Fallout (series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fallout is a series of computer role-playing games produced and published by Interplay. Although set in and after the 22nd century, its story and artwork are heavily influenced by the post-World War II nuclear paranoia of the 1950s. The series 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. There were two role-playing titles in the series (Fallout and Fallout 2), one squad-based tactical combat spinoff (Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel) and one action dungeon-crawler for PlayStation 2 and Xbox (Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel). A sequel, Fallout 3, is currently being developed by Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda now owns the rights to make all Fallout games,[1][2] Bethesda has conditionally licensed the rights to make a massively multiplayer online role-playing game version of Fallout to Interplay. In 2001, PC Gamer named Fallout and Fallout 2 as the fourth best computer game of all time. [3]
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[edit] Storyline
The background story of Fallout (the first of the series) involves a "what-if" scenario in which the United States tries to devise fusion power resulting in the whole country becoming hegemonic and having less reliance on petroleum. However, this is not achieved until 2077, shortly after an oil drilling conflict off the Pacific Coast pits the United States against China. It ends with a nuclear exchange resulting in the post-apocalyptic world in which the game takes place. It is emphasized in Fallout 2 that nobody knew who sent the first missile.
Before the nuclear exchange took place, great underground Vaults were constructed across America, supposedly to protect the populace from the dangers of radiation. Although over 400,000 would be needed to protect the entire nation, only 122 were constructed. This is because the Vaults were not intended to save humanity; rather, they were social experiments being conducted by the United States government. Most vaults featured some variable to test how certain things influence people (and presumably the personal characteristics of the vault's occupants) such as Vault 69, which reportedly contained 999 women and one man.
Each installment of the series takes these facts as the context to the subsequent adventures: much of the landscape the player travels through is scarred with wreckage as well as radiation. These effects are not limited to the environment. Mutated survivors - those who lived through the attack outside a vault - are often physically unrecognizable as human. Even livestock - mostly represented by cows known as "brahmin" - are rarely if ever seen with fewer than two heads.
[edit] Games
[edit] Fallout
Released in 1997, Fallout is the spiritual successor to the 1988 hit Wasteland. The protagonist of the game is tasked with recovering a water chip to replace the chip that broke in his home, Vault 13. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic southern California, beginning in the year 2161. It was originally intended to run under the GURPS role-playing game system, but a disagreement with Steve Jackson, creator of GURPS, over the game's violent content required the development of a new system, the SPECIAL System. Fallout's atmosphere and artwork are reminiscent of post-WWII America and the nuclear paranoia that was widespread at that time.
[edit] Fallout 2
Fallout 2 was released in 1998 using a slightly-modified form of the engine used in the original Fallout. Taking place 80 years after the original game, Fallout 2 centers around a descendant of the Vault-Dweller, the protagonist of Fallout. The player assumes the role of the Chosen One as he tries to save Arroyo, his village, after several years of drought. The game featured several improvements over the first game, including the ability to set attitudes of NPC party members and the ability to push people who are blocking doors. However, it also included several questionable changes to the game world, including significantly more pop culture jokes and parodies, such as multiple Monty Pythonesque special random encounters.
[edit] Van Buren
Van Buren was the code-name for Fallout 3 while it was in development at Interplay. It featured an improved engine, new locations, vehicles, and a modified version of the SPECIAL system. The story broke off from the Vault Dweller/Chosen One bloodline of the first two, and instead centered around a prisoner. The game started with him mysteriously appearing in a new jail that was under attack. Plans for the game included the ability to influence the various factions. The game was canceled in December, 2003, when budget cuts forced Interplay to lay off the PC development team.
[edit] Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is in production by Bethesda Softworks, who have announced that the game will use the Gamebryo engine from their previous work, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On May 2, 2007, Bethesda Softworks put up a teaser page [4] which only shows a concept art image and music. On June 5 a trailer was posted on the main website, it contained a song by The Ink Spots, 'I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire' and a voice over by Ron Perlman. Fallout 3 will be published on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
[edit] Spin-offs
[edit] Fallout: Tactics
Fallout: Tactics was released in early 2001 to mixed reviews. Although it was given high scores by reviewers (PC Gamer gave it an 85%[5]), many fans were disappointed by the game. Fallout Tactics focuses on tactical combat rather than role-playing; the new combat system included different modes, stances, and modifiers, but the player had no dialogue options. Most of the criticisms of the game came from its incompatibility with the story of the original two games, not from its gameplay. Tactics is the first Fallout game to not require the player to fight in a turn-based mode, and it is also the first to allow the player to customize the skills, perks, and combat actions of the rest of the party. Fallout: Tactics includes a multi-player mode that allows players to compete against squads of other characters controlled by other players. Unlike the previous two games, which are based in California, Fallout: Tactics takes place in the Midwest.
[edit] Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel became the first Fallout game for consoles when it was released in 2004. It follows an initiate in the Brotherhood of Steel who is given a suicidal quest to find several lost Brotherhood paladins. An action role-playing game, BoS is a significant break from the previous incarnations of the Fallout series, in both gameplay and style. BoS takes place in three locations: The towns of Carbon and Los and a Vault. BoS also does not feature non-player characters who would accompany the player in combat. BoS is generally not considered to be canon due to its stark contrasts and outright contradictions with the storyline of Fallout and Fallout 2. BoS is the last Fallout game to be developed by Interplay. The game also features music from metal bands, including Slipknot and Killswitch Engage, which stands in contrast to the music of the first two games, performed by The Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong.
[edit] Fallout: Warfare
Fallout: Warfare is a tabletop wargame based on the Fallout Tactics storyline, using a simplified version of the SPECIAL system. The rulebook was written by Christopher Taylor, and was available on the Fallout Tactics bonus CD, together with cut-out miniatures. Fallout: Warfare features five distinct factions, vehicles, four game types, and thirty-three different units. The rules only require ten-sided dice. The modifications to the SPECIAL system allow every unit a unique set of stats and give special units certain skills they can use, including piloting, doctor, and repair. A section of the Fallout: Warfare manual allows campaigns to be conducted using the Warfare rules. The game is currently available for free online from fansite No Mutants Allowed and several other sources.
[edit] Fallout MMOG
On November 30, 2006, Interplay has filed a Form 8-K filing to the SEC regarding a potential Fallout massively multiplayer online game.[6] The Form 8-K contained a prospectus stating that Interplay will be issuing common stock on Euronext to raise capital for developing a Fallout MMOG. The report stated that the production and launch processes will require an estimated US$75 million in capital. The report also stated that production may start as early as January 2007 and the game may launch as early as July 2010.[7]
In April 2007, SEC filings were made showing the transfer of the IP for the Fallout MMO to Fallout 3 developer Bethesda for $5.75 million USD. While Bethesda now owns the rights to the Fallout MMO IP, clauses in the purchase agreement state allow Interplay to license the rights to the development of the MMO, provided that development begins within 24 months of the date of the agreement (April 4, 2007), and that Interplay must secure $30 million within that time frame or forfeit its rights to license. Interplay must furthermore launch the MMOG within 4 years of the beginning of development, and pay Bethesda 12 percent of sales and subscription fees for the use of the IP.[8]
In April 2008, Interplay announced that the Fallout MMO has entered production. No more details have been divulged at this point.[9]
[edit] Vaults
The vaults were originally designed as huge bomb shelters, but other than acting as a shelter, the vaults were also large scale sociological experiments. For example, some vaults had only inhabitants under 15 years old, some vaults had only men, some were designed to open 6 months after sealing and so forth. Most vaults were designed in the same three-level design, with the exception of Vault 0:
- Level 1: Entrance and medical center
- Level 2: Housing
- Level 3: Command center, overseer, library, recreational room and storage lockers
Each vault had an Overseer, a person who acted as the leader of the vault. His/her workstation was an elevated platform, equipped with two miniguns and various controls.
[edit] Vaults featured in the series
- Private Vault[10]
This un-numbered vault under the city of Los Angeles was built by Vault-Tec as a demonstration model for the federal government.[10] It was from this vault that the residents of the Angel's Boneyard emerged. The vault later became home to The Master and was markedly different from the others - it included a prison, an extended hall to the Overseer (the "corridor of revulsion"[10]) and a fourth floor housing a nuclear warhead. Which of these differences were due to The Master's renovations is not specified.
- Vault 8
The control vault in the Enclave's Vault Experiment, designed to open after ten years. Its inhabitants constructed Vault City upon coming out after receiving the all-clear signal.
- Vault 12
This vault was located under the city of Bakersfield, now known as Necropolis. This Vault's door was designed never to close, which resulted in radiation penetrating the shelter and mutating the inhabitants into ghouls.[10]
The Vault fell into disrepair over the years, with only the water purification control computer working by 2161.
- Vault 13
Home of the protagonist of the first game. The vault was designed to stay closed for 200 years instead of the normal 10 for studies of isolation. Unfortunately, the experiment is corrupted when the vault suffers breakdown of water purification chip which the player must replace. Due to a mix-up in shipping, it and Vault 8 received the other's shipment of supplies - Vault 8 received extra Water Chips while Vault 13 received an extra Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK).
- Vault 15
Located near Vault 13, this vault was particularly reinforced against earthquakes and was home to 1,000 dwellers of radically different backgrounds, religions and ethnic groups, designed to study their interaction. In Fallout 1, the player finds it partially collapsed, as its inhabitants fled and built the town of Shady Sands. It is said in-game that the vault came under attack, but no information about the attackers is given. In Fallout 2, the Vault has been excavated by Raiders, and varying on the player's actions, is reclaimed by NCR.
- Vault 101
A vault, apparently based around Washington DC, which seems to be the home vault of the main character in Fallout 3.
- Vault 0
Nucleus of the vault network, this vault appeared only in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, where it is stated that Vault 0 was intended to tie the Vault network together and reunite the survivors upon resurfacing. An army of androids was manufactured in this vault by the malfunctioning cyborg-supercomputer called the "Calculator," which designated them to exterminate all humans encountered upon resurfacing. Vault 0 was located in Cheyenne Mountain. It should be noted, however, that its purpose seems to contradict in some instances the storyline, as the Vault network was intended as an elaborate sociological experiment by the Enclave, with the monitoring center located on an offshore Oil Rig. The Vault 0, along with other material from Tactics, is not considered canon by Bethesda.
[edit] Mutations and their causes
According to the "Fallout Bible"[10] (a series of documents answering questions from players by Fallout 2 designer Chris Avellone, who was not part of the original Fallout team), it is interesting to note that most of the mutations in Fallout and Fallout 2 are not because of radioactive fallout. According to the Fallout Bible, most of the mutations the player encounters are because of a pre-War biological serum, named the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). Some players feel that this reliance on FEV paints the story with a genetic engineering theme that a 50s-viewpoint game should not have. Others, however, point to the fact that in the 1950s and early 1960s, radiation was viewed very similarly to the way that FEV was in Fallout and Fallout 2.
However, in the original Fallout there were many hints showing that FEV was indeed the cause of the "green super mutant" mutations, and perhaps the cause of all mutants.
Some pre-war data found in a military base, for example, explained that some human tests, in contact with FEV and radiation, developed mutations equal to those of the super mutants found in the game. In another mutant military base, where the mutant general was, the player could end the game bathed in an FEV pool, becoming a mind-controlled super mutant. In yet another base, in a Vault dominated by super mutants (above a mutant worship cult), the player would encounter a mutant merged with many creatures and the vault's overseer chair itself. He was the mastermind behind the super mutants army, known as the "Master", formerly Richard Grey (which is learned by reading "holo-discs" found throughout the game), and prior to that, Richard Moreau of Vault City. His objective was to corrupt (mutate) every lifeform on Earth.
On the other hand, it is hinted that the population of ghouls in Necropolis were humans mutated by post war radiation.
The other mutations (ghouls, brahmin, for example) were probably caused by radiation, as Fallout 1 and 2 made it very clear that only the enclosed vault dwellers (and the Oil Rig inhabitants) had 100% pure human DNA.
[edit] Influences
Fallout draws from 1950s pulp magazines, science fiction and superhero comic books, all rooted in Atomic Age optimism of a nuclear-powered future, though gone terribly awry by the time the events of the game take place. The technology is retro-futuristic, with various Raygun Gothic machines such as laser weaponry and boxy Forbidden Planet-style robots. Computers use vacuum tubes instead of transistors, architecture of ruined buildings feature Art Deco and Googie designs, energy weapons resemble those used by Flash Gordon, and what few vehicles remain in the world are all 1950s-styled.
Fallout's other production design, such as menu interfaces, are similarly designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the Atomic Age. The characters sheet cards and perks available resemble those of the board game Monopoly, and other advertising in the game such as billboards and brochures have a distinct 1950s flavour. The lack of retro stylization was one of the things the Fallout spin-offs were criticized for, as retro-futurism is a hallmark of the Fallout series.
Fallout also draws obvious influences from other sources, particularly from the post-apocalyptic genre. One of the initial armors available in the game is the one sleeved leather jacket, which bears a resemblance to the jacket worn by Mad Max in The Road Warrior. The armor featured on the cover of the game is powered armor, the most powerful (and rarest) armor in Fallout.
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.
In Fallout, the player 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. Fat Freddy is a character from Las Vegas in Wasteland, which implies that Tycho's 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.
[edit] Voice talent
Fallout games feature well-known actors as NPC voice-talent. Notable appearances include:
- Ron Perlman (Narrator, Butch Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics and Fallout 3)
- Keith David (Decker, Fallout)
- Richard Dean Anderson (Killian, Fallout)
- David Warner (Morpheus, Fallout)
- Tony Shalhoub ((credited as Tony Shalub) Aradesh, Fallout)
- Richard Moll (Cabot, Fallout)
- Clancy Brown (Rhombus, Fallout)
- Dwight Schultz (Hakunin, Fallout 2)
- Jeffrey Jones (The President, Fallout 2)
- Michael Dorn (Marcus the Mutant, Special Agent Frank Horrigan, Fallout 2)
- R. Lee Ermey (Mission briefings in Fallout Tactics)
- Liam Neeson (player's father, Fallout 3)
- CCH Pounder (Vree, Fallout)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Contract between Bethesda and Interplay Entertainment Corp (2007-04-09). Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
- ^ Fallout license changes hands (2007-04-09).
- ^ “50 Best Games of all Time”, PC Gamer: 70, October 2001
- ^ Fallout 3 teaser. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
- ^ PC Gamer review. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
- ^ Herve Caen (2006-11-30). "Interplay" (Form 8-K). November 2006. . SEC EDGAR Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
- ^ Graft, Kris (2006-12-12). Interplay Proposes $75M Fallout MMO?. Next-gen.biz. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
- ^ Boyer, Brandon (2007-04-13). Fallout IP Sold to Bethesda. Gamasutra.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
- ^ Zombie, Garbled (2008-04-10). Interplay returns; brings Fallout MMO. StuffWeLike.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ a b c d e Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
- Zenke, Michael. "From Black Isle to Bethesda". The Escapist (98): 8–10.
[edit] External links
- The Vault, a Fallout wiki
- Fallout series at MobyGames
- Fallout series at the Open Directory Project
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