The Fallout franchise has been stealing the hearts and minds of people since the first one was released way back in 1997. Amazon recently launched the Fallout series on their streaming platform, Prime Video, and people are quite smitten with it. While surviving in a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic Los Angeles is barrels of fun, today we're focusing on some of the amazing vehicles featured from the series and every major Fallout game.
The retro-futuristic aspect of Fallout is one of the main appeals of this storytelling marvel. It's all about the alternate history of Earth in a post-nuclear war era that superbly combines the nostalgia of the '30s, '40s, and '50s with sci-fi technological advancements that retain that Art Deco aesthetic, whether it's buildings, cars, music, or weapons.
If you want to get even more pedantic, it's called Raygun Gothic. You might have noticed the style before in other fictional works like The Jetsons (1962), Lost in Space (1965), Star Trek (1966), or The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), to name a few.
In the Fallout Amazon show, we see a ton of custom old-timers, like early '50s Ford F500 trucks, stretched-out Dodge sedans, the unmistakable Chevy Bel Air, and even some DeSoto models. Some junkyard-quality Plymouth models also made an appearance, dating back to the 1930s, and Chevrolet Apache trucks have also been spotted.
Fallout launched on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform on April 10 to good and even great reviews. The Guardian publication loved it and gave it a score of 100 on Metacritic. The Daily Beast gave it a 92, IGN and Variety thought it was worth 90 and Slant Magazine graced it with an 88. Other reputable publications didn't enjoy the Fallout show so much. CNN figured it wasn't worth a higher score than 55, Rolling Stone gave it a 50, and so did The Hollywood Reporter.
Photo: IGCD.net
While taking a quick look at what "professional reviewers," whatever that might mean these days, have to say, the fact of the matter is that you enjoy what you enjoy, and that's the end of that. Never let an erroneous method of mathematically grading a subjective art form like books, movies, music, or video games stand in the way of you spending some quality time on the old "boob tube."
As for the games, we're starting with the OG Fallout from 1997, featuring some tasteful models inspired by the 1960 Cadillac Eldorado, 1940 Cadillac Series 75, 1954 Chevrolet Corvette, 1960 Chevrolet Fleetside, 1934 Ford, 1957 Ford Fairlane, 1964 Ford Thunderbird, 1951 Harley-Davidson Panhead, and some other unknown models like a completely unimportant forklift.
While we're on the subject, let's quickly recap how the publications rated the Fallout video game series just for kicks. Granted, Metacritic didn't exist back in '97, so we just have 12 critic reviews that add up to a score of 89. However, the user score based on more than 1,500 users is 8.7. In video games, anything above 85 is considered outstanding.
Fallout 2 came out in 1998 and also featured a strong cast of 4-wheeled characters based on the 1959 Plymouth Fury, 1940 Cadillac Series 75, 1933 Ford Model 40, and some repeating ones from the first game. Fallout 2 got 86 from 15 critic reviews and 9.1 from 1,651 users.
Photo: IGCD.net
Now, here's where the fun really starts. Fallout 3 got a 91 on PC, a 93 on Xbox 360, and a 90 on PlayStation 3. Ah, the 360 and PS3 era... those were the days, no? Fallout 3 (2008) was the first in the series with 3D graphics with a 1st and a 3rd-person point of view, so naturally, everything was a million times more exciting and immersive.
It had some stunners like the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, a 35-foot General Motors TDH-4507 transit bus, a few GMC COE (cab over engine), a Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic, a 1955 Lincoln Indianapolis, and a 1958 Messerschmitt KR200.
Next, we have Fallout New Vegas from 2010, which is revered in the gaming community. Some will even say that if you've never played a Fallout game, you should start with this RPG masterpiece. New Vegas got 84 on Xbox 360, 82 on PS3, and 84 on PC.
New Vegas also has quite a collection involving the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, 1949 Chevrolet Deluxe Coupe (police vehicle), 1954 Dodge C-Series, 1934 Ford V8, and more GMC COE. Many other models from Fallout 3 are also present because reusing assets costs less money and takes less time than designing new things from scratch.
Photo: IGCD.net
Fallout 4 didn't break any records like its predecessor, but it was still ok in its own right, although it was more like Fallout 3.5 than a revolution. It got an 87 on PS4, an 88 on Xbox One, and an 84 on PC. Where are the new-gen versions? Glad you asked!
Since more people were playing The Witcher 3 when Netflix's The Witcher show was released, compared to when the game originally launched, Bethesda thought to try and reproduce the effect. How? Well, with an upgraded version for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
The free update is coming on April 25. It includes native features for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, Performance and Quality modes, stability improvements, and some fixes. Yes, finally, we're getting 60 fps for Fallout 4 on PlayStation 5.
The fourth main title is where Bethesda went off the rails a bit and introduced more models than ever, among which we count the 1956 Ford F-100, 1958 Ford Nucleon, 1948 GM Corsair, the Indian Chief, 1953 Iso Isetta, 1953 Lincoln Capri, 1954 Ferrari 375, 1954 DeSoto Adventurer II, and the superb 1958 Chrysler 300 D.
Photo: IGCD.net
Lastly, Fallout 76 is one of the biggest blunders Bethesda ever released. And yet, somehow, it's less boring than Starfield, which makes you wonder... After 49 critics got through with it, this online "sensation" still holds steady with a score of 52 on Metacritic and a generous 2.8 user score given by almost 7,000 players.
Because 76 is a live-service game with tons of DLCs and expansions, it has the biggest number of rides, many of which are unknown or specially made for the game. Some of the most notable ones include the 1952 Buick Roadmaster, 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, 1956 Ford F-100, 1961 Ford Thunderbird, 1948 GM Corsair, 1962 MAZ 543, and the 1950 Willys M38.
The Fallout series is a unique media entertainment product and should be praised for its nuclear impact (pun intended) on the industry. Now that it has crossed over to the passive art form known as television or streaming, whatever they call it these days, let's hope it will be nothing short of a tremendous hit, so we have one more awesome series to look forward to.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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