Let's Talk About Fallout: Van Buren

Author's Note: It's been awhile, I know. Real life really shook me up this Summer, but I'm not gonna ask for pity or offer petty excuses. I need structure in my life, and writing these articles about my favorite series in fiction really helps with that. So without further ado....

The mini-minigun that Paladin has just kills me.

So, by now I assume you're familiar with the story of Fallout: Van Buren. After the critical success of 2, Black Isle Studios wasted no time crafting a sequel. It was given a codename: Van Buren (This being an Interplay thing of coding projects as the names of USA Presidents.), and fans were led to believe this was going to be the best Fallout yet. Now of course the idea of making a sequel better than Fallout 2 is daunting, but that's not what ended up happening. If you've read my other articles (And I wish you would), you are well aware of Interplay's sketchy and downright baffling business decisions at the time. Their desperate attempt to stay afloat ultimately failed, the company was bought up, and Bethesda acquired the rights to make Fallout games, with the exception that Interplay be allowed to make a Fallout MMO. More on that later, but what this whole debacle meant was that Van Buren, The Fallout 3 we were meant to have, was canned when it was very near completion. This has left alot of old and new fans alike wondering, "What would Fallout be like now if Van Buren was actually made?"

No wonder it took so long! Look at all that!

So check it out. 95% of the engine was complete. 75% of the maps was complete, and half the maps were finished. Sounds like alot to see, right? Well not really at all. Information on this game is reduced to an extremely glitchy demo from E3 and all that you can find on old websites from interviews. I really wouldn't advise the demo either; If it doesn't glitch to shit, it will just crash nonstop. Believe me, I tried. From what you CAN play, it's a turn based strategy game like the previous Fallout games, and that's about all I can say about it.

As for the written information, well...The story for this thing is mind numbingly stupid. Maybe with good writing to back it up it would make sense, but as it stands I'm almost glad the game wasn't made. Basically, the story revolved around your character, a Convict (Yes, an RPG other than The Elder Scrolls that has you start as a prisoner.), trying to figure out how his prison was destroyed, or something like that. The key things you need to remember are that alot of the stories plot elements were repurposed into Fallout: New Vegas. Caesar's Legion, Ulysses, The Burned Man, New Canaan, Powder Gangers, and a corrupt NCR all featured prominently in Van Buren's plot, so if you think about it, New Vegas is the spiritual offspring of VB, with all the stupid cut out.

The bad parts come in with the central antagonist, a scientist named Presper. He inexplicably comes across an advanced satellite designed to nuke a large portion of an area in the event of an outbreak of New Plague, that disease FEV was invented to stop. He infected a large enough amount of people, placed them in a prison, then promptly broke them out of the prison, so that the satellite would then launch, and he would control it to launch nukes where he so chose...What the fuck? How? Why? What?

I don't give a shit how corrupt the American government was back in the day. There's no fucking way you can sell me this bullshit that they had NUCLEAR BOMBARDMENT OF THEIR OWN LAND as a contingency plan for a fucking virus. And seriously! Why does the big baddie in every Fallout game (Except New Vegas) have a genocidal agenda?! The Master, The Enclave, The Calculator, fucking ATTIS from Brotherhood of Steel, The Enclave AGAIN, and now this asshole? Come on, guys...There's also the supposed ending, which, if I'm reading correctly, forces you to pick areas to destroy, leading me to believe that this would be the last possible Fallout game in the Core Region, because it would be back to square goddamn one. AGAIN.

COMMUNIST DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL!

Ultimately, I'm glad Van Buren didn't see the light of day, with a story like this. Black Isle made one of the best goddamn stories in an RPG ever, so what the hell were they smoking when they came up with this? If you are really damn curious, track down a site where you can download the barely functioning demo. I don't know what's sadder: The fact that all that time and buildup was leading to shit OR the fact that Black Isle's last game wasn't even a proper sendoff to the developer. At least we have New Vegas, right? Okay, fine, I'll stop kissing NV's ass. Join the talk below.

More Let's Talk About:

• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 2
• Fallout Tactics: The Beginning of the End
• Fallout: BoS and the rape of Fallout
• Fallout 3 - Part 1
• Fallout 3 - Part 2
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Fallout 3 DLC
• Fallout New Vegas DLC
• Let's Talk About Fallout Shelter
• Fallout 4 Review
• Let's Talk About how Fallout 4 is a Joke of an RPG

Canceled Fallout games history

Van Buren (aka Fallout 3)

Van Buren was the project name Black Isle Studios assigned to their version of Fallout 3. In 2003, the game was canceled and the Black Isle employees were laid off.
The game was going to use an engine that Black Isle had made for Baldur's Gate 3, commonly referred to as the Jefferson Engine. It was fully 3D. Black Isle Studios planned to include a dual combat system in the game that allowed for the player to choose real time or turn-based combat, due to Interplay's demands, though Joshua Sawyer had stated that the emphasis would be on the turn-based version. Co-operative multiplayer was also going to be included in the game, again because of publisher requirements.

Fallout (PlayStation)

A proposed top down shooter proposed for Sony's original PlayStation console, although a prototype existed it was cancelled after 3-4 months of development. A Fallout top-down shooter for the original PlayStation was in development at Interplay at one point. It was canceled after about 3–4 months of pre-production and early prototyping. The PlayStation port of another notable cRPG published by Interplay,Baldur's Gate, was similarly canceled, although in a near complete state.

Fallout Tactics 2

Canceled sequel to Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. developed by Micro Forté. Pre-production started shortly before the release of the first game, but it was canceled around December 2001. After the game started selling rather poorly, the sequel was canned by Interplay and didn't even get past concept. This would see the Midwestern Brotherhood of steel head South-East, towards Florida to deal with a GECK causing mutations. This game was cancelled in pre-development due to poor sales of the previous title.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2

also known as Vagrant Lands, was the canceled sequel to Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. The development started before the release of the first game, and it was almost complete when Interplay laid off most of their employees in 2004. The plot incorporated some elements from Van Buren, the canceledFallout 3 by Black Isle Studios (Caesar's Legion, the Jackals, Nursery), as well as the mutated G.E.C.K. from the canceled Fallout Tactics 2. In March 2009, the design document for the game, written by Brian Freyermuth (one of the designers of the original Fallout), was leaked.

Fallout Online (aka "Project V13")

Following the sale of the Fallout franchise to Bethesda, Interplay retained a limited right to develop an online Fallout game. This ended up resulting in a lawsuit between the two companies, and the idea to make a MMO based Fallout remains unrealised.Initially, Project V13 was the internal code name for Fallout Online. In addition to the current team Jason Anderson, one of the other makers of Fallout, was involved in the project between 2007 and 2009, but had since left the team. Interplay's rights to developing and publishing this game have been the subject of a legal dispute between Bethesda Softworks, the current owner of the Fallout franchise, and Interplay.

Fallout Extreme

Another Sequel for Fallout Tactics, but developed for Consoles. This game would have seen "The Cause" head Northwest, through Canada and on to Alaska to do battle with the Brotherhood of Steel; following this victory they would then head on to China to destroy a Doom's Day Missile. Fallout Extreme is a canceled, squad-based, first- and third-person tactical game for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, using the Unreal Engine and developed by Interplay's 14 Degrees East division. It was in development for several months in 2000, but never had a concrete development team and had not been developed past conception. The game was never officially announced, and its existence was virtually unknown until detailed information about it was released in January 2010.

Fallout Pen and Paper d20

Licensed by Glutton Creeper Games by Interplay, this project would have brought Fallout to the tabletop through the D20 gaming system made popular by Dungeons and Dragons. Although Bethesda brought legal action against the project, it was eventually released as Exodus, with the Fallout elements removed. Fallout Pen and Paper d20 was a pen and paper role-playing game based on the Fallout computer games developed by Glutton Creeper Games. Because Bethesda threatened Glutton Creeper with legal action, they were forced to change the game into a post-apocalyptic RPG called Exodus.

Fallout iPhone game

Little is known about the plans to bring Fallout to the iPhone, except that multiple pitches had been rejected as of June 2009, and John Carmack of ID Software had developed a proof of concept, but nothing seemingly came from the development. According to Bethesda's Todd Howard, several early designs have been pitched and rejected. On November 5, 2009 John Carmack of Id Software said that, while it's nothing official yet, he has an internal proof of concept made for a Fallout iPhone game. Both Carmack and Bethesda's Todd Howard are fans of the platform and any iPhone game based on Bethesda's IP will likely be made as a joint project between id and Bethesda. Carmack said that he will likely be personally involved in making the game, although currently he is too overloaded with work on other games. "At the very least I'm going to be providing code," he said. In April 2010, Pocketgamer published a rumour that Bethesda were looking to reactivate the "Fallout Tactics" line with a mobile-based tactical game based in New Vegas.

Source: Fallout Wikia

See also: Fallout Games History Overview