Fallout

Fallout is a popular computer game that was developed in 1997 and is a role play game. It is set several years into the future, following the conclusion of World War 2, and there has been an oil shortage. There has been a nuclear war, leading to destruction and ultimately the player must save the world using the persona they took on at the start of the game.

Given the player must save the world, role play is essential to meet the game’s objectives. As with all other role play games, the player takes on the identity of someone else. They can choose one of the existing identities or create a new one. In some role play games men play women and women play men or take on identities different to who they are in real life. Players can take on any persona that they want to and then play the game with that persona. Once a player has chosen their desired persona their appearance will also change to match the character, and they will take on other traits for the duration of the game. Fallout offers players a chance to escape reality and they can immerse themselves in a fictional universe, set by the game creators.

The game is centred around various locations and the character needs to interact with the local residents. In most other video games, players need to beat tangible opponents, whereas in Fallout the gameplay is much different, with players being able to earn karma or experience points. These experience points allow the player to progress to the next level, so unlike other games, they do not need to beat an opponent at the end of the round. That’s not to say that players won’t come up against opponents, because they will. When they do, they must fight the opponent and take them down to continue playing. If the player loses against the opponent then generally speaking, the game will end with the player losing their life.

Another similarity between Fallout and other games is that players effectively play the game against the computer, meaning that characters in the game not controlled by the player have the ability to influence the player’s actions and results.

Despite being a role play game, Fallout is driven by human character traits such as intelligence and charisma just to name a few. The character develops throughout the game, just like someone in real life would. These traits (named skills in the game) allow the character in the game to gain new skills. Each skill/trait has a ranking of 0-200. The higher the status, the greater the skills the player has in that particular area. Similar to real life, players can undergo training and education to increase their expertise in a particular area. The skills can help a player when they are up against their opponent or when they need to undertake a particular action. A skill stops being useful however when the character reaches a certain level.

As with most other popular video games, Fallout has inspired a number of sequels and spinoffs over the years. It’s been extremely popular over the years, with the most recent version being made in 2016 and it continuing to receive awards.