Fallout Shelter Review
Fallout Shelter
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Genre:
PEGI: RP
Comments:
Fallout Shelter is… wait a minute, I just need to collect these resources. There we go. As I was saying, this free-to-play game is… hang on, I need to deal with these raiders. Phew. Right, let me turn my phone off or I’ll never get anything done.
Available for iOS and Android devices, Fallout Shelter lets you be the overseer of your very own vault in everyone’s favourite post-apocalyptic wasteland. The object of the game is to gather resources such as food, water and electricity in order to keep your vault at maximum efficiency. You must also withstand periodic raider attacks and attempt to increase your population through procreation or radio signals (to attract new dwellers).
What’s most impressive about Fallout Shelter is the level customization that is available to the player which can often be missing on other games for handheld devices. The Internet is already awash with different techniques for efficiency, funny things to try and dark experiments to carry out. This increases the replay value far more than adding more objectives periodically, as you will find in other games. You can control three vaults at once and it is very easy to have three very different things going on in each one.
The feel of the game is very much that of the Fallout universe, from the sounds to the costumes to the wicked humor (“is that a hand growing out of my stomach?”). It also feels like a much bigger game, almost like it could be a console game. You can pan around the rooms and see what’s in the back, the dwellers seem to have their own personality, and the lack of pushing to spend your real-world money keeps your immersed in the game.
The interface I did have a small gripe with. Maybe it’s my small, chubby stumps I call fingers but when I’m trying to “rush” a room (speed up production to lower the time you have to wait) I find myself clicking on anything but the small button at the bottom. I counted into double figures for attempts at one point. Also, dwellers seem to have a nasty habit of wandering off if they have been attacked. I sometimes find myself with a vault full of chaps wandering around through empty rooms because the last raider attack seemed to be one too many for them. I also recently saw a man running into the bedroom alone, complete with saucy pillow-talk, to seemingly make love to himself.
Small complaints, though, for what I see as the best free to play game you can get on a handheld device. You can buy extras if you don’t like the waiting time, but you always feel like it’s an option rather than an obligation. The fun has been put back into mobile gaming, and long may it continue.
Pros
– No obligations to spend real money
– Lots of customization
– A big feel for the Fallout universe
Cons
– Small buttons to press means you often click away by mistake
– AI sometimes gets frustrating