Fallout's near-future settings, characters, and weapons fit perfectly in with the game's unique sense of style.

What's so SPECIAL about GURPS?

Though it didn't exactly explode onto store shelves, Fallout was a fairly highly anticipated game for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it arrived at a time when computer RPGs were few and far between, and for another, it was supposed to incorporate Steve Jackson's GURPS (generic universal role-playing system) pen-and-paper role-playing rules. GURPS was always popular for its open-endedness and for how it could lend itself to pretty much any setting, whether historic or fantasy or futuristic, so it seemed well suited for a game like Fallout. Then, in the eleventh hour, Steve Jackson pulled out of the project apparently because of creative differences with the Fallout team; among other things, Jackson apparently didn't want GURPS associated with a game featuring as much grisly violence as Fallout. You'd think that to lose the underlying ruleset would completely cripple any RPG, but the Fallout team came up with its own SPECIAL system--and this system actually remains quite possibly the best character generation system of any computer RPG to date.

A memorable cast of characters is brought to life with some of the best voice acting of any game to date.

If you consider yourself a fan of role-playing games, but you've never played Fallout, then you should be completely ashamed of yourself, you horrible person. Go sit in the corner! But seriously, although this first role-playing game from Black Isle Studios showed up quietly on PC store shelves back in 1997, it's now remembered reverently by most anyone who had the pleasure of playing it. Set in a postapocalyptic future, Fallout features not only a unique setting, but also one of the most successful implementations of open-ended gameplay to date. That, along with a cast of memorable characters (many of whom are brought to life by celebrity voice actors), a great sense of style, plenty of humor, and lots of over-the-top combat, makes Fallout not just one of the greatest RPGs ever, but one of the greatest games ever made in any category.

Fallout is clearly inspired by Interplay's own 1987 role-playing game, Wasteland, another postapocalyptic RPG. In turn, both these games draw upon the sorts of pop-culture depictions of a grim and chaotic future popularized by influential sci-fi action movies such as The Road Warrior and The Terminator. However, despite its many conscious references to other postapocalyptic sci-fi, Fallout had a style all its own. The premise of the game was that the bombs came crashing down apparently sometime in the 1950s, when Leave it to Beaver and its ilk was all the rage and family values were the in thing. Well, some of society managed to sneak into thickly armored underground bunkers to avoid incineration, but in so doing, these people pretty much locked themselves in a time capsule. At some point in the 21st century, one of those bunkers starts having some technical difficulties and runs out of drinking water. And guess who's the lucky stiff your friends and family decide to send out into the world to find a solution to this life-threatening problem?

Thus you set foot into a weird, memorable world filled with sci-fi kitsch, as well as a lot of serious threats, problems, and weapons. One of the great things about Fallout is how it lets you play as any number of completely different character types, depending on your decisions during character creation. You can play as an expert marksman or as a brutish close-range fighter. You can be exceptionally strong but incredibly stupid to the point where you can't even coherently respond to other characters in the game (but boy, can you beat them up). You can also play as a brilliant and charismatic diplomat and talk your way out of even the most dangerous situations. Though it isn't easy, it's possible to finish Fallout without ever getting into a single fight. Also, you can play as a sneaky character and get your way by picking locks, stealing, conniving, and so forth. The game offers unique rewards for all these approaches and for shades in between. Though Fallout isn't a particularly lengthy game from start to finish, few RPGs to date have offered as much replay value.

For good measure, Fallout features what's certainly one of the best endings of any game to date. Without spoiling anything, the game just does an excellent job of tying up all the loose ends and showing you the specific consequences of your actions from earlier in the game. It's a genuinely touching finale to a game that remains unrivaled and completely recommendable even all these years after its release.

If you got me at gunpoint and made me pick my single all-time favorite game, I'd probably blurt out "Fallout." The retail version of the game had some bugs and such that probably kept it from getting even higher praise, but eventually, all those problems were addressed in patches, leaving a game that I consider to be completely flawless. I ended up playing through Fallout on three separate occasions, each time as a completely different character, and have some mighty fine memories to show for it.