Opening

Developer: Micro Forte
Publisher: Interplay
Tactics official page: http://www.interplay.com/falloutbos/index.html

Tick-tock

Fallout and Fallout 2 are utterly classic RPGs - among the best ever on the computer. With their (almost) original post-apocalyptic setting, campy humor and remarkably deep world, the Fallouts were critical, if not financial successes for Interplay. Among the most common complaints garnered from average gamers, were the graphics and combat system. Fallout and its sequel ran in 640x480 256 color mode. Fallout still squeezed in before 3D acceleration was truly widespread, but F2 went up against both 3D games and amazing 2D specimens like Baldur's Gate.

Make yer man

Oh yeah, badass load scenes

The combat system was - by the standards of hardcore gamers - excellent. It had called shots (eyes, head, arms, groin), inventory manipulation, tracked ammo (and reloads) and featured an immense variety of weapons - from fists and feet through melee weapons, to old style guns to futuristic plasma rifles. The problem, in many people's eyes, was that the fighting was turn-based. Everything else happened in real time - moving across the world map, moving in specific zones (like cities), interacting with people, etc. To have to go into a slow and ungainly turn-based combat mode, no matter how feature-rich and accurate it could be, was anathema to many gamers.

On the other hand, the combat system entranced others. It was quite possibly the best CRPG combat ever - including AD&D games and the Final Fantasies. The fact that it was turn-based might have been a bad thing to the average player, but for the hardcore fans seeking ultimate control, turn-based fighting (especially with Fallout's intricate combat) was a gift from heaven.

Get yer ass ready, soldier

Oh I think you can

So why not build a game around the fighting?

Since everyone liked the combat system, but they were divided on the real-time/turn-based issue, it made sense to make a game that focused on the fighting. With a new engine that sports vastly improved graphics and a real-time mode, Interplay announced Fallout: Tactics. Squad-level combat in a post-apocalyptic wasteland - could it work?

Admittedly, when I first heard of and saw Tactics, I wasn't impressed by the idea. Sure, the graphics were a bit cleaner. Yeah, the real-time fighting seemed to work. But is that all there is to the game? With the previews, the press releases, and the hype, it seemed like Tactics was going to be all combat, all the time. Pre-defined scenarios that you take one step after another, with only a semblance of a plot holding it all together.

Remember to loot the bodies

Weak stuff

Fortunately, I was wrong. There is more to the game than combat, and the Fallout touch - while diluted somewhat - is still going strong.