The Fallout game that time forgot
It's fair to say the reaction to Fallout 76, which is due out next week, has not been universally positive. With the move to a primarily online mode for the post-apocalyptic series still causing upset among fans, it's easy to forget there's a precedent here, from way back when publisher Interplay held the Fallout reins. Bethesda will no doubt be hoping the Fallout 76 story ends a little better than that of Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel, a tale that begins not with Fallout, but another famous RPG series from the late 90s.
Since the release and astonishing success of BioWare's Baldur's Gate, Interplay had been pondering on how to expand its IP to consoles. A PlayStation port of the original game - which worked as a push-scroll/flip screen game - was almost completed by developer Runecraft, before Interplay's takeover by Titus Interactive caused that and many other projects to be cancelled.
Then finally, in 2001, came Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Based on the technically-impressive eponymous engine by Snowblind Studios, Dark Alliance greatly simplified the RPG experience, reducing interaction to short soundbites, inventory management to an equip/unequip list and the combat to hack 'n' slash, mixed in with some dramatic, but limited, spells and ranged weapons. The console-playing public lapped up this new spin on the RPG genre, and Dark Alliance was a best-seller across the PlayStation 2, Xbox and, eventually, Nintendo GameCube. So why should its publisher not try and repeat the trick with its other great RPG series?
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