RedAngel32
Really wanted to like this game, but for some reason wailing on randies just doesn't hit all that great. Very little long term draw as well.
2023
Fair party game, good for a few runs. Mods add a few more.
2023
Genuinely pushing shooters forward and we love to see it. Environmental destruction has long been a tacked on gimmick and FINALLY we have a game where it's high-functioning and strategically important.
Building the game around destruction also allowed them to branch out with class design, adding varying degrees of destruction, construction, and counter-destruction.
Plus the movement is solid, lots of fun options to play with, and it stays punchy. Love to see it.
Building the game around destruction also allowed them to branch out with class design, adding varying degrees of destruction, construction, and counter-destruction.
Plus the movement is solid, lots of fun options to play with, and it stays punchy. Love to see it.
2019
Unfortunately most of what's good about Death Crown can be seen in the trailer. A run art style and aesthetic, but very limited gameplay.
2004
Amazing character creator and opportunity to RP with your friends. Outside that, pretty standard MMO fare. Some decent build customization, fun environments, and break from the "holy trinity" team style offer some staying power.
1998
Full Series Playthrough Review
On the surface this looks a lot like the first -- great writing, characters, factions, aesthetic. The gameplay is also pretty much identical. The differences are very important to considering playing this again tho.
Fallout 1 stands out for being all meat. Clean and fast, excellent from start to finish.
Fallout 2 is much more sprawling, which comes with +/-. The factions have an incredible amount of interactivity functionally and narratively, letting players manipulate those connections in smart and meaningful ways. You spend more time with your character in more situations, which is great for the "role playing" aspect. However, you spend a lot a lot more time doing less interesting stuff. The random encounters are constant in this one and not all of the side missions are up to snuff, tho most do well.
If you played Fallout 1 and wished it was way more expansive, this is the game for you.
On the surface this looks a lot like the first -- great writing, characters, factions, aesthetic. The gameplay is also pretty much identical. The differences are very important to considering playing this again tho.
Fallout 1 stands out for being all meat. Clean and fast, excellent from start to finish.
Fallout 2 is much more sprawling, which comes with +/-. The factions have an incredible amount of interactivity functionally and narratively, letting players manipulate those connections in smart and meaningful ways. You spend more time with your character in more situations, which is great for the "role playing" aspect. However, you spend a lot a lot more time doing less interesting stuff. The random encounters are constant in this one and not all of the side missions are up to snuff, tho most do well.
If you played Fallout 1 and wished it was way more expansive, this is the game for you.
1997
Full Series Playthrough Review
What an absolute gem. I was turned off by the gameplay as a kid, but I got used to it this time and DAMN this game is tight. Polished to a shine, everything is meaningful and interesting. If its in the game, its worth seeing and doing which is such a breath of fresh air.
Because of this, the game is very short. I'd make that trade every time. Everything that I loved about later Fallouts from the aesthetic, to the characters, to the interconnectivity is here without the fat.
Fallout 1 takes YOU seriously, and if you do the same for it, you'll have a great time.
What an absolute gem. I was turned off by the gameplay as a kid, but I got used to it this time and DAMN this game is tight. Polished to a shine, everything is meaningful and interesting. If its in the game, its worth seeing and doing which is such a breath of fresh air.
Because of this, the game is very short. I'd make that trade every time. Everything that I loved about later Fallouts from the aesthetic, to the characters, to the interconnectivity is here without the fat.
Fallout 1 takes YOU seriously, and if you do the same for it, you'll have a great time.
2010
Full Series Playthrough Review
Aaaaand we're back. Did someone say characters that have character? Factions that play into each other and react to your questing? An interesting take on the setting without losing itself?
Even the combat is better, with weapons like the Grenade Machinegun and "That Gun" adding style and playstyles. Still pretty limp in that area, but hey.
It can struggle with scale sometimes, it a way the older ones didn't. Maybe this is just an issue of the first person perspective, but the Mojave feels like 200 people live there -- and that doesn't meld well with the rest of its narrative.
Just damn good writing is the short of it, with enough gameplay to keep you rolling.
Aaaaand we're back. Did someone say characters that have character? Factions that play into each other and react to your questing? An interesting take on the setting without losing itself?
Even the combat is better, with weapons like the Grenade Machinegun and "That Gun" adding style and playstyles. Still pretty limp in that area, but hey.
It can struggle with scale sometimes, it a way the older ones didn't. Maybe this is just an issue of the first person perspective, but the Mojave feels like 200 people live there -- and that doesn't meld well with the rest of its narrative.
Just damn good writing is the short of it, with enough gameplay to keep you rolling.
2015
Full Series Playthrough Review
Surprisingly, this is the worst mainline Fallout game. Their focus has shifted too far toward the gameplay loop and away from story telling and player interaction. The Bethesda loop has always been weak, but it helped to string you along to stories and moments that made their games worth playing. Here they largely forgot about those moments outside the DLC.
Not to mention the "unbelievable" factor is turned up even further from 3. Factions acting truly idiotic, minimal impact on the world around you, worthless voiced character butting in constantly. At times this game feels like an MMO I'm playing alone. Just not what made Fallout good at all. DLC are giving it half a star.
Surprisingly, this is the worst mainline Fallout game. Their focus has shifted too far toward the gameplay loop and away from story telling and player interaction. The Bethesda loop has always been weak, but it helped to string you along to stories and moments that made their games worth playing. Here they largely forgot about those moments outside the DLC.
Not to mention the "unbelievable" factor is turned up even further from 3. Factions acting truly idiotic, minimal impact on the world around you, worthless voiced character butting in constantly. At times this game feels like an MMO I'm playing alone. Just not what made Fallout good at all. DLC are giving it half a star.
2008
Full Series Playthrough Review
Unbelievable, unpolished, and short sighted. But! We've still got a lot of that excellent Fallout aesthetic coming through, a few good side missions and locations, and one or two worthwhile moments. Certainly doesn't hold up, but there's enough here to keep interest above the breaking point.
Unbelievable, unpolished, and short sighted. But! We've still got a lot of that excellent Fallout aesthetic coming through, a few good side missions and locations, and one or two worthwhile moments. Certainly doesn't hold up, but there's enough here to keep interest above the breaking point.
2023
At this point, Bethesda is a relic. They were given New Vegas as a direct template and learned nothing. Now with Starfield, I have no hope of them ever improving their craft.
While the combat, traversal, menuing, aesthetic are all leagues below industry standard at this point -- even below their own previous games -- the real death knell is the writing. It's incredible how rote and lifeless nearly everything in this game is rendered by speaking to almost any NPC. I wanted to care, but I just can't anymore when Bethesda refuses to improve while their contemporaries are blowing them away.
Don't play Starfield. If you still want to, pick up the new Cyberpunk DLC or do another New Vegas run. If you still want to after that, I'd strongly recommend branching out. The original Fallouts were gold. If you're looking for exploration and player agency Fallout 2 is some of the best out there.
Here's some bullets for my feelings:
High point:
- Ship builder was alright
- The concepts for some quests, tho well worn, were still enjoyable
- Enemies did have some hit reaction
- Interiors were very detailed, and some cities looked nice
- Mag minigun was cool
- Very occasionally the NASA aesthetic hits (like on the moon)
Disappointments:
- Enemies were less fleshed out than any previous Bethesda game
- Skill tree was almost entirely raw stats or unlocked recipes
- Space combat was shallow, needlessly lagging behind 25 year old games
- Writing had very few sparks of interest or emotion
- Companions were barely distinguishable
- Very little support for lasers or particle weapons. Why is the cutter the only beam?
- Vasco is the only robot companion / pet, no customization
- No radio... wtf
- Randomly generated "POI" have 0 interest in a game with weak combat
- Nothing effects anything. Betray the UC to give pirates a huge leg up? No one cares, and nothing changes.
- Bounty system is fucked. Witnesses, paying it off elsewhere, randomly getting some for nothing. All weak.
- Crafting and base building feel pointless. The only mods I saw that sparked some interest were for the grenade launcher, since they altered how the weapon worked in a meaningful way.
- Most of the aesthetic was an emotionless modernist style that just felt soulless.
- Waaaaay too much wasted time in menus and fast traveling.
- The ending was totally whatever. Not a culmination of my travels, not a moment with any philosophical pull, just another weak gesture at the multiverse theory like we've had so many of already.
While the combat, traversal, menuing, aesthetic are all leagues below industry standard at this point -- even below their own previous games -- the real death knell is the writing. It's incredible how rote and lifeless nearly everything in this game is rendered by speaking to almost any NPC. I wanted to care, but I just can't anymore when Bethesda refuses to improve while their contemporaries are blowing them away.
Don't play Starfield. If you still want to, pick up the new Cyberpunk DLC or do another New Vegas run. If you still want to after that, I'd strongly recommend branching out. The original Fallouts were gold. If you're looking for exploration and player agency Fallout 2 is some of the best out there.
Here's some bullets for my feelings:
High point:
- Ship builder was alright
- The concepts for some quests, tho well worn, were still enjoyable
- Enemies did have some hit reaction
- Interiors were very detailed, and some cities looked nice
- Mag minigun was cool
- Very occasionally the NASA aesthetic hits (like on the moon)
Disappointments:
- Enemies were less fleshed out than any previous Bethesda game
- Skill tree was almost entirely raw stats or unlocked recipes
- Space combat was shallow, needlessly lagging behind 25 year old games
- Writing had very few sparks of interest or emotion
- Companions were barely distinguishable
- Very little support for lasers or particle weapons. Why is the cutter the only beam?
- Vasco is the only robot companion / pet, no customization
- No radio... wtf
- Randomly generated "POI" have 0 interest in a game with weak combat
- Nothing effects anything. Betray the UC to give pirates a huge leg up? No one cares, and nothing changes.
- Bounty system is fucked. Witnesses, paying it off elsewhere, randomly getting some for nothing. All weak.
- Crafting and base building feel pointless. The only mods I saw that sparked some interest were for the grenade launcher, since they altered how the weapon worked in a meaningful way.
- Most of the aesthetic was an emotionless modernist style that just felt soulless.
- Waaaaay too much wasted time in menus and fast traveling.
- The ending was totally whatever. Not a culmination of my travels, not a moment with any philosophical pull, just another weak gesture at the multiverse theory like we've had so many of already.