Posted December 22, 2008
Fallout 2 was a good surprise.
I never played any cyberpunk RPG, soa friend of minesuggested I gave it a shot at FO2. I was surprised at how good it was.
Story
Good and immersive, and yet very simple. Each area of the continent has its own lore, albeit some of them are very poor and repetitive (basically, everybody is suffering from a great draught).
A good thing is that the story gets a good twist by the end of the game.
Gameplay
Simple and intuitive, moving around and fighting is quite easy. However, the game mechanics are poorly explained, and it gets quite hard to understand how some stats work (how does luck influences de game?) and some stats just can't be dumped for the sake of playability - a stupid character (low Intelligence) won't be able to complete even half of the quests available.
The fighting mechanics are good, and strategy really plays its part. It's just point and click, but you must calculate your moves or be fried. The aimed shot system is really cool too. The only setback is that the damage calculations are difficult to understand, and in the end you will have to rely on empirical tests to see what weapon does more damage.
The role play part of the game is basically deciding wether you are going to be a good or a bad person. Any players coming from fantasy RPGs will feel this is oversimplistic. Not to mention that a bad person will usually be restrained to solo-play and fewer quests, because some NPCs just won't talk to you.
Speaking of NPCs, one must say that the henchman-style party play is harder then playing solo. That is because the game's AI scripting plain sucks. Even you you adjust how the NPCs will fight, they wil rush enemies carrying miniguns (Goris), spray your back with bullets (Sullik and Marcus), watch the fight without doing anything (Vic, dogs)... you are better of alone, unless you need someone to carry stuff for you.
Graphics/sounds
Very good, considering this game's age, with some very funny death animations. The music and ambient sounds really ambients you, and some of them will creep you out - like in the Military Base or Sierra Army Depot.
Overall
A must play. This game is light and can be played for good hours of fun, even if just to see the very rich collection of jokes and easter eggs. Good story, good gameplay and a really nice introduction to its 10 year awaited sequel, Fallout 3.
I never played any cyberpunk RPG, soa friend of minesuggested I gave it a shot at FO2. I was surprised at how good it was.
Story
Good and immersive, and yet very simple. Each area of the continent has its own lore, albeit some of them are very poor and repetitive (basically, everybody is suffering from a great draught).
A good thing is that the story gets a good twist by the end of the game.
Gameplay
Simple and intuitive, moving around and fighting is quite easy. However, the game mechanics are poorly explained, and it gets quite hard to understand how some stats work (how does luck influences de game?) and some stats just can't be dumped for the sake of playability - a stupid character (low Intelligence) won't be able to complete even half of the quests available.
The fighting mechanics are good, and strategy really plays its part. It's just point and click, but you must calculate your moves or be fried. The aimed shot system is really cool too. The only setback is that the damage calculations are difficult to understand, and in the end you will have to rely on empirical tests to see what weapon does more damage.
The role play part of the game is basically deciding wether you are going to be a good or a bad person. Any players coming from fantasy RPGs will feel this is oversimplistic. Not to mention that a bad person will usually be restrained to solo-play and fewer quests, because some NPCs just won't talk to you.
Speaking of NPCs, one must say that the henchman-style party play is harder then playing solo. That is because the game's AI scripting plain sucks. Even you you adjust how the NPCs will fight, they wil rush enemies carrying miniguns (Goris), spray your back with bullets (Sullik and Marcus), watch the fight without doing anything (Vic, dogs)... you are better of alone, unless you need someone to carry stuff for you.
Graphics/sounds
Very good, considering this game's age, with some very funny death animations. The music and ambient sounds really ambients you, and some of them will creep you out - like in the Military Base or Sierra Army Depot.
Overall
A must play. This game is light and can be played for good hours of fun, even if just to see the very rich collection of jokes and easter eggs. Good story, good gameplay and a really nice introduction to its 10 year awaited sequel, Fallout 3.