I know that the spirit of Summer Games 2005 is to finish off the unfinished projects lying around my desk in order to make room for the hot new holiday releases looming in the future, but I just couldn’t resist taking another pass through Fallout 2. I took a different route this time, though: I decided to play the game by my own rules and see just how much content there was to be had. The answer? A lot.

This still gives me goosebumps.

I’ve played this game a lot of times, this being something like my fifth time through, so I decided that I’d reach for the ultimate goal and finish every mission, even if that meant playing both sides of the fence. There are few things I should confess to in order to keep this post on the up and up. First, I used two walkthroughs during the game to keep the time spent Fed-Ex-ing down. I played through each zone before reading, but I did read before I left each zone to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind. Second, there’s one zone (only accessible late in the game or with prior knowledge of its location) that requires no fighting whatsoever and very little skill to get though. It’s packed with high-tech equipment, though, so I went there first to pick up power armor and the best energy weapons. The early game carnage would have made Caligula blush.

Nice swing, Mark McGwire. Next time try to keep the body on the screen.

With that off my chest, I’d like to expound on just how much there is to do in this game. There are anywhere from 5-20 discrete missions, and generally another 5-10 experience earning events not listed, in each of the almost 20 game zones. Despite this being my fifth time through I still managed to find things I’d never done before and earn character “perks” that I didn’t know existed. Some of the events I found weren’t listed in the two walkthroughs, one of which was over 200 pages long. This game has so much to do it’s sick. The game is also all about your actions and the consequences thereof. I’ve never played another game where I felt like my actions were so deeply reflected in subsequent game play. If you had to pick one reason to like this game, that should be the one.

Find this perk. I dare you.

It’s unfortunate that this game is on the buggy side. Every time I play this through I find more bugs as well as more missions, but in a game with this breadth and depth it’s understandable. At least the bugs aren’t reproducible (for the most part); generally something weird will happen, you’ll reload the game, and you’ll never see the same bug again. It’s also unfortunate that Interplay is no longer a company, at least, not under the name “Interplay.” Every year rumors of “Fallout 3″ circulate the internet when some or another comapny express interest in the franchise, but I’m not holding my breath.

Here are two tips to those who want to really get the most out of this game. First tip: always use a fast talker. Smart and smooth talkers get access to missions totally unavailable to the heavy pipe swingers. Although you’ll sacrifice your combat skills, you should be able to make yourself into a deadly sniper without too much trouble. I never felt like my physical inadequacies kept me from achieving what I wanted in the game. Which is unlike the real world in which my physical inadequacies torment my existence daily. Next tip: specialize. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades, especially in the early game. Pick one weapon style and stick to it, then pick maybe three technical specialties and pump them up. Since “Repair”, “First Aid”, “Outdoorsman”, and “Science” can be juiced with books you can find, I recommend “Doctor”, “Speech”, and “Barter”.

I’ll leave you with one last story and graphic that really made me appreciate the detail in this game. In the middle of the night, something strange and wonderful happened to my character for no apparent reason. As it turns out there was an exact reason; I just forgot what it was because it took so long to catch up to me. Here’s what I learned: never walk through toxic waste without rubber boots: