Big Download Loves the 90s, Continued

Big Download continues to reminisce about the PC games released during the last decade of the 20th century, this time focusing on 1996 and 1997 when the likes of Diablo, Fallout, and Dungeon Keeper occupied store shelves.

A role-playing game centered on the apocalypse and an alternate history timeline? That can only describe Fallout, developed by Interplay’s Black Isle Studios in 1997.

With the so-called SPECIAL role-playing system governing things like attributes and bonuses, Fallout provided a solid gaming experience. Combine fun exploration and turn-based combat with a retro future art style, extremely dark humor, and a collection of crazy characters made the first Fallout game a home run. People all over were coming out of their vaults.

A sequel, Fallout 2, was released in 1999 and spin-offs like Fallout Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel also followed. However the shut down of Interplay also caused a planned Fallout 3 to be canceled. Bethesda Softworks bought the franchise and made Fallout 3 as a first person RPG in 2008. A stand alone continuation, Fallout: New Vegas, is due out in 2010.