Fallout’s Future

The Fallout franchise has gone from strength to strength since Bethesda have gotten their grubby mitts all over it, and going on the success that was the Oblivion series it’s no surprise that Fallout turned out so well. This is a team of people who can take their time over making their games, and it really shows. The DLC that followed Fallout’s main event was inspiring and brought more than was expected to the followers of Fallout. Yes indeed, we have come a long way since ‘horse armour’, have we not.

So what can we expect for the next instalment of Fallout? Well, what Bethesda have created so far has been anything but mediocre, and makes me wonder what they could possibly do to improve upon an already fantastic gaming experience. One of the first things that springs to mind are vehicles. Much like the salvation of parts to build custom weapons, could we see a similar system put in place for building your own car, truck, dune buggy or even tank? The weight ratio for salvaging parts for this reason would play a big factor in your inventory for sure, but wouldn’t it be cool to be able to tear up the wastes in your own custom built set of wheels? Getting from A to B would certainly be easier, and after you’ve got a working vehicle it could be used for transporting more parts more easily. If you fancy a hulking great gun-turreted monster truck for splatting Deathclaws like hedgehogs all you have to do is find the bits and the instructions. Likewise, a nimble, zippy quad-bike could get you out of harm’s reach and home faster than a speeding Yow-gui in situations fast travel just wouldn’t allow. An almost Mad-Max atmosphere could be born from this, whereby meeting similarly equipped Raiders or Enclave forces would result in high-speed, wasteland car chases. Teaming up with a friend online, where one could drive and the other ride shot-gun could see some intense co-op gameplay too. Again, taking this idea online could see the rise of Destruction Derby style, Thunderdrome type battles where the last machine with a running motor wins. Different fuel types could be used to make a pro-con system as well, where something like solar power would be slow, steady but plentiful. Or petrol and diesel (available as a pick-up) would give more power and speed. This could lead to you having different vehicles for different purposes, going out for a hunt would require something quick yet robust but going for a salvage mission would demand a more solid machine that could cope with carrying large loads.

We know that the Fable universe allows for greater interaction with NPCs. Marriage, gay lovers and children are all by-products from this idea and probably wouldn’t be suited to the world of Fallout. However, being able to pick a ‘follower’ that we really like would be a nice touch, where any NPC could be recruited with either persuasion or money; or continued interaction with a particular person to build up trust or a ‘friendship’. These people could then be asked to do particular tasks on their own, whether it be scouting for new locations, finding particular items, or use their skills to achieve a goal you currently could not do on your own (win speech challenges, pick locks etc.). Being able to concentrate on one objective while your acquaintance focuses on another would allow you to do two things at once, while you search for scrap to build up your new car, they could be out finding new places for you to explore later on.

Live, online worlds are becoming more and more manageable as we march ever more confidently into our digital era, but I honestly feel that a multiplayer mode in Fallout would be the wrong way to go. In the vein of Halo or MAG at least, due to the V.A.T.S system that Fallout has this would be nearly impossible for fair play, though a co-op mode could be beneficial to Fallout’s world I think. You could meet up with friends and tackle super mutant behemoths together, storm raider camps for a good old looting or even do point-by-point sweeps of large, decrepit buildings. This would allow you to search for specific items together, or even just meet up to barter with each other for stuff. Which brings me neatly onto my next idea; A marketplace.

Imagine a city in the Fallout world that’s dominated by people online, where you could acquire a stall to set up shop and sell your custom made weaponry or spare parts. I don’t know about you, but I’m a hoarder! My Megaton house is stuffed full of junk, and the only reason I don’t sell it for caps is because I have too many caps already! So, a place to buy and sell could be good for those just starting out, those who need quick-fix armour or a decent weapon would benefit from this as well. Veterans could off-load their ‘junk’ for caps to buy rarer weapons, items or even aesthetics for their house or armour. As PSN Home expands with different locations for people to meet and chat, you could effectively cut out the middle man and have this marketplace for socialising too. If you end up in a conversation about something you spotted in the wastelands, instead of just talking about it you could both jump into one of your rides and go there instead. A seamless, co-op game-play/socialising affair is far more palatable than going through umpteen loading screens or switching servers.

User created content could also be a good way of expanding Fallout’s already massive world. Weapons such as the Railway Rifle are a stroke of genius in my eyes, and a brilliant way of giving people reason to loot stuff from broken homes. Imagine having more custom made weaponry available to you, built and sold by other people around the world. Customisation and personalisation is the best way to set yourself apart from the crowd in an online world, and being able to take junk from the wastes and apply it to costumes or armour seems one of the better ways of doing this. Being able to sell or buy these weapons and armour would not only bring about reputation, but would also inspire competition within the community. This kind of thinking is obvious when we look at games such as LBP. So instead of getting a schematic for a whole weapon, there could be schematics for magazine-loaders, barrels, sights, hilts, handles and other little parts that make up a weapon. Depending on condition of parts and which parts used, each schematic would mean different strengths. Putting these together any way you see fit would result in a unique weapon that could then be sold in the marketplace to strangers or friends. Just imagine what we could see; weapons that fire homing ‘drills’ that lock on to specific creature’s heads (remember the Cerebral Bore from Turok 2?). Maybe a large gun that fires wine bottles only (you could call it ‘The Connoisseur Cannon’), or a high pressure, cryogenic gun that instantly freezes foes! Okay, maybe I’m being a little over enthusiastic with the ice-ray, but improving on already fantastic weaponry couldn’t be a bad thing surely?

These are just a few ideas that could be incorporated into the Fallout world, whether they ever become a reality remains to be seen. If it’s one thing that’s true of games such as Fallout though, it’s that these kinds of games can always be expanded on. Failing that, we can always dream…