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FALLOUT: BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL

(PS2, XBOX}

INTERPLAY

I never did play the PC game Wasteland way back in 1987, when computers were made of stone and powered by talking lizards in hamster wheels a la The Flintstones.

I did play its spiritual successor Fallout when it came out in 1997, though. A clever RPG set in a skewed, post-apocalyptic and darkly funny future world, it was truly a joy to behold. Its sequel, Fallout 2, wasn't too shabby either.

But when PC games started to slip in sales compared to console titles - what some see as a symptom of the overall dumbing-down of gaming as a whole - Interplay abandoned Fallout 3 for the PC and instead lent the name to this button-mashing 3-D console adventure. While it's OK at what it does, it really isn't worthy of the Fallout legacy. (And it's NOT the same as 2001's great PC title Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. Don't be confused, soldier.)

Brotherhood of Steel is basically a sci-fi version of Interplay's hit game Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (another console game that takes its name from a beloved PC RPG franchise), and even uses virtually the same engine found in the original BG:DA. As well as Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. And the upcoming Everquest: Champions of Norrath. And maybe Barbie: Girls Really Like Clothes too.

The RPG Lite gameplay is exactly what you'd expect: Pick one of three characters and then embark on a series of quests in a world seen from a 3-D top-down perspective, killing mutants, looting valuables and fetching items for non-player characters like a post-apocalyptic FedEx guy.

While this can work great if it's backed up by cool technology and a strong story, Brotherhood of Steel doesn't really have either. The visuals are fine, but they lack a certain smoothness found in the just-released Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. And the story and dialogue seem more like a copy of a 1950s sci-fi movie rather than a sly riff on one, the way the original Fallout games were.

And what's the deal with all the swearing? I know it must be no fun to live a hand-to-mouth existence in a radioactive wasteland, but do the characters need to say the s-word every five seconds? Don't let grandma play this one or you'll never hear the end of it. "In my day, you never heard Ms. Pac-Man cussing! Also, computers were made of stone and had only half a byte of memory, and you had to feed the talking lizard inside by hand!" Oy.

SCORE: 2 1/2 out of 5. As a sci-fi themed hack-and-slash adventure, Brotherhood of Steel is OK, and the two-player co-op mode is fun. But fans of the original smart and sassy Fallout PC games won't find much to love here.