Wasteland 2 Reviews

Wasteland 2 is a game experience that you must give a try on Nintendo Switch.

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut on Switch is a missed opportunity. While the underlying systems and crunchy combat are enjoyable – and it just about works as a portable experience – a steady list of irritations make an unqualified recommendation impossible. There’s a solid foundation of gritty turn-based combat with some great writing, but a stubborn camera, disappointing performance and a lack of quality-of-life enhancements means the PC 'master race' take this round.

Nuclear war has left society in shambles. The only hope for order in the chaotic mess is by the influence of the Desert Rangers, a somewhat police force in the wasteland. Customize your small squad and dive into the action. Survive, loot, assist survivors, and kill dangerous foes and creatures as your progress through a story surrounded by dozens of hours of side quests.

Wasteland 2 is a love letter to an era long gone by, in good ways and bad. If you already know what Wasteland is, then this is a game for you, but newcomers might struggle.

Brian Fargo and inXile Entertainment challenged publishers, and mostly succeeded by creating a worthy successor to the likes of Fallout and Wasteland.

Wasteland 2 might not be the prettiest CRPG to hit digital shelves this year, but it captures the harsh hypothetical realities of the post-apocalyptic American Southwest with excellent writing, decisions with terrifying consequences, and background voice work that reinforce the human suffering that results from them. It's a game about the power of choices, and the few remaining glitches and issues with its combat do little to diminish its power.

The best laid plans of mice and men.

Wasteland 2 is an expansive game that demands to be replayed again and again to get the best out of it. While a lot of the detailed mechanics feel somewhat archaic, they’re not going to hold back dedicated players who want to micromanage and really role play their group of characters. It has all of the familiar elements and even if some aspects of its presentation are not quite up to modern standards, its design and gameplay are timeless and welcome.

While Wasteland 2 may have a heavy emphasis on exploration, but not so much on direction. When clearing out the Agricultural Center, players are given the vague goal of making their way outside, but must use a good deal of trial and error to finally get there. Afterwards, there's a significant amount of aimless wandering before happening upon where main scientist is. This is partly why missions can take so long to complete. The same applies to wandering the Wasteland at large unless a character gives you a specific map destination. This can be problematic because your party needs to take into account how much water they're carrying, whether or not they can withstand radiation, and they get hit with random encounters.

Wasteland 2 certainly knows its audience and I slightly get the feeling it's relying on this for its awareness. As an actual game however, it doesn't feel fresh or new and only seems to stand out due to its theme of being set in the post-apocalypse.

The year was 1988. I was 12 years old and I lived on my Commodore 64. A handful of groundbreaking games were released that year, including King's Quest IV, Bard's Tale III, Ultima V, and Pool of Radiance. It was an important time for the RPG genre, but no single game meant more to me than Interplay's Wasteland.

** Companions are available to join the original party of four. An early recruit is almost indispensable, which is peculiar considering she can be entirely bypassed if you don't search a dead-end in the starting area. I often felt like I should be digging up every loose patch of dirt and exploring every nook and cranny - the amount of interactive hotspots, trapped doors and seemingly barren areas makes the game a completionist's nightmare, as does the fact that certain locations and missions will be locked off as choices are made. I'm OK with that. Gives me a reason to go back in and act like my own evil twin.

However. There’s a level of roughness here that I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by after such a long development time. For every smartly written sequence with vibrant locations and characters, there’s an aimless fetch quest or an overlong combat section. Oddly enough, despite the content added in Wasteland 2’s extra year of production, I think the game could have benefited from being cut down, edited to emphasise the best bits and get rid of some of the clutter. I like Wa...