split/screen co-op

Word cloud of 5 Fallout intros. Click for larger view.

War, war never changes. It is one of gaming’s best-loved catch-phrases. But what does it mean? In what sense does war never change? Certainly, warfare — the ways in which a war is fought — has changed dramatically in the millennia leading up to Fallout’s fictional 2050s. Weapons, tactics, scale: every aspect of conflict has undergone transformation. Fallout’s world is not that dissimilar to our own and we can safely know as much.

Death and destruction are a staple of war but their scale differs vastly from conflict to conflict. Even the most advanced of energy weapons found in the wasteland is a relic from a past that is being forgotten and a far cry from the nuclear war that caused all the desolation. The game’s primitive, back-to-basics setting also suggests that the presumably constant factor may lie much deeper and closer to the roots of conflict than something as superficial as tools and means.

Why do people go to war? Perhaps there is a single fundamental reason underlining all conflicts.

The other day a friend asked my advice about what game she should buy as a gift to her partner who liked the Assassin’s Creed franchise. My immediate response was that she should go for a Prince of Persia game as they offer similar acrobatics-based gameplay. Then I had a flight home — and thus time to ponder the question — and came up with this: A List of Games Any Xbox 360 Owner Should Have.

I only recommend games that I have played so don’t be surprised if some of the best known titles are missing from my list. I just haven’t gotten around to playing them yet.

bottle caps by ~avspoisoner on deviantART

On the surface, Fallout’s bottle-cap currency is a clever gimmick, that seems to lend realism to the world in which the games play out. Dig deeper though and you will find its very existence is logically unjustifiable.

The best science fiction out there has the double trait of being both an engaging piece of literature and a credible prediction for the future. Will currently existing systems and social features endure? How will they be transformed by future circumstances? What will be lost, what will be gained? The Fallout games look like they are attempting to answer those questions. But they ultimately fail to provide persuasive answers, as the example of the flawed monetary system in the game world indicates.

Slave trader ledger p.2 by Special Collections at Wofford College on Flickr

One of the main features of the Fallout series is its world. The main story arc may often be nothing to write home about, but exploring the post-apocalyptic wasteland, discovering the artifacts left by its pre-war inhabitants and dealing with its current population is fun. True, the fallout in Fallout looks cheerful when compared with the bleak imagery of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Stephen King’s Dark Tower novels, but its intricate details stick together well enough for it to be convincing.

In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, this cohesion is easily broken when the player decides to do something the developers have not intended.

Don’t get me wrong. Both games are in no way linear or restrictive and you are free to roam the world and do almost whatever you like. However, it is obvious that the developers have regarded certain behaviours as the default and, should you stray from those pre-defined paths, the world comes undone. It doesn’t brake, because you can still find your way to the “correct” path, but it’s embarrassing.

Spoilers will rear their heads as I get concrete after the jump.

Fallout by ~Adopusina on deviantART

Fallout 3 was the first Fallout game I completed, and I’d played all previous Fallout games before. With Fallout: New Vegas still outstanding, I’d say this one is the best so far.

I was surprised to learn that the game has been greeted with hostility by many perennial Fallout fans. I could not find any evidence to back claims that it isn’t a “true” Fallout game. On the contrary, I found it to be as typically Fallout-ish as they come.

There’s a list of the three features I liked best in Fallout 3 after the jump.

Last week I had a rant about The Pitt DLC pack for Fallout 3 and the way how things turned out. I was angry and frustrated because I was faced with a kind of moral relativism I utterly reject. However, having had a few days to think about it, I wanted to examine whether there was some other flaw in this expansion: not from a moral, but from a game-design standpoint. Opinions on good and bad, after all, are a matter of personal choice; and great games should not be built to match the beliefs of one person but to please all.

Spoilers lurk after the jump.

Into the Pitt by ~soupamario on deviantART

My silence of late has in no small part been due to my being enthralled by Fallout 3. I still have one DLC pack to go through, as well as a couple of unfinished quests from the main story and a lot of unvisited places on the map. I’ll write more about my full impressions from the game when I tie all those loose ends, but for now let me just vent my frustration with one particular piece of shit DLC: The Pitt.

There will be spoilers after the jump.

Fallout first aid kit I by dywa

If I were deterministically minded, I’d be likely to say something along the lines of “it seems as though I wasn’t meant to like the Fallout series”. My big Fallout marathon, which I was looking forward to so much, has been plagued by a number of misfortunes that could have shaken the will of one less committed to success.

But not me. Adamantium is weak compared with my determination to like the Fallout universe and the games set in it. I bandage up after each blow and carry on.

After the jump I recap what I have overcome so far: events that have understandably dampened my role-playing spirits somewhat but not to the point of giving up.

Every week we look at what people have been looking for in Google to find our website and try to answer the questions that you should be able to find answers for on our blog. This week in the Q&A section: Star Wars furnishings, Fallout bans, Halloween stuff and more. Hit the jump to check it all out.

Fallout by Karezoid

I’ve been plotting to do this for a while and finally the time has come. As I write this, Fallout is being installed on my hard drive and in a matter of minutes I will have embarked on my journey. Check out details after the jump.