Fallout Series Ranked by Kotaku

Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez has decided to write an article wherein she ranks the Fallout series games (not counting spin-offs) first to last, based on her experiences with them. Perhaps slightly surprisingly, she ranks Fallout 2 as her favorite, but Fallout 3 pulls up second place and the original Fallout comes in dead last. Like all lists, it’s sure to spring some controversy among the series’ fans, and we can’t say we agree with all of the author’s choices or justifications.

Fallout 3
While I lament the change in genre especially after XCOM proved that you can modernize a franchise without turning it into an FPS Fallout 3 is the Fallout game most people are familiar with. With good reason: the capital wasteland (what a perfect setting for a game about America, by the way), in its full, open world glory, is a joy to explore. It’s tough to forget unhinged characters like Moira, nevermind levels like Tranqulity Lane. And that opening level, in the Vault? It’s gotta be one of the best introductions in a game, ever. Can’t say I’m a big fan of V.A.T.S or how, mechanically, it felt like I was playing The Elder Scrolls with a different skin, though.
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Fallout 1
Another game that I feel guilty of ranking so ‘low,’ but reminder: all of the games in the franchise are excellent. Fallout which is a digital take on GURPS, a pen and paper role-playing system is no exception. It offered players a considerable amount of customization, and the SPECIAL system allowed players to adopt any playstyle of their choosing. We’re still familiar with these systems thanks to the newer games, but remember, this was the game that started it all. Couple both those things with amazing, atmospheric writing (convincing the big bad to kill himself? Fallout 1 did it first) and it’s difficult to find someone that doesn’t adore Fallout…provided they’ve played it.
Of course, by nature of its age, it’s the title that has aged the worst.

Thanks go to our friends at No Mutants Allowed for bringing this to our attention.