With this second episode, funded via Kickstarter and released more than 25 years after the first, the Wasteland franchise is almost back from the dead. However, we are not dealing with yet another story of zombies, but with a post-apocalyptic universe of the most canonical. Following a nuclear conflict (of which the survivors, and therefore the player, are unaware of the origins), the planet was covered with desolate lands. This is at least the case of Arizona, where our adventure begins. But before taking his first steps among the brave rangers, who defend the civilian victims of looters and other ill-intentioned bands, the player must form his fine team. The game indeed offers us to control four characters simultaneously, not to mention the various traveling companions who will come to join for a time or forever on our journey. If it is possible to choose our four heroes from nine pre-established profiles, it is much more interesting and exciting to shape personalized rangers. For this, we can count on an extremely rich and exciting character creation stage. Even before being able to view the introductory cinematic, there is already enough fun for several tens of minutes, even a few hours for the most meticulous! The seven main characteristics (Coordination, Luck, Perception, Strength, Speed, Intelligence, Charisma) influence around ten statistics (Action points, Initiative, Chance of dodging, Maximum charge, etc.) and are supplemented by around thirty skills. , divided into three categories (General Skills, Weapon Skills, Knowledge Skills) and including skills as varied as Survival, Handguns, Shotguns, Animal Friend, Mechanic, Computers, Surgery, Forcing Chests or even … Toaster repairman! Obviously, it is advisable to create hyper-specialized and complementary characters. But even so, we won't cover all the possibilities in a single game.
THE GM IS IN THE PLACE!
Among the most revealing skills of the richness of this role-playing game (a genre which, we remember, is not limited to fights and gaining experience points), we find Big tough, Lick-ass and Small clever. Thanks to these three skills dedicated to the art of conversation, we unlock additional choices during dialogues, and we can then solve certain problems only by speaking. Or, on the contrary, voluntarily or clumsily poison a situation that is nevertheless peaceful at the base. It must be said that the game does not hesitate to play the card of literary chatter. Numerous, long and well written, the dialogues go against the current trend, which generally sacrifices textual richness on the altar of audio dubbing. Wasteland 2 even pushes the vice to offer options worthy of a paper role-playing game. Thus, it is possible to add personal notes in the quest log, and even to write the biography of the characters that have been created. For the record, you can also type keywords during the dialogues, rather than selecting the subjects of conversation with the mouse. A gadget feature that still opens the door to some secret and well-hidden dialogues. Finally, the game doubles the visual information provided by the graphics with numerous descriptions worthy of the verbiage of a good Game Master. Thus, when you arrive in a desert area stained with bloodstains, an area of the interface discreetly displays : "Looking at the sandy ground around you, you see red crusty spots of dried blood". Or, watching a soldier scrubbing graffiti, you might read: "This Ranger is covered in piercings, tattoos, and scars, but looks barely older than a child. He's scrubbing graffiti on the wall". Very good for the atmosphere, this process remains optional for the lazy and the illiterate who swear by the action. In addition, it makes it possible to overcome the relative weakness of the graphics, which are displayed through an overhead view that is not conducive to the display of details and small elements. On the other hand, no problem to report on the side of the interface, which displays all the necessary information without ever being intrusive or getting rid of its military-post-apo aspect.
SMILES AND MEN
Whether through the dialogues, the descriptions or the situations encountered, the game never fails to show humor. A welcome feature in an otherwise cynical, violent and merciless universe for its inhabitants. To lighten the atmosphere, there are therefore many references to pop culture scattered all over the place, some of which relate to video games. Thus, when the game is first launched, the main menu displays a clickable box "DLC Red Boots, only $50". But this real-fake booby-trap is really just a little joke intended to make fun of the current and disastrous trend of downloadable content. Wasteland 2 doesn't actually feature any DLC. On the contrary, the adventure benefits from a very long lifespan (count between fifty and one hundred hours for your first game) as well as high replayability. This last characteristic comes not only from the number of skills available but also from the presence of many choices that we are given to make. Some of them are explicit, others more transparent, but all have real consequences, sometimes very important. No doubt, we are dealing with a real role-playing game!
Let action lovers be reassured, the adventure also emphasizes combat. These take place on a turn-by-turn basis and require the player to use tactics. Placement of characters, management of action points and choice of weapons are all parameters to take into account to maximize the chances of hitting and hope to emerge victorious from the various confrontations. Without mercy, the game will not hesitate to permanently kill any of your characters. Conversely, you can slay almost any inhabitant of the wastelands. We regret all the same the absence of infiltration, which harms a little the diversity of the fights. We would have frankly liked to be able to show stealth from time to time. In terms of criticisms we can also cite the phases of travel in the desert, which are not very interesting and, above all, are the occasion for random encounters that are hardly inspired. These impromptu confrontations tend to all look alike and the management of water, the only resource necessary for the trip, does not offer a very interesting challenge. Finally, we will not escape a few bugs here or there. But all this weighs nothing against the great qualities of this Wasteland 2, which has kept the spirit of the role-playing games of yesteryear. It only remains now to hope that other titles will take over!
