fallout 2 (as in the sequel to fallout and prequel to fallout 3). this game has devoured several months of my life. i've barely played it's predecessor, and i have played fallout tactics for a few levels, but i have to say fallout 2 is better than them both based on what i've played. this is one of the few games i've finished (i did seek help but who wouldn't with how big this game is) and i am very happy i purchased it from amazon. most people i know haven't heard of the game (before my era i guess) but everybody has heard of fallout 3 (i wonder why nobody realized there were 2 games before it?) anyway, fo2 is a turn based strategy game based in a post apocalyptic nuclear wasteland where you are trying to save your village from starvation by finding a "Garden of Eden Creation Kit" to make the barren wastes fertile once more.
pros: very large world to play in, lots of weapons to choose from, unique "S.P.E.C.I.A.L" combat system developed specifically for the fallout series (no character classes because you choose exactly what you're good at), large amounts of cultural references (terminator, star trek, and a few more that i can't remember off the top of my head), non-linear gameplay (aka do shit when you feel like it), what part of post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland isn't awesome in video game form?, lots of npc allies with varying capabilities personalities and races, several different endings (there are different endings for each town depending on what you did there), and tons of mods to download ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=4 ) to keep the game fun.
cons: glitches galore! most can be fixed with patches online ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=4 ) but i'm sure there are a few still out there, i had a problem installing on windows xp. you can probably fix it by installing it on windows 98 and copying the files to disk for an xp computer (i did something similar and got it going), not a kids game. they tried to get the kids out of the uk version to make it less graphic but blowing sombodies face off is still violent, turn based gameplay will undoubtedly annoy some people (not me), sometimes scenery can obstruct the looting of corpses, some weapons are outright useless (the flamer is too heavy, non-auto shotguns have too small of clips, miniguns kill your allies too often, etc), you can level to the point almost nothing is a challenge (gauss rifle, power armor, small guns 100+, and 150+ hp ends most challenge in the game), and myron is really freaking annoying.
synopsis: it's a very good game for people who like rpgs. i give it an 9.3. it owned my life for months so i might be biased, but from what i've seen, alot of people gave it excellent scores when it came out. i can't give a game with so many glitches a perfect score (even if many were fixed it still on occasion has errors) but i will tell you it's a must have for any rpg lover. you should probably check out fallout 1 before you play fallout 2 (even though it seemed fairly self explanatory to me).
i suggest you buy it from amazon/ebay because it isn't freeware, but it is probably on http://rapidlibrary.com/ for you hooligans and ragamuffins who don't care for copyrights and legal repercussions and such.
endless war 3 is a overhead view shooting game that plays through wars such as: vietnam, ww1, ww2, zombies, ww3, iraq war, terrorism and even a campaign based on the fallout franchise.
pros: lots of weapons (over 100 i think), 4 difficulty levels, cheats (all weapons available and slow bullets), customizable controls, lots of blood splatter, 12 different campaigns to play through, a download of only a few megabytes, the ability to command troops, and the ability to change the image quality of the game (for the purpose of reducing lag)
cons: glitches that involve rockets going through walls and infinite ammo for weapons/ammo switching, some levels (particularly the ww3 levels) lag significantly if your computer is old due to the amount of enemies and bullets moving around the screen, the controls for controlling allies is so simple that that they usually die (sometimes they even kill each other because a soldier is in the way of an enemy).
synopsis: i give it a 7.5. the glitches prevent me from giving it a higher score (it could get a 9.0 if it weren't for the rockets through walls thing). the ammo switching/infinite ammo isn't as big a deal because it only happens when you reload and switch simultaniously and switching to another weapon ends it. i usually ignore the allies so the dumb ai doesn't effect me much (unless they shoot me). my computer is good enought to play the game on low quality without significant lag (if you have a frankenstein computer made from goodwill spare parts like i used to have, you might have a problem).
you can download this game for free at www.arcadetown.com