Having spent years playing frantic online games, I really have lost myself into much more open world solo games and it is Fallout that is a big part of that happening. The style, the depth of the game, the opportunity to do so many different things or play in certain ways and generally just the humor that it has, I loved it all. I still enjoy reading fan forums for screenshots or funny stories from others playthroughs and it was there that I heard of this fan film. Apparently it has spawned a webseries but in this instance I just checked out the original film.
The plot is simple – a trio of a vault dweller, a former slave and a ghoul are walking across the wasteland together in search of whatever. The former vault dweller is a bit on the chubby side as his vault was a testing vault for the efficiency of the provision of food and Nuka-Cola. On their way they come across a merchant and also a gang of mercenaries. These couple of small adventures are really the whole plot and therefore the film stands or falls on how well these are done. In terms of tone they are well done as they have the irreverent humor and throwaway violence of the games even if some of the dialogue is a little corny and some of the delivery not quite up to the level one would like. It amused me with its simplicity and I guess this was the aim.
The delivery of the style is very well done considering the limits. Although some of the "big destroyed city" effects are not fantastic, they are used in a way that works well as they are not overly pushed. The makeup on Ben is very good and generally the costumes and look of the characters and locations fits the game. The use of the music helps a great deal but generally I thought they did a really good job on the feel of the product. A little bit more work on the content would have made it more than just a film by fans for fans, but for what it is I enjoyed it and may check out the full webseries too.
