Inspired by 1950's sci-fi films, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is set in a post-apocalyptic universe. It is here where you must fight the mutant attackers from ridding the world of all the humans that remain after the big bomb had dropped. Even after a major, skin melting, nuclear war we all still just can't get along? It must be true, like the song says "War, what is it good for?" It is up to you to join up with the Brotherhood of Steel and fight these twisted mutants for the sake of humanity!

At first glance you may say to yourself, ?Hey this looks an awful like Baldur's Gate?? Well this holds true as the same team who brought you the original Dark Alliance on the PS2 a couple years back develops the game. The only real difference is the genre setting. Instead of Elves and Clerics, you have Mutants and Ruffians. Instead of big spiders and malicious demons, you have two headed cows and, well, big mutated spiders. Character design fits the genre well, and plenty of diverse enemies keep the game fresh. The environments are baron wastelands, filled with decaying walls, dirty concrete, and run down pubs. While there is plenty of land to survey, the outcome is actually pretty dull and repetitive. Special attacks come in droves and the blood flows as a result. Let's just say this one isn't for the kiddies. The top down perspective returns giving players plenty of scenery to observe. Frame rate stays consistent, even when plenty of baddies are on the screen. All in all the game doesn't really evolve the Baldur's Gate engine, it just changes skin.

Audio in Fallout is decent, and only stands out by its voice acting. The voice actors do a really good job of showing emotion and spitting out humorous dialog. What's more, the onlookers even speak to you, whether it's running from your mutated face or just giving information, all the voices in the game are done admirably. Music on the other hand is a mixture of a quite score for roaming, and a head-banging soundtrack from Slipknot for boss battles. The weapon's sounds range from good to silly. Shotguns and other gun arsenal sound great, while most of the futuristic guns sound campy and weak. While most of these hitches may have been done on purpose, the end result is mixed nonetheless. For most of your journey, you wander mostly in silence, which is a big turn off.

Game play is your familiar action title, with subtle RPG elements thrown in for diversity's sake. Much like the aforementioned Baldur's Gate, Fallout puts you in a barrage of hack and slash elements with very little puzzle solving, much less thinking, to do. Most of the time you will enter rooms, mash some buttons to ward off foes, exit the room, and repeat. This may have been fun a couple years ago, but now that formula has been done and is getting quite old. To break up the monotony, you have the chance to earn money to buy upgrades, including weapons, armor, and health. Weapons range from melee to range weapons, and the ability to carry up to 3 and change them on the fly makes for some strategy in this button masher like atmosphere. Two-player action keeps things interesting, as it is always nice to have a buddy bashing foes with you. The game lasts for only a handful of hours, and even with a friend, the concept isn't fresh enough to really go through it more than twice. All in all, if you just couldn't get enough of BG and want more of the same, there is plenty of fun to be had with Fallout.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel may appeal to fans of this genre that just can't get enough of that hack and slash stuff. For you I say this game is worth of the purchase, even with BG2 coming out at the same time. For the rest of us, the game is fun and entertaining, but after a short while you'll get that, 'been there done that' feeling. If you were planning already on buying BG2, then rent this one. If you want a BG title with an edgier feel, then buy this title. The choice obviously in the end is yours. Fallout by all means is far from bad; it's just far from original.