Thursday, February 09, 2017
Michael Allen
Distributor: Deep Silver.
InXile Entertainment brought many of the original creators of the 1988 game Wasteland to Wasteland 2: Director's Cut. This original 1988 game was a truly entertaining and sometimes an addictive experience, for this gamer. Twenty-seven years on, Wasteland 2: Director's Cut has only slightly improved over the original. The gaming world has changed substantially since the 1980s! Wasteland 2: Director's Cut originally dropped on the personal computer in 2014, before making its way to the PS4 in late 2015. On the PS4, you get to use a compass point, on the World Map, to explore an irradiated landscape. Soon, you will be engaged in clunky combat as the game does its best to sabotage you. The story puts you in the role of a hero as part of the Desert Rangers. But, it is all of the subplots and moral choices which bring life to the game's environment. Very unpolished and too focused on nostalgia, Wasteland 2: Director's Cut may generate a frustrated scream or two.
You begin the game in the Ranger Citadel. Soon, you have turned into a compass point as you leave this refuge. Once on the main World Map, you must navigate around clouds of radiation, or avoid ambushes in the desert. You are continuously navigating from one Arizona outpost to another as distress calls come in, over your radio. Errors pop up when you push the "Travel" button on one distant location, only to find the needlepoint stuck in a mountain. This game is often AI deficient. Still, there is a lot of area to cover as your compass point moves back and forth across the remnants of Los Angeles, or the State of Arizona.
The combat was a bit lackluster for this player. Very turn-styled and strategy based, you engage in combat much like a chess piece. You move your characters across squares. Meanwhile, the computerized opponents do the same, in the form of: mechanized robots, band of cyborgs, looters and the usual raiders. Very clunky, the combat AI will often think you want to shoot your own characters, or apply first-aid to the enemy. Sometimes, your cursor will move all over the map, to the point you must end your turn just to proceed. Secondary setting effects will also inhibit your ability to see what is going on. So, combat is often awkward and definitely unrealistic.
The story and narrative is a bit better than some of the technical aspects. As introduced above, you begin as a member of a ragtag group of explorers. Your mission is to make contact with various groups in the Arizona desert, initially. Soon, you will be tasked with setting up several radio towers, so that you can communicate with the remnants of the western seaboard. Often a killer, you must eradicate groups that are dominating the lives of: poor farmers, traders, weapon merchants and others. In no time, you will be choppering into downtown Los Angeles. It is here where the real mayhem begins.
This player enjoyed some of the moral choices, the best. It is often prudent to negotiate, rather than bringing out the guns, right away. This is especially true in the game's second act, which begins at a rundown compound, full of feral dogs. For instance, in one section a group of cyborgs is on a recruiting drive. They have no affinity for the Desert Rangers. But if your character builds are too weak, it would be best to keep your identity to yourself and your mouth shut. Mercenaries are trusted more than Desert Rangers, in these parts of this digital world. Other moral plays require that prisoners are released over trumped up charges, or cannibalistic mayors must be unseated. There is no shortage of things to do in Wasteland 2: Director's Cut.
Still, there is only so far a game can go storywise, if the interactions are poor. In combat, the violent conflicts are just not very interesting. Meanwhile, the World Map only gets complicated closer to Los Angeles. There are a lot of subplots to flesh out and characters to engage with. But, it is the combat that continually brings this title down. Who knew pigs could move so fast and do so much damage with their snouts? A curse here and a near thrown controller there and Wasteland 2: Director's Cut is really just another exercise in frustration tolerance. How much can you take? This long time gamer would recommend you save yourself a bit of pain and suffering, while seeking out better brands, like Bethesda's Fallout series.
Overall: 6.25 out of 10.
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Posted in: 2016,2017,characters,game,gameplay,post apocalyptic,ps4,review,story,video,video game,video game review
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