Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (truncated as Fallout: BoS), is an action role-playing game developed and self-published by Interplay Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles. Released January 13, 2004, it is the fourth video game set in the Fallout universe, second spinoff, and the first to be released on home video game consoles.

Background
Brotherhood of Steel is the last Fallout title to be released before the franchise was sold by Interplay Entertainment to Bethesda Softworks. Although the game was created by Interplay, most of the writers and developers of the original games did not work on Brotherhood of Steel, with the exception of Brian Freyermuth and some quality testers of the originals becoming level designers and scriptors, such as Alendor E. Vulaj, Henry C. Lee, Rene Hakiki and Steve McLafferty. A sequel, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2, was initially planned, but got canceled.

Gameplay
Brotherhood of Steel plays like a dungeon crawling run-and-gunner. There are very few NPCs that can be interacted with, and while the player can speak with them, the game aims to tell a mainly linear and fixed story so there are not dozens of branching paths, although there are a few consequences for some dialog choices. The game has quests and there are a few sidequests the player can do for rewards. While puzzles are absent for most of the game, chapter three has a few of them. The game also contains some light platforming elements such as jumping across bottomless pits and crouching under lasers which will instant kill the player. Skills have the same function as perks in other Fallout games. Each playable character has some skills that are unique to them.

The game allows for two-player co-op multiplayer. Due to no split screen, the players share the same screen and the players' boundaries are restricted by the camera, forcing the two players to stay close and move in tandem. Apart from multiplayer, the game does not feature companions except for a few moments where the player must follow an NPC; the one exception to this if the player unlocks the Man's Best Friend skill which allows a dog to follow the player and attack enemies. However, this skill is not available for Cain players.

Equipment
There are 56 weapons in total including 6 glove weapons, 3 club weapons, 4 hammer weapons and 7 bladed weapons for a total of 20 Melee Weapons. There are 3 Small Guns pistols, 3 burst-fire, 3 rifles, 2 shotguns and 3 weapons that can be dual-wielded for a total of 14 Small Guns and 8 Big Guns. There are 2 Energy pistols, 5 rifles and 1 weapon that can be dual-wielded for a total of 8 Energy Weapons and 6 Explosives. These weapon types overlap; e.g. a home-made laser pistol is a homemade weapon, an energy weapon and a gun type. The highest damage weapon, other than the mini nuke grenade, is the Shredder, a Big Gun with 480-606 damage.

There are four location types of armor: headgear, chest, gloves and boots. The eight successively more protective grades of armor, in order: cloth, leather, riot, metal, combat, Tesla, power armor and advanced power armor. The advanced power armor chest piece offers the most protection of all locations and grades.

Story
The game takes place in Carbon, Texas, in the year 2208, 47 years after Fallout and 33 years before Fallout 2. The player character is called the "Initiate" and chooses to control one of three initial characters: Cain, Cyrus, or Nadia, all of whom have pledged their allegiances to the Brotherhood of Steel and have become initiates.

Locations
The action takes place in only one zone per chapter. A zone is composed of many locations and a player character can return to previously visited locations when they want until they entered into a new chapter and a new zone (Carbon, Los or Secret Vault). They can also sometimes not be able to visit a new location until the storyline advances. There are 50 separate maps of varying size in the game, the primary locations include those as followed.

Playable characters
One chooses one of up to six playable characters to control as the player character. There are no party members. The last three unlockable characters on the following list become available to control after the player completes a chapter in the game.
 * Cain: Cain is a ghoul who decided to join the Brotherhood after super mutants destroyed his hometown, Necropolis. Of medium build, he is able to use heavy weapons and dual weapons, but not maneuver well with the former and cannot run while using the latter.
 * Cyrus: Cyrus was born in a tribal farming village, but he started roaming the wastes after his village was destroyed by super mutants. He later decided to join the Brotherhood as a soldier. Of heavy build, able to use and maneuver well with heavy weapons. He cannot equip dual weapons and cannot run while firing any weapon.
 * Nadia: Nadia spent her childhood as an orphan living on the streets. Although she adapted to life there, she decided to join the Brotherhood when she witnessed several of its members engaging in an act of philanthropy. Of light build, she is able to equip dual weapons. She cannot use heavy weapons. The weapons she can equip, she can fire while running.
 * Patty: Has the same access to and restrictions on weapons as Nadia. She has +10 to her Base Armor value, and bonuses to the following skills: +20% bonus to Bargaining, +80% to Gun Damage, +25% to Desert Soldier and +25% to Future Woman.
 * Rhombus: Unlike the first four characters, Rhombus has no restrictions or bonuses to weapon class in regards to equipping or movement. Rhombus has a Base Armor bonus of +30. He has a +100% bonus to Melee Damage, and +50% bonuses to Explosive Damage and the skills Heavy Hitter and Wastelander.
 * Vault Dweller: This powerful player character can be selected for use only in a new game, and as with Rhombus, has no weapon class restrictions or bonuses. He has a stacking unarmored Base Armor value of 20, and +100% bonuses to Melee Damage, Gun Damage and Explosive Damage. Additionally, +20% bonuses to the Slayer and Fortune Finder skills, and +100% to the Heavy Hitter and Wastelander skills.

Non-player characters

 * Armpit: Armpit is the bartender in Carbon. He is willing to pay money for radscorpion tails.
 * Attis: Attis is the leader of the mutant army and the final boss.
 * Blake: Blake is the leader of the Church of the Lost. He fights the player character in Chapter Two.
 * CALIX: CALIX is the Secret Vault's main computer system. It could share some information.
 * Ching Tsun: Ching is a merchant in the vault. He is willing to buy computer parts.
 * Dubois: Dubois is the chief scientist of the vault.
 * Giese: Giese is a ghoul living in Los. He is able to fashion weapons from pieces of junk.
 * Harold: Harold is a ghoul-appearing FEV contact living in Los who asks the player character to recover missing body parts for him.
 * Hieronymous: Hieronymus runs a gladiator ring in Los.
 * Jane: Jane is the raider matron. She is in charge of the raiders that attacked Carbon.
 * Jesse: Jesse is a trader in the wasteland.
 * Mary: Mary helps the player character after the first fight with Attis. She also informs the player character about her mother's ring.
 * Patty: The security officer of the hidden vault, Patty is unlocked when the first chapter is completed.
 * Richard: Richard is the mayor of Carbon who sold the town to bandits.
 * Ruby: Ruby is Carbon's resident prostitute. She provides the player with several quests.
 * Rhombus: A returning character from the first Fallout, Rhombus is a paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel. Although wounded by a ghoul suicide bomber, Rhombus is playable after the player beats chapter two.
 * Salieri: Salieri is a merchant in Los. He asks the player character to deliver a package to Hieronymous.
 * Technician: In the vault facilities, the technician helps the player.
 * Vault Dweller: The protagonist of the original Fallout, the Vault Dweller is unlocked after the game has been finished. In-game, he is met by the player in Carbon.
 * Vidya: Vidya is the town doctor of Carbon and can heal the Initiate at no charge.

Production
To create the game, Interplay used the "Snowblind" game engine also used in the console games Dark Alliance and the online-capable PS2 game Champions of Norrath. 480p and Dolby digital are supported.

Level designer Dan Kingdom mentioned that the Black Isle Studios team was very interested in what they were doing with F:BOS, and from the very beginning they had a lot of contact with them regarding storyline, setting and characters. The Black Isle team also provided them with a mountain of information to help out with all the details, from timelines to bibles. The game's website mentioned, "We've read the Fallout bible and updates, worked with people in BIS on the concept, and determined that we'd stay within the guidelines of the Fallout universe but at the same time presume that this is a different type of game for a different audience. Fallout: BOS has its own setting, characters, and events that fit within the larger Fallout world. Nothing in this game contradicts the events that occur in Fallout or Fallout 2."

Developers
The game's three producers were Mark Teal, Charles Cuevas and Trevor Snowden. Its lead artist was Perry Scalf, lead designer was Chris Pasetto, and lead programmer was Randy Culley.

Music
The soundtrack background music and music by modern bands, such as Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, Celldweller, Meshuggah, Skinlab and musician Devin Townsend. For modern bands, however, the game diffuses, playing only the instrumental and this music is only played during boss fights.

Voice actors
All voice acting citations are from the Internet Movie Database. Fallout: BoS is the first Fallout game to not feature the introduction voice-acted by Ron Perlman, who is famous in the Fallout series for the line, "War...war never changes." The narrator of this game is Tony Jay, the Lieutenant from Fallout.

Reception

 * The game received mixed reviews, and currently holds a 64/100 score on Metacritic for the PlayStation 2 version, and a 66 score for the Xbox version. The user review score is a 4.0 for the PlayStation 2 version, and a 5.4 for the Xbox version.
 * GamePro gave Brotherhood of Steel a 8/10, mentioning, "The icing on the cake is the game’s superb production value, which includes beautifully crafted sound effects like devastating explosions and the eerie whistling of radioactive wind, solid voice acting, and copious visual details that flesh out a nightmarish world decimated by nuclear warfare."
 * IGN gave it a 7.5/10, calling it "a fun hack 'n' slash title that provides plenty of mutated bodies blowing up." Their review criticized the game's forced top-down perspective which they felt was too high up, wishing it could be angled more to get closer to the action. They mentioned the game has a lack of background music, calling it "eerily silent."
 * GameSpot gave it a 7.3/10, feeling, "Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel isn't a great game, but it can still be entertaining to play. The action is repetitive and straightforward, but the game features a lot of cool weapons and tons of stuff to hack or shoot at, plus it's got some of the charm that helped make Fallout a genuine classic. Brotherhood of Steel is no substitute for a true Fallout sequel, but it doesn't aim to be one."
 * PSM Magazine called the story well-written, although TotalPlayStation felt the game was "more focused on action than story progression and deep character development" and that it "comes dangerously close to being called a Fallout game in name only."

Behind the scenes

 * Interplay received a lawsuit from Snowblind Studios for using the Snowblind engine, which Interplay previously contracted them for to create Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Snowblind claimed that Interplay used their engine without their consent for Brotherhood of Steel, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, and the GameCube version of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. They also claimed that they were entitled to certain royalties on the exploitation of their product. The two studios were engaged in this legal conflict between 2003 and 2004. On April 19, 2005, the litigation ended with both companies signing an agreement, determining that while Interplay would be allowed to work with materials already using the Snowblind engine, they would not be able to use it for any future games.
 * The credits for the game mentions "Thanks for the laughs: www.duckandcover.net, www.nma-fallout.com". These fansites were known for heavily criticizing the game, even before it launched.
 * The game's manual has a list of tips and mentions: "Save, save and save again. If you find a save game console, use it. Don't come crying to us because you ignored one and now have to replay the last fifteen minutes again. Life is a harsh, unforgiving wasteland. Get used to it."
 * Fred Zeleny mentions disliking the game in their meet the Fallout 3 devs interview.
 * In the game, the Vault Dweller gives the Initiate a canteen with the Vault 13 logo. This item previously appeared in Fallout, Fallout 2 and would later appear in Fallout: New Vegas, if pre-ordered from Gamestop and in the add-on Courier's Stash.
 * In the three different regions traveled in the game, Nuka-Cola doesn't appear and is replaced with Bawls Guarana.
 * There is a townsperson who says "His name is Robert Paulson" when the raiders attack Carbon; this is a reference to the 1999 film Fight Club.
 * A "carhenge" appears for the first time in the series, as the site of the Richard boss fight. Carhenges would later appear in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
 * In a trailer, Nadia mentions she was born "just after the bombs fell" despite that the game takes place over a hundred years since the Great War. On the game's website, it was clarified to be a mistake that slipped through recording, and that "just" should have not been said.