Fallout (computer game)

See Fallout series for the series as a whole.

Fallout is a computer role-playing game produced by Tim Cain and published by Interplay in 1997. Although set in the late 22nd century, its story and artwork are heavily influenced by the post-World War II nuclear paranoia of the 1950s. The game is sometimes considered to be an unofficial sequel to Wasteland, but it could not use that title as Electronic Arts held the rights to it, and, except for minor references, the games are set in separate universes.

Storyline

The background story of Fallout involves a "what-if" scenario in which the United States tries to devise fusion power resulting in a hegemonic United States that relies less on petroleum. However, this is not achieved until 2077, shortly after an oil drilling conflict off the Pacific Coast pits the United States in a war against China and possibly a third superpower called the European Commonwealth whose involvement is unknown. The war was thought to be nearing an end for many months until a number of long held territories and independent states were annexed, including Canada and Alaska. The war drags on for many years and finally ends when a nuclear exchange results in the post-apocalyptic world the game takes place in—although it is said in Fallout 2 that nobody knew who launched the first missile. In Fallout 2, the skynet computer states that the war may have started because computers with Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have grown bored. Another highly advanced computer in the Brotherhood of Steel's San Francisco base also claims that prototype AI projects could have started the war.

The protagonist of Fallout is an inhabitant of one of the government-contracted fallout shelters known as Vaults. The game takes place in 2161 in southern California and begins in Vault 13, the protagonist's home. Vault 13's Water Chip, which controls the water recycling and pumping machinery for the vault, has malfunctioned and the protagonist is tasked with finding a new one. A portable, computerised notebook ("PIP-Boy") keeps track of mapmaking, instructions, and various book-keeping aspects.

The initial time limit to return the chip is 150 days. This can be increased by 70 days by going to the town called the Hub and paying to send a water caravan to Vault 13. Upon returning the chip, the player will be told of a greater threat and will be sent out on two additional quests. A mutant known as "The Master" (previously known as Richard Grey) has begun using a pre-war, genetically engineered virus to create a race of "Super-Mutants".

The player can defeat either The Master or destroy the Super Mutant base first. When both are rendered harmless, a cut-scene ensues in which the player automatically returns to Vault 13. There he is told that he has changed too much and his return would negatively influence the citizens of the Vault. Thus he is rewarded with exile into the desert.

If the player has not completed all of his or her tasks within 500 days, the mutants will find Vault 13, overrun it, and cause the game to end. This time limit will shortened to 400 days if the player had sent a water caravan. The v1.1 patch deleted this limit but kept the water caravan option. A cinematic cut-scene of mutants overrunning the vault can be seen after the limit but the same cinematic can be seen if you agree to be turned into a mutant at the military base (thus ending the game).

Game locations

While most of the towns in Fallout are not present in the real world (Junktown, Shady Sands, The Hub, etc), Los Angeles is in its correct place. However, the town of Necropolis is described as being the city of Bakersfield, although some fans have compared it to maps and found that it more accurately resembles Barstow.

There are many references to post-apocalyptic science fiction, such as Mad Max or the infamous post-apocalyptic musical and detective movie Radioactive Dreams. One of the first available armors is a one-sleeved leather jacket that resembles the jacket worn by Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. A player wearing this jacket can get a dog, named "Dogmeat" for Mad Max’s dog, to join the party in Junktown (in Fallout 2 if the player character damages Dogmeat an NPC with the curious name of Mel will show up to defend the dog). Like Fallout 2, many of the references to other material can be found in random encounters, which include a vanishing Tardis à la Doctor Who complete with sound effect, and a massive footprint that resembles Godzilla's, referring to the short animation "Bambi Meets Godzilla". Another reference comes in the form of a quotation; in the Old Town district of The Hub, an insane man named Uncle Slappy wanders in perpetual circles calling out non-sequiturs, one of which is "Let's play Global Thermo-Nuclear War!", a reference to a similar line in the 1983 film WarGames. The game also refers to other pieces of fiction, including Robin Hood.

Reception

It made #4 on the list of top games of all time produced by PCGamer in 2001. It made #55 on the list of the top 100 games ever by IGN (IGN's List), and is usually placed in similar lists. It also won the award of RPG of the year from Gamespot.

Influences

Fallout draws much from 50s pulp magazines, science fiction and superhero comic books. For example, computers use vacuum tubes instead of transistors; energy weapons exist and resemble those used by Flash Gordon. The Vault Dweller's main style of dress is a blue jumpsuit with a yellow line going down the center of the chest and along the belt area, though the main character's appearance changes while wearing armor. The number on the back might differ from the Vault the dweller represents, but it's usually "13", or in other cases, missing.

Fallout's menu interfaces are designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the same period; For example, the characters sheet cards and perks available, look like those of the board game Monopoly. The lack of this retro stylization was one of the things the Fallout spin-offs were criticized for, as retro-futurism is a hallmark of the Fallout series.

The Fallout games are famous for their Easter eggs. While the first game mostly had references to the 1950s and 1960s pop-culture (Doctor Who, Godzilla), in Fallout 2 there are many references to Star Trek, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python; Some fans of the first game argued that there are too many Easter eggs in the sequel and that they distract from the immersiveness of the game world.

In Fallout, your character meets an NPC named Tycho, who mentions that he is a Desert Ranger and, under the right conditions, will talk of his grandfather, who told him about Fat Freddy, a character from Las Vegas in Wasteland, implying that his grandfather was one of the PCs in Wasteland, who were named the Desert Rangers. Although the time frame of Wasteland is completely different from Fallout, and Fallout game designers deny that Fallout 1 or 2 takes place in the same universe as Wasteland, this is one of many references to the events and the style of Wasteland in the Fallout series, which is why Fallout is sometimes regarded as the spiritual successor to Wasteland. (Cassidy also says that he was named after a kick ass comic book character, a reference to the Irish vampire Cassidy in the comic book Preacher)

Intro Sequences

The game begins with two introductory cut-scenes, which can be escaped by the player.

The first is a slow pull-back from a functioning television set, while the song "Maybe" by the Ink Spots plays. The news story shown on the screen depicts US repression in Canada by showing an armored trooper shooting a kneeling man in the head and then waving to the camera. Behind a pair of armored troopers, a futuristically modified US flag is shown to wave. These scenes are offset by nearly-silent commercials for the "Mr. Handy" domestic chores robot and the "Corvega" sports car, which appear in the game. As the camera continues to pull back, the surrounding scene is a damaged room in a demolished city, and the television cuts out.

The second is a slide-show that begins with the line "War. War never changes." It has some description of the storyline. The important thing about it is that Fallout is not based on the Cold War and the Soviets are not the villains.

Trivia

The song that plays during the intro sequence is titled "Maybe" and is sung by The Ink Spots. The original theme was going to be "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", also by The Ink Spots, but apparently Black Isle was unable to get the license, so it was scrapped.
The song "Maybe" that appears in the opening cinematic of Fallout is originally by Allan Flynn & Frank Madden and is copyright 1935 by Robins Music Corporation.
Three key members behind Fallout (Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson) left Interplay in 1998 and founded Troika Games. Troika was closed down in February 2005 due to financial problems.
Holding Shift and clicking the Credits button in the beginning game menu brings up a series of humorous/lewd comments by members of the Interplay team that developed the Fallout games.
"RadAway", in Fallout, was a medicine that lowered the game characters level of irradiation. Supposedly it worked by bonding itself with radiation particles making it possible for them to "pass" through your system, as some form of radiation chelation therapy.
"Mentats", a drug in the series that temporary raises your intelligence, is named after the human computers in the Dune universe.
"Brahmin", the two-headed cows, share their name with the Hindu priestly caste. The possibility of this name usage being purely coincidental is diminished when considering that cows are sacred in Hinduism. The name is also similar to the Brahman breed of cattle which are found in India.
An early version of the game had a Goodies folder on the CD; this included a Windows screensaver and 1994 prototype version of the game.
Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura by Troika Games has a reference to the two-headed cows that appeared originally in Fallout. They are said to come from a "far away desert".
Among other random encounters on the over-world map, it is possible to find a crashed UFO, containing alien corpses. A Ray-Gun weapon can be found near the ship, and the phrase "You always knew they existed!" appears on screen.
"War. War never changes" is the famous phrase uttered in the intro of Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics by Ron Perlman. The phrase is one of the foremost iconic catch-phrases of the game.
"Nuka Cola" is a blue cola in a coca cola shaped bottle, in the game, obviously a reference to Coca Cola.
The Red Ryder BB gun makes an appearance in both series of Fallout. This is a reference to the classic computer game, Wasteland, on which the Fallout series itself is loosely based. In turn, Wasteland was referencing the Christmas movie A Christmas Story (1983) In which the movie's main character wants nothing more for Christmas than a Red Ryder BB gun.
At one point in Fallout's development, in Junktown, if the player aided local sheriff Killian Darkwater in killing the criminal Gizmo, Killian would take his pursuit of the law much too far to the point of tyranny, and force Junktown to stagnate. However, if the player killed Killian for Gizmo, then Gizmo would help Junktown prosper for his own benefit. The game's publisher didn't like this bit of moral ambiguity and had the outcomes changed to what they are now.
Fallout games feature well-known actors as NPC voice-talent. Notable appearances include:
- Richard Dean Anderson (Killian, Fallout)
- David Warner (Morpheus, Fallout)
- Tony Shalhoub ((credited as Tony Shalub) Aradesh, Fallout)
- Brad Garrett (Harry, Fallout)
- Keith David (Decker, Fallout)
- Michael Dorn (Marcus the Mutant, Special Agent Frank Horrigan, Fallout 2)
- Richard Moll (Cabot, Fallout)
- Ron Perlman (Narrator, Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics)

External links

The Vault, A Fallout wiki. It is the largest source of information about the Fallout series on the internet.
Fallout article at The Vault, the Fallout wiki
Duck and Cover, Fallout Fan Site
#Fallout, The official Fallout IRC Channel, Hosted by Duck and Cover
No Mutants Allowed, The oldest Fallout Fan Site
Fallout Developers Profile, A collection of interviews with Fallout developers featured by No Mutants Allowed
FIFE, Fallout open source engine that tries to replace the old Fallout 2
Fallout LARP Terminal- Czech LARP in a postapocalyptic world inspired by Fallout (Czech)
Nuclear Winter Studios A Fallout modding and fan group.
Fallout Corner One of the most famous Polish Fallout fansites.
Fallout discussion A LiveJournal community for Fallout discussion.
TeamX A Russian Fallout modding group.
Fallout Fan Fiction Duck and Cover's Fan Fiction section housing such classics as "fallout sitcom" by Sir Pooperscooper.
New Reno RPG A free-form IRC-chat-based RPG set in the Fallout 2 world and setting.
Vault BR Brazilian Fallout Community.
The Wastes: A HL mod influenced heavily by Fallout http://thewastes.planethalflife.gamespy.com/site/exec/news.php
^* A new and upcoming Fallout-based MUSH Online MMO-styled RPG Game. Use Telnet/Client to log in.