The sequel: Again, it seems a little insulting to you that we're going to explain it, but nonetheless. Best known now for the blockbuster titles developed by Bethesda, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the series actually originated under the stewardship of Black Isle Studios. Whileas the more recent iterations are first person console affairs the original Fallout games were top-down PC games, but they shared the same setting and basically the same role playing mechanics. Every Fallout game sees you trawling through a nuclear irradiated wasteland following a war which pretty much destroyed the world; it's up to you to survive regardless, usually whilst scavenging for items and fighting mutant rats of unusual size. The character creation system is second to none, an the role playing aspects even let you get drunk or addicted to drugs. Fun! The original: Most people don't really even know about the first two games in the series, let alone that the whole thing started as an abortive follow-up to a totally different franchise. Which only became a franchise in the past couple of weeks, when the long-awaited Wasteland 2 was released, thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign. The first Wasteland was set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic America that was destroyed by nuclear holocaust, had mechanics based directly on tabletop role playing games, and was generally just Fallout with worse graphics and less popularity. It was even an open world, which was pretty impressive for a game that came out in 1988. Who knows? The sequel might even be worth checking out whilst we wait for news of Fallout 4.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
