Game: Fallout Shelter
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios, Behaviour Interactive
Genre: Casual Game, Survival Game, Simulation
Releases: 2015 (Mobile), 2016 (PC), 2017 (Xbox One), 2018 (Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4)
There are various articles on Cubic Creativity saying that I normally want to finish a franchise that I have started; and that entails that I take a look at games that I am not particularly interested in or, worse, I know I will not enjoy. I guess this is the cue for “Fallout Shelter”. And look, I understand the appeal of mobile games, I have even played some before; but those games have a reason to be called games in the first place, something that I would possibly object to calling “Fallout Shelter” because there is little to nothing happening in the “game”. Let me give you a piece of my mind for this product that I certainly did not ask for.
Like I said, “Fallout Shelter” started out as a mobile game; but since I am currently playing it on my computer and know that it launched for all major consoles, I have a certain set of expectations in terms of interactivity. But lets start at the beginning: Its the “Fallout” universe, so the bombs are dropping and people seek shelter in the convenient vaults built by Vault-Tek. You are in control of a vault, giving it some random number and then starting with a few people to get things started. In order to keep the vault running, you need three major resources: Energy, water, and food, which are produced in the power generator, the water treatment station, and the restaurant respectively. As in real-life, not everyone is suited to all sorts of work, which is where the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system comes into play. You need perception in order to work the water supply, and only the strongest character can get the most out of the generators in order to keep the lights on.
At the start, your vault as well as your vault dwellers pretty much suck, but with time, and money, and lots more time, you can eventually get things going. By doing their jobs, vault dwellers can level, and the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats can be improved with armor and later on with training rooms. If a small power generator is not enough to keep things going, just place another one right beside it to increase the size and therefore the amount of people that can work the station, or upgrade it with money to improve both storage and production. This is basically what you do for the first few hours: Optimization. On top of that, the game has some tasks for you to fulfill, which give you bottlecaps to buy more rooms and upgrades with, as well as lunchboxes which are the lootboxes of “Fallout Shelter” and therefore have all sorts of goodies in them.
Now, I was very open with my opinion about “Fallout Shelter” in the introduction. In my opinion, there is no need for this game. Fans of the old “Fallout” games cried when the moral ambiguity of the first two games was lost in “Fallout 3”, since that game is much more black and white in its decision-making. I would say that “Fallout 3” is simply a different interpretation of the source material, while “Fallout Shelter” is as far away from the role-playing game series about the struggles in an apocalyptic future as possible. Sure, life in the vault is hard. Occasionally, you have rad roaches breaking through the floor which you then need to fend off. Or some malfunction causes a fire, which now needs to be doused, else risking the lives of everyone in the vault. Or someone knocks on the door with weapons, in which case you can see the random and utterly terrible fighting system the game has in place to defeat the attackers, with you as the player only hinting towards attacking the opponents and your dwellers being utterly incompetent.
At least something happens when you get attacked by roaches and raiders; because the rest of the game is a barren nothing. I expected the game to work like a clicker game, meaning that I come back a few hours later and something meaningful has happened; but that is not the case. Having the game open allows you to keep track of the three resources and put rooms in rush mode to gain resources and experience quicker, albeit at the risk of having more roaches break through and fires breaking out. Being offline only seems to have an effect if you sent people out for quests and scavenging since that timer continues; which will normally result in the scavengers taking too much damage and you needing to revive them. But other than that, there is basically nothing to do. Oh yes, I can occasionally click a character to let them gain a level, but the normal vault day consists of me staring on the screen and hoping for something, anything to happen. I am not that excitement-starved in gaming that I constantly need input, but clicking the screen once every three minutes is not enough for my taste. There are lots of better building games on PC that have more for me to do and have more respect for my time as a player than “Fallout Shelter” does; and you get the same effect from having an ant farm if that is what you are looking for.
“But Stalk”, I hear you say, “the game is free-to-play. You can simply choose not to play it and lose nothing of value.” Fair point. “Fallout Shelter” costs absolutely nothing to acquire the game; which means that it has microtransactions and predatory game design to make up for it. I mean, lunchboxes are literally lootboxes, while nuka cola-speed boosts are exactly of the same nature as “Facebook” games back in the day in which you only get a limited number of moves but can opt to pay to get more or finish certain actions instantly. Common criticisms listed for “Fallout Shelter” are the lack of depth and the microtransactions, which I can only whole-heartedly agree with. There are simulation and building games that I can play for hours and not get bored of, but “Fallout Shelter” is basically the opposite of that with gameplay that does not keep me interested after the two-hour mark. The only good thing that comes out of playing the game for completenesses’ sake is that I can claim to have seen it enough to have an opinion about it.
Cubic Creativity 