split/screen co-op

Tough Choices by ~frequentlydistracted on deviantART

It happens all the time. People find large amounts of money in inconspicuous bags at unlikely places. They pick it up and return it. Sometimes it’s millions of dollars, sometimes it’s less; but it’s always a big enough sum to make newspaper headlines, or else we wouldn’t know about it.

Why they do it and whether you and I would do it if it were us who found the money is not important right now. The important thing is that those people had a choice and made a decision. By opting to return the money, they’ve chosen to lose it. Irreversibly.

Games are rubbish at offering players that kind of genuine dilemma. Before I go on, a warning: there will be spoilers once you take the jump.

Good VS Evil Contest Entry by =Destinyfall on deviantART

Vanya‘s post last week prompted me to think about my own choices when faced with the good/evil dichotomy and the question became even more pertinent as I was booting up Fallout: New Vegas for the first time and had to decide what my character will be. In a game like Fallout it may be impossible to play the character you want to if you get the starting stats wrong. For instance, I’d like to be the pacifist who shoots only when there’s no alternative: and that means I need a high Charisma in order to get the appropriate dialog options.

I’ve been playing Fallout games almost non-stop for three months now and I always lean towards the same type of character: the smart smooth-talker who prefers to deal in metaphors as opposed to in lead. As I created my heroine in Fallout: New Vegas, I considered trying something new; a character of brute strength who shoots first and asks questions later, perhaps, or someone who is as evil as the game will allow. I chose not to. Why did I do that?

Pocket full of Caps by MarkParnaby

The world of Fallout and Fallout II is one of deep conflict. The rivalries of local gangs and city-states paint the facade, but behind it there’s the constant clash between primitive and futuristic in the reinvention of ancient utilities with technology powerful enough to make them obsolete. Dig even further and you will encounter underlying game mechanics that are meant to make you happy but will instead make you angry.

Intrigued yet? Hit the jump to see what I’m getting at.

Oops. Was that a wall I just broke?

Something weird happened just now in Fallout 2. I was driving from Broken Hills to New Reno and I got one of those random encounters where the game asks you whether you’d like to meet so-and-so or not. This time it was “a man guarding a bridge”, which sounded intriguing and I opted to check him out.

Hit the jump to see what happened.

Omar Little

Meet Omar — my Fallout 2 character who is obviously inspired by Omar Little from The Wire. Actually, inspired is too inadequate a term: I basically tried to recreate the same guy within the confines of Fallout 2‘s desolate California.

Hit the jump for the full story.

reminiscence. by Frauette

An RPG should, by definition, be all about assuming and performing a role, about getting into character and acting as though you were them. So how does the first game in one of the most celebrated RPG series of all time fare in this respect?

Read all about it after the break.

Fallout by UndeadBat

Writing this review for Fallout was hard. I’ve already dedicated a post each to most of the things that made any lasting impression on me for good or bad. I thought there was no need to repeat that here, so I would just give you my final verdict. Right.

Now… that’s the tricky part. I’m not sure what I think of this game in the end. I simultaneously loved it and hated it and I just can’t make my mind up one way or the other.

Read on for more of my dilemma.

My top three among the new game releases on the European market this week are listed below. To see a full list of the new releases in Europe for the week, you can visit vgchartz.com.

My favorites for this week after the jump

Three games, which I find very interesting and think would be cool to play, will hit the stores in the U.S. this week. To see a full list of the new releases in the USA for the week, you can visit vgchartz.com.

My favorites for this week after the jump