Wasteland 2 Review
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Sound and Art Design
Wasteland 2 is a relatively low budget game, so I'm really not surprised by the fact that it's mediocre in terms of graphical fidelity, nor do I intend to dwell on that too much. That said, I was genuinely disappointed to discover that, despite some promising early artwork, the game's art design is a bit of a mess. Assets often don't feel like they belong together or are obviously misused.
Portraits, in particular, are a disappointment. A lot of them are meant to be displayed at much higher resolutions than they are in game and end up looking crummy as a result. There are also too few portraits in general, with some of them reused even when not appropriate. I discussed with disheveled hobos dressed like bold yuppies, or even, in one particular egregious case, with a tall black man that looked like a small white man in his portrait.
There also isn't enough visual variation in terms of environments, something that's best exemplified by the fact that the locations in Arizona and Los Angeles look very similar. The transition from Arizona to Los Angeles is the perfect opportunity for a visual change, but aside from the presence of slightly more greenery and a different loading screen, the game looks fairly uniform throughout its entire runtime.
Sound-wise the game performs much better, luckily. The sound effects are about on par with the industry's standards these days: the weapons sound appropriately punchy and enemies sound like they should. The game also features some voice acting, and all performances are competent. A few of the deliveries are slightly exaggerated, but all characters sounded more or less like I expected.
Finally, Mark Morgan (already responsible for Fallout 1 and 2's soundtracks, as well as Planescape: Torment's) turns in another fine example of ambient music. Compared to his work on the Fallout series, Morgan seemingly aimed to create a constant musical texture that worked behind the scene to enhance the atmosphere of the game. This means that the soundtrack of Wasteland 2 isn't as fun to listen while you're not playing the game, but that's hardly something I can criticize it for.
I do, however, feel that making the soundtrack more distinctly different between Arizona and LA would have helped selling the game's atmosphere and the idea that the Rangers really have moved out of their comfort zone, while Morgan aimed for overall consistency. This is a nitpick though, and those who were excited about learning that the composer was involved in the making of the game will get exactly what they want out of his work.
Technical Issues and Polish
Wasteland 2 isn't a polished title by any measure, which shouldn't surprise anyone one bit given its size and genre. Just off the top of my head: there is a large number of typos in the game text, there's a number of script errors and broken quests, especially in the Los Angeles part of the game, objectives are often communicated poorly, and basic actions can take a few many clicks (though I'll note that this is the only major problem I had with the game's UI).
One thing that really surprised me, however, is how taxing the game was on my system (I currently use a Radeon R280x and an i5 4670 processor). Even after disabling SSAO, the game couldn't maintain a steady 60 fps framerate in plenty of areas, with occasional annoying dips down to 29-30 fps. It's true that the 60 fps standard isn't as important for turn-based games, but considering how ugly Wasteland 2 can look I'd have really hoped for something more. It's also worth noting that I'm basing this report on the game post-patches: a lot has been done in terms of usability, performance improvements and general bugfixing, but a lot more still has to be done for the game to feel fully polished.
Concluding Thoughts
Quite honestly, there are a lot of perfectly good reasons to dislike Wasteland 2. We're talking about a title that doesn't do anything genuinely outstanding gameplay-wise and features stretches that can honestly feel boring even for an RPG veteran. However, I can also see why someone could see it as a masterpiece, and while I don't myself, I certainly lean closer to that side of the spectrum. Wasteland 2 is a good game. This is because, for all its failing, inXile's post-apocalyptic sequel values the same things I value, things that ultimately make for a good RPG. Just to name a few: compelling character progression based on trade-offs, branching content, resource management, plenty of colorful prose and dialogue.
It's disappointing to find out that a game that could have been great is merely good, sure, but all things considered I'm satisfied with my first playthrough of Wasteland 2, and I'm already thinking about a second. Apologies to the denizes of Highpool, but I'm afraid I won't save you a second time.
Full disclosure: I was one of the backers during the original crowdfunding campaign for the title, and two ex-GameBanshee staffers, Thomas "Brother None" Beekers, and Eric "searanox" Schwarz, have been involved in the development of the title in some capacity. While I have maintained contact with them, I didn't provide any kind of advice nor was I consulted during the development of the game.
