Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Score: 72% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Interplay Developer: Black Isle Studios Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: Hack-n-slash dungeon crawls have, in large part, been limited to the swords and spells, Dungeons and Dragons type theme. First there was Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which was soon followed by Dark Alliance 2 and Champions of Norrath. With Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, the dragons and knights have been replaced with mutants and shotgun wielding maniacs, but the feeling is still the same. Well, almost. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel looks good, but not great. The post-apocalyptic theme that was originated in the PC RPG series remains intact, giving players a gritty, dirty environment to play in. While 'gritty and dirty' is a good way to describe the game's feel, it is also a not-so-nice way of describing the game's look. The texture work is blurry and sub par at best. This is certainly nothing to ruin the gameplay experience, but when compared to other games in the same genre, it just doesn't stack up. Character models look good from afar, but far from good. During gameplay the camera is pulled back far enough that you won't notice many of the flaws, but when the camera comes in for close-ups during story sequences, it is a mess. For the most part, Fallout is a very quiet game. As you travel from location to location, a low key score drolls in the background while ambient sounds silently play around you. This makes the sudden guitar riffs during battles quite a shock when they come rolling on through. Voice work is the best thing aurally that Fallout has going for it. Lines are delivered really well and do an excellent job of setting up the personalities of characters. As good as the voice work is, the dialog was a real turn off. First off, there's a little too much of it at times, which can drag down the action. The use of profanity is just a little too abundant. I don't mind it if there's a legitimate reason for it, but the frequency with which it's used is ridiculous. It's like a 3rd grader who just learned all of these great words on the playground and wants to use them as much as possible. This ruins some of the genuinely funny dialog that takes place during the game.
Gameplay: Set in the Fallout universe, which was made popular by the PC RPG series, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel offers a different take on the whole post-apocalyptic theme. It is relatively clear that the game is based on the Dark Alliance series, so people looking for a true Fallout RPG might be a little turned off by Brotherhood. Instead, this is an all-out dungeon crawl with a few RPG elements thrown in. The overall campaign is very linear and doesn't leave players with much room to explore, but then again this is something that no dungeon crawl has offered yet, so there's no use complaining. Players assume the role of a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of warriors looking to bring order to the anarchy that plagues the world. You are originally only given your choice between three characters: Cyrus, Nadia and Kain. As the game progresses, you'll have the opportunity to unlock new members of the Brotherhood to play with. Though the characters do have their own distinct traits and skills, all feel nearly identical during gameplay, leading to a rather vanilla experience. During your quest to restore order and find your missing comrades, you'll also take part in a variety of other subplots. Brotherhood of Steel is more of an action game than the Dark Alliance series. The RPG elements are limited to gaining experience points and purchasing skills on a skill tree. There are no stats or class/job combinations to worry about. A majority of the offered skills are simple damage, health and armor bonus, but a few special abilities are also available. In practice there's really nothing special about the abilities, so most of your points will probably go into getting the bonuses instead. When it comes to choosing equipment, there's little strategy in planning other than equipping the most powerful item available. The bulk of your time is spent traveling the world and killing anything that moves. For whatever reason, Brotherhood feels a little more repetitive than other games in the genre. At times the game manages to feel more like Gauntlet than Dark Alliance. This isn't a terrible thing, and the game is still playable, but this isn't something you can play for long stretches of time and remain entertained. A few minor puzzle elements, mostly in the form of 'find the key' quests, are offered, yet fail to offer enough of a gameplay change. Hooking up with a friend for some Two-player action gives the game a little spice. Now if only an online option had been offered...
Difficulty: Regardless of which difficulty level you set the game at (there are four, one which must be unlocked), Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel follows the same uneven learning curve. The first half of the game is very easy. Damage from enemies is non-existent and when you do take damage stimpacks (health potions) are easy to come by. The idea of running out of ammo is also laughable, as is not being able to find a save point. Then things change. Instead of working you into a hard endgame, the difficulty level spikes up considerably. All of the ammo, stimpacks and save points become rarities and enemies get a serious power boost. Thankfully, it is not the brightest of AIs and can sometimes be easily tricked, provided you're not swarmed (which is a common tactic).
Game Mechanics: Though repetitive, the action in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is intense. You are allowed to have up to three weapons at once, both melee and ranged. Learning to switch weapons on the fly is key to survival, especially in the later parts of the game. This lends a small amount of strategy to the game, but the AI doesn't really help flesh it out. Ranged enemies attack from a distance while melee enemies charge headlong into battle. Rarely dothey show signs of defensive gameplay. The control scheme is fairly straight-forward and doesn't take too long to get used to. Aside from the standard attack and switch weapon abilities, you can also jump, crouch and target enemies. Jumping plays a major part in the game due to the amount of jumping you have to do in some missions, while crouching is rather pointless. Targeting enemies takes a little getting used to, but works rather well. It's a good idea to get in to a quick 'target - shoot' quick draw mindset early on since it can save you later on. When the fighting gets intense, stimpacks are just a quick button press away and don't require you to break the action. Overall, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is a decent title for anyone who likes the Dark Alliance hack-n-slash play style, but is tired of elves and dwarves. Thought the game doesn't offer nearly the same depth of experience, it is still a fun game if you can get past the technical hiccups and lack of depth.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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