Wasteland 2 - Beta Preview @ Chalgyr

Chalgyr's Game Room also previewed the beta version of Wasteland 2 this week.

Tactical roleplaying games have always been a favorite of mine, but when they implement features like taking stress into account or flanking an enemy, the possibilities are endless. When you have a party member surrounded by bad guys within a space or two, their behavior will change, skills will have less of a chance, and they may even become brutish and be unwilling to follow your orders ( a.k.a. "going rogue" ). Adding in technologies that simulate feelings that you would have were it happening to you in real life brings about an eerie but very cool level off realism that few other games can pull off. Overall the way that you are sucked into the world of Wasteland 2 without even realizing that five hours has passed is certainly a rare thing.

Over the course of the dozen or so hours that I have put into Wasteland 2 I cannot help but start and restart over and over again as I move along the game using trial and error to find that exact team that works well for me. Doing such a thing in other games, like Dark Souls, would likely drive a person mad but not with Wasteland 2. With unique conversation options and combat that contains a lot of chance, nearly every restart was different from the last. As I previously stated, Wasteland 2 is currently in Early Access so it may have some rough edges or strange quirks (for some reason I could not run the game on my Windows 8 machine unless I ran it in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7; my Mac had no problems), though it is well worth any minor setbacks, as Wasteland 2 is a spectacular game (so far).

I will be eagerly awaiting the final release and fully intend on being a part of the development process. It is only fair that I show the love and respect for Wasteland and Wasteland 2 that inXile Entertainment is showing, as Wasteland 2 is wrapping up to be a shining beacon of hope for any computer-based tactical role-playing game fans. Seriously, head to Steam now by into an amazing group of people creating an amazing title; you can find it here.