Fallout (franchise)

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Fallout is a series of role-playing games (RPGs) published by Interplay and, later, Bethesda Softworks. Although set in and after the 22nd and 23rd century, its story and artwork are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s America, and its striking combination of hope for the promises of technology and lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. 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.

The first two titles in the series (Fallout and Fallout 2) were developed by Black Isle Studios, and had stronger roleplaying characteristics than the subsequent two spin-offs. Micro Forté and 14 Degrees East's Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel of 2001 was a tactical role-playing game. In 2004, Interplay, having closed Black Isle Studios, brought out an action game with RPG elements for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. A third entry in the main series, Fallout 3, was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda now owns the rights to make all Fallout games, and has conditionally licensed the rights to make a massively multiplayer online role-playing game version of Fallout to Interplay. A new Fallout game called Fallout: New Vegas is being developed.

Setting

Background

The background story of Fallout (the first of the series) involves a United States alternate history scenario which diverges from reality following World War II. The transistor was invented just before the war, while vacuum tubes and atomic physics became the cornerstones to scientific progress, eventually achieving the technological aspirations of the early Atomic Age and locking society into a 1950s cultural stasis. Thus, in this alternate "Golden Age", a bizarre socio-technological status quo emerges, in which advanced robots, nuclear-powered cars, directed-energy weapons and other futuristic technologies are seen alongside 1950s-era computers, telephones and typewriters, and the aesthetics and Cold War paranoia of the 1950s continue to dominate the American lifestyle well into the 21st century.

The federal government organizes the states into 13 commonwealths to promote economic stability, but this only divides the U.S. as they put their own ambitions before those of the nation. Tensions rise over the next century due to an increasing energy crisis caused by the depletion of petroleum reserves, leading to the "Resource Wars": a series of events over the next few decades which included a Europe-Middle East war, the disbanding of the United Nations, the US annexation of Canada and a Chinese invasion of Alaska. These eventually culminated in the 2077 Great War, a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that created the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout.

Much earlier in 2054 however, the U.S. government had begun a nationwide project to build fallout shelters known as "Vaults" which would officially house privileged segments of the population within. In reality and unknown to most of their inhabitants, a large number were actually built for human subject research - a concept created by the game developer Timothy Cain and the reasoning of which remains mostly unanswered in the games, though some design documents reference possible reasons for experiment. Each was built to help test something in some way, ranging from overpopulation to deliberate radiation contamination.

Vaults

The Vaults were ostensibly designed by the government contractor Vault-Tec as public shelters, financed by junk bonds and each able to support up to a thousand people. Each self-sufficient, they could in theory sustain their inhabitants indefinitely. However as mentioned earlier, they were never intended as a viable method of repopulating the United States, but were a sinister social experiment. Each Vault was designed to determine the effects of certain conditions upon their inhabitants. These tests ranged from being plausibly practical (for example, one Vault had a defective outer door that offered no protection against the irradiated environment, while others were designed to keep the inhabitants totally isolated far longer than necessary) to being bizarrely esoteric (one Vault had psychoactive drugs released into the air a few days after being sealed, and yet another contained no-one older than 15 years of age). A few "control Vaults" were made to function as advertised (such as Vault 8). These control Vaults were meant to provide data to contrast with the data from the Vaults with intentional flaws.

Main series

Fallout

Main article: Fallout (video game)

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/her 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.

Fallout 2

Main article: 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 changes to the game world, including significantly more pop culture jokes and parodies, such as multiple Monty Python-referencing special random encounters, and self-parodying dialogue that broke the fourth wall to mention game mechanics.

Van Buren (Fallout 3)

Main article: Van Buren (Fallout 3)

Van Buren was the code-name for the canceled version of Fallout 3 developed by 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. Interplay subsequently sold the Fallout intellectual property to Bethesda Softworks, who began development on their own version of Fallout 3 unrelated to Van Buren.

Fallout 3

Main article: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 was developed by Bethesda Softworks and released on October 28, 2008. The story picks up 30 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game's world and allows the player to play as a vault-dweller whose father goes missing outside in the wasteland shortly after his or her 19th birthday, and who must venture out into the Wasteland around Washington, D.C. to find him. It differs from previous games in the series by utilizing 3D graphics, a free-roam gaming world, and real-time gameplay, in contrast to previous games' 2D isometric, turn-based gameplay. It was developed simultaneously for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 using the Gamebryo engine used in previous Bethesda games. On release it received extremely favorable reviews, garnering 94/100, 92/100, and 93/100 averages scores on Metacritic for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game, respectively.

Spin-offs

Fallout: Tactics

Main article: Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel

Fallout: Tactics was released in early 2001 to mixed reviews. Although it was given high scores by reviewers (PC Gamer gave it an 85%), 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 Midwestern United States.

Fallout: Warfare

Main article: 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.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

Main article: 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 previous incarnations of the Fallout series, in both gameplay and style. BoS takes place in three locations: The towns of Carbon, Los, and a Vault. BoS also does not feature non-player characters that 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. The game features music from heavy 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. BoS was the last Fallout game to be developed by Interplay.

Fallout MMORPG

Template:Future game On November 30, 2006, Interplay filed a Form 8-K filing to the SEC regarding a potential Fallout massively multiplayer online game. The Form 8-K contained a prospectus stating that Interplay will be issuing common stock on Euronext to raise capital for developing a Fallout MMORPG. 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.

In April 2007, SEC filings were made showing the transfer of the IP for the Fallout MMORPG to Fallout 3 developer Bethesda for US$5.75 million. While Bethesda now owns the rights to the Fallout MMORPG IP, clauses in the purchase agreement state allow Interplay to license the rights to the development of the MMORPG, provided that development begins within 24 months of the date of the agreement (which was 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 MMORPG within four years of the beginning of development, and pay Bethesda 12 percent of sales and subscription fees for the use of the IP.

In April 2008, Interplay announced that the Fallout MMOG had entered production and in April 2009 announced that it would be working with Masthead Studios, a Bulgarian based game developer who are currently working on Earthrise, to assist in the development of the game.

Fallout: New Vegas

Template:Future game

Main article: Fallout: New Vegas

In April 20, 2009 at a Bethesda press conference in London, Fallout: New Vegas was announced. Bethesda announced a partnership with Obsidian Entertainment to work on the title, slated for a 2010 release on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Voice talent

Fallout games feature well-known actors as NPC voice-talent. Notable appearances include:

Series

• Ron Perlman as The Narrator and Zack Price

Fallout

• Keith David as Decker
• Richard Dean Anderson as Killian Darkwater
• David Warner as Morpheus
• Tony Shalhoub as Aradesh
• Richard Moll as Cabbot
• Clancy Brown as Rhombus
• Tony Jay as The Lieutenant
• CCH Pounder as Vree

Fallout 2

• Dwight Schultz as Hakunin
• Jeffrey Jones as President Dick Richardson
• Michael Dorn as Marcus the Mutant, Special Agent Frank Horrigan

Fallout 3

• Liam Neeson as James
• Malcolm McDowell as President John Henry Eden
• Odette Yustman as Amata

Other

• R. Lee Ermey as General Simon Barnaky (Fallout Tactics)
• Tony Jay as Attis (Fallout: BoS)

Style and influences

File:Bloody Mess.jpg

The Fallout series' look and feel is well represented in the user interface of the Pip-Boy computer, and the frequent occurrences of the Vault Boy character, here illustrating the Bloody Mess Perk.

The PIP-Boy and Vault Boy

The PIP-Boy (Personal Information Processor-Boy) is a wrist-computer given to the player early in Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3 which serves various roles in quest, inventory, and battle management, as well as presenting player statistics. The ones in Fallout and Fallout 2 are identified as a PIP-Boy 2000 (actually, it's one device, seeing that the Chosen One inherited his/hers from the Vault Dweller), while Fallout 3 presents a PIP-Boy 3000. The cause of the difference is unknown; possibly the 3000 model was invented in Vault 101 after the Great War. Fallout Tactics contains a modified version of the 2000 model, called PIP-Boy 2000BE.

The Vault Boy character is Vault-Tec's mascot, and is a frequently recurring element in Vault-Tec-related items in the world. This includes the PIP-Boy, where Vault Boy models all of the clothing and weaponry, and illustrates all of the character statistics and selectable attributes.

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.^{[citation needed]}

Fallout's other production design, such as menu interfaces, are similarly designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the Atomic Age. Advertising in the game such as billboards and brochures has a distinct 1950s motif. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Film/TV Program Possibilities

Bethesda Softworks have recently, (According to Joystiq [1] ) trademarked the Fallout name for both “entertainment services in the nature of an on-going television program” and also “motion picture films about a post-nuclear apocalyptic world”. However nothing yet has been confirmed of being in production.

References

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External links

• Fallout series official website
• The Vault, a Fallout wiki
• Fallout series at MobyGames
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