The rise of the Fallout Series on Amazon Prime has lead to a resurgence of interest in the fallout video game franchise. While many have gone back to fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4… others have traveled further into the past; back to the sunny old radiation blasted landscapes of Fallout 1.
Simply put, we’re running out of drinking water. No water, no Vault.
-Vault 13 Overseer
Fallout 1 puts you in the position of the lucky vault “volunteer” that gets to traverse the blasted landscapes of post-apocalyptic southern California for a new water chip. Why do you need a water chip? Well.. Simply put, we’re running out of drinking water. No water, no vault.
Crafting the Perfect Vault Dweller
Fallout lets you customize your character based on the “S.P.E.C.I.A.L” system, an attribute point allotment system that is, honestly, not that much different from most other CRPG and/or RP systems. What IS slightly different in Fallout is the spectacular ways in which NPC interactions and game choices are affected by your selection. For instance, I played a Level 1 intelligence character. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t understand people, and most people would tell me “bless your heart” and move on. I don’t know of a lot of games that have that kind of commitment to the bit.
Don’t want to shoot. Fine, use your fists. Want to talk your way out of everything. You can do that to. The game has a surprising amount of freedom.
Wastelanders
Interplay, the developer of Fallout 1, spent a lot of effort making sure the NPC interactions in Fallout 1 were memorable. The game features a wide cast of characters that all seem very genuine in their trials and tribulations. My personal favorite is Harold. Harold is a nice guy that doesn’t take himself too seriously. Which is good, because he’s a mutated abomination that crawled out a vat of goo. Here is a picture of Harold. Go look him up.
Gameplay
I really thought that Fallout 1 was going to be a slog. An old CRPG like that…. no way it could be anything but a grind. You know what? It wasn’t. Fallout 1 has some of the best pacing I’ve ever seen in a CPRG. While the wasteland has many things to do, the player can see most of it in under 20 hours. In fact, certain builds can beat the game in well under an hour (i’m not recommending those, but it is possible). The only real annoyance is traversing the map,, which features a point to point navigation interrupted by random encounters. The encounters range from huge wastes of time to butt hard.
But that is what scum saving is for.
Bartering and dialogue are interesting in the game, providing a lot of opportunity to learn more about the setting. Combat is good, not great but good. Missing shots constantly can seem unfair, and many late game fights can be a challenge.
Conclusion
War never changes, and Fallout 1 shows a lot of the great qualities that subsequent developers latched onto when making the more recent Fallout games. If you are a fan of the franchise and haven’t taken an opportunity to play the old games, I would highly recommend giving them a go. If you are looking for modern conveniences, then i would try a quick google search for Fallout 1 mods. In particular, I used a mod that loaded Fallout 1 into the Fallout 2 engine, which makes the game a lot more tolerable for a modern audience.
