Game Reviews

Fallout Shelter - Probably not the one you wanted

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iOS
| Fallout Shelter
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Fallout Shelter - Probably not the one you wanted
|
iOS
| Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter probably isn't the mobile Fallout game you were hoping for.

It's a building game very much from the Tiny Tower school. You're in control of a vault, and you need to make sure its inhabitants are happy and prosperous.

There are nods to the main series here, from the cartoon aesthetic to the monsters that occasionally burst in through the floor, but this is a game with both feet firmly planted on the casual side of the line.

Gimme shelter

The game's main focus is resource collecting. You need to make sure you've got enough power to keep the lights on, enough water to quench your dweller's thirst, and enough food to make sure they don't starve to death.

On top of that you need to consider the happiness of the people in your vault. Everyone is suited for specific tasks, so making sure they get to perform them will keep a smile on those faces.

You can use living quarters to create new vault dwellers, and in the process cheer up the prospective parents. And you can send out explorers to check out the wasteland around your underground home.

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Sometimes emergencies pop up, either when you've tried to rush production, or just at random. These range from fires to invasions by giant radioactive cockroaches.

Other times you'll be attacked by raiders, who come to steal all of your resources and murder your dwellers. All of these problems can be solved by dragging your dwellers into the correct room.

Guns and armour that you find in lunchboxes can be equipped to make sure your dwellers aren't too squishy. You can buy lunchboxes with real cash to gain more equipment.

Oh, I get it

Fallout Shelter is a bit of a slow burn, but it's a solid casual experience all the same. It looks lovely, and it just about manages to capture some of the grim humour of the main Fallout series.

Is it the Fallout game you wanted on mobile? No, probably not. But if you're looking for something sedate and time-nibbling to fill in the gap between now and Fallout 4, it might just scratch that itch.

Fallout Shelter - Probably not the one you wanted

It's not exactly the most exciting post-apocalyptic game out there, but if casual is your bag there's a lot to like here
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.