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Fallout 2

EMAIL PRINT pc

9.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 69 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Interplay

Developer: Black Isle Studios

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: September 30, 1998

Summary

It's been 80 long years since your ancestor trod across the wastelands. As you search for the Garden of Eden Creation Kit to save your primitive village, your path is strewn with crippling radiation, megalomaniac mutants, and a relentless stream of lies, deceit, and treachery. You begin to wonder if anyone really stands to gain anything from this brave new world. [Interplay]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Fallout

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Yahoo! Games

Nothing short of superb - it takes "Fallout," expands upon it, enriches it, enhances it in so many ways that it makes one feel as if the original was immature.

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100

GamePro

Few RPGs provide so deft a balance between the wandering monster-slaying and the NPC interaction phases of role-playing.

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Game Over Online

A worthy successor to Fallout 1, and for those who loved the original they're in for a whole new experience.

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All Game Guide

Survival in Fallout 2 is approached in a refreshing and innovative manner that requires some original thinking and doesn't depend on fantastic, imaginary gimmicks as do so many fantasy-based role playing worlds.

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Electric Playground

Right from the opening strains of the song played in the opening movie, it's evident that Fallout 2 is going to be awesome. And it is. It perfectly recaptures what made the first so great.

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Quandary

Fallout 2 is a worthy successor to Fallout, and one that deserves a place in every dedicated role-playing gamer's collection. Don't be without it!

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IGN

The story line is that it's a lot harsher this time around. I mean a LOT harsher... Fallout 2 gave me many, many hours of totally absorbing gameplay.

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Gamezilla!

Much broader in scope and storyline than was its predecessor. There is much more to see and do in this game. Best of all, the much-maligned time limit from Fallout is absent.

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PC Gamer

If you value character development, old-fashioned gameplay, and a good plot, this game delivers on all counts. [Feb 1999, p.178]

GameSpot

Perhaps even more so than its predecessor, Fallout 2 contains dozens of subtle and more often not-so-subtle references to cult movies, television icons, and other aspects of popular culture.

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Game Revolution

The warm, fuzzy, post-apocalyptic world has all the little details and exactly the right tone. The immersive story has kept me up until the wee hours of the morn on many occasions.

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Computer Games Magazine

Undeniably entertaining. In fact, it's addictive. You'll find yourself fidgeting through a day at work, eager to get back to the game so you can deal with that band of slavers or commune with the Hubbologists.

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Pregaming

There are two things that let this game down, its graphics. Isometric in nature with people who tend to all look the same. That may put you off playing it for a bit but after an hours play you will be hooked. The second problem is bugs. It’s hellishly buggy.

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Happy Puppy

Infinitely replayable, as random encounters are a part of the game, and no one will find all the secrets the first time through.

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Adrenaline Vault

This year's post-apocalyptic nuclear Christmas experience won't be as good as it was last year. Lack of improvement over the first and a high number of bugs are the main reasons.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 69 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mordeth 13 gave it a10:
Best game I've ever played in my life. And the only RPG I've played all the way through more than once.

John Doe gave it a10:
The game that change my perception of role playing game.I didn't know game can be so alive before I played this game.

Arana gave it a10:
FO2? Even better than the first and favorite rpg game to date. No others came in comparison... especially to its wry sense of humor.

Jimmy H. gave it a9:
Fantastic, non-dumbed-down, RPG that genuinely lets you play like YOU...BUT...bugged to hell. Be prepared for your PC to die, and die often. Save, save, save, and wait for the first time you dance round yir room screaming abuse at a screen that's locked up because you have too many items in your (SPOILER!)...still, though, the best RPG I've ever played. "Hey, causing that much destruction wasn't easy...".

Maran gave it a10:
I've played more RPG's than most people will ever even read about and I can honestly say, Fallout was the pinnacle of roleplaying for its time, in many ways its still not been surpassed. Judging it by the standards of its time, it blew everything else away. The story is different and setting almost a unique amongst rpg’s, its gritty, very dark in places and set a standard for future games that dealt with harsh environments or unforgiving worlds. People complain about the humor but honestly it made me smile, I was still immersed in the world that was fallout 2, the twisted, ruthless world, that made you cackle or smirk, as often as you laughed, maybe that’s because I had no premade assumptions in my mind about what the game should or should not do, I enjoyed it very much for what it was, pop culture references as well. This is a roleplayers game and I would say hardcore by todays ‘casual vs hardcore standards’, there are many mods available that enhance the game on various sites if your like me and like to tweak your experience, as people have become more experienced in modding generally they are becoming more common place. Combat is very simple by todays standards, however with detailed character development possibilities, fallout 2 still has a system that still holds up to todays standards and indeed is better in some ways for the gamer that prefers the detailed character development of old. Graphics are of coursed very dated, they were reasonable at the time but then as I said, this is a hardcore roleplayers game, not one you would buy for flashy graphics, even when it was released. I have a nice system and graphics can wow me for about 5 minutes and then occasionally when a well done set piece happens in a game, after that, they are insignificant in game play as long as they maintain a practical standard, i.e not cluttered or hard to navigate. Though the controls are easy, the game is not spoon fed to you, which I enjoy, replaying to find out all the secrets. For example, you might bribe an official to get into a city, thinking great you’ve found a way around the security there, which many would consider a secret point in the game, however with a bit of experimenting, you can then extort the official for doing this and even better if I remember rightly, go back and double cross him anyway! It’s the kind of game, you’ll struggle with at first but quickly find out how to get ahead and you can do so very easily. You set your own goals in this game, my games often turned out to feel like a gang or group of mercenaries traveling the wastes shooting up whoever crossed them or looked at them the wrong way, far from the ideal hero I played the first run through; the womanizing rogue who pimped out his wife; the stupid (quite literally) deaf/dumb tribal, who nobody would talk to as he couldn’t string two words together; the slaver who sold out all his friends and then went on to enslave others…

SHODAN gave it a10:
One of the greatest triumphs of gaming. Artfully constructed game world, atmospheric setting, interesting characters, interesting narrative - well written. All of it unique. Strategic combat, non-linear, freedom, choice and consequence, moral ambiguity. A triumph in thoughtful design. 10 years later and the industry has offered little else that even comes close - and certainly not in the last 5 years.

Oleg O. gave it a10:
Best RPG ever. Very unique.

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