(episode review) - Fallout

I used to have Nintendo growing up. Nintendo, Super Nintendo and then I went onto the Sony Playstation. I had a Playstation, Playstation 2 and then I went onto the Microsoft Xbox. Xbox 360 to Xbox 360 Elite (It was still an Xbox 360 but my previous one had the red ring of death) and I was looking for something cool to play. It was under recommendation that I got into Fallout and the game's cover looked cool. A meaning looking helmet-mask thing. This was Fallout 3. Although I am a bit of a completionist, I would ideally want to know the full story and play it from the beginning, not from Fallout 3. However, upon designing my character and getting into the story, I did not realise that the story of Fallout 3 was not really connected to Fallout 2. It was not a continuation of any previous story, and having purchased and played Fallout 4, my understanding of the Fallout franchise is, a bunch of different stories told with different protagonists, at different times, in different places of the world and with different people involved. The only thing that links the games is the setup, I guess.  I really enjoyed the game. In a nutshell (and loose potential spoiler for the TV show), a vault dweller is the term used for someone who lived in an underground vault when World War 3 happened and a nuclear fallout occurred. These people lived under the ground for hundreds of years and your character leaves the vault under the impression that the world above has poisonous air, is unsafe and uninhabitable. Whilst this is not necessarily far from the truth, your character finds their way above ground and you go on a quest. If I remember correctly, you are looking for somewhere called 'Eden' where life is meant to be pleasant and I think the man behind the Eden Project wants to purify the radiated water in the wasteland, but on your way there, you can come across many many many hostiles. The surface people, people called Raiders, Gouls, Feral Gouls, Robots, Mutants, The Brotherhood, insects and animals changed by the nuclear fallout so they tend to be double or triple in size and mutated. This post-apocalyptic landscape is not safe and radiation can be found in a lot of pockets of different towns that could eventually kill you. This first episode was very similar to the game.

The cold open was excellent. The visual depiction of an atomic bomb going off and the shock and horror sold it to me. My jaw dropped. I even clapped when the opening credits started. After we are introduced to our main person, there are various attacks which occur and a massacre. Visually, it was great. When I think of the nonsense and tongue-in-cheek elements of the game, they have recreated it and translated it to screen successfully. There are things in the game that make no sense, also no sense in the show, but if you are somewhat with the show at the point you see someone get killed with a projected doll's leg and you laugh and shrug it off, the show has you. It's silly, but it works in the game and it works here. When playing the game, you use a device on your arm called a Pitboy. A Pitboy is like a watch but so much more like a mini-computer as it is very advanced. Chunky in size, but not only does it tell you the time, date, month, mood etc, but it also informs you of your radiation poisoning, intoxication, and heart rate among other things such as how heavy your items are (in the game of course). You can also use it's system called V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) which allows you to look at an enemy and see where you can strike someone with percentages of how successful the strike would be to do the most damage to incapacitate them or kill them. You often see limbs flying off, blood and gore flying everywhere. It is not only hilarious (if you are a sadistic person like me), but it is a gaming mechanic which is just enjoyable to watch as time slows down and you aim your pistol, shotgun, baseball bat, Fatman or flaming sword. And yes, Fatman, a device that fires mini-nukes to totally obliterate the enemy. This show in the first episode has managed the capture the core of what makes the games great and this first episode was interesting. Split into 3 parts, you get the learn bout the characters and I am guessing, how they will come together later in the story. A marvellous first episode.