Not my Fallout

Yesterday, I watched the third episode of Amazon's Fallout adaptation and I'm still waiting for it to get good. Evidently, out of the years of lore, clever writing and open-ended game-play, the people behind the TV series decided excessive violence and expletive-ridden dialogue were the game's central appeal...

Then again, seeing as how the show is helmed by the folks behind Westworld (which was interesting for a few episodes before devolving into a wobbly blundering after meaning of the sort favored by people who know they want their creation to be deep and meaningful, but never quite grasp how to do it); and penned by a woman who co-wrote screenplays for the Tomb Raider reboot (meh) and Captain Marvel (yawn) before being made showrunner (!?) of a 153 million USD production, I guess it should come as no surprise.

It's actually kind of funny to think people in film still consider themselves to be the more complex artform. Maybe ten, twenty years ago – when movie studios commanded the larger budgets – that might have been the case, but — nowadays? With devs loaded enough to hire actors, orchestras and be in a position to create every aspect of their story exactly how they want it? Seeing a tottering T-60 costume that looks about as convincing as platform-soled Nemesis out of 2004's Resident Evil: Apocalypse next to that would be hilarious, if it wasn't also just a little bit sad...

I'll keep watching the show (because — Walton Goggins), but my expectations are now appropriately lowered. For full disclosure, the adaptation should have been called (Not) Fallout (1, 2, Tactics or New Vegas), because a shiny production without an ounce of merit or soul truly is a Bethesda hallmark.

Cat-scapade

Not so for our dear friend Alex Murphy, whose revival in RoboCop: Rogue City continues to delight with scenario variety and solid writing. Yesterday, while overseeing Ulysses Washington in the field, I went into a basement to find a runaway cat (which search ultimately resulted in a firefight); and later helped Pickles (an informant) track down a movie on VHS (which search ultimately resulted in... you get the idea). A graffiti artist I let off with a warning on a previous visit to Old Detroit also rewarded Murphy's leniency with a very flattering mural.

Despite its brevity, linearity and (probable) lack of replay value, the Rogue City experience is a lot more stratified than Terminator: Resistance and a lot closer to a full-fledged action RPG. I'm not sure what Teyon S.A. will try to adapt next, but – should this trend of refinement and expansion continue – maybe their next game won't have the aftertaste of an (admittedly enjoyable) nostalgia gimmick.

Trotters crossed.

I saved a colony (and I liked it)

Some five years after I bought it, I finally finished all of The Outer Worlds yesterday and – I gotta say – contrary to "the second half of the game feels unfinished" comments I've seen on teh interwebs, I had a blast.

While it is true that the latter part of the game starts to narrow focus, it does so in the traditional "now that you're about to finish the game, things will get more linear" manner, rather than the (worse) "now that our budget's spent we've gotta start cutting corners" fashion. TOW maintains a consistent finish right up to the, er, finish line, keeping track of your decisions, accounting for myriad character builds and allowing you to get things done your way (rather than in some predetermined fashion that ignores how you wanted to play the game).

Is it on the same scale as Fallout or Mass Effect? No – of course not... But TOW's smaller size utlimately works in its favor, letting Obsidian actually follow through on your decisions and give you the outcome you were expecting. To wit, my Alex Hawthorne did everything she could to make Halcyon a better place – and that is the ending I got (and I don't mean no general, generic "yay!" — as every major decision was recounted in the ending, reflecting the results of my actions).

Mass Effect may have been much grander and more elaborate, but – at the end of the day – it got so big, devs had to curtail (or ignore) player choices just to get it wrapped up on time and on budget. Ambition's all well and good, but – sometimes – it's better to scale things down, especially if it means you get to keep your integrity intact.

The Outer Worlds game-play did get repetitive after a while, but at no point did it get boring. Right until the end (where I got to sneak past opponents and resolve the final boss fight sans actual fighting), the game was solidly written, beautifully acted, well programmed (on Win 10, I didn't have a single crash); and meticulously produced (no glitches, no lack of polish and a bare minimum of visual stutter).

I'm only sad the franchise will end a single game in (which I say ignoring the upcoming Microsoft sequel), but having a solitary good game is better than putting up with increasingly less meaningful continuations.

Progress report

My Last Train Home playthrough is one (maybe two) chapters away from being finished and RoboCop continues to stomp confidently toward completion. Rogue Trader is the next review in queue after which I'll be tackling Broken Roads (a Fallout-style, post-apocalyptic RPG with the lofty aims of being the next Disco Elysium). At some point, I might also throw in a blurb about Venus Patrol (I mean, I did buy it), but I'm not sure when I'll have the time (or how long of a blurb the little indie will make).

Pig — out.