Is it bold to say Fallout is the best video game adaptation ever made? Not at all.
Movie and TV show adaptations of video games have been around almost as long as video games. And throughout their comparatively brief history—compared to the film industry overall—they’ve typically shared one thing in common.
They suck.
Okay, maybe they haven’t all sucked. But until recently very few of them have been good.
The Resident Evil movies, while hit or miss, have been decent over the past 20+ years. And in the past few years TV and movie adaptations of video games have definitely improved. Just look at HBO’s incredible The Last of Us, Netflix’s The Witcher, and—to a lesser degree—the Uncharted movie.
But even up in light of the recent gold standard of TLOU, Prime Video’s Fallout is the best video game adaptation ever produced.
👀 CHECK IT OUT
What makes a good movie adaptation of a video game?
To be a good, nay great, video game adaptation, a movie or TV series needs to do more than just plop the protagonist into a story. It must do more than use the game’s world and drop in a character.
An adaptation needs to feel like part of the game franchise. It needs to be a full-fledged installment, not some overpriced DLC or money-grubbing microtransaction. It should also advance the story or contribute to the worldbuilding in some way.
Obviously there’s a lot to think about when adapting a video game for the scripted screen. But 6 key elements to consider are: the story, the lore, the setting, the characters, the aesthetics, and the gameplay. Read on to see how Fallout knocks each one out of the park.
Why Fallout is the best of the best
So why is Fallout better than the rest? Here are 6 ways Fallout is the best video game adaptation to date.
Fallout has great storytelling
Some video games, like The Last of Us and Uncharted, are purely story-driven. Others, like Super Mario Bros. and Mortal Kombat, are not.
Open world games like Fallout and The Witcher (and Red Dead Redemption 2—where’s our RDR TV series, Rockstar??) have a main story line, but they contain far more hours of side quests and non-essential content.
The Fallout games don’t follow the same character or story, so there was a lot of room for creativity. The show’s creators—Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet—came up with a new story within the Fallout universe that will appeal to both fans of the game and people new to the franchise.
It not only delivers a compelling main story, it enriches worldbuilding with an equally compelling backstory of one of the characters. Incorporating bits and pieces from the game for the main story line, like any true gamer, it doesn’t ignore the side quests.
Fallout respects the lore
When dealing with an established fictional universe, there’s a difference between telling a good story and telling a good story that respects the lore. It’s the latter that makes an adaptation succeed, and that’s just what Fallout does.
If there’s one thing you don’t want mess with when it comes to pleasing gamers, it’s lore. Fortunately, the series is packed with references to the game, but not in a cheap, name-dropping way. It knows what it’s talking about.
Taking place within the continuity of the games, the series is set in 2296, 9 years after Fallout 4, which takes place 110 years after the (first) bombs drop. In that particular game you emerge from a cryogenically frozen state before exiting your vault to explore the Wasteland.
While not coming off a thaw, Lucy enters the Wasteland in a similar manner. (Although cryogenics are not completely ignored.) And she embarks on a quest to find her father, which is clearly an homage to the plot of Fallout 3.
The series includes all the key components of a Fallout game—Vault-Tec, Raiders, Ghouls, The Brotherhood of Steel, The New California Republic, and a vast Wasteland to explore. (But Season 2 is going to introduce mutants, right?)
Fallout gets the characters right
One of the challenges in adapting an action role-playing game like Fallout for the screen is that the character has no… character. It’s not like The Witcher, where you play an actual character like Geralt of Rivia. You’re just the nameless Lone Wanderer. (Or Sole Survivor.) Not a lot to work with.
Of course, that blank slate is also a huge opportunity. But it’s an opportunity for failure as much as it is for success.
Prime’s Fallout succeeds in creating new characters that reflect numerous aspects of the game. Lucy and Maximus are both like new players who need to level up. Walter Goggins as The Ghoul is the perfect synthesis of NPCs and lore, whose backstory further enriches Fallout’s worldbuilding.
Fallout nails the setting
Anyone who’s played the games will constantly be pointing a finger and recognizing things from the games. Whether its a Red Rocket gas station or the silhouette of a drive-in theater during the end credits of an episode, Fallout just feels like Fallout.
Sure, it’s amped up the contrast and brightness, but that’s why it’s called an adaptation. The splashes of technicolor definitely make for a better TV viewing experience.
There many scenes in which characters look to the horizon and off in the distance is their destination. If you’ve played the games, you know the feeling.
The Vaults are also done to perfection. As are the “side quest” buildings. Granted, the Wasteland could be bigger, but that would probably impact the flow of the story.
The aesthetics of Fallout are bang on
Production design is one of the most vital components when adapting a video game for movies or TV—if you want it to resonate with fans of the game. (Unsurprisingly, Fallout’s production designer Howard Cummings played Fallout 4 and loved it.)
This is related to the setting, but it goes far beyond scenery. Everything from Pip-Boys to Cram to the old TV sets and computer terminals, it’s like a Fallout game has come to life.
There are so many Easter eggs in Prime’s Fallout TV series it feels like the first Sunday after a full moon in Spring. They’re found in products, characters, buildings, and even sounds.
And while it’s wonderful hearing Codsworth’s voice, the less obvious eggs are the real treat. Like the book on Tesla that Cooper Howard has at home, which can refer to the skill book Nikola Tesla and You in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, or Tesla Science magazine from Fallout 4.
Fallout (successfully) incorporates gameplay
This one is the kicker. The icing on the cake. The cherry on top.
And the hardest to achieve.
This is what makes Fallout rise above all other video game adaptations. This is why Fallout is the best.
The main character emerges from Vault 33 with nothing but her blue vault jumpsuit, a backpack, and a weak-ass gun. She then must level up her armor and weapons, just like in the game. Some other gameplay elements seamlessly incorporated into the show include:
- A character suffers from radiation sickness and must take RadAway to survive
- Pip-Boys are put to use
- Power armor won’t work without a fusion core
- Characters learn about past events by reading the logs in computer terminals
- Hacking into the overseer’s terminal is exactly like in the game
- A character looks for a first aid kit to heal another character
- Characters use Stimpaks for healing
One character also exclaims “God, I suck without a scope!” which can be taken as a reference to the game’s weapon system.
Is Fallout better than The Last Of Us?
Whether or not Prime Video’s Fallout is a better TV series than HBO’s The Last Of Us is subjective. However, as an achievement in adapting a video game for a TV series, Fallout is objectively better.
But isn’t TLOU exactly like the game?
Yes, it is. And that’s precisely the point. The Last Of Us video game is almost a movie with game controller. It doesn’t take much to port the game to a movie or TV show.
Fallout has more adapting to do. A lot more. Not only that, Fallout flawlessly incorporates numerous gaming elements into the TV series, which is something The Last of Us doesn’t do at all.
Whether you’ve played the games or not, what are your thoughts on the Fallout TV show? Let us know in the comments below!
0 Comments