If you're a fan of the original Wasteland, the long-awaited sequel hits just about all the right notes you'd hope for. It builds upon the original's style, writing, skill systems and combat in a completely logical way, without getting "too modern". It's also chock-full to the brim with references to the original, both in dialog and in the locations you visit (the whole first half of the game is basically a love-letter to the fans, as a matter of fact). So if you're coming into it from the same nostalgia-fueled background as me, you'll probably enjoy the game.

As for everyone else, I am really not so sure. The game is good, but far from perfect. The biggest issue is probably that the combat can get to be a bit simplistic and tedious after a while. Although there are elements of strategy to it, you almost never need to do anything "outside of the box" to successfully win a battle. The story is OK, but nothing you haven't seen before - a post-apocalyptic wasteland threatened by a megalomaniacal antagonist... yadda, yadda, yadda. The writing is good overall, striking a nice balance between serious and playful, though some of the dialogue ends up being a bit cheesy (especially towards the end). Two other big issues are the pace and length of the game. It really takes a while to get rolling. This is partly due to the aforementioned tedium in combat, but mostly because of the sheer size of the game. It becomes pretty obvious after a while that the developers just decided "screw it, this is our one chance to do this, and by god, let's go all out"... and "all out" they most certainly did. They threw everything they thought of in there, plus an extra kitchen sink. On one hand, that's admirable and I completely understand it. But I also just ended up feeling that maybe they should have scaled back their ambition just a tad, which would have allowed more time to tighten up and polish the experience overall. There are quite a few bugs in the game, at least as it initially launched. Thankfully, there was nothing completely game-breaking that I found, but there were definitely some bugs in various quests and dialogue options, and a few other glitches that popped up here and there. Finally, I also felt that the skill and weapon systems weren't quite balanced properly. After completing the game, it became kind of obvious that some of my skill, attribute and weapon investments were more or less useless. Again, not the end of the world, but the game could definitely use some additional balance in its systems.

Overall though, none of these minor issues greatly affected my personal appreciation and enjoyment of the game. I backed this Kickstarter project on day one, and don't regret it for a second. That said, I am also pretty forgiving when it comes to these sorts of things, especially when I know what a labor of love the project was for Brian Fargo and his team. So while I do recommend it overall, I would suggest it primarily for fans of old-school turn-based RPG/tactical-type games. Casual players, or those on the fence should probably check out some gameplay videos of the combat, in particular, to see if it's up your alley. If so, and if you are willing to look past a few minor flaws, definitely give Wasteland 2 a shot.

If you're a fan of the original Wasteland, the long-awaited sequel hits just about all the right notes you'd hope for. It builds upon the original's style, writing, skill systems and combat in a completely logical way, without getting "too modern". It's also chock-full to the brim with references to the original, both in dialog and in the locations you visit (the whole first half of the game is basically a love-letter to the fans, as a matter of fact). So if you're coming into it from the same nostalgia-fueled background as me, you'll probably enjoy the game. As for everyone else, I am really not so sure. The game is good, but far from perfect. The biggest issue is probably that the combat can get to be a bit simplistic and tedious after a while. Although there are elements of strategy to it, you almost never need to do anything "outside of the box" to successfully win a battle. The story is OK, but nothing you haven't seen before - a post-apocalyptic wasteland threatened by a megalomaniacal antagonist... yadda, yadda, yadda. The writing is good overall, striking a nice balance between serious and playful, though some of the dialogue ends up being a bit cheesy (especially towards the end). Two other big issues are the pace and length of the game. It really takes a while to get rolling. This is partly due to the aforementioned tedium in combat, but mostly because of the sheer size of the game. It becomes pretty obvious after a while that the developers just decided "screw it, this is our one chance to do this, and by god, let's go all out"... and "all out" they most certainly did. They threw everything they thought of in there, plus an extra kitchen sink. On one hand, that's admirable and I completely understand it. But I also just ended up feeling that maybe they should have scaled back their ambition just a tad, which would have allowed more time to tighten up and polish the experience overall. There are quite a few bugs in the game, at least as it initially launched. Thankfully, there was nothing completely game-breaking that I found, but there were definitely some bugs in various quests and dialogue options, and a few other glitches that popped up here and there. Finally, I also felt that the skill and weapon systems weren't quite balanced properly. After completing the game, it became kind of obvious that some of my skill, attribute and weapon investments were more or less useless. Again, not the end of the world, but the game could definitely use some additional balance in its systems. Overall though, none of these minor issues greatly affected my personal appreciation and enjoyment of the game. I backed this Kickstarter project on day one, and don't regret it for a second. That said, I am also pretty forgiving when it comes to these sorts of things, especially when I know what a labor of love the project was for Brian Fargo and his team. So while I do recommend it overall, I would suggest it primarily for fans of old-school turn-based RPG/tactical-type games. Casual players, or those on the fence should probably check out some gameplay videos of the combat, in particular, to see if it's up your alley. If so, and if you are willing to look past a few minor flaws, definitely give Wasteland 2 a shot.