ATOM RPG: Trudograd Review - Page 2
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I was way less impressed by the actual moment-to-moment writing. The game, by the looks of it, was originally written in Russian, and its English version is far from great. Although, it can be argued that the clumsy wording can actually make the whole experience feel more authentic.
Less forgivable are the very basic typos that could've been avoided with some proofreading. Things like quite instead of quiet and to instead of too don't really need to exist in a commercial product.
But all of that pales before what I consider to be the game's biggest flaw – the complete and utter lack of stylistic consistency.
While on the surface it may seem like a simple case of overindulgence in pop culture references that makes Fallout 2 seem tame in comparison, Trudograd's issues go deeper than that.
You'll be talking to some academic type, having a more or less serious conversation, when he'll all of a sudden switch into an urban thug mode, and then, after you're done scratching your head in confusion, finish you off with a few sentences lifted straight from a valley girl's vernacular.
Say what you will, but I firmly believe that in the whole history of the Soviet Union, not a single "hella" or "teehee" has ever been uttered. So when its post-apocalyptic counterpart fully embraces such expressions, it just kills any semblance of immersion faster than a critical hit to the eyes.
Now, I'm not sure if over time I simply grew numb to this nonsense, or if the game's writing actually gets better the further you get, but that's certainly the impression I got from it. While the opening sections make you wonder how it's even possible to develop a video game without a single adult on the team, the later parts are significantly more palatable and even make you want to experience more of this unique and crazy world.
The one thing that seemed a bit odd to me was how the game didn't really need to be connected to the original ATOM. Pretty much the entirety of it revolves around the city of Trudograd and its many problems that are in no way connected to Earth's impending doom. And only after you've completed that story, you're given the keys to the kingdom and a quick final dungeon that allows you to complete your original mission.
Hopefully, at some point, we'll get another ATOM game, one where the aliens actually land and we can deal with the glaring, literally, problem once and for all.
Systems and Gameplay
Seeing how Trudograd was originally planned as an expansion, it allows you to import your high-level ATOM character. Alternatively, if you don't have a save file or are looking for a more challenging experience, you can create a new agent. If you decide to go that route, you'll start the game at level 15 with some basic gear to see you through the opening sections. You'll also need to answer a few questions related to some of the major choices from the previous game.
Either way, the game's roleplaying system should feel familiar to anyone who's played Fallout before. The game's attributes don't follow the SPECIAL system to the letter, but they're still pretty much the same thing.
Skills are a bit different. There are 16 of them in Trudograd, and out of those, only 6 are weapon-related. The rest allow you to become better at talking, trading, sneaking around, and so on. As you raise your skills, you'll be unlocking various threshold bonuses that vary from slightly more damage to permanent attribute increases.
