation is based on theSPECIALrole-playing system.

Plot[edit]

In 2241, the primitive town of Arroyo suffers the worst drought on record. Faced with the calamity, the village elder asks the direct descendant of the Vault Dweller, referred to as the Chosen One, to retrieve a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) for Arroyo. The GECK is a device that can create thriving communities out of the post-apocalyptic wasteland.[5]The player, assuming the role of the Chosen One, is given the Vault Dweller's jumpsuit, a RobCo PIPBoy 2000, a Vault 13 water flask, a spear and some cash to start on their mission.

The Chosen One finds Vault 13, the supposed location of a GECK, devoid of the majority of its former human inhabitants and instead inhabited by intelligent Deathclaws. The Chosen One returns to find their village captured by the remnants of theUnited States governmentknown as "The Enclave". The Enclave terrorizes the inhabitants of the continental United States with their supreme arsenal of advanced technology. The Chosen One, through various means, activates an ancient oil tanker and engages itsautopilot,thus allowing them to reach the Enclave's main base on an offshore oil rig. It is revealed that the dwellers of Vault 13 were captured as well, to be used astest subjectsfor the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). Vault 13 was supposed to be closed for 200 years as part of a government experiment,[4]making them perfect test subjects. The Enclave modified the FEV into an airborne disease, designed to attack any living creatures with mutated DNA. With all genetic impurities removed, the Enclave (who remain protected from radiation) could take over. The Chosen One frees both their fellow villagers from Arroyo and the Vault 13 dwellers from Enclave control and subsequently destroys the Enclave's oil rig, killing Dick Richardson, the President of the United States and Frank Horrigan, a cybernetic Super Mutant working for the Enclave's Secret Service. In the end, the inhabitants of Vault 13 and the Arroyo villagers usher in a new era of prosperity to the dying village with the help of the GECK, turning Arroyo into a flourishing city.

Development[edit]

Tim CainannouncedFallout 2via aUsenetposting in December 1997, and wrote that it "should take 11 months".[7]Cain later clarified that the sequel entered development before the launch ofFallout,as the previous game had "really caused a buzz in the studio about six months before it was released".[8]According to co-founder of Black Isle StudiosFeargus Urquhart,Interplay was experiencing financial difficulties at the beginning of 1998, which according to Urquhart, gave the studio "basically nine months to make the whole game".[9]In order to reach this deadline, many staff were taken from thePlanescape: Tormentdevelopment team and made to work onFallout 2.Additionally, the development team were also made to workcrunch timeto make up for a lack of manpower and time.[10]

Reception[edit]

Fallout 2received positive reviews, according to thereview aggregatorsMetacriticandGameRankings.It was a finalist for "PC Role-Playing Game of the Year"during theAIAS'2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards,along with nominations for role-playing game of the year awards fromComputer Gaming World,GameSpot,CNET Gamecenter,andIGN;all were ultimately given toBaldur's Gate.[22][23][24][25][26]The editors of GameSpot wrote, "A bigger, betterFallout,this sequel to 1997's RPG of the Year was populated with more characters, more places to go, and more things to do. "[23]

Positive reviewers praised the gameplay, storyline, and worthiness as a successor to the originalFallout,while detractors criticized frequentbugsand lack of improvement over the first game. Daniel Morris ofGamePropraised the mix of action and character interaction as well as the non-linear gameplay.[12]IGNapplauded the developers for the sizable game world, the writing, and "not fi xing something that wasn't broken."[15]Game Revolutionpraised the game's depth and storyline but criticized its graphics and interface.[27]

Sales[edit]

Fallout 2was a commercial success.[28]In the United States, it secured third place onPC Data's computer game sales rankings for the first week of November 1998. It was absent from the weekly top 10 by the following week, but debuted at #20 for the month of November overall.[29][30]Fallout 2sold 123,000 copies in the United States by March 2000.GameSpotwriter Desslock considered these "very good sales, especially since the overall [worldwide] figures are likely double those amounts."[28]According to Keza MacDonald ofEurogamer,Fallout 2was unsuccessful in the United Kingdom; she noted that the game and its predecessor totaled just over 50,000 sales combined in the region.[31]

Legacy[edit]

In 2013,GamesRadarrankedFallout 2number 68 on their list of top video games of all time.[32]That same year,IGNranked it as the 28th best role-playing video game ever.[33]In 2015,PC Gamerranked the game #3 on its list of best RPGs of all time.[34]

In retrospect, the designers ofFallout 2expressed reservations about the game, with Chris Avellone calling it "a slapdash project without a lot of oversight".Retro GamerdescribedFallout 2as "an impressive feat, yet still one that rubbedFalloutdiehards the wrong way. "[8]

Fallout 2was the first game to feature same sex marriage,[35]and one of the first games to include LGBT representation in general.[36]

References[edit]

  1. ^MacPlaypublished the Mac OS X version.[3]
  1. ^Mullen, Micheal (October 26, 1998)."Fallout 2 Ships".GameSpot.Archived fromthe originalon June 10, 2000.RetrievedNovember 13,2019.
  2. ^"MacPlay".February 20, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon February 20, 2005.RetrievedMarch 27,2023.
  3. ^Samhain, Cynn (July 2, 2002)."Fallout 2 For Mac".IGN.Ziff Davis.Archived fromthe originalon July 5, 2022.RetrievedJuly 5,2022.
  4. ^abAvellone, Chris(March 8, 2002)."Fallout Bible 0".Black Isle.Archived fromthe originalon December 26, 2018.RetrievedApril 3,2013.
  5. ^ab"The Story".Fallout 2 Website.Interplay.1998. Archived fromthe originalon December 4, 2003.RetrievedSeptember 3,2006.
  6. ^Bradon; Boyer (April 13, 2007)."Fallout IP Sold To Bethesda".Game Developer.Archivedfrom the original on March 25, 2022.RetrievedApril 19,2022.
  7. ^Asher, Mark (December 4, 1997)."Fallout 2Under Way ".CNET Gamecenter.Archived fromthe originalon May 6, 1999.
  8. ^abDransfield, Ian (2018). "The History ofFallout".Retro Gamer.No. 186. pp. 20–29.
  9. ^"How Fallout 2's wild wasteland came to define a series".PCGamesN.October 10, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on May 12, 2021.RetrievedApril 5,2021.
  10. ^"World on Fire: The Oral History of Fallout and Fallout 2".Shacknews.November 15, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on May 23, 2021.RetrievedApril 5,2021.
  11. ^House, Michael L."Fallout 2 - Review".AllGame.Archived fromthe originalon November 15, 2014.RetrievedApril 6,2017.
  12. ^abMorris, Daniel (January 1, 2000)."Fallout 2".GamePro.Archived fromthe originalon October 5, 2008.RetrievedDecember 5,2008.
  13. ^Scorpia(February 1999). "Help Me, I'm Falling".Computer Gaming World.No. 175. pp. 214, 216.
  14. ^"Fallout 2 Review".GameSpot.December 9, 1998.Archivedfrom the original on October 10, 2011.RetrievedOctober 22,2010.
  15. ^ab"Fallout 2"(November 13, 1998). IGN. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  16. ^Vaughn, Todd (February 1999)."Fallout 2".PC Gamer US.Archived fromthe originalon January 16, 2000.
  17. ^Mayer, Robert (November 13, 1998)."Fallout 2".Computer Games Strategy Plus.Archived fromthe originalon November 5, 2002.
  18. ^Staff (February 1999). "Fallout 2".Next Generation(50): 98.
  19. ^Barrick, Gordon."Fallout 2Review ".PC Gaming World.Archived fromthe originalon August 19, 2000.
  20. ^"Fallout 2 for PC".GameRankings.Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2016.RetrievedJuly 15,2016.
  21. ^"Fallout 2 for PC Reviews".Metacritic.Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2016.RetrievedJuly 15,2016.
  22. ^"The CNET Gamecenter Awards for 1998".CNET Gamecenter.January 29, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon December 16, 2000.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  23. ^abStaff."GameSpot's Best and Worst of 1998".GameSpot.Archived fromthe originalon August 15, 2000.
  24. ^"IGNPC's Best of 1998 Awards".IGN.January 29, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon April 4, 2002.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  25. ^"Second Interactive Achievement Awards; Personal Computer".Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.Archived fromthe originalon November 4, 1999.
  26. ^Staff (April 1999). "Computer Gaming World's 1999 Premier Awards;CGWPresents the Best Games of 1998 ".Computer Gaming World.No. 177. pp. 90, 93, 96–105.
  27. ^"A kiss to build a dream on..."Game Revolution. February 1, 1999.Archivedfrom the original on October 29, 2013.RetrievedOctober 27,2013.
  28. ^abDesslock (May 11, 2000)."Desslock's Ramblings – RPG Sales Figures".GameSpot.Archived fromthe originalon February 3, 2001.
  29. ^Feldman, Curt (November 25, 1998)."Top Sellers of the Week".GameSpot.Archived fromthe originalon June 9, 2000.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  30. ^Mayer, Robert (December 13, 1998)."November Belongs toDeer Hunter 2 3D".Computer Games Strategy Plus.Archived fromthe originalon April 6, 2005.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  31. ^MacDonald, Keza (October 27, 2008)."FalloutRetrospective ".Eurogamer.Archivedfrom the original on October 29, 2009.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  32. ^"GamesRadar Top 100".GamesRadar. February 15, 2013. p. 37.Archivedfrom the original on March 19, 2015.RetrievedDecember 18,2013.
  33. ^"IGN Top 100 RPGs (Fallout 2)".IGN. Archived fromthe originalon September 16, 2012.RetrievedDecember 18,2013.
  34. ^Banks, Cory; Johnson, Leif (December 18, 2015)."The best RPGs of all time".PC Gamer.Future US.RetrievedDecember 20,2015.
  35. ^Thier, Dave."'Fallout' Had Gay Marriage Back In 1998 ".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on February 13, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 13,2023.
  36. ^"A Brief History Of Gay Marriage In Video Games".Kotaku.June 26, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on April 5, 2019.RetrievedJuly 30,2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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