Fallout 3 - Prepare for the Future Part 2: Wasteland Bingo
Fallout 3 - Prepare for the Future Part 2 - Wasteland Bingo
By 11 Year Fallout Survivalist Matt Kelly.
So enough of that super geeky ramble/history stuff. Okay, yeah, Fallout is an RPG fiction fanboy's paradise, but you know what's even better?! Bingo! If the idea of hanging out in a dusty community center with 25 other elderly citizens doesn't appeal to you, why not throw a bit of post apocalyptic action into the mix. And what better way to appease the inner geek inside of you than play games and get all judgmental about someone else's million dollar project. So in the quest to decide if Bethesda, sit down with this bingo list and check off every time they stay true to what made Fallout awesome.
A story that gets bigger as you play
While Fallout never wasted time giving you the initial goal, part of the magic was a sense of discovery. Whether it be a mission to find a water chip or a G.E.C.K., once you got out into the big wide world the story got a lot bigger. Cities had their own politics, factions roamed the wastelands, and it was pretty rare that any large number of people would get along. Not only that, the main quest would evolve. It could be discovery of new locations or people, or the facts of the what was going on coming to light, but either way, the world of Fallout kept you on your toes. The grandness of your end game goal was a voyage of discovery rather simply an objective laid out at the start of the game. Even Bethesda's Oblivion couldn't quite grapple with this sense of unravelment (if that's even a word, according to spell check it isn't).
When people aren't nice, they really aren't nice
While the majority of Fallout's characters didn't speak, you still got a sense of an incredibly varied population despite their green text only conveyance of what was being said. Fallout rarely held any punches when it came to it's diverse world, and would quite happily go neck deep in the nasty nature of living in a post apocalyptic USA. Violence, drugs, sex, rock and roll, and megalomaniac schemes to rule the world could all be found in Fallout, and were dosed in such a way that had impact without dragging the series into the category of games that drops an F-bomb every 10 seconds in the script just make it 'mature gamer' worthy.
Willing to have a laugh
The flip side of the nasty nature of some citizens of the wasteland is of course, the far more light hearted people you would meet. Sure, Fallout 2 would occasionally go a little too heavy with it's pop culture references, but what made the game so interesting is that you could never be 100% sure the sort of person you would run into. Not only that, when someone was cracking a joke, chances are it would be genuinely funny.
Hilariously gruesome violence
While it's already apparent that Fallout 3 can't match the level of bloody violence that was presented in the old 2D sprite days, it was a major trademark style which Bethesda appears to be eager to continue. There was something awfully satisfying about hearing a round of gattling gun bullets thud into your enemies body accompanied by a gut wrenching scream and a bloody disintegration of the body.
An RPG that actually changed the way you played
Let's face it, most modern day RPGs puss out on one level or another. Oh sure, those experience points are damn valuable, and having low skills may result in some minor disadvantages in those areas, but it's pretty rare that you're put in a situation where you have to accept that your character is simply not skilled enough in the required department. Fallout had the world set up in such a way that those skills would play an important part of how your adventure played out. Not only that, Fallout was extensive enough that all these options felt fleshed out, structured. Finally, it didn't feel like you were flipping around play styles, and helped give you a real sense of identity.
Choices matter
It amongst all the political friction and faction fighting, there was the choices you made during your time in the wasteland. It could be the mistake of picking the wrong pocket, or pledging allegiance to an enemy clan, but what was awesome is that those choices stayed with you. Fallout was unforgiving, sometimes in a frustrating manner, but like the above skills topic, it gave you a very real sense of who you were, where you were going and where you'd been. These choices could also catch up with you, anywhere, anywhen. Word spread throughout the wastelands of your actions, and sometimes you would pay for them, or be rewarded in unexpected ways. It was pretty rare you could play all sides of a conflict, though on the rare occasion you could, you were welcomed into a very volatile situation where anyone could pull the trigger at you at anytime.
History that is worth the lecture
The final element that filled out the Fallout experience was the world and it's history. Whether it be the events that you experience, what came before you, or just some lines that fill out the tragic world, Fallout was rife with its own political and social history. And although Fallout isn't the only game to have it's own epic history, it's by far the most interesting. Full of parallels to current and past political issues, along with numerous social issues, players were able to maintain an attachment to the problems of the world. It went well beyond that, for the more inquisitive Black Isles were always willing to provide additional facts from the Fallout world, well and truly fleshing it out into something with a real history.
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