Why stop at the Fallout TV show?
The Fallout TV show is a bit good. Indeed, here at PC Gamer we think it is the best Fallout has been since the highs of New Vegas. So, you know, go watch it! But while it’s true that the TV show is good, it’s fair to say it’s only showing a very narrow slice of what the Fallout universe has to offer. Which got me thinking… if the Fallout games were movies, what would they be like and, most importantly, which would be best?
As such, here I list the major Fallout game releases to date and then use the totally scientific method of using my opinion to determine what the movie would play like, who would direct it, and what score I’d give it. It’s time to buckle up.Fallout
A focused, mature, pressure cooker of a movie that is short and stylishly violent? Better call the director of John Wick to take the directorial reigns. Personally, I find Leitch’s movies tend to have rather underwhelming final acts, too, and also have a penchant for ending abruptly when you feel more could have followed, so he’s the perfect fit for a game that’s incredible until it very quickly ends without much fanfare. John Wick movies don’t tend to be very wacky either, often depicting the hero’s world as very serious (despite the ludicrous premise of the fiction), so again this feels a strong and apt choice for the OG Fallout. A Friday night action movie.Fallout 2
Who better to direct this expansive and often wacky depiction of the Fallout universe than the director responsible for epics such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, Brazil, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? Gilliam loves a good road trip in his work, too, which fits with Fallout 2’s Highwayman-based exploration, and his penchant for vast vistas with wacky and absurd details feels perfect. The combat scenes wouldn’t be as slick as Leitch’s Fallout movie, but characterisation and a more rambling, philosophical, off-beat narrative would deliver. Plus, Fallout 2 even has a Bridge Keeper encounter that directly references Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which Gilliam starred. Watch on a Saturday night for a bit of everything.Fallout: Tactics
For a movie based on a game that is focussed almost entirely on squad-based combat in urban environments, combat where soldiers die in terrible ways and the horrors of war are all too apparent, I feel the director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow is perfect for this.
