Fallout 1, a game by Interplay Productions and Black Isle Studios, is a post-apocalypse RPG where you fill the role of the lucky vault dweller sent out to save vault 13 by finding and bringing back a water chip.
I wish to preface up front there will be spoilers in
this review, however I will be avoiding naming it explictly.
The basic premise of the Fallout Universe is the playing in the aftermath of the conclusion of a resource scarcity escalation that ignited into a World War between America and China, that ultimately resulted in release and use of nuclear weapons.
The first game series focuses on the west coast of America with the player character being volunteered for a task outside from one of Vault Tecs patented Vaults - which act as high-tech nuclear bunkers which were built to shelter and house people from and through the dangers of nuclear war, named Vault 13.
Before starting the game one must select either one of the pre-built characters the game has to offer or one go into the character creator to create one's own.
The pre-built characters are not bad and are probably recommended for someone not too sure how to build their character, but the game's character creation is one of its stronger points and there is more fun to be had creating a personal character especially if one wishes to role-play.
This is because the game makes use of a system of attributes called S.P.E.C.I.A.L which stands for:
- Strength
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is a meausure of your physical strength and has an effect with melee,
unarmed damage, carry weight and weapon handling of larger weapons
- Perception
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is used in a character's sequence score, ranged weapon accuracy, the
distance a character is from enemies during random encounters and an
effect on dialogue as well (how aware a character is)
- Endurance
- determines the player character's hit points, healing rate and additional hit points on level up.
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It also has the benefit of providing the player with some poison and
radiation resistance accordingly
- Charisma
- has the main purpose of determining the maximum number of followers the player can recruit and use at the same time - it is calculated as Charisma divided by two equals number of party members.
- It also has an effect on your barter and speach skills with a lower charisma effecting prices and requiring a bit more effort to win the trust of people.
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It is probably the weakest attribute considering the limited number of
companions, a lot of one's gear is scavenged loot and relatively how
little the trust is required to meet character expectations and a lot of
its shortcomings can be shored up with an increased.
- Intelligence
- determines how many skill points a player can receive at level up and plays a fairly important in regards to interacting with individuals with special mention to low intelligence playthroughs.
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It being as it has a different feel to them as the character will lack the
"higher brain function" to act "normally" in society and it will have the
effect of NPCs treating them differently.
- Agility
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is an important attribute that governs how many action points the player
has per turn, it also has an effect on your defense rating which is like a
character's dodge ability and can considered a character's manual
dexterity in regards to interacting with the world.
- Luck
- is something that has a smaller effect on a character's chance to hit and increases the character's chance to land a critical hit in combat.
- It also has an direct effect on the gambling skill values.
These are attributes are very important in relation to what type of character one wishes to build as ones skills and attributes which contribute to unlocking Perks.
Additionally, one can pick up to two character traits that can either enhance or hinder your character and can help round out a build or give a one an interesting novelty to play with or around.
The more powerful perks are locked away behind a character's level and if one meets the attribute and skill thresholds.
Once one decides what character they wish to start the game with, they are informed to journey to a nearby vault and look for a water chip as the last one has recently broke, however the player is also informed that they need to do it within 150 days as that is the estimate of how much reserves the vault has to live on.
With that, the player starts at the entrance of their vault and left to work one's way through a rat infested cave system. This area serves as a useful test to get familiar with the systems and once one navigates through it does one get exposed to the wild world proper.
The points of interest are also marked convienently to the side if one is not too sure where to look for a specific place, especially after one is given coordinates from NPCs to these locations, and by selecting the location, it will be marked and your character's party will be locked into journeying to the selected destination.
When one starts visiting the larger towns and areas, the game does thankfully
keep track of the points one has visited before and when wants to re-enter
from the world map then one can easily start from one of the explored sectors.
The first area of interest that one would probably stop by and visit is Shady Sands and this is great first area for the player to pick up their first companion and do a few quests for the locals to acquire some supplies and information for your primary quest.
This eventually provides leads for the player to follow that eventually allows one to find more built-up towns and from which with the player can gather knowledge on potential places to explore to get more information towards your goal, although it is recommended to complete the quests in these town hubs as they can both reward the player with monetary rewards and experience which become an valuable commondity if one wishes to buy equipment, guns and ammunition.
Although the world is not fully reactive, it does have a events that are based
on the amount of time the player has spent in the world and one can run the
risk of even missing out on an encounter with a town if one takes too long to
get there or having to deal with the consequences of having a certain
reputation having the player run into situations that address it.
The quest for the water chip should eventually lead the player to a place where they can finally claim their prize and return to the vault to complete your mission.
However it is only the first half of the game and with the water chip delivered the immediate visible time pressure is removed and the player is tasked with solving yet another problem that threatens the vault.
As the player investigates this newest problem, it seems to be not only a vault problem but a West Coast problem as well as reports of a new danger is on the rise.
The player will eventually be able to put an identity to this problem and they then set out to find its source and remove the danger that it presents.
This journey to eventually stop the great danger eventually leads to the discovery of the group responsible for it and so the player makes their way towards stopping the leader of said group once and for all.
However stopping the leader is not enough, the player must also deal with finding and putting an end to production facilities as well. It is only then that one's actions are considered as "Mission Complete".
Fallout 1 is not a very long game and a determined player can finish it very quickly if they have the right skillsets to slip in and out of danger and tick off the the main quest flags as the world itself is open to the player and if they can get to specific locations and know how to get past the measures in place to hinder this form of play then it is there for the player to try their luck and challenge themselves.
Alternatively, one could through a few points run into a non-standard game
over with certain decisions one makes, which come off quite brutal in its
implications.
The graphics although not the best even for its time is still does a good enough job -if one can look past the graphics. One can see that it serves the purpose of conveying character in a post-nuclear war world and the player's character model does change according to the armour that they wear - even if the selection is sparse.
Also included, which is something of its time, is the option to type a word or two and having the NPCs give your character an appropriate response. It is something that one would need to be specific with, but if one is willing to spoil themselves of this feature a collection of written prompts can be found here at the Fallout Fandom Wiki.
The few voiced NPCs don't look too bad either, all things considered, with voice acting that is suprisingly better than expected.
Unfortunately this level of detailing is not present for NPC companions and one cannot directly control them which can lead to moments where they can block doorways or engage enemies in unfavourable conditions.
The
music is appropriate for the setting but overall feels more in line with
ambiance music and it does feels like it follows a singular theme
throughout although not in a bad way as to its credit it doesn't throw
one out of the gameplay so in a sense it does what it intends to do
well.
One should also be aware of in regards to NPCs and especially companions: is to beware of weapons capable of automatic fire as the game does not make checks to see if friendlies are in the way and one can very quickly run into problems of bullets not hitting their intended targets which can lead to complications with NPC relations.
One is not off the hook with single fire weapons either as a miss can still unintentionally hit a nearby entity, although it is easier to work around than dealing with the indiscrimate threat of being a burst down by a friendly's automatic outbursts.
Another thing is that one must "trade" items to their companions if they wish to off-load extra loot to them and one can consider them more akin to mobile shops that one "sells" items to and then if one wishes to take an item back then one needs to either barter for it back or one needs to steal the items back from them. Fortunately, one need not worry about stealing from companions and is probably the easiest way to deal with the oversight that was shipped with the game.
The games strength lies in its freedom and although limited, in its discovery
and interaction with the world. For the greater overaching lore one needs to
go through some loops to get access to it, but does give a hint to the greater
happenings that lead to the events that lead to the events that happen in
game.
The towns one visits are generally polarised between siding with either the "good" Law or the "bad" Underbelly of society if one decides to engage with those elements.
Although it is incentivised more towards the "good" side if one is interested in rewards or companions it still is open enough that one being on the "bad" side will have a different play experience on their way towards the end, with certain actions having one having to come to terms with their actions.
Although finding a certain well armed and armoured faction in a bit more in the lines of you fall in line and you get rewarded, fall out of that the get kicked out.
There is a quest or two where the player is thrown a bit from the standard formula where one needs to consider their decisions more carefully to get a full picture but overall it is fairly cut and dry with what is expected of the player.
The player is not restricted on what or how they want to do things in regards to dealing with world at large and if they are able to survive the consequences of their actions then it will carry on until its conclusion without the player being locked out of ultimately completing the game.One should be aware though that in the later stages of the game that the combat does devolve a bit into trying to alpha-strike the late game enemies or at least disable them as the weapons they bring to bare can quickly kill regardless of armour as a lucky crit can tear through your defenses with relative ease.
One can be hit for over 100
damage from an unlucky hit and if one wants to duke it out with these enemies then one should be prepared for the shift in damage output one is expected to avoid or have built to endure.
This is more a problem with trying to keep your companions alive though as, as mention one cannot control them, as they can very easily get hit for far more than they can heal or retreat from in a single round.
The later floors are packed with large numbers of these death dealing threats and if one does not use sight lines and choke points well then one can end up with whole floor of enemies attempting to converge on your position and overwhelm your party.
Thankfully one doesn't have to deal with these worse case scenarios too often
and there is usually a way around such things without having to deal with it
at all. It does require the player to be more invested in skills that are less combat focussed though.
For all its faults, I do think this first game is a nice introduction that doesn't overstay its welcome - if one can get past the retro graphics, as it gets one to its main points fairly quickly and give the player a couple of options to solve each problem given to them.
This allows one to create a character and get it up and running and into role relatively easily which does help one to explore and experiment with the systems it has to offer.
If one wants to expand their standard Fallout 1 experience one can download and and install the Fallout Fixt mod which can be found here. It is in short a community effort to enhance, fix and improve on the Fallout 1 experience and is recommended to enhance the vanilla experience without changing the game.
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