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<\/a><\/p>\nBut that only made me more curious.\u00a0 So I looked into it.\u00a0 And it looks to me like Interplay<\/a> wanted to cash in on the Fallout IP by making a game for the console-owning audience, and that led them to make an action game based on the world and story that had been built up in the role playing games Fallout and Fallout 2.<\/p>\n But oh god, did this not go over well with fans of that series.\u00a0 Here’s a lengthy article<\/a> I read by an enthusiast that describes the key complaints about this game, far better than I could.\u00a0 The main objection boils down to “Fallout is an RPG, it should not be reduced to an action game.”<\/p>\n But just how bad could “Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel” be?\u00a0 Even if it’s a Hack & Slash game where you just go on a linear path battling enemy after enemy, that can be fun if it’s done right.<\/p>\n So I bought a re-surfaced disc on ebay and played it on my PS2 emulator, PCSX2<\/a>.\u00a0 I have to say first of all that PCSX2 ran this game almost perfectly, with only a little bit of slowdown during one cutscene and boss fight.<\/p>\n And I proceeded to play the game… for 9.7 hours.\u00a0 I really tried to finish it, actually.\u00a0 But I soon realized a couple of things. First of all, this is not a “terrible” game.\u00a0 Second of all, this is not a good game.<\/p>\n “Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel” is mediocre, through and through.\u00a0 The combat is actually well done, which is good, because it’s basically all the game really has going for it.\u00a0 But one really big drag, at least for me, is the level design.<\/p>\n Oh, and by the way, if you had notions of this being some kind of open-world or even free-roaming kind of 3D environment game, then nope.\u00a0 Each level is designed like a maze.\u00a0 And it gets to the point of ridiculousness when you have to take a convoluted route absolutely everywhere, and even backtrack in some levels to get things accomplished.<\/p>\n So even if you went into this game expecting a Hack & Slash, you’re getting a Hack & Slash & Wander & Find.\u00a0 If you’re one of those weirdos who buys those maze activity books at the grocery store checkout, this might just be the game for you.\u00a0 Otherwise, you’re probably not going to like the “where the fuck am I and where the fuck do I go now” aspect of it.<\/p>\n Not helping matters are the fact that your little yellow star quest marker on your mini map often points exactly back to where you came from, not where you need to go.<\/p>\n And now would be a good time to talk about the camera.\u00a0 Oh god the camera.\u00a0 This game came out in 2004, when cameras and views in 3D video games had basically been sorted out.\u00a0 I mean, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas came out in 2004, for crying out loud.\u00a0 This game’s camera is pointed almost straight down at you from above, unless you interact with some atrociously-voiced NPC.\u00a0 And though the right joystick lets you shift the camera view right and left, if you push it too long, it will send the camera view literally fucking spinning until you push back in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n Oh, and Vault Boy is in this too, as you can see in this screenshot here.<\/p>\n There are “perks” and even Dogmeat, which is available from a perk you can get several levels into the game.<\/p>\n There are many things from “Fallout” in this game.\u00a0 It’s like someone watched someone else play Fallout and Fallout 2, and said “I’m gonna make a Fallout game too!” and then made this.\u00a0 But there’s one extremely strange change that’s been made, and that’s the absence of Nuka Cola, and the blatant, unwanted insertion of Bawls<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s obviously paid advertising, but come the fuck on.\u00a0 And while I’m talking about things that don’t belong: the music.\u00a0 Right at the intro there’s a really cool 50s sounding song about the atom bomb dropping, but that’s about it for that kind of music.\u00a0 There is some nice “atmospheric” music when you wander around in early levels, but as the game progresses, you get to hear generic Nu-Metal and stuff like that.\u00a0 One music loop in particular includes what sounds like my computer’s fans ramping suddenly up.\u00a0 It probably sounded like Xbox or PS2 fans suddenly working too hard back in 2004 too.<\/p>\n One more gripe I have to mention is the story itself.\u00a0 At the start of the game, you are a “Brotherhood of Steel” initiate, who is looking for the rest of the Brotherhood of Steel.\u00a0 Read that Fallout fan site above to see the many lore problems with that, but what I find jarring about this is that with no contact at all with anyone else from the Brotherhood, my character gets promoted from Initiate, to Page, to Soldier, to Knight.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n