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26 years is a hell of a long time to wait for a sequel, though it's arguable that Wasteland 2 is as much an alternate Fallout 3 as it is the continuation of the original post-apocalyptic role-playing game. At the very least, it's the two branches of the family tree finally wrapping around each other. Here, Wasteland's more whimsical apocalypse and tongue-in-cheek style - where you're as likely to face giant mutated rabbits and toads as radioactive scorpions - meet Fallout's combat, exploration and interface. Also its feel. And its moral choices. While original Wasteland was definitely this game's alma mater, it's obvious where it got its PhD.Old schools don't get much more compatible though, and Wasteland 2 wastes little time carving out, or reclaiming, its own identity. It's a party-based game from the start, with your four-man team a group of Desert Rangers sworn to defend the people from the raiders and robots and monsters that plague their lives. From your radio you find out about trouble in need of troubleshooting, often literally, care of returning character Vargas, and then you go where you're needed rather than simply stumbling around.
Your badge is both a symbol of hope - albeit one tarnished of late by the Rangers' less-than-stellar ability to get things done - and a target on your chest guaranteed to draw the worst of the Wastes' attention. In Arizona, your job is largely to make it mean something again while repairing radio towers to get a fix on an incoming threat with a personal grudge against the Rangers. Later, in California, it's to make it a symbol for good in new territory and stop that threat as time permits.
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