This makes for a very powerful gaming experience. their individual victories and tribulations. By the end of the game, I look at my characters and not only see what they are (level 20 Corporals, demolitions dude, charismatic leader, tech expert.) but what they went through. Stuff like this builds the character individually, and thus, the party. Wasteland uses a skill and attribute based system, periodically giving a character 'points' to use on attributes and skills, as well as having skills increase through use.īut moreover, the character development doesn't stop when you use up the points - many places in Wasteland allow a character to separate from the rest of the party and engage in some solo activity - maybe hooking up with a prostitute, or venturing into a cat-and-mouse game within the mind of an android. Does it enhance the game? Perhaps, but once the class is defined there's no real development OF the character - A level 1 knight has the same desires, goals, and value systems as a level 18 knight.

Most RPGs have a player select a class for a party member - but what IS a class? Does it let YOU role-play? No, the class tells you what and how to role-play. Another element that makes Wasteland such a great game is the character development system. While some of the darker elements aren't as evident, it's still very obvious throughout the game that there is a detailed, thoughtful, and even meaningful post-apocalyptic theme everywhere. 'Even with outdated graphics, the setting sets one's imagination aflame, using familiar elements from life and including them in the game, but overlaying the horror of nuclear war on top. Just how good is the game, and why does it deserve to be in every RPG gamer's collection? George Shannon's eloquent review for MobyGames says it much better than I could: Set in the California after World War 3 nuclear holocaust, the game casts you as a band of Desert Rangers, a vigilante group intent on bringing some order into the bleak, chaotic society, from town to town, gradually uncovering a sinister plot that threatens what's left of mankind.

My most favorite RPG ever, and one of the very few games that earned a permanent place on my hard drive since the first time I installed it, Wasteland is an epic post-apocalyptic RPG that set new standards for the genre that arguably have not since been matched.

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