Is this sequel a worthy addition to the series, or is it just a rip-off?
The Good:
-There is no time limit for the story that can annoy you (though the time limit in the first game was mainly during the first half).
-The fast travel is a LOT quicker now. Usually it would take ages to travel along the world map in the first game. Now you can get from one side of the map to the other in less than ten seconds.
-It does not take as long to count the money when trading.
-The plot is satisfying.
-Some of the new music and ambient are great.
-In combat, with most weapons and with the right level ups, you can target body parts with guns (an inspiration for the VATS in Fallout 3 apparently).
-$ex is a lot more frequent (there is even a trait to choose from when creating your character).
-Basically all of the above makes the experience that you found in the first game a lot more enjoyable and realistic.
The Bad:
-The combat is much more difficult than in the first game...
-...This is because it takes quite a while to find a good weapon. Plus, there are more difficult foes and your leveling up begins low.
-The areas are not as interesting to explore nor well-designed as in the first game.
-The wasteland feels too lively and not as creepy and hostile and mysterious as in the first game.
-The graphics are exactly the same and while they looked great for the first game, the reused visual detail and modeling is quite uninteresting now.
-The synopsis is basically a half-copy of the original and characters are not as good as in the first game.
-It is practically just Fallout 1 with new locations and with the good/bad points featured.
I know that in the "bad" section, I sounded like I thought the game was a bit bad. Let me be honest, I do not hate it at all. I could not agree with anyone who thinks of this sequel negatively. It is a very, very good RPG. The amount of choice in this game is incredible and gives you a great amount of replay value, plus some of the quests are quite interesting. The combat is turn-based which usually annoys me since I find it easier to win a game battle in real time combat with aiming control rather than relying heavily on level ups and the like. For the Fallout classics, it works though. The introduction of being able to select body parts for shooting makes the fights more tactical and gives the player more freedom. The gore is unchanged so the fights are not any less entertaining to watch.
It is just a pity that the game has ended up being more difficult than the first game. People point out the complete opposite, but for me personally this game was much harder than the original. In my opinion, you would not actually be a real wimpy if you selected combat on the 'wimpy' difficulty. It starts out easy when you are doing the test in the beginning, but once you roam the wasteland, things suddenly become much harder to kill. This is because you cannot get a gun at the beginning like in the previous game, plus the leveling up was more difficult for me. If this happens, your character often ends up missing in his/her attack turns and does weak hits. Therefore, I found myself becoming frustrated quite often since it does not even give you that much open-endedness until much later in the game.
Aside from feeling a lot like a Fallout 1 copy, the combat's difficulty frustrated me the most. Nevertheless, some of the new additions in this game are really cool to experience. The fast travel is much less frustrating now and the lack of a time limit for the game story allows you more time to explore and try out some things. In the leveling up section, one new trait is available (which is mentioned in the 'good' section) that ends up making you either a sight for sore guys, or a treat for the ladies. The fact that it involves prostitutes kind of makes the game content a bit more controversial, but it is an awesome new feature regardless, and it is completely censored.
Fallout 2, the sequel to the first game, is very fun and quite well made. It's not a big step from the original, but the improvements it features really make a difference to the experience. It is not better than the first game like the Gamespot rating makes it out to be, but if you are a fan of the original game then you will have another great adventure in the wasteland.