Following up on MacPlay's recent announcement on the upcoming availability of Fallout 2 for the Mac, Applelinks has posted a preview of this future title based off the gold master that covers much of the basics concerning Fallout 2's backstory and gameplay features.

For those unfamiliar with the title, Fallout 2 is an RPG, similar to the venerable Baldur's Gate series, that takes place in a post-nuclear winter setting and gives players the unenviable task of finding a new source of water for their dying town. Along the way, the player will be confronted by mutants, animals, and plots culminating into world domination.

Though character generation should be familiar to most RPG fans, Fallout 2 adds a new feature known as a trait, which Applelinks expounds on:

Traits, however, do have negative effects. Say, for instance, you choose to be a bruiser. Your punches will be harder, but slower as well. Or, you may choose to be a fast shot. You will be able to get more shots off per round, but you won't be able to target your attacks (by targeting, you can actually select the part of the body at which you want to aim). If you're chem reliant, you are twice as likely to become addicted to chems, but will recover faster from their ill-effects. If you're a night person, you'll...well, you probably have the hang of this by now. You can select up to two traits, but you don't have to select any. Again, just make sure you know how you intend to play the game before you set this up. If you don't cater to your strengths, you, your vault, and the whole world, really, will die.

Applelinks - Fallout 2 Preview

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