With the fourth numbered installment on the way it’s the perfect time to take a short trip into the past, to an era when Fallout games needed lengthy explainer sub-titles and a man could proudly kill a rat by shooting it in the crotch.
Putting the First Five concept to the test, 300 seconds is barely enough time to scratch the surface of Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game. We barely make it to the surface, thanks to the damn rats and their stab-able eyes and bullet-magnet crotches. And once we’re out there it’s right back into a cave to adore some scorpions from afar. If I’d paused to scratch, we’d have lost days.
Steam really shouldn’t need to explain this one to you, but here goes:
You’ve just unearthed the classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game that revitalized the entire CRPG genre. The Fallout SPECIAL system allows drastically different types of characters, meaningful decisions and development that puts you in complete control. Explore the devastated ruins of a golden age civilization. Talk, sneak or fight your way past mutants, gangsters and robotic adversaries. Make the right decisions or you could end up as another fallen hero in the wastelands...
My, how times have changed. Bethesda’s making its second proper Fallout, CRPGs have made a major comeback, and all game creator Brian Fargo has to do is give the PC gaming internet a coy glance and they toss him a million dollars.
The First Five is the first five minutes of a game with light commentary. Once the five minutes are up, so am I.
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