by The Fallout series (much to the dismay of my peers) has never been my cup of clam chowder. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the game franchise for what it is and what it provides its players–it’s just that I’ve never really liked the Wasteland setting for my post-apocalyptic games. Maybe the series is just too dry for me–or maybe I don’t like the way that the ever looming presence of the desert, radiation, and a less than plentiful supply of bullets constantly weighs down upon my weary desert-traveling soul. Don’t count my credentials out though–I’ve beaten Fallout 1, and I’ve even beaten its spiritual ancestor “Wasteland” (let me tell you, that was a trip) but at no point did I ever feel the special connection that so many seemed to have with this kind of game. As I loaded up Fallout Tactics, the third in the Fallout series, I expected to be met with the same wall that before had segregated my enjoyment of the series and was surprised to find… that I think I actually like this game.
Just as the other two Fallout games, Fallout Tactics begins with you building your character with the exact same stats, perks and skills as before. What makes this game different, is that instead of being kicked out of your vault with a knife, a pistol and a handful of bullets with the expectation that you survive in the harsh wasteland, you instead are injected into a series of scenarios that you must tackle, each with their own objective. The story goes, that you are in-training for the Brotherhood of Steel, and as a new recruit you are being sent on a series of missions to test your metal. In each mission you’ll get a handful of party members to assist you; thus the tactical portion of Fallout Tactics.
I’ve heard complaints about this game from fans of the others, and I can see why. Gone are the sections of exploration. Gone is the need for extensive role-playing with NPCs or grueling survival through the desert. It’s these absences that are probably the source of many’s complaints about this game–but it is the source of my enjoyment. I no longer feel like I’m wasting my time, wandering from town to town because I didn’t use the right dialogue option on a random NPC. Gone are the hours spent trying to pierce The Glow’s radiation without the proper equipment, or trying to track down a damn water chip. Instead, you focus much more on equipment management and party tactics in combat.
Does it deserve to be a Fallout game? …Probably not. If Fallout lore or role playing isn’t that big of a deal for you and you enjoy mini-scenarios involving strategy and party management then you might find something in this title. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s less frustrating than trying to unearth the next piece of plot in Fallout 1.
