Planet Bob - Playing Wasteland (DOS)

RSS Bot · July 6, 2009

Hi there!

Let's have a look at the precursor of the Fallout series, Wasteland:

This is the first ever entry for a DOS game in this series. I opted for this version for one main reason: Avoiding disk juggling. Also, this is part of "The Ultimate RPG Archives", so I have an original with manual here. Interesting enough, this 1988 game runs on my Win'98 PC just as is

Wasteland is a very complex RPG from Interplay, just like their Bard's Tale series. They even share the combat system, but as you can see above, it plays on Ultima style maps instead of 3D dungeons.

The major difference is the setting though: Wasteland plays in a post-nuclear future of the real world, not in a fantasy setting. So instead of bows and swords you're fighting with guns and grenades there.

Another difference from The Bard's Tale is a complex skill system, which adds almost 30 abilities like "Climbing", "Swimming", "Brawling" to your characters. These skills will improve over time when utilized often, so you can individually specialize your party members for certain tasks.

The game starts rather gently, I managed to survive my first 3 hours in the Wasteland without getting killed once. I explored the first two locations already, a little settlement mostly populated by teenagers and one more agricultural oriented. The later starts with a pretty obscure quest already, where you're supposed to hunt down a mutated rabbit :lol: